Angeliki E. Laiou (;

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 ...

, 6 April 1941 –

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

, 11 December 2008) was a Greek-American

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 politician. She taught at the University of Louisiana,

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

Brandeis University Brandeis University () is a Private university, private research university in Waltham, Massachusetts, United States. It is located within the Greater Boston area. Founded in 1948 as a nonsectarian, non-sectarian, coeducational university, Bra ...

, and

Rutgers University Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's C ...

. She was the Dumbarton Oaks Professor of Byzantine Studies at Harvard University from 1981 until her death. From 2000 to 2002, she was also a member of the

Hellenic Parliament The Parliament of the Hellenes (), commonly known as the Hellenic Parliament (), is the Unicameralism, unicameral legislature of Greece, located in the Old Royal Palace, overlooking Syntagma Square in Athens. The parliament is the supreme demo ...

for the

Panhellenic Socialist Movement The Panhellenic Socialist Movement (, ), known mostly by its acronym PASOK (; , ), is a social-democratic political party in Greece. Until 2012 it was one of the two major parties in the country, along with New Democracy, its main political r ...

(PASOK): she served as Deputy Secretary of Foreign Affairs for six months in 2000.

Early life and education

Laiou was born in

on 6 April 1941 to a Greek family from Agios Gergios in

Boeotia Boeotia ( ), sometimes Latinisation of names, Latinized as Boiotia or Beotia (; modern Greek, modern: ; ancient Greek, ancient: ), is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the modern regions of Greece, region of Central Greece (adm ...

, Greece. She studied at the

Athens College Athens College (; formally Hellenic-American Educational Foundation (HAEF), Ελληνο-Αμερικανικό Εκπαιδευτικό Ίδρυμα) is a co-educational private preparatory school in Psychiko, Greece, a suburb of Athens, par ...

and continued her studies in the Philosophy School of 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 ...

(1958–59), where she studied under the Greek Byzantinist

Dionysios Zakythinos Dionysios A. Zakythinos or Zakythenos (; 1905 in Lixouri, Kefalonia – 18 January 1993, in Athens) was a leading Greek Byzantinist. Biography Zakythinos was born in Kefalonia in 1905. After graduating from the University of Athens in 1927, he w ...

, who awakened her interest in the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived History of the Roman Empire, the events that caused the ...

. She moved to

from where she graduated with her BA in 1961, and completed a post-graduate course and received her PhD from

in 1966, under the supervision of

Robert Lee Wolff Robert Lee Wolff (26 December 1915, New York City – 11 November 1980, Cambridge, Massachusetts) was a Harvard history professor, known for his 1956 book ''The Balkans in our time'' "This addition to the American Foreign Policy Library Series is ...

, one of the leading historians of the

Crusades The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and at times directed by the Papacy during the Middle Ages. The most prominent of these were the campaigns to the Holy Land aimed at reclaiming Jerusalem and its surrounding t ...

. Her doctoral thesis became the basis for her first book, published in 1972 as ''Constantinople and the Latins: The Foreign Policy of Andronicus II, 1282–1328''.

Academic career

In 1962, she went to lecture at the University of Louisiana, before returning to Harvard, where she stayed from 1966 to 1972, first as instructor and then as assistant professor. She then moved to

, where she remained until 1981, becoming distinguished professor. During this period, she also taught at Rutgers College of

. In 1981, she returned to Harvard to occupy the prestigious Dumbarton Oaks Professorship of Byzantine Studies, a post she held until her death. In 1985–88, she served as the head of Harvard's History Department and from 1989 until 1998 she headed the distinguished

Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection Dumbarton Oaks, formally the Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, is a historic estate in the Georgetown, Washington, D.C., Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. It was the residence and gardens of wealthy U.S. diplomat Rober ...

Washington, DC Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...

— the first woman to do so. With her Laiou pioneered the study of Byzantine and wider medieval society, and especially the role of women. Her article on ''The role of women in Byzantine society'', published in the ''Jahrbuch der österreichischen Byzantinistik'' in 1981, "opened a new field for scholars of Byzantium". Her works on ''Peasant Society in the Late Byzantine Empire'' (1977) and ''Mariage, Amour et Parenté à Byzance Aux XIe-XIIIe Siècles'' (1992) were among the first studies in their field. During her last years, she presided over the compilation of the three-volume ''Economic History of Byzantium'' (2002), a definitive work in this until then rather neglected field, followed up a few years later by ''The Byzantine Economy'' (2007), her last book. In her native Greece, she was honoured by being inducted into the Academy of Athens in 1998, only the second woman after the writer

Galateia Saranti Galateia (, , "Little Soldier") is a village in the Famagusta District of Cyprus, located on the Karpass peninsula. It is under the '' de facto'' control of Northern Cyprus, where it is a municipality belonging to the district of Iskele. A trad ...

, and by being decorated with the Commander class of the Order of Honour. Laiou was also a corresponding member of the

Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres The () is a French learned society devoted to history, founded in February 1663 as one of the five academies of the . The academy's scope was the study of ancient inscriptions (epigraphy) and historical literature (see Belles-lettres). History ...

, the

Austrian Academy of Sciences The Austrian Academy of Sciences (; ÖAW) is a legal entity under the special protection of the Republic of Austria. According to the statutes of the Academy its mission is to promote the sciences and humanities in every respect and in every fi ...

, a foreign member of the

Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts The Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (; , SANU) is a national academy and the most prominent academic institution in Serbia, founded in 1841 as Society of Serbian Letters (, DSS). The Academy's membership has included Nobel Prize, Nobel la ...

, a member of the

Medieval Academy of America The Medieval Academy of America (MAA; spelled Mediaeval until ) is the largest organization in the United States promoting the field of medieval studies. It was founded in 1925 and is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The academy publishes the q ...

and of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...

, and an honorary professor at

Nankai University Nankai University is a public university in Tianjin, China. It is affiliated with the Ministry of Education of China. The university is part of Project 211, Project 985, and the Double First-Class Construction. Nankai University was establ ...

Political career

In the April 2000 elections, she was elected as a member of the

on the list of the

. In May 2000, she was also named as Deputy Secretary of Foreign Affairs charged with relations with the

Greek diaspora The Greek diaspora, also known as Omogenia (), are the communities of Greeks living outside of Greece and Cyprus. Such places historically (dating to the ancient period) include, Greeks in Albania, Albania, Greeks in North Macedonia, North Maced ...

. Disappointed with the realities of the job, she resigned the post six months later to resume her academic activities, and resigned her Parliament seat as well in 2002.

Personal life

She was married to

Stavros Thomadakis Stavros Thomadakis is a Greek economist who served as chairman of the Hellenic Capital Market Commission, Professor of Finance at the University of Athens and chairman of the Public Interest Oversight Board. Academic career Thomadakis was born in ...

, a former chairman of the

Greek Capital Market Commission The Hellenic Capital Market Commission (HCMC; ), established as a legal entity by Greek Law in 1991 and organized by the Greek Law 2324 of 1995, aims to "ensure the protection and the orderly and efficient operation of the capital market, which ...

, whom she later divorced. She is survived by a son, Vassilis Thomadakis. Diagnosed with

thyroid cancer Thyroid cancer is cancer that develops from the tissues of the thyroid gland. It is a disease in which cells grow abnormally and have the potential to spread to other parts of the body. Symptoms can include swelling or a lump in the neck, ...

in September 2008, she died in Boston on 11 December 2008.

Major works

* * * * * * * * * * * *

References

External links

Full list of publications

Harvard University Faculty of Arts and Sciences Memorial Minute on Angeliki E. Laiou

Memorial Celebration for Angelikí Laiou, Dumbarton Oaks Director 1989-1998
{{DEFAULTSORT:Laiou, Angeliki 1941 births 2008 deaths Greek Byzantinists American Byzantinists Scholars of Byzantine history Members of the Academy of Athens (modern) Foreign ministers of Greece Greek MPs 2000–2004 PASOK politicians Heads of universities and colleges in the United States Harvard University faculty Harvard University Department of History faculty Rutgers University faculty Brandeis University faculty Academic staff of Nankai University University of Louisiana at Lafayette faculty Harvard University alumni Brandeis University alumni National and Kapodistrian University of Athens alumni Fellows of the Medieval Academy of America Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Members of Academia Europaea Corresponding members of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres Corresponding Members of the Austrian Academy of Sciences Members of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts Women Byzantinists Women government ministers of Greece Women members of the Hellenic Parliament Writers from Athens Politicians from Athens Deaths from thyroid cancer Deaths from cancer in Massachusetts Athens College alumni