Damocles Rowle

Minister Damocles Rowle was Minister for Magic from 1718 to 1726.

He was elected on a platform of being "tough on Muggles". At the time, plans for a purpose-built wizarding prison, located on some Hebridean island, had been made. However, Rowle, being a sadistic authoritarian, scrapped the plans and insisted on using Azkaban instead, which had previously been a Dementor-infested fortress used by the insane dark wizard Ekrizdis in the 15th century and was now abandoned. He claimed that the Dementors populating the island could be harnessed as guards, saving the Ministry time, expense and trouble, and thus being an advantage. Rowle carried out his plan, in spite of protests from experts on both Dementors and buildings with a dark history such as Azkaban. Many prisoners were placed there, and even those who had not been mad and dangerous when they came to Azkaban, swiftly became so. Yet none of them ever emerged while he was the Minister.

He was first elected as Minister in 1718 and was re-elected at least once.

His actions as Minister led to him being censured by the International Confederation of Wizards, and he was therefore forced to step down, turning over the office to Perseus Parkinson.

Etymology
is an anecdotal figure from Sicily. Supposedly a courier of, Damocles commented on his king's fortunate position. Dionysius offered to switch positions with Damocles and offered to let him sit on the throne. Dionysius then arranged for a heavy sword to be suspended above the throne by only a single tail hair of a horse. This allegory is meant to illustrate that with great fortune comes great peril and anxiety. Damocles Rowle can be said to exemplify this allegory, as he was censured and forced to retire as Minister.

Appearances

 * Pottermore