Petros K. Vlachakos

Born on December 3, 1959, in Vasiliki, Laconia, the author pursued studies in Byzantine and Modern Greek Philology at the School of Philosophy of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (A.U.Th.) from 1977 to 1981. He completed his postgraduate studies at the same institution's Department of Graduate Studies, earning a master's degree in history with distinction in 1984. From 1982 to 1984 and again from 1985 to December 1988, he worked on the research project "Dictionary of Medieval Greek Vernacular Literature (1100 - 1669)" at the Center for Byzantine Research of A.U.Th. under the supervision of Professor Emmanuel Kriaras, serving as a scientific associate and contributor to the dictionary. In September 1989, he was appointed to Secondary Education and served at the Terpni Serres High School until 1993. From September 1, 1993, he was seconded to the General State Archives - Serres Prefecture Archives, where he served and held the position of head until August 31, 1996. On September 1, 1996, he was transferred to the Thessaloniki Prefecture, taking up a position at Stavros Beach High School, and from December 13, 1996, he assumed the directorship of Arethousa Gymnasium in Thessaloniki Prefecture. From September 1, 1997, he was granted educational leave to pursue his doctoral dissertation in the Department of History and Archaeology at the School of Philosophy of A.U.Th. His dissertation, titled "Elements of Physical Geography and Human Geography in the Work of Nikephoros Gregoras," was supervised by Professor Alkmini Stavridou-Zafraka. In June 1999, he received his doctoral degree with distinction (unanimous decision by the seven-member examination committee) (conferred on June 29, 1999). Since September 1999, he has been seconded to the General State Archives - Kilkis Prefecture Archives, where he organized the newly established archival service and continues to serve. He has published numerous historical and toponymic studies related to the regions of Serres and Laconia, as well as studies on Byzantine history, medieval and modern Greek philology, archival science, and the teaching of literature in journals such as "Historico-Geographical," "Philologist," "Byzantina," "Byzantinaka," "Serres Analects," "Philological Works Album of Serres Prefecture," "Serres Chronicles," "Why," "Siris," "Proceedings of the 1st Scientific Symposium of Nigrita," "Proceedings of the 2nd Scientific Symposium of Nigrita," "Proceedings of the International Conference of Serres," with other works currently in print. He has participated with historical presentations at the International Conference of Serres (September 29 - October 3, 1993), the 1st and 2nd Scientific Symposiums of Nigrita Serres (November 1993 and October 1996, under the auspices of the Society for Macedonian Studies), the 20th and 21st Panhellenic Historical Conferences of the Greek Historical Society (Thessaloniki, May 28 - 30, 1999, and May 27 - 29, 2000), and the 6th Panhellenic Conference on Hellenism in Asia Minor (November 24, 25, 26, 2000). He attended and participated in archival science conferences (Sparta, December 8 - 11, 1993, pre-conference seminar in Thessaloniki on October 10 and 11, 1994, within the framework of the International Conference of the Round Table on Archives (CITRA) in French), the International Round Table "Selection and Disposal of Archives: Methods and Concerns," organized by the Ministry of Education and the General State Archives - Historical Archive of Macedonia, held in Thessaloniki on June 12 - 13, 2002. He has attended training seminars of the 2nd Regional Training Center of Thessaloniki (1996, 1998) and Panhellenic Conferences on the teaching of the Greek language in Primary and Secondary Education. He worked as a research associate for Professor Emmanuel Kriaras on the "Dictionary of Modern Greek Language," which was published in 1995 by Ekdotiki Athinon S.A. He was a member of the Board of Directors of the Philologists' Association of the Serres Prefecture and the editorial committee of its magazine "Siris" from March 31, 1994. From February 13, 1997, he was a member of the Board of Directors of the Philologists' Association of the Thessaloniki Prefecture until January 2001, during which he participated as an organizing secretary in the organization of several lectures and seminars, both philological and historical. He is a member of the Society for Byzantine Research and the Greek Archival Society.