Engagement, Infidelity and Divorce: Aspects of Greek Family Relations during the Ottoman Era

The present study sheds light to the social life of an Orthodox community under Ottoman rule, revealing aspects of family relationships, spouse?s behavior, women?s position and their rights in the local society of the time, communal affairs, long-standing local customs and traditions, the administrative mechanism of the community and the duties of Orthodox local administrators, their relations with the Ottoman officials as well as the Ottomans? attitude towards the Christian inhabitants. The article is based entirely on unpublished archival material of the 18th and 19th centuries. However, the family relations as well as the traditions and the administration of the community of Chios Island, seem not to differ from previous centuries, namely the 16th and 17th centuries as the same traditions and customs in matters of family relations and family law existed.