The Jan-Feb 2004 edition of Odyssey magazine*, includes an article on Family Trees with Greek roots, on pp. 60-62.

The article, written by Tania Kollias has a largely American and Canadian focus, but contains a good directory of helpful web-sites for Greeks atempting to discover their roots.



This excerpt provides information about how to obtain essential records, such as birth, death, marriage, and baptism records.

Essential records

Marriage certificate:

What you can glean from this document of the Orthodox Archdiocese of Athens are names, ages, occupations, places of birth, parents' names and occupations, city and which marriage (first, second etc), as well as signatures. They may also have other documents attached, like civic registration numbers and death certificates (if a second marriage) as well as divorce papers.

Iera Archiepiskopi Athinon, 21 Agias Filotheis, 10556 Athens.

Municipal archives (Dimotika Archeia):

Death certificates which have the name, age, place of residence, time and cause of death, and parents' names. Records of those living are kept at town halls and are called pistopitika. They show the person's name, parents' names, date of birth, occupation, religion and spouse.

Birth and baptism records;

From 1925 and later in Athens, Piraeus and Thessaloniki, these are avaialable from the Athens registrar's office and show the name, birth date, parents' names and mother's maiden name, as well as when the baptism took place.

Mitropoleos, 60, Athens
(+30 210 324 1816, +30 210 324 0668)


*Odyssey magazine is a brilliant magazine, originating in Greece, which chronicles people, places and events of the Greek Diaspora.

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Odyssey
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Greece

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Odyssey Magazine
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USA

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Odyssey Magazine
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NSW 2042
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Odyssey Magazine
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L3R 9T3 Canada

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