Sophia Laiou is Associate Professor of Ottoman History at the Department of History, at Ionian University. She graduated from the Department of History and Archaeology of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, she received a Master’s degree from the University of Birmingham and a PhD from the Department of History and Archaeology of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. Dr. Laiou’s research interest focuses on social and economic Ottoman history. Among her publications are the following: Η Σάμος κατά την οθωμανική περίοδο, Θεσσαλονίκη 2002; Τα οθωμανικά έγγραφα της μονής Βαρλαάμ Μετεώρων, Αθήνα 2011; «Το δίκτυο των βακουφίων της πόλης των Τρικάλων, 15ος-16ος αιώνας», Ιόνιος Λόγος 1 (2007), 125-150; «Diverging realities of a Christian vakıf, sixteenth to eighteenth centuries», Turkish Historical Review 3/1 (2012), 1-18; «Between Pious Generosity and Faithful Service to the Ottoman State: Nikolaos Mavrogenis’ Vakıf (End of the 18th Century), Turkish Historical Review 6/2 (2015), 151-174; «Economic Networks in the Eastern Mediterranean: Kâtiboğlu Mehmed Efendi and his Christian Partner», Mediterranean Historical Review 34/2 (2019), 181-194; «Ottoman Greek Entrepreneurs in Istanbul in the Early 1800s», in M. Christina Chatziioannou-S. Laiou (eds.), Wealth accumulation and entrepreneurship in the Ottoman Empire (18th-20th centuries), London-New York 2024, p. 48-62.

“I am honoured to participate in the Muhabbet. For a Greek historian, the study of Ottoman history offers a ‘bird’s eye view’ of the past, which helps to overcome or reconsider certainties and delve into historical issues with sobriety. Muhabbet contributes to it greatly.”

Sophia Laiou