Speros Vryonis, Greek-American Historian, dead at 90



Speros Vryonis, Greek-American Historian, dead at 90

published in ekathimerini.com 13 March 2019

Excerpts from article:

Speros Vryonis, the Greek-American historian and esteemed professor also known for his extensive research on the 1955 pogrom targeting the Greeks of Istanbul, has died. He was 90.

Born in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1928, Vryonis was the son of Greek migrants from the Ionian island of Cephalonia. He received his BA from Southwestern College, Memphis, Tennessee, majoring in ancient history and classics, before earning a postgraduate degree and a PhD from Harvard University for a thesis on “The internal history of Byzantium during the time of troubles, 1057-81.”

His books include “The Decline of Medieval Hellenism in Asia Minor and the Process of Islamization from the Eleventh through the Fifteenth Century” (1971), “The Mechanism of Catastrophe: The Turkish Pogrom of September 6-7, 1955, and the Destruction of the Greek Community of Istanbul” (2005), and “Byzantium and Europe” (1968).



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