Nikolaos or Nikos Oikonomides (, 14 February 1934 – 31 May 2000) was a

Greek Greek may refer to: 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 of all kno ...

Byzantinist Byzantine studies is an interdisciplinary branch of the humanities that addresses the history, culture, demography, dress, religion/theology, art, literature/epigraphy, music Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination ...

, and one of the leading experts in the field of Byzantine administration.

Biography

Oikonomides was born in

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

. He studied in the

University of Athens The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA; , ''Ethnikó kai Kapodistriakó Panepistímio Athinón''), usually referred to simply as the University of Athens (UoA), is a public university in Athens, Greece, with various campuses alo ...

from 1951 to 1956, under the tutelage of Byzantinist Dionysios Zakythinos. After obtaining his degree, in 1958 he went to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

to pursue doctoral studies under Paul Lemerle. 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 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 Empire, Byzantine of ...

'' 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 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 (; ) is a mountain on the Athos peninsula in northeastern Greece directly on the Aegean Sea. It is an important center of Eastern Orthodoxy, Eastern Orthodox monasticism. The mountain and most of the Athos peninsula are governed ...

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 gardens of wealthy U.S. diplomat Robert Woods Bliss and his wife ...

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 Academic staff of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens Academic staff of the Université de Montréal 20th-century Greek historians Scholars of Byzantine history People from Athens