Kyra Vassiliki

Vassiliki Kontaxi, nicknamed Kyra Vassiliki (, Lady Vassiliki, c. 1789–1834), was an ethnic Greek woman brought up in the seraglio of the Ottoman ruler Ali Pasha. Having granted her father pardon, Ali Pasha married Vassiliki in 1808 and she joined his harem. During this period she undertook a number of charity initiatives. In 1819–20 she financed a number of restoration works in Mount Athos.

In January 1822, during the last stage of the siege of Ioannina by the Ottoman Sultan's forces, Vassiliki together with Ali Pasha and his private guard escaped to Ioannina Island. Ali Pasha was executed there on January 22 by an Ottoman delegation, having been declared an outlaw by the Sultan. Following Ali's death, Vassiliki was sent as a prisoner to the Ottoman capital, Constantinople. She was later pardoned and returned to Greece, which meanwhile gained its independence after the successful Greek War of Independence (1821–30). She died of dysentery in 1834.

In art and literature In 1895, the gold-embroidered velvet purse of Vassiliki was bought by Nikolaos Konstantinidis for 25 drachmas. Vassiliki was depicted by various artists. She is mentioned in a number of 19th-century novels, such as in Alexandre Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo and by English author Richard A. Davenport in his The Life of Ali Pasha of Tepeleni, Vizier of Epirus.