The author, Alexios G. K. Savvidis (Athens, 1955), is a professor of History of the Medieval and Byzantine Periods at the Department of History, Archaeology, and Cultural Heritage Management at the University of Peloponnese (Kalamata), where he served as President during the period of 2010-2015.

From 1985 to 2001, he was a researcher of Byzantine History at the Center (Institute) for Byzantine Studies of the National Hellenic Research Foundation in Athens, and in 2001 he was elected associate professor in the Department of Mediterranean Studies at the University of the Aegean in Rhodes, where he became a full professor in 2005.

Since 1987, he has founded and directed the scientific journal Byzantine Demos, and since 1996, he has been the editorial coordinator of the Encyclopedic Biographical Dictionary of Byzantine History and Culture, which has been published in an English translation in Belgium by the Brepols publishing house since 2007.

He has authored books, monographs, studies-articles, and book reviews on a wide range of medieval historical topics and has collaborated, among others, on collective works of international prestige, such as the Encyclopedia of Islam and the Encyclopedia of the Crusades.

Since 2010, he has been the Vice President of the Committee for Pontic Studies (Athens). At the same time, his long-standing interests in classical music have recently transformed into writing, among other things, a specialized biographical dictionary titled: The Great Conductors.