Mimaros, regarded as the founder of modern Greek shadow theater. Karagiozis was hellenized in Patras, Greece in the end of 19th century by Dimitrios Sardounis, a.k.a. Karagiozis seems to have come to mainland Greece, probably from Asia Minor ( Anatolia) at the 19th century, during Ottoman rule. It is still performed in Turkey, especially during Ramadan celebrations, under the same name. Originally, his popular appeal was his scatological language and protruding phallus. Whatever the case, it is worthwhile to mention that regardless of religious restrictions, shadow theater became more widespread around the 16th century among the Muslim Turks. Many argue for a Mediterranean origin in the Egyptian shadow puppet tradition. There are several stories of how shadow theater was established in Asia Minor. The name Karagiozis or Karaghiozis is from Greek Καραγκιόζης, borrowed from Turkish Karagöz 'dark eye'.

Shadow theatre, with a single puppeteer creating voices for a dialogue, narrating a story, and possibly even singing while manipulating puppets, appears to come ultimately from the Indonesian wayang kulit or Chinese pi ying xi Shadow play. In the 16th century, Ottoman Grand Mufti Muhammad Ebussuud el-İmadi issued a celebrated opinion allowing the performance of Karagöz plays. The first Karagöz–Hacivat play was performed for Sultan Selim I (reigned 1512–1520) in Egypt after his conquest of the country in 1517, but 17th century writer Evliya Çelebi stated that it had been performed in the Ottoman palace as early as the reign of Bayezid I (reigned 1389–1402). Some believe that it originates from the island of Java where shadow puppet shows ( wayang kulit) were played already as early as in the 11th century and arrived in the Ottoman Empire via traders.

Karagiozis greek shadow puppetry friend