Nikolaos or Nikos Oikonomides ( el, Νικόλαος Οικονομίδης, 14 February 1934 – 31 May 2000) was a
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
Byzantinist
Byzantine studies is an interdisciplinary branch of the humanities that addresses the history, culture, demography, dress, religion/theology, art, literature/epigraphy, music, science, economy, coinage and politics of the Eastern Roman Empire. T ...
, and one of the leading experts in the field of
Byzantine administration.
Biography
Oikonomides was born in
Athens
Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...
.
He studied in the
University of Athens
The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA; el, Εθνικό και Καποδιστριακό Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών, ''Ethnikó ke Kapodistriakó Panepistímio Athinón''), usually referred to simply as the Univers ...
from 1951 to 1956, under the tutelage of Byzantinist
Dionysios Zakythinos Dionysios A. Zakythinos or Zakythenos ( el, Διονύσιος Α. Ζακυθηνός; 1905 in Lixouri, Kefalonia – 18 January 1993, in Athens) was a leading Greek Byzantinist.
Zakythinos was born in Kefalonia in 1905. After graduating from the ...
. After obtaining his degree, in 1958 he went to
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
to pursue doctoral studies under
Paul Lemerle
Paul Lemerle (; 22 April 1903 – 17 July 1989) was a French Byzantinist, born in Paris.
Biography
Lemerle taught at the ''École française d'Athènes'' (1931–1941), at the ''Faculté des Lettres'' of the University of Burgundy at Dijon (1942 ...
. His studies in Paris also introduced him to
sigillography
Sigillography, also known by its Greek-derived name, sphragistics, is the scholarly discipline that studies the wax, lead, clay, and other seals used to authenticate archival documents. It investigates not only aspects of the artistic design and ...
, and led to the discovery of the so-called ''
Escorial Taktikon
The ''Escorial Taktikon'' (other spellings: ''Escurial Taktikon'', ''Escorial Tacticon'', ''Escurial Tacticon''), also known as the ''Taktikon Oikonomides'' after Nicolas Oikonomides who first edited it, is a list of Byzantine offices, dignities, ...
'' or ''Taktikon Oikonomides''. The outcome of his work on ''Escorial Taktikon'' and the other ''
Taktika'' (seating lists in Byzantine imperial banquets) was published in 1972, as the ''Les listes de préséance byzantines des IXe et Xe siècle'', containing a translation and commentary on the ''Taktika''. Oikonomides returned to Greece, but the establishment of the dictatorial
Regime of the Colonels
In politics, a regime (also "régime") is the form of government or the set of rules, cultural or social norms, etc. that regulate the operation of a government or institution and its interactions with society. According to Yale professor Juan Jo ...
in 1967 forced him to go to exile in Canada along with his wife, the Ottomanist
Elizabeth Zachariadou. In July 1969, he accepted the chair of Byzantine history at
Montreal University, a post he kept until 1989, when he returned to Athens. He died on 31 May 2000 in Athens, and is survived by his wife and two daughters.
Besides the ''Listes de préséance'', his major works include seven volumes of the ''Archives de l' Athos'', a multi-volume work of the documents of the monasteries of
Mount Athos
Mount Athos (; el, Ἄθως, ) is a mountain in the distal part of the eponymous Athos peninsula and site of an important centre of Eastern Orthodox monasticism in northeastern Greece. The mountain along with the respective part of the penins ...
began by Paul Lemerle, as well as significant work on study and itemization of the extensive
Dumbarton Oaks
Dumbarton Oaks, formally the Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, is a historic estate in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. It was the residence and garden of wealthy U.S. diplomat Robert Woods Bliss and his wife, M ...
collection of Byzantine seals. His work there led to the creation of a new scientific journal, the ''Studies in Byzantine Sigillography'', which he edited.
List of major works
* ''Les listes de préséance byzantines des IXe et Xe siècles'', Paris, 1972
* ''Fiscalité et exemption fiscale à Byzance (IXe-XIe s.)'', Athens 1996
* ''Social and economic life in Byzantium'', Aldershot, 2004
* ''Society, Culture and Politics in Byzantium'', Aldershot, 2005
Sources
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oikonomides, Nikolaos
1934 births
2000 deaths
Greek Byzantinists
Greek emigrants to Canada
National and Kapodistrian University of Athens alumni
National and Kapodistrian University of Athens faculty
Université de Montréal faculty
20th-century Greek historians
Scholars of Byzantine history
People from Athens