From Revolution to Letters: The of Greece’s Postal Service

On 24 September 1828, Governor Ioannis Kapodistrias—the first head of the newly independent Greek state—established the country’s first official postal service. It was the birth of what would later become the Hellenic Post (ELTA).

Yet even before Kapodistrias’ decree, revolutionaries had understood the need for communication networks. As early as 1821, Demetrios Ypsilantis, a leading figure in the Greek War of Independence, submitted a plan for a postal system to the local leaders of the Peloponnese. Though never implemented, the idea set the stage.

By 1822, records show efforts to contract messengers for mail between the islands of Tinos, Naxos, and Andros. Ypsilantis even proposed creating public stables—echoing the Ottoman “menzil hanes,” relay stations used for official couriers. Around the same time, war hero Theodoros Kolokotronis urged the Peloponnesian Senate to provide 25 horses for delivering orders. By 1823, horseback couriers were active, and post offices appeared in Tripoli, Argos, and Epidaurus.

The First Couriers and Makeshift Stations

During the revolution, the postal service was rudimentary but vital. In one 1827 decree, the government promised barley rations for 15 rented horses used to carry the mail. Couriers, known as “tatárides” (from the Ottoman word for mounted messengers), became the lifeline of communication.

An 1826 order asked police authorities in Nafplio—then the capital—to ensure citizens’ letters were kept confidential and delivered unsealed, a first attempt at codifying postal security. The first employee, Athanasios Kardaras, received 13,500 grosia (currency of the time) to help organize the service.

Kapodistrias’ Decree of 1828

On that decisive day in Poros, 24 September 1828, Kapodistrias signed the founding decree:

“A postal service is established for correspondence between the government and its authorities. Citizens may also benefit for private correspondence… Central post offices will be set up in Argos, Tripolitza, and Epidaurus…”

Thus, the Greek postal system was born, initially serving government needs, with citizens allowed to “benefit” secondarily.

Letters Read from Barrels

The early service had colorful quirks. Health officials (the “ygieonomoi”), tasked with distributing letters, would often find themselves besieged by impatient citizens waiting for news. Lacking proper facilities, they would climb atop wooden barrels at the port and read out the latest arrivals aloud. The “barrel” became the first unofficial distribution point for the Greek mail.

The First Athens Post Office

When Athens became the capital in the 1830s, the first public building constructed there was its post office, funded directly by King Otto, Greece’s first monarch, at a personal cost of 50,000 francs. Staff was minimal—barely 10 employees in total. In 1836, only two official postmen worked in the city, both veterans of the independence struggle chosen for their literacy and good conduct.

By 1837, the first postal carriages began operating between Athens and Piraeus, vastly improving speed over foot messengers. Within a decade, Greece had 75 post offices. By 1937, that number had grown to more than 5,400, reflecting the massive expansion of a service that had started with horses, barrels, and makeshift stations during a revolution.

From Revolution to Modern Statehood

The history of the Greek postal service is inseparable from the birth of the modern Greek state itself. What began as a wartime necessity—messages carried on horseback through hostile territory—grew into a national network symbolizing order, communication, and the authority of the fledgling government.

Kapodistrias’ founding act on 24 September 1828 was more than administrative. It was a statement: a nation struggling for survival also needed the means to connect its people, share its news, and build its institutions.

Nearly two centuries later, that legacy endures in the Hellenic Post, a service rooted in the barrels and horse paths of the revolution.