RESEARCH TEAM
Principal Investigator / Post-doc Researcher
ARISTEA GRATSEA
Aristea Gratsea studied in the Department of Philology (Classical Philology) at Aristotle University of Thessalonik (2015). She has a Master from the Department of History of Ionio University (2015-2017). She completed her doctoral dissertation (The maritime activity of Candia during the 15th and 16th century) in the University of Crete (Department of History and Archaeology) with a scholarship from the State Scholarships Foundation (ΙΚΥ). She has conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Crete and the Institute for Mediterranean Studies (IMS-FORTH). She was a Research Fellow at the Hellenic Institute of Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Studies in Venice (2022-2023).
Her research interests include the economic and social history of the Mediterranean during the Late Middle Ages and the early modern period, with a focus on Venice and its possessions in the Eastern Mediterranean; trade and maritime activity; prosopography; commercial networks; long-distance, regional, and small-to-medium scale trade; economic practices.
Publications and conference presentations: https://crete.academia.edu/AristeaGratsea
ADVISORY BOARD
ELENI SAKELLARIOU
Eleni Sakellariou studied history and archaeology at the University of Athens and medieval history at the University of Cambridge. She teaches medieval history at the Department of History and Archaeology of the University of Crete.
Her research interests focus on the institutional, social, and economic history of the Mediterranean in the late Middle Ages, with an emphasis on the Italian peninsula and the eastern Mediterranean. As part of her research on the late medieval economy, she studies the role of natural resources (including salt) in shaping the specific characteristics of local economies and their interconnection with local and regional communication and exchange networks.
Personal website: https://www.history-archaeology.uoc.gr/en/the-department/research-and-teaching-staff-2/eleni-sakellariou/
ANGELIKI PANOPOULOU
Angeliki Panopoulou is a graduate of the Department of History and Archaeology at the University of Crete and holds a PhD from the same department. She has been a research fellow at the Hellenic Institute of Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Studies in Venice. She works at the Institute of Historical Research of the National Hellenic Research Foundation, participating in research programs both within and outside the Institute. She has organized academic conferences and has collaborated repeatedly with the Piraeus Bank Group Cultural Foundation.
Her research interests focus on issues of economy, society, and the management of the environment and natural resources in the Venetian territories within the Greek region. She has published books, studies, and articles, and has edited collective volumes.
PINUCCIA FRANCA SIMBULA
Pinuccia F. Simbula teaches Medieval History and History of Medieval Trade and Navigation at the University of Sassari. Her research interests focus on the economic and social history of the late Middle Ages, with particular attention to the western Mediterranean area. She has explored aspects related to the production and exploitation of productive resources, taxation on the circulation of goods, the relationship between production areas and markets, and trade networks. Her research addresses social, cultural, and material issues related to medieval navigation (maritime wages, privateering, the culture of seafarers, shipbuilding) and the evolution of port networks in the dynamics of trade