Panagiotis Nikousios

Panagiotis Nikousios (Greek: Παναγιώτης Νικούσιος; 1613 – 2 October 1673) was a Phanariote Greek physician and the first Christian Grand Dragoman (chief interpreter) of the Ottoman Porte, holding the office from c. 1661 to his death in 1673. Nikousios was very well educated, having received instruction by the Jesuits in Chios, and gone on to attend the Patriarchal Academy in Constantinople and the University of Padua, where he studied medicine. On his return, he became personal physician to Köprülüzade Fazıl Ahmed Pasha, and when the latter became Grand Vizier in 1661, he appointed Nikousios as the first Grand Dragoman. He played an important role in the negotiations that ended the long Siege of Candia in 1669, and amassed a great library with many valuable manuscripts. His appointment as Grand Dragoman marks the start of the Phanariotes' rise to high political offices in the Ottoman government.