Strauss Millets and The Ottoman Language

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THE MILLETS AND THE OTTOMAN LANGUAGE:
THE CONTRIBUTION OF OTTOMAN GREEKS TO
OTTOMAN LETTERS (19th-20th CENTURIES)
BY
JOHANN STRAUSS
Freiburg
When one considers the relations between Greeks and Turks

during the Ottoman period, one is surprised to see how little evi-
dence there is of literary contact. The impact of the Turkish lan-
guage on the vernacular language of the subject population is well
documented. But at a higher level, one has the impression that the
two communities lived in almost complete ignorance of each other's
cultural traditions, literature, and literary language. Indeed, there
is hardly a single recorded instance of a member of one community
using the literary language of the other as a medium of literary ex-
pression.1
Admittedly, the literary languages of the two communities-on
1 Cf. the bibliography by P Chidiroglou, "BtiptoypoaplKfi EugpoXfiei;q Tiv

'EX%VlIKfivToupKicoXoyav," Epetenrs tou Kentrou Epzstbnonikon Spoudon (Nicosia
1975-77), pp. 253-405 [reprinted in EZvuo CTTaTrvEkXXt7vIKToupK:oXoyia,vol. I
(Athens 1990)]. Major histories of Modern Greek literature(Dimaras, Politis, etc.)
never mention writings by Greeks in Ottoman. Much the same is true of studies
devoted to the role of Greeks in the Ottoman Empire (cf. e.g. A. Alexandris "Oi
"EXTvves;oCiv 6RTripeciaTfiq'O00copavIKcf;
Ai)TOKpaTop(a;c, 1850-1921" Deltiontes
Historikes kat EthnologiktsHetaireats tes Hellados 23 (1980), pp. 365-404). In Turkish
works, they fare little better. Perhaps not surprisingly, non-Muslims are excluded
from Bursali Mehmed Tahir's comprehensive repertory of Ottoman writers
(cOsmanhMiPelliflern, 3 vols., Istanbul 1333-42 [1914-23]), whereas in Mehmed
Suireyya's bibliographical dictionary (Sicill-i cOsmanf,4 vols., Istanbul 1308-11
[1890-93] non-Muslims are relegated to the appendix (Hatime)of vol. IV (pp.
872 - 79 where occasionally referencesare also made to their literary achievements).
The names of a few Greek writers occur in more recent works on literary history
but they do not seem to warrant a more comprehensive treatment. The articles in-
cluded in Benjamin Braude-Bernard Lewis (eds.), ChristtansandJews in the Ottoman
Emptre.TheFunctioning of a PluralSociety,2 vols., London 1982, also have very little
to say on this subject.
? E.J. Brill, Leiden, 1995 Die WeltdesIslams35, 2
190 JOHANN STRAUSS
the one hand, the archaic variety of Modern Greek which had such
fervent supporters among the elite of the community, and on the
other, the elaborate and ornate language used by the Ottoman chan-
cery and the majority of poets and writers-were highly sophisti-
cated as regards orthography, lexicon, and stylistic possibilities. It
is also perhaps not surprisingthat the Ottoman Turks failed to make
a significant contribution to Greek letters as long as their interest in
foreign languages was limited to Arabic and Persian, which formed
an integral part of the training of the educated classes, and which
were not too foreign, since elements of these languages had to a large
extent been incorporatedinto the Ottoman literary language.2 This
phenomenon is much more puzzling in the case of the Greek Ortho-
dox community, for the office of Translator of the Imperial Divan
known as the "Grand Dragomans of
(Divan-z Hiimayun terciimanlarn,
the Porte" in the West)-the highest public office open to non-
Muslim subjects in the Ottoman Empire at that time-was held ex-
clusively by members of this community for more than one and a
half centuries; this was primarily due to their linguistic skills, and
in particular to their perfect knowledge of the elaborate Ottoman
literary language.
2 Although it is somewhat problematic, this term will be used in this paper for
the generally more elaborate variety of Ottoman Turkish which had developed on
the basis of Persian models and whose usage was widespread both in the chancery
and in the literature. The literary language of the Ottoman period still lacks a com-
prehensive and adequate description. (For some characteristics see Alessio Bom-
baci, "The Turkic literatures. Introductorynotes on the history and style," Philolo-
gzae TurctcaeFundamenta,vol. II. Aquis Mattiacis 1964, pp. XI-LXXII; esp.
pp. XXVII-XXX, Barbara Flemmlng, "Bemerkungen zur tuirkischenProsa vor
der Tanzimat-Zeit", Der Islam 50 (1973), pp. 157-67). Authors of the Ottoman
period did not usually distinguish between different registers and employed terms
like (lisan-) tiirki/losmani
or turkce,indiscriminately referringboth to the written and
spoken language. The same applies to most Ottoman Greek scholars who use the
terms othomanike or tourkikgl6ssa.
Since we are dealing with written literature, we shall not refer to folk-literature,
where more points of contact (although of a different nature) may be discovered.
Writings in Karamanlh (Turkish in Greek script), whose language does not differ
from standard Ottoman, have been excluded because this literature developed in
almost complete isolation from Ottoman literature (it does not, incidentally, con-
tain any "original" work in the proper sense). Furthermore, very few Muslim
Turks seem to have been aware of its very existence.
THE MILLETS AND THE OTTOMAN LANGUAGE 191
The Phanartots
It appears that until the early nineteenth century, a thorough
knowledge of this language was the monopoly of some eminent
Phanariot3 families.
When the Ottomans were at the height of their power, the edu-
cated class regarded it as beneath them to learn a European lan-
guage. This dismissive attitude, however, cut them off from direct
contact with Western nations. Thus, when the demands of domestic
policy and international diplomacy made it necessary to negotiate
with the representatives of foreign powers, they had to rely on the
services of those who possessed the necessary skills-namely,
familiarity with foreign countries and foreign languages. Initially,
these had been mainly more or less well educated converts (Poles,
Hungarians, Germans, etc.); but in the 1660s, Panayotis Nikous-
sios [NtKottnog;; Panayot Efendi] (1613 - 73), who had studied at the
University of Padua, succeeded in gaining the confidence of the
Ottoman grand vizier K6priuluiFazil Ahmed Pasha (1635-76) and
suggested that the Ottoman government should have at its disposal
a permanent staff of trained interpreters recruited from among its
own subjects rather than relying on European converts or even per-
sons in the service of foreign legations.4 Thus the office of the
"Grand Dragoman of the Porte" was created; subsequently a sec-
ond post-equally reserved for non-Muslims-the office of the
Dragoman of the Fleet (Tersane tercumanz),5was also set up.
3 The termderivesfromthe Phanar(Turkish:Fener)districtin Istanbulwhere

thesefamiliesusedto live (cf. the articles"Fenerliler"(AurelDecei),IslamAnsiklo-
pedisiIV, 547- 50, "Fener"(J.H. Mordtmann),Encyclopaedia ofIslam,2ndedition,
II, pp. 879-80); see alson. 189).On thesemanticdevelopmentof thisterm,whose
use becamewidespreadin the West only in the nineteenthcentury,cf. Andrei
Pippidi,Hommes et tdeesduSud-esteuropeen a l'aubedel'dgemoderne,Bucharestand
Paris 1980, esp. pp. 342-50.
4 Nikoussioshimselfwas until the CandiaCampaignconjointlydragomanof
theImperialGermanEmbassyandof thePorte(seeJosephvonHammer,Geschichte
desOsmanmschen Retches VI,Pesth1830[Repr.Graz1963],p. 266). - On Panayotis
Nikoussiossee Epam. I. Stamatiades,Btoypapialr&v'EX).vMov MeydxAwvAwp-
peviov roo '00pogavxKoOKpdrovc, Athens 1865 [repr. Salonica 1973], pp. 29-60;
I.H. Uzunqarpili,Osmanli Merkezve BahnyeTejkildtt,2nd ed., Ankara
Devletinin
1984,pp. 71-76. Cf. alsoJosephvonHammer'sjudgement, GORVI, pp.274-75).
5 "Translatorof the NavalArsenal" The Tersanetercimamn
or Dragomanof the
Fleet was attachedto the personof the KapudanPa4a-the High Admiralof the
192 JOHANN STRAUSS
From 1711 onwards members of the Phanariot community, who

had previously held the posts of Dragoman of the Fleet and Drago-
man of the Porte, were regularly appointed by the Ottomans to the
governorship of the two Danubian principalities, Wallachia and
Moldavia, with the title of voyvodaor bey, commonly known as hospo-
dars in the West. The role played by the Grand Dragomans and
Hospodars in promoting Greek culture and literature is well known
and gratefully acknowledged by Greek and-to a lesser extent-by
Rumanian scholars.6 But to what extent did they also contribute to
Ottoman letters?
Some Phanariots are quite explicit in this respect. "Prince" Alex-
ander Handjeri (1759-1854) says in the preface to his famous
French-Ottoman dictionary (vide infra) that "Les Grecsemployesdans
la partiediplomatiquedu CabinetTurc, n 'ontpas peu contribued l 'enrichichir
de belles traductions,en creant,par la combinaisondes trots langues [Ott.
Elstne-i Seldse, i.e. Arabic, Persian, and Turkish], beaucoupde mots
dont le besomnd'exprtmerdes ides nouvellesavatt necessttelaformatton, et que
la Porte a adoptes".7 This interesting idea has not yet been followed
up, but it may well be that it was a Greek dragoman who found the
Turkish equivalents for such terms as "political freedom" and "in-
dependence", said to have been used first in the Treaty of Kuiigik
Kaynarca (1774).8
Ottoman Fleet - during the latter's annual cruise in the Mediterranean, when he
collected the taxes from the islands. (On this office see V Sfyroeras, OiApayoidvoi
toO zT6Xou. '0 Oeap6i Kai of (o6peis, Athens 1965). Dragomans of a more local im-
portance existed in Cyprus and various other provinces (See art. "Tercuiman"
(Cengiz Orhonlu), IsldmAnsiklopedist12/1, pp. 175-81).
6 See the contributions in the proceedings of the
joint Greco-Rumanian sympo-
sium Symposium L'Epoque Phanarnote21-25 octobre1970, Salonica 1974.
7 Dictionnaire
Turc-Arabe-Persan
(see n. 55), I., p. 1. This idea seems to have been
very popular among Greeks. It had already been expressed by Handjeri's predeces-
sor Georges Rhadis (vide infra) in a similar way- ,. quant a ce quz a rapportaux ex-
pressions diplomatiques,on sait fort bien que c 'est au traducteursgrecs que l'on est redevablede
tous les termesnouveaux,employes,depuis quelqueterms, dans la ridacttondes pieces offictelles
que la Porte ottomanese trouvedans le cas d'echangeravec les diffcrenscabznetsde l'Europe.
Ce mene systemede nomenclature,est suivi maintenantpar les traducteursturcsqui veulentin-
troduiredans leur langue les productionsetrangeres,et l 'on n 'a qu 'a parcourtrattentivementles
traductionspublices dernierementa Constantinople,pour se convatncreque les znterprctesturcs
nefont que marchersur les tracesdes traducteursgrecs , (Vocabulatrefrancots-turc(see n.
51) pp. 4-5).
8 Bernard Lewis, The Polittcal
Language of Islam, Chicago 1988, p. 109
Although the cosmopolitan Phanarlot dragomans, with their

mastery of the Ottoman language, were particularly well placed to
transmit new ideas and help fill the enormous gaps in the Ottomans'
knowledge of Western history and civilisation, this potential was
hardly tapped. Whereas the Hungarian convert Ibrahim Mfitefer-
rika (1674-1745) introduced the printing press in the Ottoman
Empire and himself translated several books from European lan-
guages,9 very little is known about the translation activity of the
Phanariots until the second half of the eighteenth century.10 It is
only during the period of the reform movement in the Ottoman
Empire under Sultan Selim III (1789-1807) known as Nizam-z
Cedidll-when the demand for such work had become even more
urgent-that we find the first notable contribution by a Phanarlot:
the Grand Dragoman Constantine Alexander Ypsilanti ['Ywvlqadv-
TjI;; Kostantin Ipsilanti] (1760-1816) translated from the French
three treatises on .military subjects intended for the training of
officers of the new army at the request of the chief secretary (re)zsi
l-kiittab) Mehmed Ra?id Efendi (d. 1798); these works were even
printed-a rare occurrence at the time.12 They were apparently
9 Two of these-rather dry-translations are described by V.L. Menage,

"Three Ottoman Treatises on Europe", C.E. Bosworth (ed.), Iran and Islam,
Edinburgh 1971, pp. 421-23. Miiteferrika is also said to have translated count
Raimondo Montecuccoli's Commentarii belliciinto Ottoman Turkish (see Abdiilhak
Adnan-Adivar, OsmanhTirklenndeIlim,Istanbul 1970, pp. 165-66, who, however,
contests Miiteferrika's translatorship). This translation (of which only one
manuscript seems to have been preserved at the Bibliotheque Nationale)was widely
circulated and was read extensively by Ottoman statesmen or historians like
Ahmed Cevdet (videinfra).
10 Short treatises on European affairs seem to have occasionally been drawn up
by the Phanarlot dragomans at the request of Ottoman statesmen. They may still
be preserved as manuscripts. Perhaps the last compilation of this type dates from
1809. It was written by Demetrius Mourouzis (executed in 1811). See Ottocar v
Schlechta-Wssehrd,Die osmantschen Geschichtsschreiberderneueren
Zeit, Vienna 1856,
p. 17
11 On Selim III's reforms see Stanford S. Shaw, BetweenOldandNew. The Otto-
manEmptreunderSultanSelimIII (1789-1807), Cambridge-Massachusetts 1971.
12 Fenn-iHarb, Istanbul 1207 [1792]; Fenn-iLagzm,Istanbul 1208 [1793]; and
Fenn-iMuhdsara,Istanbul 1209 [1794]. The original works were some classics of
militaryliteratureby BernardForest de Belidor ( 16972- 1761) and Vauban ( 1633-
1707). The engravings were made by two Armenian artists, Kapriyel and Stepan
Efendi. (See Alpay Kabacali, Tirk KitapTarihiI. Baolangziftan Tanzimat'akadar,2nd
ed., Istanbul 1989, pp. 63-64).
194 JOHANN STRAUSS
highly appreciated since the translatorwas promptly promoted and

obtained the hospodarship of Moldavia (twice: 1799-1801; 1807)
and of Wallachia (1802 - 07). 13
Thestudyof the Ottomanliterarylanguage

Some enlightened Phanariot rulers in the Danubian principalities
are known to have made a remarkablecontribution towards raising
the standardsof education and training. But this hardly affected the
study of the Ottoman language. At the academies of Jassy and
Bucharest Ottoman Turkish was taught very sporadically;and, sig-
nificantly enough, not a single name of a Turkish language teacher
has come to light so far 14 As a matter of fact, the Turcophone
Phanariots seem to have been ratherjealous of their monopoly, as
some Ottoman Greeks, who were less concerned about the transmis-
sion of their knowledge, complained in the nineteenth century:
"Given the almost complete lack of essential books for Greeks to
study the Turkish language, it is fair to say that the Phanariots had
no great desire to transmit [the knowledge of this language], a ten-
dency accentuated by the fact that they apparently considered the
Turkish language a sort of family property".15 This attitude is
also borne out by contemporary accounts. Marc Philip Zallony
(1782-?), a Roman Catholic Greek from Tinos, who, as a physi-
cian, had acquired an intimate knowledge of this milieu, says in his
Essay on the Fananotesthat "it is with difficulty that the [native]
Boyars obtain the authority of the Prince to instruct their children
in the Turkish", because he "fears that these young people may ar-
rive by their knowledge in the language to the Dragomanate, and
13 Cf. Stamatiades, Bloypaqpiai,pp. 152-55. Ypsilanti's translation of Vau-

ban's Trattedesmines(Fenn-ilagim)was also known to the Ottoman historian Ahmed
Cevdet (1823-95), who refersto it in his famous chronicle (Tarih-iCevdet[final edi-
tion] I, Istanbul 1309 [1892] p. 222; see Zeki Arikan, "Cevdet Paa'nin Tarihinde
kullandigi yabanci kaynaklarve terimler", AhmedCevdetPapaSemtmen 27-28Mayts
1985. Bildiriler,Istanbul 1986, 173-97; p. 185).
14 Ion Matei, "Contributions aux debuts des etudes de Turcologie en Rou-
manie, XVc-XVIIIe siecles", RevuedesEtudessud-esteuropeennes XXVI/2 (1988),
pp. 99-111, p. 109
15 Alexander Constantmidis, Mintahabit- a'sar-icosmanyye(see n. 123) (Greek
preface), p. 10.
afterwards to the Hospodariate, a situation in which they might in-

jure him, and even destroy the remaining shadow of his power".
When the permission of the Prince was granted, he writes, it was "a
great subject of joy to a Boyar family".16
The study of the Ottoman literary language itself was, however,
no easy matter Textbooks and grammars being scarce or non-
existent (at least in Greek), the problem was to find a suitable
teacher (hoca), because none of the traditional Islamic institutions of
higher education-neither the Palace school (EnderunMektebi) nor
the medrese-were open to non-Muslims. Those interested in acquir-
ing a knowledge of the Ottoman literary language therefore had to
overcome the Muslims' reluctance to teach it to non-Muslims.
According to some sources, this was even considered contrary to
Islamic law. There might well be some truth in the assertion that
"every Mussulman who teaches his literal tongue to an infidel-he
who learns the language of infidels, and he who serves them, can
only be considered as half a Mussulman' ",17 since this attitude even
affected popular attitudes among the Ottoman Turks concerning the
study of the Persian language.18
The interested parties had therefore to take considerable pains to
encourage the hoca to undertake this task. One way to secure the
services of a hocawas to promise to appoint him as a secretary (divan
efendisi) if his pupil should one day accede to the Hospodariate. But
even the efforts of dedicated hocas often proved fruitless faced with
the difficulties of the Ottoman literary language, which could not be
learned without a rudimentary knowledge of Arabic and Persian.
Students became discouraged and learnt nothing, despite the lively
exhortations of their parents, who pointed out to them that mastery
of this language offered good prospects of obtaining the hospodar-
ship of one of the principalities, with all the attendant glory and
power that this would bring for their family 19
16 See Charles Swan, Journal a voyageup theMediterranean;

of principallyamongthe
islandsof theArchipelago, and in Asta Minorto whtchts addedan Essayon theFanarzotes
[orig. EssatsurlesFanarnotes (Marseilles 1824)], translatedfrom the French of Mark
Philip Zallony, a Greek, 2 vols., London 1826, vol. 2, p. 360.
17 Zallony, op. cit., p. 361, note *
18 Cf. the Turkish saying "Her ktmokurFdrsflgtderdintnyartns"("Anyone who
studies Persian loses half of his religion").
19 According to
Zallony, this aversion resulted to a large extent from the fact
196 JOHANN STRAUSS
Iak6vos Argyropoulos(1776-1850)
Among those who had apparently mastered these difficulties was

the Phanariot Argyropulo family.20 In the late eighteenth century
members of this family were renowned for their erudition, particu-
larly in the field of Oriental languages: Lucas Argyropoulos, who
was for a long time employed by his brother-in-law, Alexander, in
Moldavia and acted as an Ottoman negotiator with the Russians
in 1811, is said to have been honoured with the title of hoca even
by Muslim Turks.21 His younger brother Iakovos (1776-1850),
known as Yakovaki22 Efendi by the Ottomans, has been called one
of the "key-figures'"23 of the reform movement which was faltering
at the turn of the century. Particularly important in our context is
Yakovaki Efendi's contribution to Ottoman letters: the Ottomans
owe to him the first up-to-date geography in their language, as well
as the first translation of a historiographical work on European his-
tory that appeared in print.
Yakovaki Efendi had a typical Phanariot career. After holding the
post of a secretary to the Patriarch, he was sent on a diplomatic mis-
sion to Berlin (1804), and became Dragoman of the Fleet and
kapukethiidaof the island of Andros.24 In 1812, he was promoted to
the rank of Grand Dragoman, an office which he lost in 1815 due
that the Hospodar granted his permission only on the express condition that the
child should be instructed first in Greek and French. "The charm of these two
idioms, and the attraction of the works which can be read in them, contribute to
render the study of the Turkish altogether disagreeable" Therefore the ruling
Hospodar used to adopt in the education of his own sons the very opposite of this
system; they learned no foreign language before they were tolerably conversant in
Turkish. Experience proved this practice to be highly effective (Zallony, op. cit.,
p. 361).
20 On this family see E.R. R[hangabf]: Ltvred'Orde la Noblessephanartote et des
familles pnncieresde Valachteet de Moldavie,Athens 1904, p. 1-5; Sp. Lampros,
'Apyvporovszta, Athens 1910.
21 Stamatiades, Bzoypa(fiat,p. 165.
22 Since family names were unknown among the Ottomans, for Christian
dig-
nitaries, as well, only first names were used, usually in the diminuitive form. In
this case, however, this form was considered as very respectfuland was the privilege
of the members of aristocratic families.
23 Bernard Lewis, The Muslim Dtscoveryof Europe,New York-London 1982,
p. 314, note 22.
24 On his activities during that period see Sphyroeras, Of Apayopdvoi,
pp. 160-63.
to the intrigues of his competitor Michael Soutzo (1778 (1784?)-

1864). Although he aspired to the hospodarship, he and his family
were included from candidacy due to a special arrangement by some
leading Phanariot families which was given official sanction by the
Ottoman government.25 After the outbreak of the Greek Revolu-
tion in 1821 Yakovaki Efendi was exiled first to Qorum and Ankara,
and subsequently to Bursa, where he remained until 1829 When
the Porte sent him to St. Petersburg, he escaped and fled to Greece.
He lived in Athens until his death in 1850 He is said to have also
translated Virgil and Montesquieu's Esprit des Lots into Modern
Greek, but these works are lost, as are his memoirs.26
Al-CIgalaal-gugrafiyya
The results of Yakovaki Efendi's earlier literary activities are bet-
ter known and in many respects are also more significant. At the be-
ginning of the nineteenth century, he had been entrusted with the
task of translating into Ottoman a geographical work written in
French by Mahmud Ra'if Efendi, another key figure of the Nizam-i
Cedid era,27 who had been secretary to the Ottoman Embassy in
Britain under Yusuf Agah Efendi (who also had several Greeks
among his staff). During his stay in Europe he had acquired a cer-
tain proficiency in French, which even led him to write his report
(sefaretname)in that language;28 he was the first person in Ottoman
history to do so. Another product of his stay in Europe was a geo-
graphical treatise according to modern principles, also composed in
25 Also among those who were excluded was Alexander Handjeri (vide infra).
However, both men were grantedvery generous pensions by the sultan (See Andrei
Otetea, "La desagregation du regime phanariote", Symposium L'Epoque Phanariote
(cited n. 6), pp. 439-45).
26 See the biographical sketch by his son Manuel in Lampros, 'Apyvpozro6)tea,
pp. 113-18.
27 See Hiisrev Hatemi's introduction to the new edition of Mahmud Ra'if's
famous Tableau des nouveaux reglementsde I'Empire Ottoman (Constantinople 1798):
Osmanli Imparatorlu~jundaYeni Nizamlarin Cedveli, translated and edited by Arslan
Terzioglu and Hiisrev Hatemi, Istanbul 1988, pp. IX-XXI.
28 Strangely enough, the
,Journal du voyagede Mahmoud Raif Efendi en Angleterre,
ecritpar luy menmestill remains unpublished. (The manuscript is preserved in the
Topkapi Sarayi, III. Ahmed Kutfiphanesi, Nr. 3707 ).
198 JOHANN STRAUSS
French. This work was presented to Selim III, who apparently ap-
preciated it. Mahmud Ra'if Efendi's other commitments did not,
however, allow him (he had by then become rePsiil-kiittab)to pro-
duce an Ottoman version of it, so that this task went to the "poly-
glot" (lisan-afina)Yakovaki Efendi, who completed the translation
in relatively short time. By Imperial decree, the translation was
checked and revised (where necessary) by Mahmud Ra'if Efendi
himself and by the then ruznamfe-i evvel and official chronicler
(vakcaniivs) Ahmed Vasif (1739-1806), who had also been in the
diplomatic service. The latter also wrote the preface of this work.
After having been presented to the Sultan, the work, together with
an atlas (CedidAtlastercemest,
which had been completed earlier), was
printed in 1804 in the newly establishedDarut-tzbaCz
l-amzrein Uskii-
dar under the title Al-Igala al-gugrafiyya.29
Given the numerous lacunae in the geographicalknowledge of the
Ottomans at that time, this sumptuous volume constituted a signifi-
cant step in the process of modernization initiated by the Sultan.
The preface leaves no doubt about this: until Selim III ascended to
the throne "the mathematical sciences had been abandoned and
neglected in the Islamic countries simply because for love of idleness
and indolence".30 The writer of the preface, though aware of fa-
mous works like Idrisi's KitabRugarand Katib Qelebi's Cihanniimd,
found these written "in the way of the ancients". The older Otto-
man geographers were heavily criticised: the introduction to the
Cihanniimawas considered too "difficult to understand", in being
too detailed and in need of further explanations. In short, it was a
treatise only for the havass.31 The fact that this new work was
29 This is the title which occurs m the

(Arabic) colophon: "qadtayassarikmil wa
tabchadihtal-rtsalaal-Cafibaal-musammrbz-l-'Igalaal-gugrafiyya"The Arabic term is
usually vocalised "'ugala" It would correspond to a French "Manuel de geo-
graphie" On this work cf. Adnan-Adivar, OsmanltTtirklernde Ilim, p. 189-90. It
is also mentioned by the Greek sources (Cf. Lampros, 'Apyvpoyroelia, p. 114).
30 "Memalik-itslamqyyede mucerredhubb-zbataletve keselilefiinun-irtyaztyyemetruki
mihmelolub " (Igalia, Dibaqe).
31 "Her nekadarMagaribeden Kitab-i Rucar miPellifiierif Idnsi ve Devlet-iCAllyye
huiinerverlertnden
Cihanniima sahibtKdtibQelebtdemekle maCruf el-HacMustafaEfendibu
fenndetrtikdb-tme;akkatile tzhar-tmeharetetdilertse dahl te'liflenmeslek-tmfutekaddimfn
iizeretertibolunub,Cihanniumi'nmn mukaddimest tse mufassalve ierhemuhtacve havassa
mahsus btrerrtsale-t Casrii l-istihrac [ 1. "(cIgi1a, Dibace). Interestingly enough, the
printed, on the other hand, would facilitate its distribution among

a wider readership and make it accessible to all those interested in
science and knowledge.32
The cIgala al-gugrdfiyyahas been subject to criticism, much of
which, however, seems to be somewhat unfair.33 In fact, in its
historical sections it is quite up-to-date and takes into account recent
territorial changes (like the partition of Poland) which had radically
transformed the administrative divisions of Continental Europe.
The translator's task had not been an easy one. French topono-
mastic nomenclature had to be adapted to Ottoman usage (and
Yakovaki Efendi did this much better than those who prepared the
Atlas). Many of the geographical areas dealt with in this volume
were terraezncognztaeto the Ottomans. Even the description of the
Ottoman lands (Memalik-zMahruse-i COsmanyye)according to a new
format posed some problems. This is graphically illustrated by the
remark (tenbih) that since the exact administrative divisions of the
Empire "are not properly known and recorded in a book, it would
be difficult to include here, after having checked them, each one in
its proper place. It has therefore been deemed sufficient to list these
areas and their divisions in a summary way here".34
The 'Igala al-gugrdfiyyapresented to an Ottoman readership for the
first time in an accessible form information about a world whose ter-
ritorial divisions, as the author says, frequently changed like the
"pattern of a chamaeleon" (naki-z bukalemun35).Given the signifi-
cance of this translation work done by Yakovaki Efendi, it is under-
standable that Joseph von Hammer should have even (apparently
falsely) attributed to the Argyropoulos brothers the Dzatribe de
seventeenthcenturytranslationsof the AtlasMatorare not mentioned(On these

translationssee HeidrunWurrn,Derosmanmsche Historiker
Huseynb. GOafergenannt
Hezirfenn,unddieIstanbuler in der2. Hdlftedes17 Jahrhunders,
Gesellschaft Freiburg
1971, pp. 29-40).
32 it nushalan kesfrvetstihsali
sehliiyestrolmakfiinDarut-tzbaC-t
cAmiredetemsil
[ ] heveskardn-izilmu macarife sebeb-i
inbtsatu siirurolub"(Igala, Dibage).
33 Cf. Adnan-Adivar,OsmanliTuirklerinde Ilim, p. 190.
34 "t ahval-tmerkume geregigibtmaclum i meczum vebtrkttabdamazbutu mevsuk
olmadigindan her bin yerlii yertnden baCdet-tashih zibu mahalle derctemr-i dii4varolduguna
ahvalii aksamznibu tarafdaicmalenzikr i tacdadile iktifa
binaden,memalik-tmerkumenin
olundu"(Igala, p. 42).
35 Clgala,p. 78.
200 JOHANN STRAUSS
l'ingenieursur l 'tat actuelde I'artmilitaire,du genieet dessciencesa Con-

stantinople,a famous pamphlet written by one Seyyid Mustafa in
support of Selim's reforms.36These reforms, however, were even-
tually brutally stopped and the sultan and his followers perished.
Unlike Mahmud Ra'if Efendi (who was killed by rebelliousJanis-
saries in 1807), Yakovaki Efendi survived Selim III's downfall and
pursued his career under Mustafa IV (1807-08) and Mahmud II
(1808-39).
The Katertne Tarihz

Yakovaki Efendi's masterpiece, a work known as KaterineTarihi
("History of Catherine the Great"), dates from that period. The
Katerine Tarihi was also the result of a special request ("baCz-trical-z
Devlet-izAliyyetalebile").The printed version of this work was pub-
lished twice in Egypt (in 1829 and 1831)37and later reprinted in
Istanbul (1861). Presumably, it had originally circulated in manu-
script form, since it must have been written as early as 1813,
probably during Yakovaki Efendi's term of office as Grand
Dragoman.38
36 Cf. Hammer, GOR, III, p. 588. On the still somewhat obscure figure of
Seyyld Mustafa see Kemal Beydilli, "Ilk Mfihendislerimizden Seyyid Mustafa ve
Nizam-i Cedid'e dair risalesi", in SeyydMustafa:Istanbul'da AskerlikSanati,Yetenekle-
nn ve Bilimlernn DurumuUzerzneRtsale. Bugunkidile aktaranHiisrevHutemt,Istanbul
[1986]; (Turkish translation of the Diatribe),pp. 17-67 Cf. also Hatemi's remarks
in YenzNizamlannCedveli(see n. 27), pp. XVI-XVII.
37 The first Bulaq edition is listed by T.X. Bianchi
(in his "Catalogue general
des livres arabes, persans et turcs, imprimes a Boulac en Egypte depuis l'introduc-
tion de l'imprimene dans ce pays", JournalAstattque,sene 4 vol. II (July-August
1843), pp. 24-61) as Caterinatarykht (1244 [1829] Nr. 37), the second one from 1246
[1831] as IkindjiKaterinenamRouciaimperathonschanun tarykht.The text of the two edi-
tions is identical. Most of the recent literature on the Bulaq press adds little, if any-
thing to Bianchi's list as far as the Turkish works are concerned, owing to the spe-
cific interest of the authors in Arabic works. However, one has to bear in mind that
in the first decades of the nineteenth century the output of the printing presses of
Istanbul was remarkably poor (cf. Jale Baysal, Miiteferrika'dan Binnct Mefrutzyete
Kadar OsmanltTirklenznmBastiklartKitaplar, Istanbul 1968). Against this back-
ground, the Turkish books published in Muhammad CAll'sEgypt (many of them
destined for an export to Istanbul) have played a quite extraordinaryrole in the his-
tory of Turkish printing.
38 See Johann Strauss, "Tiirkische Ubersetzungen zweier europaischer Ge-
schichtswerke aus Muhammad CAll'sAgypten: Botta's Storia d'Italia" und Cas-
The basis of this translation was Jean Henri Castera's Histotre de

CathenneII, Imperatrtcede Russte, a real best-seller of its time, which
had also been translated into English, German, Dutch, and Danish.
Castera (1749- 1838) was, however, not primarily a historian, but
a very prolific translator, who translated mainly from the English.39
The "History of Catherine the Great", a well-documented court
and diplomatic history, and one of his few original works, had been
published anonymously for the first time in 1796 in Paris.
Yakovaki Efendi's version is more than a simple translation. The
content is radically reduced, and newly divided into two sections,
the second part consisting of a sort of description of the Russian
Empire, with chapters on geography, government, institutions, suc-
cession, etc., which were of particular interest to an Ottoman pub-
lic. Given the conspicuous differences between the Ottoman and
Russian states, the translator made a conscious effort to adapt it for
an Ottoman readership. Many unfamiliar terms had to be ex-
plained. This was achieved by copious marginal notes (haXtye)or
even additions in the text. Following a rather modern practice, the
printed version is even preceded by an index of these terms.
The political history is extended to cover the accession of Czar
Alexander I (1801). According to the translator, he also made use
of other "Frankish books" (kiitiib-iifrenczyye)among these the works
of the Reverend William Tooke (1744-1820) and Gabriel Nicolas
Clerc (Leclerc), both of them specialists on Russian affairs.40 Since
this was the first translation of a comprehensive work on European
history, the problems of the translator, in terms of both language
and content, must have been overwhelming The result, however,
is impressive. Yakovaki Efendi certainly makes concessions to his
Ottoman readership, which was primarily interested in political his-
tera's "Histoire de Catherine", in the Proceedings of XXIII. DeutscherOrtentalisten-

tag Wirzburg, edited by Einar von Schuler (Wiesbaden 1989), pp. 244- 58;
p. 250.
39 On his works see
J.-M. Querard, La France littiratre ou dictionnatrebibliogra-
phique des savants , Pans, s.d., vol. II, p. 77 Castera also translated William
Eaton's History of the OttomanEmptre.
40 ," ekser-i mahallertmuhtac-t tzah olmagla [ ] Rusyanin cemiC-tahval-t dahiliy-
yesint tafsil iizere nakl ii hikayetetmzi muCteberdn-z
miPelliftndenIngiltereliiTuk [i.e., the
Reverend William Tooke] ve Fransalu Kilerk [i.e., Nicolas Clerc] nam ktmesnelenn
asarn tetebbucve istzi?ar ve mevadd-zmerkumatatbik olunarak Calekadri 1-vescve l-tstztaCa
tevzih-z makaleyeibtidar olundu " (Katerine Tarihi 1246 [1831], p. 198).
202 JOHANN STRAUSS
tory. Many parts of Castera's Histotre,for example, those dealing

with the rise and fall of Catherine's favourites, are simply cut. The
cultural achievements of the Empress do not enter Yakovaki Efen-
di's account either: Diderot's visit in St. Petersburg did not seem to
be worth mentioning. On the other hand, he corrects Turkish, Per-
sian, and Tatar names, spelt incorrectly in the original, and notes
factual errors. Sometimes even critical comments appear. One
might have expected Yakovaki Efendi to have tried to sanitise his
version. But this is only partly true. Castera's account is not hostile
to the Ottomans and the translator naturally gives prominence to
those passages in which the Ottomans are praised, for example, for
their loyalty and adherenceto treaties. The ornate style helps to neu-
tralise those passages referring to disorder and incapacity in the
Ottoman Empire. Yakovaki Efendi highlights the sections dealing
with reforms of Peter the Great (BiiyiikPetro),since there are clearly
many parallels between the problems facing the Russian Czar and
those facing the reformersin the Ottoman Empire: on the one hand
on the other the Janissaries.41The modernisa-
the unruly strelitizzes,
tion of the army and the navy was a centrepiece of the reforms of
both Peter the Great and Selim III and later Mahmud II. It seems
certain that the rtcalwho requested this translation were acting on
the instructions of the sultan. Yakovaki Efendi's Tarihis therefore
a "kttab-zCibretniima" in two senses: it both shows what is rhetorically
described as "the corrupted institutions and laws" of the West, and
makes the discerning reader realize that much of what is said could
have an examplary significance for the Ottoman state.
We cannot here deal extensively with the language of this transla-
tion.42 But it was deservedly considered as a masterpiece of ela-
borate Ottoman prose (tzna).43 It demonstrated the high degree of
41 This topic was later discussed at some length by the Ottoman historian
Ahmed Cevdet Pasa (who knew the KatenneTarihi;cf. p. 15) in a correspondence
with SaCdullahPasha (1838-91), then Ottoman ambassadorin Vienna (Cf. Cevdet
Pasa, Tezdktr40-tetimme, ed. by Cavid Baysun, Ankara 1986, pp. 217-19).
42 Cf. Strauss, "Tirkzsche Ubersetzungen", pp. 251-53.
43 Cf. n. 2.-Traditionally, stylistic differences between literary and scientific
prose did not exist to the same extent in Ottoman literature. Elements like the hen-
diadyoin (Catf-i tefszr) or rhymed prose (secc), characteristic for the so-called in4a-
style, were not unusual even in scholarly writings. However, in the second half of
the nineteenth century, demands were increasingly voiced for a simpler style to be
mastery of the Ottoman literary language prevalent among the

Phanariots. This is not only extolled by Yakovaki Efendi's Greek
biographers,44 but it is also confirmed by the great Ottoman
historian Ahmed Cevdet Pasha (1822-95) who quotes-without
naming the translator-this "meqhurtarihfe" among the sources of
his famous chronicle.45
GeorgeRhasts (? - ) and the Tarih-i Iskenderbin Filipos

Ten years after the KaterineTarihi, another historiographical work
(which has hitherto passed almost unnoticed) appeared in print in
Egypt. This was the "History of Alexander the son of Philip"
(Tarih-z Iskenderbin Filipos46). It was also a translation by a Greek
and represented a novelty: whereas Yakovaki Efendi's Katertne
Tarihi represents the first comprehensive account of European his-
tory printed in the Ottoman language, the Tarih-i Iskenderbin Filipos
was the first translation of an ancient Greek historian into Ottoman
Turkish.
This is not listed as a translated work in the literature.47 The
printed version itself does not contain a preface, and although it is
referred to as a translation, no author's name is mentioned. A study
of the text reveals, however, that the original of this work was the
seven books of the Anabasis Alexandrouby Flavius Arrianus from
Nicomedia (ca. 96 A.D. -ca. 180 A.D.). They cover the history of
Alexander the Great from his accession to his death. Despite some
shortcomings (notably an over-indulgent view of the hero's failings),
used in scientific writings and found (at least verbal) support by learned societies
like the Encumen-t Danil and the Cemciyyet-zCIlmzyye-icOsmantyye(see also n. 176).
44 Cf. Stamatiades, Bioypap(fai, p. 166: " it was written with such an elo-
quence (yXaapvp6&r<;), that it continues until our days to be one of the most remark-
able books of the Turks" Lampros, p. 114: "(The Turks) still use it as a model
of Turkish composition in Turkish schools"
45 Tarih-zCevdet(see n. 13), I, p. 5. Cevdet's cronlcle comprises the years
1188-1241 [1774-1825/6]. However, Cevdet does not always agree with Castera's
account and occasionally censures it as inaccurate or biased. On his critical obser-
vations see Arikan, "Cevdet Pasa", p. 186.
46 Tarih-i Iskenderbin
Filipos, Bflaq, Dairal-tibC'a al-camira, 12 Rabic al-awwal
1254 [5th June 1838].
47 In Bianchi's list (Nr. 155; see n. 35) it figures as Tarykhz Iskenden Roumt
without any reference to a translator or an original.
204 JOHANN STRAUSS
this work is still considered the most complete and reliable account
of Alexander that we possess.48
We know nothing about the circumstances under which this
translation was made, but it is perhaps not by accident that it was
published in Egypt. It must have appealed to the ruler of Egypt,
Muhammad CAli Pasha (1769-1849), for a number of reasons.
Although of Albanian origin, Muhammad CAllwas, like his illustri-
ous predecessor, a native of Macedonia (he was born in Kavalla).
The Egyptian ruler may also have been attractedby the descriptions
of Egypt49 and other areas familiar to him, as well as by the fact
that Arrian's account concentrates particularly on the military
aspects of Alexander the Great's campaigns.
The identity of the translatorposes a problem. However, several
Greek and Oriental sources ascribe it to George Rhasis (?-?),50
48 On Arrlan see Michael Grant, GreekandLatinAuthors800 B. C. -A.D. 1000,

New York 1980, pp. 53-54.
49 The translator also provided his Muslim readers with an
etymological expla-
nation of the term "Egypt", the name under which Misr was known in the West:
YunanlisantndaMtsir arazisine(Ayiptos) tesm!yestttlakolunubahalistdaht (Eyiptlyi)
ismilemaCruf idiler.El'an Mtisr'damitevattmn Ktbttta'ifestnintsmitzbuAytptoslafztndan
tahrifolunmu.oldugumuhtemeldir. TercumeetdigimizmiPellifinkavlinceNil nehn minel-
kadimAyiptosnehnrtesmtyeolunubarz-tMtsir dahtnehr-tNilin tugyanindan sonrasulart
fekildikdeterkolunantoprakdan hastlolmu4olmaglanehr-imezku'run tsminden me'huzAyiptos
lafzilemiisemma ktlhnd"(Then follows the etymological explanation of Misr (Tarih,
p. 178-79).
50 In cAli Hilmi al-Dagistani's catalogue of the Turkish books in the Khedivial
Library (Al-kutubal-turk!yya al-mahfuizabt 'l-kutubhana al-hidiwzyyaal-mtsrzyya,Cairo
1306/1888-89, p. 166) the name of the author of the Tarih-zIskenderbtnFiliposis
given as " 6anab Bfiugaki(misspelt for Yfirgaki?) al-ma?hur bi-Raztdz&e"In the
MegaleHellenikeEnkyklopatdeta (2nd ed., Athens 1962-, hereafter: MEE) we find,
in fact, one Gerasimos Razes, named as the author of a "Turkish grammar" (1)
and a "History of Alexander the Great" (without specification of the language in
which this work was written). That person was a native of Faraklatesin Cephalonia
who was trained in Corfu and studied later at Lord Guilford's expense in Paris (see
entry "'Pafijq, rFepdoto;" (E.Th. Moatsos), MEE, vol. XXI, p. 25). According
to what the author of the dictionary (cf. n. 48) says about himself in the preface,
he had started his professional career in Istanbul, but had been compelled to leave
the city after the events of 1821. Like many Phanariots, he had emigrated to Russia
and entered Russian service. The dictionary was compiled at the special request,
made during a tour in the Crimea of Count Michael Semyonovich Vorontsov
(1782-1856), the Russian governor-general of the newly conquered territories of
New Russia and Bessarabia (which had a considerable Turkish-speaking popula-
tion). George Rhasis was appointed as the first instructor of Turkish at the newly
founded Institute of Oriental languages at the Richelieu lyce(e(Rtshelevskii litsey)in
who is probably identical with the author of a French-Ottoman dic-

tionary, published in St. Petersburg in 1828,51 and a French gram-
mar in Ottoman, published in Istanbul in 1838,52 the same year as
the Tarih-i Iskenderbin Filipos. There can be no doubt, however, that
Arrian's History of Alexander the Great was translated by a Greek,
since the rendering of names and terms follow the pronunciation of
Modern Greek.
Stylistically, the translation belongs to the category of works writ-
ten in elaborate prose although-unlike the KaternneTariht-it is fair-
ly literal. But there are other common features: like his predecessor
Yakovaki Efendi (and most of the Greek writers of the 19th century)
the translator displays an excellent knowledge of the geography of
the Ottoman Empire, as the numerous explanations in the margins
of ancient Greek toponyms show. In a few instances, he even adds
comments to the work. Alexander the Great ("Iskander du '1-qar-
nayn") is well known in Islamic tradition. But the image of Alex-
ander is obscured by many legends and he appears as a rather
mythical figure.53 The historian Arrian's sober account obviously
forms a striking contrast to this. In addition, Arrian's critical ap-
proach to history writing, the Quellenknrtik, was not a salient feature
of traditional Ottoman historiographical writing. A more intimate
acquaintance with classical Greek historiography might thus have
proved beneficial to the Ottomans.
Unfortunately, however, this work does not seem to have had
Odessa, where he trained several capable dragomans during his short tenure.
When he left for Istanbul, the teaching of Turkish at the lycee came to an end (cf.
A.N. Kononov (ed.), Biobibliograficheskiislovar' otechestvennykhtyurkologov.Dooktya-
br'skiiperiod,Moskow 1974, p. 254). In Istanbul, George Rhasis also became ac-
quainted with the French dragoman and lexicographerX.T Bianchi (1783-1864),
who calls him an "onentaliste distingue [ ] dontje me rappelatsavotr souvent apprecie
le mnrteet cultiveI 'amtttependantmonsejoura'Constantinople"(see his VocabulaireFranfais-
Turc,Paris 1831, p. vii).
51 Vocabulatre
franfots-turc (Al- Taqdima al-zakiyya li-taSlim al-luga al-firinsawtyya wa
par Georges Rhasis, 2 vols., St. Petersburg, Imprimerie de l'Academie
al-turktyya)
Imperiale des Sciences 1828 (see also n. 7).
52 Yorgaki Razi
(Rhasis), Grammatrefranfaise-Gramer FransezyaCnisarf-ifransevi,
Istanbul, Imprimerie Cayol 1254 [1838].
53 See article "Al-Iskandar" and "Iskander-Nama" in E12, IV, 127-29 The
same applies, of course, to the medieval Western tradition, where the "fog of fic-
tional romance and slander" (Grant) equally obscured the image of Alexander.
206 JOHANN STRAUSS
much impact. Unlike the KatertneTarihtand some other translations

issued by the Egyptian printing presses, it was not reprinted in
Istanbul, either. The most probable explanation for this is that at
that stage the Ottomans were primarily interested in what was then
modern history, as the plethora of works published during that peri-
od on Russia or Napoleon Bonaparte show.
Handjerz(1760 -1854) andhtsDictionnaireTurc-Arabe-Persan

Alexander
George Rhasis' Vocabulatre FranQots-Turc, the first up-to-date dic-
tionary of its kind, met with a similar fate. It was to be overshadowed
by a second, monumental work, the DictionnaireTurc-Arabe-Persan by
the learned "Prince" Alexander Handjeri,54which was published
in three volumes in Moscow 1840-41.55 It is not primarily a liter-
54 Alexander Handjernwas born in Istanbul. He was descended from a well-

known Phananot family The name Handjen(Turkish: Hanferlior Hanferi)is said
to derive from a dagger (Turkish: hancer),decorated with jewels, offered by
Mehmed IV (1648-87) to a member of the family who had served this sultan as
a private physician. It seems to be extremely difficult to extract reliable data on the
duration of Alexander Handjeri's various offices which he always held under rather
difficult circumstances. He is said to have been Grand Dragoman for six months
(August 1806-February 1807). Between 7 March and 24 July 1807 he was (nomi-
nally) Hospodar of Moldavia (the country was at that time under Russian occupa-
tion). After Selim III's downfall (29 May 1807), the new sultan, Mustafa IV
(1807-08), appointed Skarlat Callimachi as Handjeri's successor, and the latter
sought permission to retire to Istanbul. In 1815-16 and 1818 he appears as a candi-
date for the hospodarship of Wallachia, and in 1818 for that of Moldavia. But ac-
cording to the arrangement of 1819 (cf. n. 25) his family was excluded from can-
didacy to this office. He is said to have established secret contacts with the Philike
Hetairnaand to have helped Alexander Ypsilanti to escape after the disaster. When
the Greek uprising broke out, he sought refuge in Russia where he was to spend
the rest of his life (cf. art. "Handjeri" (Ernest Meziere) in Nouvellebiographte generale
deputsles tempslesplus reculesjusqu'd nosjours , publi6e par M.M. Firmin Didot
Freres, vol. XXIII, Paris 1858, pp. 289-90 (with further references); Documente
prtvtorela IstonaRomanilorculesede EudoxtuHurmuzakt,vol. X, 1763-1844, edited
by N. lorga, Bucharest 1897, p. 392; art. "XavTxp;q, 'AX,av6po;" (Th.
Velliantes), MEE XX, p. 466, Kononov, Biobibliograficheskii slovar',p. 283).
55 Dzctionnazrefranfats-arabe-persan et turc,enrtchtd'exemplesen langueturqueavecdes
vanantes,et de beaucoup de motsd'artset de sciencespar le prince Alexandre Handjen,
Moscow, Imprimerie de l'Universite Imperiale, 3 vols. 1840-41 [reprint Teheran
1976]. It is dedicated to Czar Nicholas I. The title is somewhat misleading: it is not,
in fact, a trilingual dictionary It only gives (albeit very generously) also Persian
and Arabic equivalents of French words insofar as they are likely to be used in the
Ottoman literary language. Examples are given only in Ottoman Turkish. The
ary contribution but since it can be considered, to some extent, as

the summaor legacy of Phanariot scholarship in Ottoman studies, it
deserves to be included here.
The composition of a bilingual dictionary of that size was a
demanding enterprise. Even though Handjeri took the somewhat
antiquated 1798 edition of the dictionary of the French Academy as
a basis,56 he still needed considerable inventiveness since he had to
find equivalents for many terms and ideas which were still relatively
unfamiliar to the Ottomans. Although the author was able to draw
extensively on the works of indigenous lexicographers-the Turkish
material is based to a large extent on the Turkish translation of
Firuzabadi's Qamis al-Muhtt by Ahmed "Miterczm" CAsim (1755-
1819)57-only a scholar perfectly acquainted with literary usage
would have been equipped to tackle the problems of phraseology
Handjeri's predecessor Rhasis admits that during his work in Istan-
bul, he had had no other guidance than notes taken from the transla-
tions of his predecessors. Little help had then been available from
lexicographical sources in Western languages, since the most com-
prehensive bilingual dictionary dates from 1687 58 Handjeri, on the
other hand, being comfortably off, and perhaps more socially in-
clined, was able to obtain help from other sources, since he frequent-
ed the salonsof witty and learned Ottoman Turks of that period. This
allowed him to become familiar with what the Ottomans considered
user of the dictionary is presumed to be familiar with the language, since no trans-
literation is given. On this dictionary see also Hiisrev Hatemi, "Fransizca-Tiirkge
ikinci ve uiiincu devre s6zluikler(Hangerli ve ;emseddin Sami sozliikleri)", Tarih
ve Toplum13 (1985), pp. 71-72.
56 Handjeri had started compilating this work in 1806, on the
suggestion of the
French ambassador General Guilleminot.
57 Al-Uqydniisal-basit
fi targamatal-Qamusal-Muhi.t,first printed in 3 vols. in
Istanbul, Matbaa-i cAmire 1230-33 [1814-18] (reprinted Bfilaq 1834, see Jean
Deny, "L'Osmanli moderne et le Turk de Turquie", PhilologtaeTurctcaeFunda-
menta,I, Aquis Mattiaticis 1959, p. 237).
58 Menmnski'sOnomastzcum meant as a complement
latmno-turcico-arabtco-persicum,
to his monumental Thesaurus linguarumorzentalium. On other bilingual dictionaries
available at that time (none of them in French) see also Bianchi's remarks in the
preface to his Vocabulaire,p. iv For a more recent assessment of these lexicographi-
cal works see Hfisrev Hatemi, "Fransizca-Tfirk;e ilk sozlfikler(Rhasis, Hindoglu,
Bianchi S6zluikleri),Tarihve Toplum12 (1984), pp. 430-33.
208 JOHANN STRAUSS
as the highlights of their classicalliterature. During his stay in Istan-

bul he befriended lIzzet Molla (1785-1829), one of the last great
divan poets, who is said to have helped Handjeri, among other
things, to grasp the subtleties of the Ta'rih-zVa.ssaf,59 one of the
most intricate works of classical Oriental literature.60On its publi-
cation (the author was at that time in his eighties), this dictionary,
of which a specimen had been sent previously for review to Istanbul,
was warmly welcomed and even reviewed in the official gazette, the
Takvtm-zVekayzi.The Ottoman Sultan had 200 copies ordered for
himself and rewarded Handjeri with a box decorated with dia-
monds.61 The Dtctionnatrealso received a very friendly reception
among learned circles in the West. Etienne Quatremere (1782-
1857), one of the most distinguished Oriental scholars of the time,
voiced some criticism in his review in the JournaldesSavants.But he
ended it by paying a "tribut d'elogesbtenmeritesa l'immenseet conscten-
cieux travail du prtnce Handjeri".62
Despite its unwieldiness, the DtcttonnatreTurc-Arabe-Persan was to
remain a standardwork of referencefor Ottoman writers for almost
half a century.63It then began to attract ratherharsh criticism from
a new generation of native Ottoman lexicographers who, like
5emseddin Sami (1850- 1904), not only considered it outdated but
who also were tired of the composite language of the classical tzna-
tradition.64
59 On the Persian poet and historian Sharafu 'd-din ?Abdullih Vassaf (1264/
5-1334) see Jan Rypka, Historyof IrantanLiterature,Dordrecht 1968, p. 314, art.
"Vassaf" (Erdogan Mercil), IslamAnsiklopedist XIII, pp. 232-34. See alsoJoseph
v Hammer's interesting remarks on the role of Vassaf's Ta'rih in Ottoman educa-
tion in his partial translation Geschtchte
Vassaf's.Perstschherausgegeben
unddeutschuber-
setzt, Vienna 1856.
60 Cf. Ibniilkemal Mahmud Inal, Son astr Turk aitrlen,3rd edition, 4 vols.,
Istanbul 1988, vol. 2, pp. 724-25. According to an anecdote reported in the same
book (ibid., p. 744) an ignorant person, impressed by Handj6ri's knowledge, once
asked CIzzetMolla: "Since this person has got so much knowledge, why doesn't
he convert to Islam?" Whereupon the witty poet responded: "Since you have got
so much ignorance, why don't you convert to Christianity?"
61 See the preface to vol. 3 of the Dtcttonnaire.
62 JournaldesSavants,January 1844, pp. 53-62; pp. 61-62.
63 Mehmed S/ireyya still calls it a "miikemmeltiirkcefranszzcalehcest(Sicill-i
'OsmantIV, p. 872).
64 Cf. ;emseddin Sami's verdict in the preface
(Ifade-i meram)to his Restmli
Kamus-i Fransevf - DtctionnaireFranfats-Turcillustre:" o 'u cilddenmurekkeb
The Greekrevival in the OttomanEmpire after 1821

The Greek Revolution (and its implications) seriously disrupted
relations between Greeks and Turks in the Ottoman Empire. In the
capital, the Patriarch and a number of leading Phanariots were
hanged. Most of the Greeks employed in the translation service were
dismissed because their loyalty was in doubt, and others like
Yakovaki Efendi were compelled to continue their translation acti-
vity even in exile.65 The last Greek Grand Dragoman, Stavrakis
Aristarchis (1770- 1822), was killed during his exile in Bolu. It has
often been observed that the loss of these experts caused serious
problems for the Ottomans, who had now to recruit their staff from
among the Muslim community In fact, the first Muslim translator
of the Imperial Divan, Yahya Naci Efendi, a physician from
Gallipoli, ironically a Greek convert, was "not well acquainted with
any of the European languages" according to the British ambas-
sador, and "even his knowledge of Turkish [was] said to be lim-
ited" .66
The position of the Greeks in the Ottoman Empire had been
precarious in the immediate aftermath of 1821. It gradually im-
proved, especially after 1832, when the Ottomans made new efforts
to normalise their relations with Europe. Many Phanariots and
others returned to the Ottoman Capital where their services were
still welcome. Nor did the Ottomans, as the example of Handjeri
shows, bear any permanent grudge against those whose loyalty had
at times been suspect. The decisive factor, however, was the great
reform movement known as Tanzimat. The Decree of the Rose
Chamber, the Hatt-ti er.f of Guilhane (1839), solemnly promised
,,Hanfertf, sahibitirkcevelarabtvefdirst'
lugatiznn lisanlartnm
cami'olmaktddicasile,
farktnda
olmakszzin,bulisanlarin dekarma
iifiunu karzvik
etmzs, lisanzlugatleritnn
vefranstz ondabizrtn
bilecem'etmemtidir"(Restmli Kamus-zFransevi,3rdedition,Istanbul1318- 1901[first
edition 1882],p. 2).
65 Afterthe destruction of theJanissariesin 1826,a reorganization of the Army
had becomenecessaryConsequently,at the requestof the Ottomancommandant
HusrevPasha(1756?- 1855),YakovakiEfendiwas requiredto translate
(sereasker)
workson militarymatters,whichwerepresentedto SultanMahmud(seeLampros,
'Apyvpoiroid3Ata,p. 115).
66 Quoted by Carter V Findley in "The Foundation of the Ottoman Foreign
Ministry", International
Journalof Middle EasternStudies3 (1972), pp. 388-416,
p. 401.
210 JOHANN STRAUSS
equal opportunities for Christians and Muslims and in 1856 further

reforms were implemented. These inspired the new ideology of
Ottomanism (cOsmanhhilk),that is, of a common Ottoman citizenship
and allegiance as the basis of political identity It also opened up new
opportunities to the Greeks in the Ottoman Empire. Their mono-
poly in negotiations with foreign powers had come to an end. But
a great many Ottoman diplomats appointed at that time (even in
Athens) were again Greeks.67 Some of them had been banished
after 1821. Alexander Callimachi (Kalimakt Bey; 1802-86), for ex-
ample, had spent nine years of his childhood in Bolu where his father
was exiled. This exile had, however, also had beneficial effects: it
had allowed him to study thoroughly the elsine-iseldse,so that he later
gained the reputation of being more proficient in Ottoman Turkish
than any other Phanariot diplomat.68
The "TranslationChamber"(TercemeOdasz)
The need to train Muslims in foreign languages, especially
French had led in 1832 to the creation of the Translation Chamber
(TercemeOdasior Terciiman kalemi).69This institution was headed by
a more learned man than the dragoman Yahya Naci Efendi. But
once more its director was a (perhapsJewish) convert, Ishak Efendi
(1774-1834), born in Arta in Epirus. The TercemeOdaststeadily
grew in importance. Furthermore, it became an important training
ground for a large number of relatively Westernized Ottoman
statesmen and hommes de lettres in the nineteenth century.70How-
67 On these diplomats see A. Alexandris, "Oi "EXXilveq", (cited n. 1); Sinan

Kuneralp, "Les Grecs en stambouline",in Semih Vaner (ed.), Le differend
turco-grec
1988, pp. 41-46.
68 Kuneralp, "Les Grecs", p. 43.
69 On this institution, which maintained its existence until the end of the
Empire, cf. Orhonlu, "Tercuiman", p. 178; its development is described in some
detail in two works by Carter V Findley, Bureaucratic
Reformin theOttoman Empire.
TheSublinePorte,1789-1922, Princeton 1980 (esp. pp. 132-36; p. 402); Ottoman
Civil Offictaldom. A Social History, Princeton 1989 (esp. pp. 262ff.).
70 Cf. Ahmet Hamdi Tanpinar, 19uncu Astr Turk Edebiyati Tarihi, 6th ed., Istan-
bul 1985, pp. 142-43; Niyazi Berkes, The Development of Seculansmin Turkey,
Montreal 1964, p. 128. Findley calls it a "seedbed of the TanztmatElite" (Ottoman
Civil Officialdom,p. 263).
ever, among its "apprentices" (hulefa) there were also several Otto-
man Greeks who later gained no little reputation thanks to their
lexicographical works or their writings in Ottoman Turkish (K.
Adossidis, A.Th. Phardys, A. Constantinidis).
But by then the Greeks had already lost their privileged position
of go-betweens. Linguistic skills, such as a knowledge of French, had
by now become more widespread among Muslim government offi-
cials, too. Furthermore, the Greeks-much to their chagrin-now
had to contend with stiff competition from another millet: the Otto-
man government was to rely increasingly on members of the Arme-
nian community (whose reputation as a loyal millet [millet-t sadika]
was still untainted at that time).71 Since bilingualism was a com-
mon feature among them, the Armenians were always much more
familiar with the Turkish language than Greeks were, and Turkish
books in Armenian script (far more numerous than those in
Karamanli) found a wide readership. Those who had mastered the
difficulties of the more elaborate variety of the Ottoman literary lan-
guage, like the tersanetercumanzVartan Pasha (an Armenian Cathol-
ic; 1815- 79), also published books in Arabic script.72 Ultimately,
the TercemeOdasz seems to have attracted relatively few Greeks,73
many of the Greek applicants lacking the necessary qualifications.74
71 On the reactions of the Greek

community, cf. Alexander Constantinidis' al-
lusive remarks in the Greek preface to his Chrestomathy (see note 124), p. 10. He
refers to a nation which "settled in Byzantium only two hundred years ago, learnt
Turkish, established relations with the ruling element and has become so close to
it that it has not only gained the favour but also the confidence of the rulers "
See also n. 132.
72 Vartan Pasha [Osep Vartanian], who was also a member of the Enciimen-t
Danmf(videinfra), is the author of a "History of Napoleon Bonaparte" (Napolyon
Tarihi), which was published both in Arabic and Armenian script.
73 Cf. the statistics in Findley, OttomanCivil
Officialdom,p. 265.
74 This was the complaint of Alexander Constantinidis: Many Greek applicants
held the erroneous view that the Terceme Odasiwas a school meant to train them in
the Turkish language. Constantinidis therefore suggested to the Oriental scholars
('Aaiarnorai) among his Greek compatriots that they create a special "Association
of Translators" (Z6A;1oyoor&v Merappaar&v) for the training of candidates for the
TercemeOdast.This project did not, however, materialise (see the remarks in his
O6soplTiKtiKai 7rpaKTrliKf pg0o6oo 7~rpb6 tKeiqOc1oivTi4' '00owavnK;
raXdaarS (Tur-
kish title: Usul-i tahsil-ilisan-ti osmant), Istanbul, I.A. Vretos 1873, pp. 13-14).
212 JOHANN STRAUSS
Ottomanlearnedsocietiesand the OttomanGreeks

The TercemeOdast had been set up for the practical purpose of
training a specific group of government officials; but there were
other institutions that came into being during the Tanztmatwhose
main purpose was the transmission of Western science. Thanks to
its cosmopolitan character, nineteenth century Istanbul was a fertile
breeding ground for learned societies and learnedjournals (some of
them short-lived), published in a variety of languages spoken or
used as lingua franca in this polyglot Empire.
Interestingly enough, the first such societies and journals were
founded by Muslim Turks, determined to improve their knowledge
of the West, and anxious to catch up with the progress in the
sciences. Two of the learned societies, the Enciimen-zDaniz and the
cIlmiyye-tiOsmaniyyeare particularly important in our con-
CemCzyyet-i
text. Since they invited anybody who was willing and competent to
collaborate with them, irrespective of religion or nationality, they
played an important role in fostering literary and scholarly contacts
between Greeks and Turks in the nineteenth century.
The Encimen-z Danzi

The Encumen-z Danzi ("Society of Knowledge") was founded in
1851. It was conceived as an equivalent of the AcademtedesSciences
et des Belles Lettresin Paris.75 It had a very specific programme,
namely to organise the selection, translation, and production of
teaching materials in literature and science. At the same time it also
sought to contribute to the advancement of the Ottoman lan-
guage.76 It was also the purpose of the Encumen-z Danif to maintain
75 In the contemporary literature, it figures as the AcademieOttomane.

The Otto-
man term was later used as an equivalent of any academy-type institution (See
Eram Guzel-Oglu, Nouveaux dialoguesfrancfas-turcs, Constantinople, Impnmene-
librairie de S. Benoit 1852. This book also contains a French translation of the
nizamnameof the Encumen-tDanti: "Reglementde l'AcadimzeOttomane"(pp. 385 - 95)).
On this institution see also W.F.A. Behrnauer, "Die tfirkischeAkademie der Wis-
senschaften zu Constantmopel", Zettschriftder DeutschenMorgenldndischenGesellschaft
VI (1852), pp. 273-85 (with German translation of the statutes); Kenan Akyuiz,
Encimen-tDanzi, Ankara 1975; art. "Andjuman", E72, I, p. 505 (B. Lewis).
76 " Encuimen-tDantf lisan-t tirkidefiinun-i mitenevvicayada'ir lazim gelen kitabla-
rin teksirtneve lisan-t tirkmntnilerlemesinehidmet [edecek]"
continuous cultural contacts with the West. A thorough knowledge

of Turkish was, in principle, required of all internal members (aCza-z
dahiliyye), as was the ability to write Ottoman and to translate into
that language, but exceptions were made as long as the members in
question had a good knowledge of foreign languages or some other
fields of science.77
The Enciimen-iDanqzwas, like so many nineteenth century Otto-
man institutions, short-lived and only moderately successful. Ahmed
Cevdet (1822 - 95), one of the few members having produced a more
lasting contribution with his Tarih, ascribed its failure also to the lack
of competence of many of its members.78 However, despite its rela-
tively brief lifespan (1851-62), it succeeded in having a consider-
able number of-mainly historical-works written and translated.
However, only a very few of them were printed.79 Other works
written by members of the society, like CAbdulgaffar Enisl's partial
translation of William Robertson's "History of America" (in effect,
Spanish America; 1777), were published posthumously.80 Its
founders and internal members (40 in number) had included all the
prominent Ottoman statesmen of the Tanzimat period, the viziers
Mustafa Re?id Pasha as well as Ali Pasha, but also government offi-
cials whose reputation rests primarily on their literary and scientific
works, such as the historians Hayrullah (1820-66) and Cevdet,
Yusuf Kamil Pasha (1888- 1976), the translator of Fenelon's Tele-
maque, or the polymath Ahmed Vefik Pasha (1823-91),81 one of
77 it
kemalveyahudbirlisandamaclumat
btrerfennde kifayetedertsedelisan-:tiirkfye
vakf olubyani tiirkcebirkitabte'lifetmeevecarabfvefartsideveyahudelsine-zsa'iredenturk-
ceyebirkttabnaklu terceme edebiliirifade-zmeramamuktedir olmastelzemdir"
78 "Aslfi ehliyeti olmayanlar dahl kirklara karliti" (Cevdet Papa, Tezaktr
40-Tetimme, p. 53).
79 All of these were works of Ahmed Cevdet: his Chronicle (" Tarih-iCevdet"),
his (partial) translation of Ibn Haldun's Muqaddima,and his Ottoman grammar
(KavaCid-t cosmanyye) which he had written together with Fuad Pasha in 1850 (See
serif Mardin, TheGenesisof YoungOttomanThought,Princeton 1962, p. 182; on the
unpublished works (preserved as manuscripts in the Istanbul University Library)
see Tanpinar, 19uncuAstr TurkEdebzyati,pp. 144-45).
80 Amerika Tarih-i keqfi, Istanbul, El-Ceva:ib MatbaCasi 1297 11880].
Robertson's book had also been translated into Modern Greek.
81 Ahmed Vefik Pasha was a grandson of the abovementioned Yahya Naci
Efendi (see p. 22). On Ahmed Vefik Pasha see art. "Ahmed Wafik Pasha" (A.H.
Tanpinar), IA I, pp. 207-10; Sevim Guiray,AhmetVefikPasa, Ankara 1966 (with
214 JOHANN STRAUSS
the most illustrious figures of Ottoman literature in the nineteenth

century, who played a key role in fostering literary contacts between
Muslim Turks and members of other millets.The "external (i.e.,
corresponding) members" (aCza-iharncyye) included the most distin-
guished Turkish scholars in Europe (like the above-mentioned
French dragoman and lexicographer X.T Bianchi (1783-1864),
the Austrian historianJoseph v. Hammer (1774- 1856) and James
Redhouse (1811 - 92)) but also members of the Armenian and Greek
Orthodox millet.
The Armenian members of the Enciimen-iDanzi, the logothete
Agop Grdjikian(HocaAgop;1806 - 65), Sahak Abro(yan) (1823 - ?),
Tiryakioglu Boghos Hoca, and the Tersaneterciimanz Vartan Pasha
(videsupra)have left a number of works written in Ottoman Turkish.
Very little, however, is known about the contributions of its-
mostly elderly-Greek Orthodox members, including Stephan
Vogoridi (istefanaktBey; 1773 - 1859),82perhaps the most influential
non-Muslim in the Ottoman Empire at that period, and Stephan
Caratheodory (Kapaeo8soopfi; Edirneli Istefanakt;1789- 1867),83
bibliography). Numerous sources are quoted in Mehmed Zeki Pakalin, AhmedVefik

Pata, Istanbul 1942).
82 Stephan Vogoridi (or Bogorldi) played a leading role m the negotiations with
Western powers (cf. Findley, OttomanCivil Officialdom, p. 74). He was born in Kotel
in Bulgaria. He acted as a dragoman for the Porte during the British-Ottomancam-
paigns against the French in Egypt (1799) and later held several offices in the Danu-
bian Principalities. He spent the years 1825-1828 in exile in Anatolia and was
eventually allowed to return to Istanbul thanks to the efforts of Yakovaki Efendi.
He obtained the honorary rank (paye)of a beyof Moldavia and Wallachia. Though
appointed as the first governor of Samos in 1833 (until 1850), he preferredto stay
in Istanbul as a member of various government offices. His son Alexander (Aleko
Pasha (1823-1910) became the first governor of Eastern Rumelia. Stephan
Vogoridi is considered as a Bulgarophile, although his cultural background was
Greek (See Sicill-: COsmant, IV, pp. 872-73, Lampros, 'ApyvponroiAeiaZ, p. 114,
Kostas I. Ptmes, 'Hysp6vEi;rTi dlMov,2nd ed., Samos 1986, pp. 17-21, Emanuil
Bogoridi, "Edin B&lgariniz minalite vremena. Knyaz Stefan Bogoridi 1775-
1859", Periodichesko SptsanienaBdlgarskoto kntzhovno
druzhestvo
v Sofiya,LXXI (1910),
pp. 471-88).
83 Stephan Caratheodorywas a native of Bosnak6y (Bosnoch6nron)near Edirne.
His mother was of Bulgarian origin (see ?vpupo;aisi; rev iaropiav rn; 'Ery?; 'Ava-
roXiq;. 'AvK65ora fyTpa.pa Kai KsEieva 'A,e?dv6pov Mavpoyrevov; Berl, vol. II
[French title: Contributionsa'l'hzstoiredu
Proche-Onent.
AlexandreMavroyeni, [ ] Textes
et documentsoffictels1911 -12], edited by the ArchimandriteIeronymos Constantinmi-
dis, Stamboul 1950, 10). He was a true polymath, acquainted with some fifteen
whose knowledge and erudition was also admired by his Muslim

compatriots.84 The very identity of others is still a problem.85 There
exist, however, a number of unpublished works, preserved in the
Istanbul University Library, which are presumably the work of
Greek translators. None of these authors has yet, however, been
identified.
VasildakEfendi's Dalkavukname
There is, however, a little-known by-product of this translation
activity which is due to a Greek, the Terceme-zletafet-dsarf taCnf-z
sanCat-zdalkavukan-tzfhret-iCar ("The delight-inspiring translation
concerning the description of the art of the famous parasites") by
Vasilaki Efendi, a name which figures among the non-Muslim
members of the Enciimen-zDanzi. We have but little bittle biogra-
phical information about Vassilaki Voukas [Bo6tcac], or Vasildak
Efendi, as he was known among the Ottomans. The title page of the
printed work says that he had been secretary (i.e., logothete) of the
Greek Orthodox Patriarch and-as his membership in the Encumen-z
Danzi shows-he was well acquainted with Ottoman learned and
literary circles.86 If we are to believe the pompous but rather ob-
Western and Oriental languages, including Persian, Arabic, and Sanskrit. He was
appointed as a teacher at the Medical School (Mekteb-tTtbb~yyeor Tibbhane;founded
in 1827), where he taught for forty years, in French and Turkish, zoology and bota-
ny He was also co-founder of the Syllogos(vide infra) (For a bibliography of his
works see Elias Tantalides, "Bioypaqia ETecpdvouKapa0eo6opfi", Ho en Konstan-
tznoupoletHellenikos PhilologikosSyllogos (hereafter: KHPhS) IV (1865- 70), pp. 203 -
208). He does not seem to have written anything in Turkish, apart from a "Short
Botany" translated from English into Turkish (ibtd., p. 207, No. 10).
84 The historian Lutfi (1815 - 1907) writes about him: " tirkt ve Carabfvefdrtsi
lisanlarnndanbaska elstne-zecnebtyyentnfogunu biliir, kendi halile meqgul,gayet maClumatli
ve eva'il-t halindeekser-iculemada'irelen tabibligindebulunmaszcihetileusul ve adab ve caddt-z
tslamzyyeyevdkif ve herkeslehusn-z amiztz ihttyar etmtI btr pir-t hikmet-elif idi" (Devlet-z
cAliyye Tarihi, I, Istanbul 1290 [1873], p. 282).
85 This is in particular the case of "cAleko Efendi" Behrnauer quotes him as
"Aleko Sutzo", in other sources he figures as "Aleko Yostenik" (which seems to
be a misreading). He is said to have translateda work on Napoleon's last campaigns
into Ottoman Turkish.
86 " tibu kttabRum Patrikhanestninkdtibtoldugu ve rtcal ve kubera-tzasritnn nemek-
z mecalis-: ihttrambulunduguhalde bundanon alti sene mukaddemvefateden VasildkzmaCrife-
tile lisan-iz osmanzyetercemeolunmus" (preface).
216 JOHANN STRAUSS
scure preface of the Dalkavukname, he had also been an exile (gurbet-

zede)for a while. He died a few years after the foundation of the Encu-
menin about 1854.
The Dalkavukname ("Book of the Parasite")-as his work is usual-
ly known-was published posthumously thanks to Ahmed Vefik
Pasha87(sixteen years after the death of its author) in 1870 by the
State press (MatbaCa-z CAmtre)88"as a favour to the witty persons of
our epoch, since its reading may serve as a warning example, and
since it has appeared among the esteemed and rare works".89 Like
the other works we have dealt with so far, this one, too, is a transla-
tion. The work Vasilaki Efendi chose to translate was, however,
quite unusual: a satirical philosophical dialogue by the Greek
philosopher Lucian (Lukyanos)(ca. 125 A.D. -after 180 A.D.). In
this dialogue, known under the title Per:parasttou90he argues that
parasitism is an art, and even superior either to rhetoric or
philosophy.91Vasilaki Efendi translated it from the ancient Greek
and-perhaps in order to underline its satirical character-gave it
the rather "barbaric" sounding title Dalkavukname ("The Book of
the Parasite").92 Given the widespread tradition of sycophancy
among the Ottomans one might be inclined to see it as a covert criti-
87 Inal, Son astr Osmanltfatrlern,II, p. 705.

88 (Vasiliki), Dalkavukname, Istanbul, MatbaCa-i'Amire 1287 [1870].
89 " mutalacast{ayan-zictibar,asar-zmakbuleve nadireden gorunmtioldugundan
zirefa-yitasnmtzaCarz-tcemilenevcinden olmakiizeretabcu temsiledildi"
90 rlepi Hapaairov. Some authors doubt that it is Lucian's work. The Greek
text has been transmitted through a single channel and is said to be exceptionally
corrupt.
91 In the translation the Greek terms techne,rhetorike,and
philosophiaare ren-
dered as sanCat, fenn-t fesahat, and Cilm-thikmetrespectively
92 According to the stylistic rules of the Ottoman literary language, Persian ele-
ments (name"book") should not be joined to Turkish ones (dalkavuk"parasite",
lit. "naked turban", in the text also the Persian synonym k4selfs is used). The Tur-
kish term correspondsto the French buffon.Until the Tanzimatera, such individuals
were familiar figures in the households of the great and the rich. They were or-
ganized into guilds (Dalkavukesnafi)and had their corporation (lonca),their keth&da,
special garments, statutes, and tariffs. Most of them were known by their nick-
names only (see TurkDili ve Edeb&yatz Ansiklopedist,vol. II, Istanbul 1977, p. 187).
The term dalkavukentered most of the Balkanic languages; for instance, in the lan-
guage of the Greeks in Istanbul, ,,6aKapcai3o6Kic was also used to designate the
parasite (cf. Psychares [i.e. Jean Psichari], Tb TaXii pov, 2nd edition, Athens-
Paris 1905, p. 80).
cism of Ottoman society. There is, however, nothing in the bombas-

tic and fawning preface to suggest that this dialogue had been chosen
for this reason.
When Vasiliki Efendi translated this dialogue (presumably in the
early 1850s), the literary genre of the philosophical dialogue was still
as unfamiliar to the Ottomans as Western poetry, drama, or the
novel. Aware of this, he tried to make it more palatable to an Otto-
man readership. Simon, the parasite and his interlocutor Tychiades
occur as Firuz ("the Lucky") and Kdrdan ("The Wordly-Wise").
References to lesser known ancient Greek philosophers have been
eliminated and replaced-sometimes in a rather lighthearted way93
-by names more familiar to a cultivated Muslim readership such
as Eflatun (Plato), Aristo (Aristotle), or Bukrat (Hippocrates), or by
names of sages known from Persian mythology, like the wise king
Ardashir Vasilaki Efendi also includes a lengthy description of
Troy94 (and the Trojan War), specially for an Ottoman readership.
In the translation he displays-not without a certain ostentation-
his mastery of the most elaborate variety of Ottoman in,a-style. That
kind or ornate poetic prose style was at that time still undisputed as
a model for many Ottoman writers, including Yusuf Kamil Pasha,
whose adaptation of Fenelon's Telemaque(1859; published 1862) is
conventionally regarded as the first literary translation from a
Western language into Ottoman.95
Presumably, the Dalkavuknamecirculated initially, like the Ter-
ceme-i Telemak, in manuscript form. When it was eventually pub-
lished, the genre of the philosophical dialogue was already well
known among Ottoman literati, after the success of the "Philosophi-
cal Dialogues" (Muhaverat-ihikemiyye;1859), a selection of conver-
sational pieces translated from a variety of French philosophers
93 So when ,,Epicurus,,becomes ,-Hippocrates,

(Bukrat;cf. Dalkavukname, p. 26).
94 i" Akdeniz bogazz kar,usinda ile l-yevm harabesininasari miifahede olunub Eski
Istanbul denmeklemacruffehr-i ,ehtr-t Ilyum" (Dalkavukname,p. 57f.). "Eski Istanbul"
(KestanboO, a village 15 km west of Ezine in the Province of (Qanakkaleis in fact the
site of Alexandria Troas. Incidentally, Heinrich Schliemann began his excavations
- at a slightly different site - in 1870.
95 Since it must have been written at least five years earlier, it could be claimed
with some justification that the Dalkavukname was the first literary work to be trans-
lated from a Western language into Ottoman Turkish.
218 JOHANN STRAUSS
(Fenelon, Fontenelle, Voltaire).96In the preface, the dialogue is in-

troduced as the literary genre in which "the ancient Greeks and
even Plato had composed many famous works".97
Vasilaki Efendi's work was based on a more authentic source than
the Muhaverat-z hikemnye.It also has more claims to literary merit than
the contributions to Ottoman letters we have dealt with so far.
The Dalkavukname is, however, the last of the small corpus which
originated from what we may call the "Phanariot tradition" of
translation. It is characterisedby an almost unrestrictedexploitation
of the resources provided by the conventional rtna-style.Alexander
Constantinidis, perhaps the most competent Greek Ottoman scho-
lar of the nineteenth century (vtdeinfra), calls Vassilaki Voukas a
"master of composition" (6plaTro KlaT/drtr)whose work, he says,
was highly praised in Ottoman literary circles.98
The CemC^yyet-z
cIlmzyye-ziOsmanzyyeand the MecmuCa-zFinun
The second learned institution we shall be dealing with here, the
"Ottoman Scientific Society" (CemCzyyet-t
cIlm:yye-tzOsmanyye), was
set up in 1860. Its foundation was largely due to the initiative of the
learned Munif Efendi (later Paia; 1828- 1910), a former apprentice
of the TercemeOdasi and the translator of the above-mentioned
Muhaverdt-iHikemiyye.99 Minif Pasha was also an honorary mem-
96 Muhaverdt-t Fransahiikema-yi benamindan VolterveFenelonveFontenel'in

hikemqyye.
te'lifdtindan;miitercimi Mfnif Efendi ez hulefa-yi Oda-i Terceme-i Bab-i cAli,
DerseCadet, Ceridehane MatbaCasi1276 [1859]. - Some scholars consider this
work the first translation from Western literatureinto Ottoman (See Server Tanilli,
"Bati'dan yapilan ilk edebi geviri", Tarihve Toplum10 (1984), pp. 26-28). For an
interesting analysis of this translation see Mardin, Genests,p. 234-38.
97 "'Edebzyyat-igarbzyyeaksamtndan muhaveretabizrolunurbirusulvardtr
(diyalog)yacnt
ki btrmaddeikiyahuddahazzyadeeshasbeyninde mikdlemesuretindetahnrkzltnurbu tarik
kudema-yiYunaninmesluk-ikadem-ikalemn olubhattdFelatun'unbu vadidehayliasarimev-
cudi meqhuddir"(Muhaverdt-i hikemtyye (Mukaddime), p. 2). - The term ,'muhavere,
is also used by Vasilfiki Efendi: the Dalkavukname is a "muhaverat-tgaribe muhtevi
bir kztCanrtsale-iz
acibe" (Dalkavukname, p. 5).
98 Constantinidis, Muntahabat(Greek preface), p. 10.
99 On Mehmed Tahir Miinif see art. "Munif Pasha" (A.
Mango) El VII,
573-74; Ekrem Isln, "Osmanli Bilim Tarihi; Munif Pasa ve Mecmua-i Ffinun",
Tarihve Toplum11 (1984), pp. 349-54; Recep Duran, "Mehmed Tahir Mfinif
Pasa. Hayati, felsefesi, Erdem 1/6 (1987), 801-50.
ber of the "Greek Literary Society" ('EAvIOlKOcb A,zoXAoylKnb6

EvX;;oyoq), established one year after the CemCzyyet-izclmiyye-i COsma-
nyye on the initiative of some prominent members of the Greek
community, who had apparently been impressed by the activities of
their "Ottoman" countrymen.100
The CemCzyyet-z CIlmiyye-tiOsmanmyye had very much the same pur-
pose as the Enciimen-iDanzi, and there are even striking similarities
between the statutes of two societies.101 It was also founded with the
intention of encouraging scientific study by publishing books and
translations, and thereby introducing modern Western scientific
scholarship. It was, however, more successful than the perhaps
premature attempt of the Encumen-zDaniz.102 Apart from sponsor-
ing public lectures in the natural sciences, geology, history, and eco-
nomics, it brought out the Journal of Sctences (MecmuCa-zFiinun),
which was the first Turkish periodical of this kind in the Ottoman
Empire. It initially appeared for three years from 1862 (July) to
1865 (33 issues); then its publication was interrupted for one and a
half year by a cholera epidemic.103
The Society was resolutely secular in character Members could
100 On this institution see Tatiana Stavrou, '0 v KoavaraTavrvovor6ei 'EU2rjVI

K6q
0iA;oo0YiKc6; ?6);oyo;, rT 'YroVpyetiov TOO &dUVTrpTOV 'E;,rwviagoO,Athens 1967
The preface (I7p6)oyo;) to the first issue of the journal of the Syllogos(KHSPhS 1
(1863), p. 3) refers to a number of Ottoman institutions created in the first half of
the nineteenth century (the Medical School and the Medical Society, ridiye schools,
etc.). The writers of the Prologoswere, however, not too well informed since the
name of the Ottoman CemCiyyet-z cIlmzyye(termed as "a6;Aoyoq 6oricTrloviKc6;") is
confounded with that of its journal: it is referred to as "Mer#oovdi'dovvo6v"
101There are also striking similarities in the aims and methods of the
Cemiyyet-t
cIlmzyye and the Greek Syllogos:the reading and discussion of scientific studies, pub-
lic lectures, publication of ajournal, the setting up of a library and a reading room.
To be fair, the Greek society was far more successful and maintained its existence
from 1861 to 1922.
102 Inspired by the example of the Enciimen-iDanmi,the central administrationof
the Armenian millethad already formed the first Armenian Educational Council in
1856. It consisted of fourteen members, all of them graduates of European institu-
tions of higher learning (On this council and its activities see Vartan Artinian, The
ArmenianConstttutional Systemin the OttomanEmpire1839-1863, Istanbul [1989],
pp. 70-71).
103 Publication was suspended several times before its termination in 1867 A
new start in 1882 ended after two issues. See Imin,"Osmanli bilim tarihi", esp. the
note by Diindar Akiinal, ibid., p. 63.
220 JOHANN STRAUSS
be elected irrespective of their religion and nationality.104 The

MecmuCa-t Finun covered a wide range of translations and original
writings, but religious topics were excluded under the statutes.105
As far as language skills were concerned, the regulations were
almost as liberal as those of its predecessor: in principle, the mem-
bers were supposed to be well versed in Turkish (or Arabic or Per-
sian) and know at least one Western language (French, English,
German, Italian, or Modern Greek). It was even possible to be
elected to the Society without knowledge of a Western language;
however, the number of members to be acceptedwith this deficiency
was statutorily limited to seven.106Non-Muslim subjects proficient
in Ottoman Turkish were also invited to contribute to the Society's
journal.
In the catalogue of subscribers appear some prominent Greeks,
like the Ottoman ambassadorto London, Constantine Anthopoulos
104 (Paragraph 5) " bunlartn intihabtnda ihtilaf-t diyanet ve cinszyyetebakzlmtya-

cakdzr" On the other hand, its Greek counterpart, the Syllogos,used to have no
Muslim Turks among its members, apart from one 'Abdullah Bey, professorat the
Mekteb-tTibbtye.A few of the results of his somewhat peculiar researchesin the field
of linguistics and botany were published as summariesin thejournal. The honorary
members of the Syllogosincluded not only foreign embassadorsin Istanbul, but also
renowned scholars from Western Europe (like Victor Duruy (1811-94), Franz
Miklosich (1813-91), Georg Curtius (1820-85), etc.), the Ottoman Ministers of
Public Education (Safvet Pasha, Mfinif Pasha), and the diplomats at the major
European courts. Andreas David Mordtmann (1811- 79), a long-time resident of
the Ottoman capital who was known as a very active Byzantine and Oriental scho-
lar, was the first foreigner among the "regular members" of the Syllogos. He and
his learned sons contributed a variety of articles to the journal. Mordtmann also
kept the readers of the AugsburgerAllgemetneZettung informed of the activities of the
Greek Society (see, e.g., his "Der griechischewissenschaftlicheVerein in Konstan-
tinopel" in the supplement of the Augsburger AllgemetneZeitungNr. 293 (20 October
1875) 85-87).
105 See art. 3 of the Nizamname(published in the first issue of the
journal,
Muharrem 1279 [July 1862], pp. 2-13): "CemCyyetmesa'il-t din!yye ve zaman-i hal
politikast mebahtsindenihtzrazedfibkendustnetakdimolunan layihalann mevadd-tmezkuzreden
Canolmastna dikkat u ictznaedecekdir" - Article 2 of the regulations of the ((Syllogos>>
also proscribed any "political discussion" (p. 2).
106Art. 6: " tirkceytveyahudCarabt binmtlayikilebildikdenbaskafran-
vefadrtsfden
stz ve zngiliz ve alaman ve ttalyan ve rum lisanlarzndanbtrzstnedahz vukuflarnolmak lazim
gelecekdir.[ ] hernekadarzikr olunan elsine-t hamse-i ecneb:yyedenbizrnevukuflan olmazsa
da carabtfvefirtsftve tiirkideyed-ttuildlanolmak tartileyalnz yedi zattn cemriyyeteduhuliinde
be'solm:yacakdzr"
(Kostaki Antopulo; 1835-1902),107 and the ambassador to Berlin,

John Aristarchis (AristarkiBey; 1811-97). However, in this context
we are particularly interested in two Greek contributors: the afore-
mentioned Alexander Constantinidis [KovaravrTvi6v73;Kostantinidi
Efendi (later Papa) vtde infra] and A.Th. Phardys [OapN6;; Fardi(s)
Efendi, both attached to the Translation Chamber and the Council
of Education (Meclis-i Ma'arnf). They submitted articles in a field for
which their educational background had made them well qualified,
namely, pre-Ottoman (Byzantine) and ancient history, especially
that of the Ottoman lands and in particular the capital, Istanbul. In
general, ancient history and civilization, from the Egyptians to the
Romans, was amazingly popular among Muslim intellecutuals at
that time. This interest was due not only to the novelty of the sub-
ject, but also to an awareness of the primordial importance of
ancient-and especially classical-Greek culture and civilization for
the intellectual development of the West (which was also reflected in
the curriculumof Western schools). Minif Pa?a was particularly at-
tracted by Greek philosophy. In the Mecmua-'i Finun he published
a series of articles, a sort of survey on the ancient philosophers
(Tarih-i Hiikema-yi Yunan), which seem to have been very popular
Ahmet Midhat (1844-1912), one of the most influential Ottoman
writers of that period says that, during his exile in Rhodes, " the
topic which entertained me best, was the biographies of the ancient
philosophers in the Mecmu'a-i Fiinun" 108
Alexander Themistoklis Phardys (?- ?), who had also been em-
ployed in the diplomatic service (he had been first dragoman-
baoterciman-at the Ottoman embassy in Berlin for a while), was a
distinguished Ottoman scholar. He had made an important contri-
bution to promoting knowledge of the Ottoman literary language
within the Greek community, since, together with Constantine Pho-
tiades (later Pasha, vide infra), he compiled the first bilingual Greek-
Ottoman dictionary which, surprisingly enough, appeared as late as
107 He contributed an edifying article on the "Advantages of good house-

keeping" (Faza'il-i beytiyye)to the MecmuCa-iFunun.
108 "Elimdeki Mecmua-i Funun 'dan beni en
ziyade eglendirenbahisfelasife-i kadimenin
terciime-zhalleri oldu", see his Menfa (new edition in Latin script by I.C. Kut, Istan-
bul, 1988 (supplement to Tarih ve Toplum, April 1988)), p. 81. He seems to have
derived great consolation from the attitude of Socrates after his trial.
222 JOHANN STRAUSS
1860.109For the MecmuCa-tFiinun,Phardys wrote several articles on

pre-Ottoman Constantinople such as a "History of Constanti-
and an article on one of the most
nople" (Tarih-i Kostantznmyye)l?0
curious Byzantine relics in Istanbul, the Column of Constantine,
which is known to the Turks as "the hooped Stone" ((emberliTat).
Another treatise was devoted to the history of the ancient kings of
Persia (Tarih-t Muluk-z Furs-z Kadim), from Cyprus to Darius, per-
haps in order to complement an article on the history of Pharaonic
Egypt (Tarih-i Kudema-ytMuluk-t Mtstr) published simultaneously by
a Muslim contributor to the journal. Phardys' article was based
mainly on Greek historians (Herodotus, Xenophon), but the author
also showed that, as an Ottoman scholar, he was fully conversant
with the classical Persian tradition and terminology. Alexander
Constantinidis wrote a short history of the Hagia Sophia (Ayasofya
Tarihi) from the earliest times until Fossati's restoration work, as
well as a historical description of the Princes' Isles (KizzlAdalar),a
favourite summer resort for inhabitants of the capital. Several of
these articles serialized in the MecmuCa-zFinun were later published
separately.111
The significance of these contributions may not be obvious at first
109 AeciK6v 'E;AA7lvorouVpKIKvavvrax&Ovt6rb. A. A.O. ap6M [ ] Kai K. 'Iao.

0orzidaov [Turkish title: Hazzne-t ltigt-: rumtyye ve Cosmanyye], Istanbul, 1860,
printed by the press of the Anatoliof Evangelinos Misailidis. The Ottoman preface
is in both Arabic and Greek script. It contains some 20,000 words. The Ottoman
Turkish material is based primarily on printed dictionaries, like the classic works
of Vankulu and CAsim,the Ahteri-tKebtr,the Burhin-tQatic,and the Farhang-iShuCu-
rt. Among the Western sources mentioned are the works of Meninski and Bianchi
as well as Biberstein-Kazimirski's Arabic-French dictionary But the work of the
two Greek scholars seems to be particularly indebted to a more recent (and more
original) monolingual Ottoman dictionary, the Mintahabat-tlugat-it osmanyye
(2 vols., Istanbul 1268-69 [1852-53]) by James Redhouse, which he had com-
posed during the first years of his work in the Ottoman translation service.
110 He may have been the first to enlighten an Ottoman readershipon the origi-
nal of the city's Turkish name: " Bant-isantstnaminaolarakKostantinupolisyaCnt
Kostantmn sehrttesm:yekiltnd ve ile l-an bu istm ile miisemmaolubehl-i Islam beyninde
miista'melKostanttntyye kelimesinindahtbundanme'huzoldugumaClumdiir. FakatKostan-
tinyye itedenberfi{ehtrvefehremaCnastna olarakyaln:z(;r6;l?i- Ei rTyvr6Aiv)polliststin
polin daht denildigindenbeyne l-Islam Istanbul tesm:yestbundan net-et eylemtidir"
(MecmuCa-t Finun 39 (Cemaziyulahlr 1283 [beg. 11 October 1865], p. 235).
11i Tarih-tAyasofya,Istanbul 1285 [1868]; Tarih-tMiluk-i Furs-iKadim;Istanbul
1286 [1869]. Both books were printed at the Ceride-tHavadisMatbaCas:.
sight if we compare them with the thorough research carried out by

certain members of the Greek Syllogos. But we have to bear in mind
that they were destined for an Ottoman readership that had little
knowledge of these topics, and in fact they contributed to a more
sober understanding of matters that had so far been shrouded in
myths. Constandinidis' History of the Hagia Sophia, for example
(which also includes quotations from Evliya Qelebi), was particular-
ly valuable, since all the stories on the foundation of Constantinople
that were popular among the Turks were legendary.1l2
The scholars who collaborated with the CemCzyyet-iz Clmzyye-z
'Osmantyyebelonged to the new generation of Ottoman Greek gov-
ernment officials that had emerged after the demise of the Phanarlot
aristocracy. The hospodariate of Moldavia and Wallachia, still
awarded as a title (paye; Stephan Vogoridi was such a case), was now
given to native rulers. But new attractive posts were reserved for
non-Muslims and particularly Ottoman Greeks, the most highly
prized of these being the governorship of Samos (since 1834), of
Eastern Rumelia (1878-85), and of Crete (1878-89). These posts,
112 On the folktales which remained popular until the twentieth century, see
Hans Hermann Russack, Byzanz und Stambul. Sagen und Legendenvom GoldenenHorn,
Berlin 1941, esp. pp. 179-82). An attempt had been made in the 17th century to
demystify the pre-Ottoman history of the Capital on the basis of Byzantine sources.
The historian Hiiseyn Hezarfenn (d. 1678) (in his Tenkih Tevarihiil-Miiluk) says that
he obtained a book on Byzantine history from Panayotis Nikoussios and had it
translated into Turkish by Ali Bey (Albertus Bobowsky; as. 1610- 75), the Polish
convert and dragoman. It was incorporated into his chronicle. Interestingly enough,
this author also seems to have relied on local Greeks (See Stephane Yerasimos, La
fondatton de Constantinopleet de Satnte-Sophiedans les traditionsturques,Paris 1990, esp.
p. 245). In the nineteenth century, a topographical description of ancient and
modern Constantinople by the learned archbishop of Sinai, Konstantios (later patri-
arch (1830-34)), seems to have enjoyed special popularity in Istanbul. His Ktov-
aravrlvua rnaAai TrevscorTpa, originally published in Venice in 1824, was reprinted
in Istanbul in 1844 and translated into French, Karamanlt, Turkish, and English.
The expanded English version by John P Brown, secretary of the American Lega-
tion in Istanbul (see n. 174) appeared in London (Anctentand Modem Constantinople,
London, Stevens Brothers 1868) and was meant to be used as a guidebook. A short-
ened Turkish version of the first chapters by one Yorgaki Petropoulo first appeared
serialized in the paper Tercuman-tAhval and was then published separately (Heylet-I
sabika-i Kostantznyye, Istanbul, Tercfiman-i Ahval Matba'asi 1277 [1861]; reprinted
1289 [1872]). See Semavi Eyice, "Istanbul'un fetihten 6nceki devre ait eski eser-
lerine dair bir kitap hakkinda", Istanbul Universitesi Edebtyat FakiiultestTurk Dili ve
EdebtyatzDergist, V (1953), pp. 85-90).
224 JOHANN STRAUSS
too, became the monopoly of a limited number of families; some of

them were old Phanariot families, while others were newcomers and
came from Cappadocia or even Crete. Most of them were well
versed in the Ottoman literary language and some of them went to
considerablelenghts to propagate the Ottoman language and litera-
ture among their Greek Orthodox co-nationals (6poyevdffq).
To this new generation belonged the Cappadocian Constantine
Adossidis ('A8ooiSriq;KostakiAdosidi;1817-95), whose remarkable
career had also started in the Terceme Odaszin 1840. He also collabo-
rated on the Greek edition of the Takvzm-iVekayic(the "'00topa-
VlKwo Mlv6nowp").He accompanied the Ottoman minister of Public
Education, Ahmed Kemal, to Paris and served then as a secretary
at the Ottoman Embassy in Vienna and as a charge d'affaires in
Athens. Adossidis became secretary of the two leading grand vezirs
of the Tanzimatperiod, CAliand Fu'ad Pasha (1815 -69), who sent
him on special missions to Izmir, Epirus and Thessaly. He was
councelor at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, director of the Council
of Public Works (NafiCa),and governor of Crete (1877-78) and
Samos 1873-74, 1879-85). 113 In our context Adossidis Pasha is
important as the author of the first, long-awaited Ottoman grammar
for Greeks published in the Ottoman Empire. His "Rudiments of
Ottoman Grammar" (1850) seem to have become a standardrefer-
ence work for Greek students of the language.114
An equally fine Ottoman scholar was Constantine Photiadis
Pasha (OIxaStlqd; KostakiYamn Fotyadi;d. 1897),115the co-author of
113 Cf. Sicill-tzOsmant,IV, 877, Mahmud

Cevad, MaCarif-itUmumtyyeNezarett
tarihfe-ttejkilatveicraati,Istanbul 1338 [1922], p. 82; Ptines, 'Hyeu6veq,pp. 67- 72;
Alexandris, "Oi 'EX;Tve'", pp. 378-79 See also the obituary in Servet-tFuinun(29
Haziran 1311 [1895], p. 282 (with a photograph on p. 277).
114 K6nstantinos Adosides, TroitEia roe '0o,pavAKfi? rpappartn;c, Constanti-
nople, Imperial Printing Office 1850. The grammar was dedicated to Sultan
cAbdiilmecid.It also includes some dialogues, adapted from the Fdaristekelliim nsale-
st (first published in 1262 [1846]), an apparentlyvery popular Turkish-Persiancon-
versation manual by Ahmed Kemal, who was also official translatorfor Arabic and
Persian. The writer of the obituary in Servet-iFiinunsays about Adossidis' grammar
(termed "kavaCid-t cosmanzyye"):" lisan-tosmanmyevdakfbulunanRumlarhepbueser-
dentahsileylernmdir" A planned Ottoman-Greek dictionary by Adossidis remained
unpublished and was finally replaced some twenty years later by Avraam Maliakas'
dictionary (see n. 135).
115 See Ptines,
'Hyedp6vg,p. 75-80. Constantine Photiadis was also among the
founders of the Syllogos.
the aforementioned Greek-Ottoman dictionary. The new spirit of

the Tanzimat-era had allowed him to attend what he calls "Islamic
colleges" (medarts-zzslamtyye), where he received a thorough train-
ing. This enabled him to teach the Ottoman language at the most
prestigious Greek schools in the capital, the "Great School of the
Nation" (MEydaAqroO Fevovg Exor) in the Phanar and the Greek
lyceeof the "Presentation of the Virgin Mary" (Eiao6ia tro Oeor6-
KOV) in Pera (Beyoglu). In 1867 he accompanied the grand vizier CAli
Pasha to Crete and in 1874 he was appointed director of the lyceeof
Galatasaray, the first Western-style institution of that type in the
Ottoman Empire (founded in 1867).116 Later, he was sent as a gov-
ernor to Samos (1874- 79) to succeed Adossidis Pasha.
Though he must have been a very inspiring teacher, no works in
Ottoman Turkish by him are known. However, he translated the
Ottoman Code of Civil Laws (Mecelle-zAhkdm-tzAdliyye)into Greek.
During his stay in Crete, Photiadis had realized that the local popu-
lation were almost totally ignorant of the new Ottoman legislation.
He therefore decided to translate the Mecelle (a code of laws which
he considered, with perhaps excessive deference, superior even to
the French Codecivill17) into his native language.118 He was helped
in this task by another prominent turkomathes,John Vithynos
[BiOuv6q; YankoVitinos]who was then official translator of the vilayet
of Crete.119 Photiadis Pasha did not hesitate to seek advice re-
116 This
lyceehad been founded in 1867 and had three Greek directors (Photia-
dis, 1873; Sava Pasha, 1874, Caradja Pasha, 1894). (See Ihsan Sungu, "Galatasa-
ray Lisesi'nin Kurulu?u", BelletenVII/2 (1943), pp. 315-47 )
117 "kod sivil'in ahkamznanisbetle bu mecelle-t celile ekmel ve etemm ve ezher "
(Ahkim-t :adliyye - NoJIKOi Kav6ve TiroL'AarvKc6bKo65&7,translated from the Tur-
kish by Constantine Photiadis andJohn Vithynos, Istanbul 1873-81, part I (Otto-
man preface). Vithynos, the co-translator, does not seem to have shared the same
view In particular, he made strong objections against the incorporation of ele-
ments offiqh into the code. "The codification of the Mecellehas set back the Otto-
man Empire from a hundred years of progress" (" Mecelle 'ntntedvint,Devlet-:
Osmanmyye3tyiizsenelik bir terakktdenaltkoymuitur" (see Hulusi Yavuz, "Mecelle'nin
tedvini ve Cevdet Pasa'nm Hizmetleri", AhmedCevdetPaIa Semrnnert(cited n. 13),
pp. 41-101, p. 60).
118This translation was recommended by Constandinidis Efendi as a useful
text for students of Ottoman.
119J. Vithynos translated the last two books of the Mecelleon his own. He had
become quite familiar with the matter, since he was a graduateof, and later teacher
at the Darilfiinun-tSultant. This institution, the predecessorof what was later known
226 JOHANN STRAUSS
garding the translationwith Ahmed Cevdet Pasha himself, who had

chaired the commission which had drawn up the code, and who took
some pride in the fact that the illustrious predecessor of the Mecelle,
the Roman Code had also been drawn up in the city of Constan-
tinople.120
The number of Oriental scholars among Ottoman Greeks re-
mained, however, remarkably small. A member of the Syllogos
alluding to this situation in a learned article, "On the Poetry of the
Orientals" (one of the extremely rare articles of that kind published
in the Society's journal), says, after referring to Western scholars
like Meninski, d'Ohsson, de Sacy, d'Herbelot, von Hammer, and
others: "Among our people, though we are in the best position to
apply ourselves to that kind of philologicalwork, there are no Orien-
talists ('AcaarlaTai) who dedicate themselves especially and exclu-
sively to the study of Oriental languages". After repeating the locus
communtsthat the diplomatical language of the Porte is particularly
indebted to the Phanariot dragomans, he continues: "There can be
found among these people men with such a mastery of the Oriental
languages, that their works are considered classics by the Ottomans.
These are the History of Catherine by I. Argyropoulos, the History
of Alexander the Great by G. Rhazes, who also composed a French-
Turkish dictionary and a grammar, etc. But those men occupied
as the Law School (Mekteb-tHukuk),had been established in Istanbul after 1871

thanks to the efforts of Safvet Pasha (see n. 122). Vithynos benefited particularly
from the advice of Reuf and Ahmed Hamdi, both of them teachers at the
Sultant,who introduced him to the bases (usul) and subdivisions (fiiru?)
Dariilfiinun-I
of the canon law of Islam. He was, like Adossidis and Photiadis Pasha, appointed
governor of Crete (1896) and Samos (1904-06) (See Ptines, 'Hye#6ves, pp. 157-
71). After the Young Turk Revolution he published several pamphlets in Ottoman
Turkish where controversiallegal matters were discussed (See his ?ura-ytDevletiniu
kararthakkindamutalaCandme, Istanbul 1328/1912; Re'yname.Istiml4k-zecanibkanunu-
nun bacz-zsikut ve miibhemtyyettndenmiinba'isbtrihtilafadairdir,Istanbul 1330/1914).
120 Cf. Cevdet Pasa, Tezdkir1-12, edited by Cavid Baysun, Ankara, 1953,
pp. 62-64. The first treatise on the Roman Code in Ottoman-Turkish is due to
a Catholic Albanian, Pashko Vasa [Vasa Paya; 1825-92] who had accompanied
Cevdet Pasha as a secretaryduring his tour of inspection in Bosnia and Herzegovi-
na in 1863- 64. His Tarih-imiicmel-tkavantn-z Romawas printed by the press of the
Cemiyyet-ilIlmtyye-icOsmanyye in 1289 [1872]. In the preface he stresses that thanks
to these laws "the veil of ignorance was destroyed, the ideas of the common people
were enlightened, and it became obvious that what is called 'Laws' is the guardian
of the rights of people and the protector of the high and the low" (op. ctt., p. 3).
political positions besides their philological work and were not, as we

have said, exclusively Orientalists. Therefore, the study of these lan-
guages has been neglected and now there are very few among our
Greek compatriots (6goysEvsi) to deal with them".121
AlexanderConstantznzdis(?-ca. 1890)
It was one of Photiadis Pasha's students, the above-mentioned
Alexander Constantinidis, who perhaps became the most active
Greek Ottoman scholar of the nineteenth century Surprisingly
enough, this remarkable man has still not found his biographer.
What we can reconstruct from a variety of sources is the following:
after having entered the TercemeOdasi, he enjoyed the special protec-
tion and encouragement of Safvet Pasha (1814-83),122 who was
also an honorary member of the Syllogos(which Constantinidis had
joined in 1872). In the course of his career, Constantinidis held
several minor government posts. He became judge at the Court in
Pera [Beyoglu]and councillor (miste;ar) to the governor of Salonica,
obtained the title pa4a and was for a while inspector (nr67rrrg) of the
Greek schools in the capital. He seems to have been resident in
Kadik6y, where he died around 1890
Alexander Constantinidis published numerous textbooks, gram-
mars, and dictionaries for the study of the Ottoman language. Most
of them were destined for his Greek compatriots and used as text-
books by them. 123The author's remarks in the prefaces also give us
an invaluable insight into the attitude of the Greek community
towards the Ottoman language. Constantinidis' excellent Ottoman
chrestomathy124 shows how deeply Greece's classical past was
121 D. Razes, "I'lepi igt noifleco04ntap&aTOI;'Aoaavo?;,KHPhS IV (1865-70),

pp. 16-21, p. 16. The author of this article was a Greek national and a former
dragoman at the Greek embassy in Istanbul.
122 This eminent Ottoman statesman had been Translator of the Divan, six
times Minister of Foreign Affairs and three times Minister of Public Education (On
Safvet Pasha see Mehmed Zeki Pakalin, SafvetPa4a, Istanbul 1943).
123Under the aegis of Miinif Efendi, who was then Minister of Public Educa-
tion, Constantinidis also planned to publish a comprehensive Ottoman-Greek Dic-
tionary Only the first parts of it, however, actually appeared in print.
124 Miintahabat-iasar-iz osmanzyye [Alexandros Konstantinides, 'OO,avwiKl
XproTrogdOela], Istanbul, Mekteb-i SanayiCMatbaCasi, 1288-1871 (2nd edition
228 JOHANN STRAUSS
already rooted in Ottoman culture at that time. Aesop's fables125

and ancient Greek mythology (?ilm-zesatzr)were very much en vogue
and even romances like DaphntsandChloewere translated (from the
French). A large proportion of the texts in the Miintahabdt,which are
taken from only the most distinguished modern writers, were thus in
one way or another related to classical antiquity: apart from extracts
from the Muhaverdt-zhikemzyyeand Yusuf Kamil Pasha's Telemaque
translation (which was considered by the Greeks to be a sort of se-
quel to the Odyssey),there were also sections from Ahmed Midhat's
Aesop adaptation (Kissa'danhzsse;1871) and from the above-men-
tioned articles by Miinif Pasha on the Greek philosophers(Socrates,
Plato, Solon, and others) published in the Mecnmua-z Fiinun.
Constantinidis also translated into Ottoman Turkish sections of
Critobulos' "History of Mehmed II" which were published in the
supplement of the Ceride-zHavadisin the 1878s.126He also seems
to have planned the publication in Ottoman of a treatise on the tele-
graph, but he only got as far as publishing the introduction in one
of his textbooks.127His most important work in Ottoman Turkish,
however, was the "History of Ancient Greece" 128This may not
1873). Constantinidis was at the that time member of the 'Scientific section' (kism-z
Cilml) of the 'High Council of Education' (Meclis-t Kebzr-i Macarif; cf. Mahmud
Cevad, MaCarif-iUmumqyyeNezarett(cited n. 113), p. 113). This work was dedicated
to Mfinif Efendi. It was followed by a similar attempt by a teacher of Ottoman at
the Greek Commercial School and the Theological College in Chalki [Heybeliada]
and a student of Adossidis Pasha (who had taught for two years Ottoman at the
Greek Commercial School) (See Kleanthes Charalambides, 'AvOoXoyia'00oYavltK
[Turk. title: Mecelle-iedebzyyat-tz
osmanyye]2 vols., Constantinople, Ohanes Mfuhen-
disian 1873- 75). Though it also contains extracts from a variety of contemporary
Ottoman authors like Cevdet Pasha, Arifi Pasha, Edhem Pasha, Rifat Pasha,
Muinif Efendi, Namik Kemal etc., it more resembles a text-book, since, unlike
Constantinidis's Muntahabdt,it also includes chapters on grammar and glossaries.
125 One of the first translators of Aesop's fables into Ottoman Turkish (pub-
lished under the somewhat awkwardtitle "The exploits of the animals for the shar-
pening of the minds"), Rasih Efendi, says that in 1831-32 he already had learnt
these Fables (in their French version) by heart during his training at the Mekteb-z
Tzbbzye(See Menaktb-: hayvan barayi teshtz-zezhan, Istanbul 1293 [1876], p. 11).
126 Mentioned by Pavlos Karolidis in the introduction to his translation of
Critobulos (see n. 189), p. 4.
127 See his Rehnima-yz kira'at, Istanbul, Tasvir-i Efkar MatbaCasi, 1286
[1869],
pp. 41-47- "Maclumat-i telgrafiyye" A similar treatise, Tarih-itelgraf,was pub-
lished by Muinif Pasha in the same year in the MecmuCa-zFunun.
128 Tarih-i Yunanmstan-z
kadim kable l-milad mm 2200 ila 146, Istanbul, MatbaCa-i
CAmire, 1286 [1869].
have been the first treatise on this topic written by an Ottoman

author Constantinidis' compilation, however, was based on authen-
tic sources and-unlike other historical works of this type published
at that time-it became a reference work which was also quoted by
others.129 The appendix, an index of names and places of almost a
hundred pages must have been particularly useful for the Ottoman
readership, since it enabled them to see that most of these places
were-under slightly different names-quite familiar to them and
still mostly located within the boundaries of the Ottoman state. He
also planned a similar Roman history, which seems to have re-
mained uncompleted.130 Alexander Constantinidis was well ac-
quainted with Greek scholars like Adossidis and Photiadis Pasha but
also with James Redhouse, who had been, as we have seen, a cor-
responding member of the Enciimen-i Dangt. He had a fairly good
knowledge of the research on the ancient history of the Turks that
had been done by Western scholars until that time.131 He also sup-
ported schemes for a reform of the spelling system for the Ottoman
language which was planned by Safvet Pasha.
Constandinidis Efendi made extraordinary efforts to encourage
his Greek countrymen to study Ottoman. He even planned to found
a special collection of books for the propagation of the Ottoman lan-
guage (" Tiirkcelisaninin ner ii taCmzmzne
kiitiibhane-ICosmanf
"). But the
indifference of his Greek compatriots seems to have been an insuper-
able obstacle. Complaining about the lack of interest, he observes
critically: "Due to our very harmful segregation from the Ottomans
[sic], we are completely ignorant not only of their language, but also
of their manners and customs, and, in addition, of their history. We
are able to talk about the Chinese and other remote peoples, but we
are compelled to keep silent whenever that people is concerned with
129 For example in the notes to the translation of Fenelon's Les Aventures
d'Anstonois, in fact, a continuation of the Telemaque(Cf. Hikdye-i Anrstonus,trans-
lated by [Fa'ik] Repad, Istanbul, Kasbar Matbaasi, 1306 [1889], p. 9, p. 26).
130 The first complete Roman History was published by a Muslim Cretan
(Cevdet, Manzara-z CiberyahudRoma Tariht, 2 vols., Istanbul, Mahmud Bey Mat-
bacasi, 1305 [1887].
131 Cf. the introduction to his
'00co#avzKi FpaparianK (Turk. title: Sarf-tz osma-
nf), Constantinople, Voutyras & Co., 1874.
230 JOHANN STRAUSS
whom we live together and by whose laws we are governed. Isn't this
sad, or rather, doesn't it put us to shame?"132
The positton of Ottoman Turkish and Greekafter the Tanzzmatreforms
Despite these efforts, nobody in the Greek community, of course,

not even the most enthusiastic Ottoman scholar, ever considered of
promoting the study of Ottoman at the expense of Greek. Due to the
indifference of the authorities in matters of language (at least as far
as non-Muslim subjects were concerned), the Greek language had
never been under threat in the Ottoman Empire. (A-rather half-
hearted-assimilation policy started only at the very end). The re-
forms of the Tanzimatwere particularlyfavourable to the Greek lan-
guage, which in many respects enjoyed a sort of semi official status.
Not only the official gazette of the Empire, but also several provin-
cial newspapers (vilayetgazeteleri)appeared both in Greek and Tur-
kish. The liberal policy of the Ottoman government during this peri-
od even allowed what has been called the "re-hellenization"133of a
large segment of the Greek Orthodox community in the provinces,
whose mother tongue was Turkish. Most Ottoman Greeks were well
aware of this state of affairs. A policy of forced linguistic assimilation
such as had been practised in the West was completely alien to the
East.
This was also the view expressed by the authors of an article ap-
pearing in a paper which was the barometerof Greek public opinion
in Istanbul par excellence, the Neologos(founded in 1866 by Stavros
Voutyras (1841 -1923)):134 the East ('Avarolr) was "a mosaic of
132Muntahabait (Greek preface), p. 9 Similarly, the remarks of Adossidis in the

preface to his grammar (ZTOIXEia,p. 8): "Dear Greek compatriots (6poyev~e), it
is a matter of regret, or rather no little shame for us, the subjects of the Ottoman
Empire, who live cheek by jowl with the Ottomans, governed by their laws, that
we remain indifferent about this language, regarding which our colleague peoples
in the Empire, the Armenians, and also the Armenian Catholics put themselves to
the utmost trouble privately and publicly, and this applies not only to the Ottoman,
but also to the Arabic and Persian languages"
133 Richard Clogg, "The Greek Millet in the Ottoman
Empire", Braude/
Lewis, ChristiansandJews (cited n. 1), I, pp. 185-207
134 2 March 1876.
Quoted in the appendix to A. Maliakas' Dictionary (see fol-
lowing note).
different nations, languages, and creeds, linked together only tech-

nically and superficially". Though agreeing in principle with a
more positive attitude towardsthe study of what after the 1876 Con-
stitution was named the "official language" (resmfdil), the authors
of the article were anxious to emphasise that "if the inhabitants of
the Empire had to study the learned Ottoman language, i.e., the
language of the state", they should not do so by neglecting the
"other national languages, especially Greek, which could contribute
best to civilise the East", an idea that underlines the importance of
the language issue in the framework of the Megali Idea. Another
renowned Greek Ottoman scholar, Avraam Maliakas, a native of
Lesbos, who taught Greek at the lyceeof Galastasaray,went even fur-
ther. In the preface to his Greek-Ottoman dictionary (which he had
compiled with the help of a colleague at the lycee,a Greek-speaking
Muslim from Yannina), he invited his Muslim compatriots (the
,,'00apavo?,,), to study Greek, pointing at the important role this
language was playing in secondaryeducation in the "civilised coun-
tries" of Western Europe and in the United States.135This was un-
doubtedly an argument which could be expected to carry some
weight with the Ottomans. In fact, a number of Greek grammarsfor
Turks were written by learned Greek Ottomanists, among others by
the above-mentioned Alexander Constantinidis.136 However, it
would be unfair to neglect the ideals of Ottomanism that can be de-
tected in the attempts by those Ottoman Greeks ready to propagate
the study of the Ottoman language among their homogeneis. An in-
teresting case is that of an apparently fervent supporter of the idea
135 Avraam Maliakas, Aei4b6v ToupKo-'E1ArvlK6v [Turkish title: Ltsan-iyananf

(t) ile miibeyytnCarabtvefanst ve tirkt elfaztnt havt MecmaCul-Luigat], Constantinople,
Voutyras & Co., 1292-1876, p. 10 (Ottoman preface): " bu lisanin tahsilinden
husulegelecekmenaficinserh i beyanmnda saha3if-t Cadidekafi degilse de bu mebhasdalisan-i
maderzadtmifrat-t medh i sitayztdenbu babdahakikat-t hale kesb-t ittilaCaragbetve tenezzil
edenzevatt lisan-t maderzadlerileberaberelszne-isatiredenevvel lisan-zyunantyz bt l-mecburtye
tahsil etmekdebulunanAvrupa ve Amerikamilel-z miitemeddinenzn miinasebatve muCameldtmtn
miicir asar- ficl[yyelinne havalebirleiktifa eylenm" For a well-known purist like Malia-
kas, the difference between ancient and modern (demotic) Greek, of course, did not
exist.
136 Usul-t lisan-t rumt, Istanbul 1309 [1892]. Another manual had been pub-
lished by Abraham Maliakas, Ltsan-i rumf sarff, Istanbul 1300 [1883]. Both books
were printed at the press of the Neologos.
232 JOHANN STRAUSS
of Ottomanism ("fahr u ierefimiz'Osmanlzlik"), a Greek from Bafra

(Paphra) and student at the Medical School, who later became a dis-
tinguished doctor. John C. Orduloghlous [BafraltYanko]published
a textbook for Greek schools in Turkish, because he had decided to
"do everything within his power to propagate as much as possible
the Ottoman language, which could be basis of unity in our coun-
try".137 But although he felt the need to "strengthen unity and
fraternity among the peoples of the Ottoman Empire by promoting
our general language (lisan-i: umumtfmz)"he preferred to use an
Ottoman version of a Greek book as a textbook ratherthan to select
an original Ottoman text.138
TeodorKasap (1835-1897)
Teodor Kasap (Te'odor Kas.ab, Theodore Cassape, 0s68opoq
Kaoa7niq),who may be called a "true Ottoman", was a quite differ-
ent sort of person. In many respects, he is the outstanding figure
among the Ottoman Greeks in the nineteenth century.139As has
been seen, the impact of most of the works of Greek scholars and
literati written in Ottoman Turkish had been ratherlimited, despite
their potentially pioneering character Within their own communi-
ty, they had to struggle hard to be heard, and even if some Muslim
137 ," seldmet-: mahsusa-z Cosmanzyyemizzn

uhuvvet-iz umumzyyeile mznikaspeztr-t
aytne-ihakikatolacaginimilahaza[. ] bu misillurabita-ztttihadlannba,ltcaesaslanndan
olanyeganegz-zlisanmaddesine hasr-iefkarvemilkiumuzde :ttihadolabilecek
lisan-icosmantnin
mumktnoldugumertebe taCmzin
yolundasarf-tma-hasal-zikttdaretmegekararverdiidim"
(Ioannes C. Ordouloglous ['Op8ou.X6youq;,Bafrah OrdulolluYanko,in Turkish]
Kiutbhane-zetfal, Istanbul, Escad Efendi Matbaasi, 1299 [1882], p. 2f.).
138 The book, a collection of moral tales, is a translation of the "Children's
Library" (Halszcil Bizlolo0'K:) by I.A. Vretos (1836-1920).
139 The biographical data furnished by the two
major Turkish sources (Cemal
Midhat Kuntay, NamtkKemaldevrnnninsanlarn ve olaylanarasinda,2 vols., Istanbul
1944, I, pp. 586-96; Ihsan Sungu, "Teodor Kasap", AylzkAnsiklopediI (August
1944), p. 126) are often contradictory In Turkish referenceworks, the date of his
death is usually given as 1905, whereas contemporaryGreek sources (and Kuntay,
Namik Kemal, p. 592) indicate 1897 Much useful information in contained in
"0e6&opoq Kaodnc%q (1835-97). A^iooLoypd&(po; bpdoa4av Kcov)7c6Xst" (reprinted
from the 32nd volume of the Archezon tou laografikoukazgl6ssikouThesaurou), Athens
1966. It is a collection of extracts from a variety of sources, from contemporary
newspapers up to N. Moschopoulos' article "eS6&opoq Kacodriq" in the MEE
(XIII, p. 931).
Ottomans did take an interest in them, the response was not over-
whelming. Teodor Kasap (1835- 97), however, was not only a close
friend of Namik Kemal (1840-88), conventionally regarded as the
greatest Ottoman writer and poet in the nineteenth century, he also
actively took part in the literary and public life of his time. Whereas
the learned Ottoman scholars among the Greeks (mostly in state
service or heavily dependent on protectors) usually kept a low profile
and seem to have had little interest in policy, Teodor Kasap was a
rebellious character, and his activities as a publicist even led to his
imprisonment for contempt of the Constitution in 1877.
His biography still remains obscure in many respects. All sources
agree that Teodor Kasap was a native of Kayseri in Cappadocia,
where his father Seraphim ran a small business. Following the death
of his father, Teodor moved to Istanbul (or to Izmir according to
others140) at the age of eleven and worked as an apprentice in a
shop belonging to one of his compatriots. At the same time, he
studied at the Greek school of Kurure?me. It was during the
Crimean War (1856) that a French officer (according to some a
nephew of Alexandre Dumas pere), impressed by Teodor's intelli-
gence, took him under his wing and brought him back to France
with him. There he became acquainted with Alexandre Dumas pere
(1802-70). The famous French novelist is said to have enabled
Teodor Kasap to study in Paris at the Collegede France, and subse-
quently employed him as his secretary for seven years.141 From
French sources we know that Kasap-together with a large number
of congenial companions-accompanied Dumas as an interpreter
during his cruise on board the Emma in 1860. According to the origi-
nal plan, this voyage should have brought the party, not only to the
most memorable places in Greece (Corfu, Peloponnese, Greek
islands) but also to the Ottoman capital, the shores of Asia Minor,
Lebanon, the Holy Land, and Egypt.142 Instead, it provided Du-
mas (and Teodor Kasap) with an opportunity to meet Garibaldi and
140 Kuntay, Namik Kemal, I, p. 586.

141 Kuntay, Namik Kemal, p. 586, note 2 (he quotes the Istanbul Greek
paper
GraphikosKosmos (1880, p. 203).
142 See F W
J. Hemmings, The King of Romance. A Portrait of AlexandreDumas,
London, 1979, pp. 186-87 (Kasap's name is misspelt ,Canapes there.)
234 JOHANN STRAUSS
his revolutionariesduring their campaign. Equally important for his

future career was another acquaintance he made during his stay in
Paris: Namik Kemal, one of the most famous emigres. The friend-
ship between them which ensued from that meeting would last for
the rest of their lives. At the outbreak of the Franco-Germanwar in
1870, both of them left Paris and returned to the Ottoman capital.
Teodor Kasap initially obtained a post at the Engineering School
(Mihendishane),where he taught French, but he soon began a new
career as a journalist. He published a number of journals, but his
fame is mainly due to his satiricaljournals (mzzahgazetesi),in par-
ticular Dzyojen,named after the Greek philosopher Diogenes,143but
otherwise little concerned with Greek affairs. The first issue ap-
peared on 12 November 1870 [12 Te?rin-i sani 1286], printed by the
press of the CemCyyet-zCIlmzyye-icOsmanzyye.
This paper (which included cartoons) was the first of its kind in
the Ottoman Empire and played an extaordinary role in the intellec-
tual life and the development of new ideas in the Ottoman Empire
during the "hot phase" of the reform period during the last years
of the reign of cAbduilCaziz.144Among the contributors to Dzyojen
were Kasap's old friend Namik Kemal and a whole series of other
prominent writers of the Tanztmatperiod. Though Teodor Kasap
himself wrote articles in these papers (like the other contributors
mostly anonymously), his chief role seems to have been that of
manager; he was apparently the moving force behind these papers.
He did not lack a certain business acumen: Dzyojenas well as other
papers (Hayal("Polichinelle"), f(ngtrakltTatar("The courier with
bells") seem to have also been published in French, Greek, and
Armenian.145 This activity came to an end, however, with the
143 In the editorial (mukaddime)of the first Turkish issue of the

journal, the
choice of this title is simply explained as follows: "D!yojenhiikema-yi yunanzyyeden
humntfnlikleiohret4icar Sinoplubir meczub-ikdmilolub me,rebve mezheb:du gazetenin
muvafik-imeslegioldugundan bu istm ile tevstmzminasibgoruildu"
144 On this period see Roderic Davison, Reformin theOttoman
Empire,Princeton
1963.
145 Of the French and Greek versions of
D!yojen(which actually had preceded
the Turkish edition) and the Greek versions of the Qzngzraklt Tatar(Kov6ouvTTo?)
and Hayal(Mo5po?),very little is known. On an Armeno-Turkish version of Hayal
see Kevork Pamukviyan, "Mizahi 'Hayal' gazetesmin Ermeni harfli Turk;e baski-
si", Tarihve Toplum42 (1987), pp. 356-60. Teodor Kasap was also the proprietor
of the Bulgarian satiricaljournal Shutoshpublished in Istanbul 1873-1874.
deposition of Murad V (who seems to have sympathised with

him146) and the ascension to the throne of Abdiilhamid II (1876-
1909).
Teodor Kasap's contribution to Ottoman letters, however, was
not restricted to his journalistic activity. Equally important was his
activity as a translator of Western literature. Thanks to his cosmo-
politan background, his choice was quite different from that of other
Ottoman Greeks of that period. Since in many respects he had a
truly modern outlook, he translated neither historical works nor
Greek philosophers. But being aware of the specific civilisation that
had developed in the Ottoman Empire, he did his best to adapt his
productions to the Ottoman environment. In the domain of drama,
he added two very original versions of Moliere's comedies to the al-
ready existing corpus of translations into Ottoman Turkish which
had been initiated by the aforementioned Ahmed Vefik Pasha,147
and he also translated a comedy by a contemporary, Alexandre
Dumas fils (1824-95).148
I4killi Memo
Among his Moliere adaptations, iikilli Memo ("The suspicious

Mehmed") appeared, after having been advertised in the (zngtraklh
Tatar, in 1873.149 It was presented by the writer as if it were an
original work, but it was an adaptation of Sganarelleou le cocu imagi-
146 Cf. the extracts from Count E. de Keratry, Mourad Prnce-Sultan-Prisonnier

V,
d'Etat(1840-78), Paris 1878, pp. 287-89 in "Oe6&copoc Kaaod7ri" (see n. 139),
p. 13-14.
147The first Moliere adaptation by Ahmed Vefik Papa appeared in 1869, Zor
Nikah(LeManageforce'). On these (and other Moliere adaptations)see Saliha Paker,
"Nineteenth-century Ottoman adaptationsof Moliere", Proceedings of theXIIth Con-
gressof theInternational
Comparative Literature
Assoctation(Munich1988), Vol. 5: Space
and boundaries in literary theory and criticism, pp. 382-87
148 On allegedly unpublished translations of Victor Hugo's Hernan and Lucrece
Borgiaby Teodor Kasap, see Zeynep Kerman, 1862-1910 yillarnarasindaVictor
Hugo'dan Tiirkceye yapilan terciimeleriizerndebir araytzrma(Istanbul 1978), p. 357,
p. 393.
149IFkilliMemo,Hayal MatbaCasi1291 [1873]. It was reprinted after the Young
Turk Revolution under the title Tammmiistebidd IFkilliMemo("The perfect despot
Mehmed the suspicious" See also the edition in Latin script, Cevdet Kudret (ed.),
Ilkilli Memo, Istanbul, 1965) (with an important introduction).
236 JOHANN STRAUSS
nazre(1660). (Teodor Kasap did not, in fact, write any original

plays.) This farce, which has been the first versed comedy by the
French author, was boldly termed an ortaoyunuand it owed, indeed,
very much to the spirit of this traditional Turkish form of theatrical
representation. All the protagonists, of course, bear Turkish names,
and the colloquial language of the play stands in sharp contrast with
Moliere's more refined verses. The reform of the somewhat vulgar
ortaoyunuwas a matter dear to the heart of Teodor Kasap, but the
authorities, as well as certain writers like Namik Kemal, were op-
posed to this form. Teodor Kasap's attitude was quite different: he
saw a need to adopt the classical drama "either from the ancient
Greeks or the Romans, nor the French or English and to imitate
them" 150As far as the ortaoyunuwas concerned, he argued that
"we do not want it to be banned, but reformed, since the ortaoyunu
is the theatre of the Turks".151
Para mes'elest
It is not surprising that comedies were the most congenial means
of literary expression for an individual like Teodor Kasap. In the
preface of Parames'elest(1875;152translated from Dumas fils' come-
dy Une questiond'argent(1857)), he explains the reasons for this
preference. Despite the undeniable merits of plays termed tragedies
(dramve trajedi),he prefers the comedy "since it not only gives us
peace of mind, but it also denounces the conditions that cause moral
corruption, by ridiculing them".153 The subject of this comedy is
very modern: It illustrates the dangers of speculation on the stock
150 "Bize gelince.Biztm iftn ttyatroyu

ne Yunan'dan,ne Roma'dan,ne Fransa'dan,ne
deIngiltere'den
almagaveonlaratatbiketmegehacetyoktur" ("Osmanli tiyatro mes'elesi",
Dzyojen,25 November 1288, Nr. 168) (quoted by And, (see n. 151), p. 272).
151 " mencintdevil, tsldhtntarzuedenz. QiinktOrtaoyunu
Tirklerznt!yatrosudur"
(In an article published in Hayal, 22 mayis 1290, Nr. 168, quoted by Metin And,
Tanztmatve Istibdaddonemmnde Tirk Tiyatrosu(1839-1908), Ankara 1972, p. 270.)
152Para mes'elesi. Komedya bes perde cAleksandr Dfima fi? (sic) asanndan,
Istanbul, Hayal Matbacasi, 1292.
153 , komedya tarztndayaztlmzt bulunanoyunlardahtheminsanaznfzrah-zkalbverzr
hemde ifsad-zahldkimucibolanahvalimakam-itstihzadatezyifu takbiheyler.Ifte busebebe
mebntbtz komedyalardan olunacaktstifadeyidaha zzyadeve daha bfuyiikbulduuumuzdan
digerlenneterciheyledik" (Parameselesz,Mukaddime, p. 1).
exchange ("Borsada fondo oyunlart") which eventually leads to the

ruin of those involved as well as of their families. Dumas attacked
here the nouveaux riches in the person of the brutal and ostentious
financterJean Giraud who believes that money is absolute monarch.
In the Ottoman Empire, the first stock exchange (the DersaCadetTah-
vildt Borsasz)had been founded two years before (December 1873).
According to Kasap, this comedy may therefore also serve as a
warning to the "sons of the fatherland" (ebna-yivatan): ". wealth
gained in this way should never be preferred to a small trade run in
an honest way"
Pinti Hamid
His second Moliere adaptation, the comedy ("mudhike") Pintt
Hamzd,154which was published in the same year as IMkilliMemo,had
some unfortunate consequences for Teodor Kasap. It was based on
L'Avare. In giving it the Turkish title of Pintz Hamid, signifying
"Hamid the stingy",155 he aroused the wrath of Prince CAbdul-
hamid (later sultan) who interpreted it as a personal slight. Exceed-
ingly annoyed, he repeatedly requested Teodor Kasap not to have
the play performed. Since he refused to accede to this request,
declaring that he had not the slightest intention of offending the
prince, the piece was eventually performed at the GedikPafa Theatre.
Thereafter Abduilhamid bore the translator a violent grudge, and
took his revenge later, when he was sultan, by harassing Teodor
Kasap and eventually banning his journals and having him impri-
soned (in 1877).156
Eventually, however, Teodor Kasap was released and sought
refuge in France. In Paris he published a somewhat ambiguous
pamphlet consisting of fictitious letters to one of cAbduilhamid's chief
advisors, in which he continued to criticise, though in a relatively
154 Pinti Hamzd. Bel

fastldan mirekkeb mudhike. Fransa mepahzr-t,fuarasmndan(1)
,,tamaCkdar, nam komedyastnn cadat-z tiirkyyeye tevfikan terciimesidir,Qingirakh Tatar
Matbacasi, 1290 [1873].
155
pmntz"miserly, stingy; sorbid, shabby" This expression seems to go back to
a famous hocawhose tomb was in Uskiidar and whose miserliness had become
legendary
156 On this affair see
Kuntay, Namtk Kemal I, pp. 593-95.
238 JOHANN STRAUSS
benevolent way, the situation in the Ottoman Empire.157He was

eventually lured back to Istanbul and muzzled in a way characteris-
tic for Abduilhamid:he was appointed official librarian in the sul-
tan's palace library. There he had the unenviable task of translating
the Gazettede Tribunaux and French popular novels for his master. At
the special request of the sultan, he is said to have even written a
novel, "The Chief of the Robbers" (HaydutlarRe'zsi) which-
strangely enough-would have been his only original contribution
to Ottoman letters.158He died in 1897 in Yenimahalle, a neigh-
bourhood reserved for the employees of Yildiz Palace.
Monte Krzsto
Perhaps Teodor Kasap's most important contribution to Otto-

man letters was in the field of the novel. In France he had become
aware of the enormous popularity of the serialized novel and he was
the first to translate a major contemporarynovel into Ottoman Tur-
kish: the extraordinarilypopular MonteCristoby Alexander Dumas
pere. This novel marked the beginning of the extraordinarysuccess
story of the French popular novel in the Ottoman Empire.
Unlike Yusuf Kamil Pasha's pompous adaptation of Fenelon's
Telemaque, the Ottoman version of Alexander Dumas' international
bestseller was the first "real" translation of a novel from a Western
language.159It first appeared serialized in the columns of Dzyojen.
After having been announced several times in the paper (perhaps to
whet the appetite of prospective readers), the first section eventually
157 Theodore Cassape: Lettrea Son excellence Satdpacha,chefde la MaisonMilitatre

deS.M.I., le Sultan,Mintstrede la Marine,etc., 1relettre (au sujet des fautes et trahl-
sons des gouvernants), Paris, Librairie generale 1877 (cf. the article from the Athe-
nian newspaper Proia, reprinted in "se6&,por Kaodait;", pp. 6-9; p. 9).
158 Cf. N. Moschopoulos, in "6Sc6opo; Kaoadit;", p. 6. It is also said that
Teodor Kasap translated, together with Gelenbevizade Mehmed Tevfik, the whole
of Michaud's HistotredesCroisades,of which only a partial translationhad been pub-
lished before. The eight volumes of this translation were deposited in the Yildiz
Palace (cf. Moschopoulos, op. ctt., p. 6; Ali Kemali [Aksuit],Terciime hakkinda d4iin-
celerve tatbikataatt bazznumuneler,Istanbul 1933, 10).
159 Ismail Habib [Sevuk], AvrupaEdebiyattve Biz. 2 vols.,
Garptenterciimeler,
Istanbul 1940-41, II, p. 237- " btzdegarbden yaptlan ilk hakikiterciimedir"
appeared in No. 66 (30 Tegrin-i evvel 1287/11 November 1871).160

But the readership, eager to learn the end of the story, became impa-
tient, and Monte Knsto was promptly published in six large volumes,
four of them printed by Ahmed Midhat in 1871.161
The impact of this translation must have been extraordinary. A
Turkish historian says that "in the twilight period of our history, it
was this novel that was to absorb our bespectacled grandparents'
attention for weeks and months during the winter nights".162 It
inspired Ahmed Midhat to write his Hasan Mellah ("Hasan, the
Seafarer"), one of the first "original" Turkish novels. According to
Ahmed Midhat (who might have been jealous of its success) some
thirty persons, including himself, were involved as translators and
revisers in the translation of this work,163 a procedure reminiscent
of Dumas pere's "negres". Nonetheless, despite its stylistic short-
comings, the language marked a turning point in the development
of the Ottoman literary language.
This leads us to the question of the linguistic background of
Teodor Kasap. Some writers say that Teodor Kasap did not even
know how to write Turkish properly (i.e., in Arabic script) and had
only begun studying it when he was in prison.164 This may explain
certain aspects of his literary activity (like the use of "negres" for
the translation of Monte Crnsto).In fact, he was not a learned man,
although Turkish was obviously his mother tongue-which is hardly
surprising for a Cappadocian from Kayseri. Of course, he knew
Greek, and some of the journals he published also appeared in that
language; but he was never a particularly avid supporter of the cause
of Hellenism, as were his learned compatriots in the Syllogos. On the
contrary, in these periodicals he did not hesitate to mock the Greek
press in the Ottoman capital or even to criticise the attitude of the
Patriarchate. He was an Ottoman in the true sense. The motto of
160 Simultaneously with the publication of Ahmed Vefik Papa's translation of

Voltaire's Micromegas.
161MonteKnsto, 6 vols., Istanbul, Ahmed Midhat Matbacasi, mingirakli
Tatar
Matbacasi, 1288 [1871]-1290 [1873].
162 Ismail Habib, Avrupa Edebzyati, p. 237
163 See Mustafa Nihat [Oz6n], Tiirkfederomanhakkindabir deneme,Istanbul 1936,
p. 138f.
164 Sungu, "Teodor Kasap", p. 126.
240 JOHANN STRAUSS
his paper Istikbal(published 1875 - 77) was for a while "The sons of
the fatherlandare one body which does not admit partition by politi-
cal means". (Ebna-yi vatankz ctsm-i vahiddir;szyasetentaksimkabul
etmez.)One can therefore understand Namik Kemal's amazement
and admiration, when he writes that "in a century in which so many
Greeks (Rum) thought of nothing else but of destroying the Turks,
and so many Turks only of taking arms to protectthemselves against
the Greeks, who would have believed that [ . ] a Greek would ap-
pear in Istanbul and publish a paper called Dtyojenin which he
declared in French, Turkish, and Greek that there was no other so-
lution for Greece, be it in order to obey the rules, be it for her own
benefit, than to join the Ottoman Empire ",165
AndreasAndroulidakts Kopassis(1856-1912)
The reign of CAbdfilhamidII was not an easy time for rebellious
and sarcastic spirits like Teodor Kasap. Independent journalism
was snuffed over and literature sufferedfrom the heavy hand of cen-
sorship. The situation of the Greek milletdid not, however, deteri-
orate. The sultan's private physician, Mavroyeni Pasha (1816-
1902), was a Greek, and Greeks figured prominently even among
his propagandists abroad.166Many high-ranking government offi-
cials were still Greeks.167 These included one of the most interest-
ing figures among Greek Ottoman scholars, Andreas Kopassis
[Ko7arornq; AndreyaKopastEfendi]. Kopassis was a colourful perso-
nality and a very controversial figure in Greek historiography 168
He was killed by a Macedonian revolutionaryin 1912, while he was
governor of Samos.
165 Mustafa Nihat Oz6n, Namtk Kemal ve Ibretgazetest, Istanbul 1938, p. 67

(quoted from Dtyojen,Nr. 123, June 1872).
166 One of them was the Ottoman Greek Nicolas
Nicolaidis, the editor of sever-
al journals (like L'Onent, founded 1888 in Paris) which were subsidised by the
Sultan. See also the booklet N. Nicola'ides,Sa MajesteImperaleAbd-ulHamidKhan
II, Sultan,reformateur et reorganisateur
de l'Empzreottoman,Brussels 1907
167Most of them can be found in Alexandris's article (see n. 1).
168Cf. also the judgment of his contemporary, the Ottoman diplomat Alex-
ander Mavroyeni, who noted in his dairy- "C'est un hommetnstruzt engrecet en turc.
II estaussitrestravailleur.
Mats il manqueabsolumentdecaractere"
(EutpoXai(see n. 83),
25).
Kopassis was of Cretan origin. On his native island, where he

spent more than twenty years as a government official, he was
known under the name Androulidakis. He took some interest in the
history of Crete, which is reflected in a number of works he wrote,
both in Greek and Ottoman Turkish, on that topic. When he was
chief secretary (kdtib-zcumumi) to the Ottoman governor in Canea,
he published a treatise in Greek on the Ottoman taxation system
after the conquest, being perhaps the first scholar to study tho-
roughly the Ottoman tax registers (tahrzrdefterleri)a vitally important
historical source.169 He also planned to write a comprehensive his-
tory of Crete in Ottoman Turkish, but only the introductory parts
appeared in the famous MecmuCa-zEbuzzzyain 1897, when its publi-
cation was brought to an end by the outbreak of the Greco-Turkish
War.170 He was a very versatile scholar; other writings by Andreas
Kopassis in Greek deal with Byzantine music, Oriental his-
torians,171 Shakespeare, etc.
His most interesting work in Ottoman Turkish is, however, his
"History of the Discovery and Conquest of America", published
on the occasion of the quadricentennial.172 The Ottomans had
169 Andreas Androulidakes, T6

EigKpirrlv eiaaxOtv (popoAoylKbv av6arra KtarT
rdTrpo)ra tT17Trf1 V5r6Trv ToOpKcovaixoa6oq a&nrf, Canea 1881.
170 "Girid'in ahval-i cumumiyye ve tarihiyyesi", MecmuCa-i Ebuzztya, Nrs.
60-80 (63-65; 67; 69-70; 72, 74-79, 81-83), Istanbul 1315 [1897]. The editor
Ebuzziya Tevfik (1849-1913), who published also other articles written by
Kopassis, says in the introduction: " ba-husus lisantmzzdabu cezirentngerekahval-z
kadime-ztarihzyyestve gerek bacdel-feth hadis olan vekayizihakkinda ne fayan-t kanaCat,ne
de ha'ir-z emnnyyetbitresermtz vardtr.Bu cihetleKopast Efendi hazretlernne,bulend-kaderolan
fu himmetlerzndendolayti umum namtna takdim-zteyekkiriivecibecaddeylertz" (MecmuCa-t
Ebuzzzya23, 1 Safer 1315 [2 July 1897], p. 821). The failure to complete this project
was very much regretted by other Ottoman historians. Cf. [Y.N.] Girid, maztst, hali,
tstikbali,Istanbul, MatbaCa-iEbuzziya, 1328 [1912]: (Mukaddime): " nefarekz
haylilet-i gava'il o eser-t ekmelinnoksankalmasina ve bugiinbizim de Gind tarih-znefisinden
mahrum bulunmamizasebebolmuddur"
171 Cf. his article on Ibn al-Nadim "'O
"Apaxv ioToptK6b Ebu-Ishaq en-Nadim
RiepiTCOV 'EXTivKcov rpagAdUo)v", published in KHPhS XXX (1908), pp. 170-81.
172 Andreya Kopasi, Tarih-t
Keff i Feth-i Amerika [French title: Histotre de la
decouverteet de la conquetede l'Amenque], 2 vols., Istanbul 1315-16 [1893-94]. The
event of the quadricentennialhad not passed by the Ottoman public. The journal
Servet-tFiinun, for instance, devoted upon that occasion a whole issue exclusively to
this topic (see Servet-tFiinun Nr. 93 10 Kanun-i evvel 1308 [1892]: "Amerikantndort
yuzincii sene-i keffi mfilabesesileitbu nishamtizn kdffe-ztasavinrkitCa-zmezkurekd4ifiKnstof
Kolomb'a mahsus kliznmildir").
242 JOHANN STRAUSS
always been intrigued by the American continent. One of the first

books printed in the Ottoman Empire, the "History of the West
Indies",173 had already given an account of these regions, albeit a
ratherfantasticalone. The MecmuCa-z Fiinuneven published an inter-
view with the dragoman of the American Embassy in which he ex-
plained that America was known to the ancients.174In the course of
the nineteenth century, several other books were published in Otto-
man Turkish on ChristopherColumbus (KrtstofKolomb) and the dis-
covery of America, all of them translations.175But none of them
could compete with Kopassis' account with its scholarly apparel.
The Tarih-: Kesf u Feth-zAmerika,contains copious footnotes in
English, French, Italian, German, and Spanish, a hitherto unknown
practice in Ottoman historicalwriting. In the second volume (a third
was planned) he shows himself anxious to keep his readers informed
of current research, including the Congress of Americanists held in
Madrid. Since it was written in a relatively simple style, it earned
the author the praise of KemalpapazadeSacidBey (1848 - 1921), the
then arbiterelegantiarumof all matters concerning Ottoman prose style
and translation.176The sultan awarded the author the order of
merit (liyakat)in gold.
Kopassis' display of scholarly erudition cannot, however, dis-
guise, some oddities, such as the fact that his main sources were the
173 Tarih-t Hind-i Garbtel-mftsemmat bi-Hadis-i Nev, Istanbul, Daruttibaati 1-

maCmure, 1142/1730 [reprint Istanbul 1292 [1875]]. See also Thomas D
Goodrich, The OttomanTurksand theNew World:a Studyof Tarih-iHind-i garbtand
SixteenthCenturyOttomanAmericana,Wiesbaden 1990.
174 Nr. 25, pp. 29-34, 57-62: "Amerika'nin inde l-kudamamalum
olduguna
dalir Dersecadetde mukim Memalik-i MiictemiCasefareti bastercuimanlM6sy6
Bravn tarafindan cemciyyete icta olunan mukavelenln tercemesidir"
175Among other works, the Arabic version of Henry Marquam's Promenade en
Amertque, by SaCdNiCam(SiyahaffAmrika,Bulaq 1262/1846) was translatedinto Ot-
toman Turkish by one cAbdullahcAyntabl(Amerika Seyahatnamesttercemest,
Istanbul,
s.d.). On the Amerikatarih-ikeffiAmerikasee n. 80.
176 In his appreciatorypreface
(taknz)he supports the view that historical works
should always be written "in a simple style, free from the elaborate expressions of
the tina-style("sadevetekellufdt-i
inia'iyyedenazadebirselika-ikitabet",Tarih,pp. 6f.).
- To Sacid Bey's famous Galatdt-iTerceme ("Mistakes of Translation"), Kopassis
contributed an article on spelling problems of loan words and the etymology of the
Turkish word sira (cf. SaCid Bey, Galatat-i Terceme,Defter 14, Kostantlniyye,
MatbaCa-iEbuzziya, 1315 [1897], pp. 414-19).
Italian version of a work by an American author,177 and the French

version of a book by a German writer.178 This somewhat eccentric
indulgence in the study and practice of foreign languages for its own
sake should not surprise us, given that, during his time as governor
of Samos, he is said to have tried to introduce as a compulsory sub-
ject the study of Esperanto in the local schools. 179Although Kopas-
sis' account of the history and discovery of America may not meet
our more exacting standards, it seems to have made a deep impres-
sion on the contemporaries. Sections of his History were even trans-
lated into Persian.180
Pavlos Karolidis' "History of Mehmed II"

The last contribution to Ottoman letters that we shall be dealing
with here comes from another Cappadocian.
Pavlos Karolidis (1849 - 1930) was a native of the town of Andro-
niki [Endirlik] near Kayseri, the birthplace of several renowned
Greek scholars. Androniki was inhabited by Turkish-speaking
Karamanlis. It was only in the course of the nineteenth century that
Greek began gradually to replace the Turkish vernacular.181 This
fact was, however, of little significance for Karolidis (and many
others). He was a fervent supporter of the ideas of Hellenism, and
in his numerous works (published both in the Ottoman Empire and
177 Washington Irving's Life and Voyagesof ChristopherColumbus (1828). Three

Italian versions of this work are known; the last one, Stortae vtaggfdi Crtstoforo
Colom-
bo, dates from 1863.
178 Die Entdeckungvon Amerika. Ein Unterhaltungsbuch
fur Kinder undjunge Leute by
the German educationalist Johann Heinrich Campe (1746-1818) (first edition
1780). This was in fact a classic textbook used in grammar schools. Some fifteen
French versions of this book are known. It has been translated into Modern Greek
(3 vols., Vienna 1820) and, curiously enough, also into Ottoman Turkish by Mah-
mud Celaleddin "Asaf" (1853 - 1903). That Campe's work was held in high esteem
is demonstrated by the announcement of Mahmud Celaleddin's translation which
appeared in Dzyojen(Nr. 69, 9 Tesrln-i evvel 1287 [1871], p. 4): "Almanyamiierrih-
lertndenmeihur (Kamb) nam miPerrihinte'lifkerdestolan Amerika Tarihi [ ] gerektarih-i
mezburunnefasettve gerekibaresitnnseldsetiyaktn vakttlerdete'lif olunan tarihlerinciimlestne
riichantyettoldukdan bayka!ayan-t dikkat bir eser-t cemil [dir]"
179 See art. "Konidonq,'A." (N. Zapheirion), MEE XIV, pp. 845-46.
180 Cf. Y Pregel' (tr.) C.A. Storey, PerstdskayaLtteratura, III, Moscow, 1972,
p. 1518.
181 Cf. art. "'AvSpoviKEtov"
(K.G. Lamerais), MEE IV, p. 645.
244 JOHANN STRAUSS
in Greece) he provides us with many examples of the impact of how

the "re-hellenization" that had taken place in the nineteenth cen-
tury had affected Ottoman Greeks.
He was trained at the "Great School of the Nation" and the fa-
mous Evangelical School in Izmir (founded 1733). He spent a great
part of his life abroad, first in Athens, then at German universities
(Munich, Tiibingen, Strasbourg-where several of his works in
German were published). In his native country, he was appointed
as a teacher in Greek colleges in Kadik6y and Pera [Beyoglu]and be-
tween 1875-86 he taught at the Evangelical school in Izmir. Even-
tually he moved to Athens where he had obtained the chair of history
at the university. After the Young Turk Revolution (1908) he was
elected to the Ottoman Parliament as member for the province of
Aydin and Izmir for two electoral terms, although his status as a
professor at a Greek university caused some resentment. Like his
erudite brother Iordanis (1837- 1904), a teacher of Arabic and a
Western-type Oriental scholar,182he was an active member of the
Syllogosin Istanbul with a great scholarly reputation.183
The Young Turk Revolution had had a very important impact on
the study of history in the Ottoman Empire. In 1910 an "Ottoman
Historical Society" was founded, which published the journal
knowns as the Tarih-i'OsmaniEnciiment MecmuCasi (TOEM). As befits
a society still committed to the principle of Ottomanism, it also
accepted non-Muslims as members and contributors. Among the
twelve permanent members (aCza-i miidavime)of the society were
three non-Muslims. Due to his linguistic background, the learned
182 He is said to have known numerous Oriental languages (including

Japanese). From the Mahabharata he translated the story of Nala and Damayanti
into Greek (see his Nd;o; KCai AaaLdvnTLa.'ESrUXAlov v aT(Xone7EvrSTKaie6Kaauv)Jd-
PoiLg,Constantinople, Gerardou Brs., 1901). The work contains a Latin dedication
to the German Emperor Wilhelm II.
183 At the turn of the century he
regularly attended the international Orien-
talists' congresses, and some of the papers on the early history of Asia Minor, which
he had delivered there, were published in the proceedings (cf. those of Rome (1899)
and Hamburg (1902). "Carolidi Effendi" also provided Sir Vincent Henry Penal-
ver Caillard, the author of the article "Turkey" in the Encyclopaedia Bntannicaof
1911, with the data on the geographical distribution of the different races and reli-
gious communities of the Ottoman Empire (see Encyclopaedia Bnrtannica,11th edi-
tion, Cambridge 1911, vol. XXVII, p. 427).
Pavlos Karolidis, known as Karolidi Efendi by the Ottomans, was

perhaps particularly well equipped to contribute. Critobulos' "His-
tory of Mehmed the Conqueror", one of the most vivid and ac-
curate sources for that period of Ottoman history, was an apt choice
for translation. The original manuscript had been preserved in the
library of the Topkapi Palace and was "rediscovered" by Kon-
stantin von Tischendorf (1815-74). He was allowed access to this
library, whose holdings had intrigued generations of Western scho-
lars, thanks to Count Alexander Lobanov-Rostovskii (1824-96),
the Russian ambassador to Istanbul after the Crimean War 184The
text was then printed under rather obscure circumstances in Istan-
bul for the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, which had sent a com-
mission to Istanbul to search for books from the legendary library
of king Mathias Corvinus (1443-1490), said to have been trans-
ferred to the Ottoman Palace library after the conquest of Buda.
This edition185 and the translation (into French),186 published
among other sources concerning the Siege of Constantinople in the
series of the Monumenta Hunganae Historica, was the work of a
German scholar resident in Istanbul, Philipp Anton Dethier
(1803-81), who later became director of the Imperial Museum of
Antiquities (Miize-z Hiimayun)187.Karolidis' preface to his transla-
184 Tischendorf had also discovered the famous CodexSinaiticus.On his visits to
the library of the Seraglio, see his account "Die Serailsbibliothekund Kritobulos
aus Imbros" in the supplement to the Allgemeine Zezitung(Augsburg), Nr. 1818 (29
June 1872), pp. 2769-2770). During his second visit (which eventually allowed
him to see the manuscript of Crntobulos'"History"), Tischendorf was not only ac-
companied by count Lobanov, but also by Manuel Argyropoulos, a son of the
above-mentioned lakovos Argyropoulos, who was by then dragoman of the Rus-
sian embassy
185 Kpir6fJov)Xo;.Bio; ToOMaapsO B' (Monumenta Hungariae Historica. Scrip-
tores, XXI, 1), pp. 1 - 346 (On the quality of this edition cf. the remarks of editor
of the critical edition of the text (CntobuliImbnotaehistortae.Rec. Diether Roderich
Reinsch, Berlin 1983, pp. 92*-93*).
186 [Ph.A. Dethier], Critobulos, Vie de Mahomet, MonumentaHunganaeHis-
tonca. Scrlptores, XXI, 2, pp. 1-268.
187Dethier, head-teacher of an Austrian school in Istanbul, was appointed
director of the Museum of Antiquities by Ahmed Vefik Pasha in 1872 (On Dethier
see Semavi Eylce, "Notes on Dr. Dethier, one of the earlier directors of the Ar-
chaeological Museums of Istanbul", Annual of the ArchaeologicalMuseums of Istanbul
9 (1960), pp. 95- 103). Dethier had already translatedsome sections from Critobu-
los' "History" in 1865 under the title Matirtaux pour l'histotre de l'artillerte en general
et de l'othomaneen particulierttresd'un manuscnt inidit de !'an 1467, renfermantles dix-sept
246 JOHANN STRAUSS
tion sheds an interesting light on scholarship in nineteenth century

Istanbul: the printed version of Critobulos' chronicle edited by
Dethier seems to have been unknown to him (he used the Paris edi-
tion of 1870 by Karl Miiller) and although he knew about Constan-
tinidis' translation into Ottoman Turkish (videsupra),he had only
heard rumours of the French and Hungarian translations (the latter
published in Budapest in 1875).188
Karolidis' translation of this important historical source, pub-
lished as a supplement to TOEM189 is still very much appreciated
by Turkish scholarswho frequently refer to it in their works.190The
translator was well aware of the peculiarities of Byzantine geo-
graphical and ethnographicalterminology-Critobulos refers to the
Ottomans mainly as "the Arabs" or "the Persians" throughout his
chronicle-and found more adequate Turkish terms, familiar to an
Ottoman readership. In his notes he furnishes the necessary expla-
nations, quoting occasionally from other Greek or Western sources.
Thus Pavlos Karolidis stands in the tradition inaugurated by his fa-
mous predecessorsYakovaki Efendi, George Rhasis, and Alexander
Constandinidis whose competence and familiaritywith both spheres
had made them particularlyqualified to act as mediators and trans-
mitters of Greek culture and history
The Tarih-i Sultan MehmedHan-z Sdnzwas published as a whole in
the year 1912, when the Balkan wars broke out, ending with the col-
premieres anneesdu rignedeMahometle Conquerant, Constantinople, Impnmerle Cen-

trale, 1865.
188 It is fair to say, however, that Dethier's edition had been very weak and it
is therefore argued by some scholars that the copies had been given to the paper
mill for this reason. The history of the "discovery" of the manuscript and the rush
to have it published do not lack certain comical aspects. In fact, several scholars
claimed to have been the first to discover the manuscript. The curious row that
arose within the academic community (and which involved even sections of the
Ottoman press, like the Istanbul paper La Turqute)is graphically described by
Tischendorf in his article (see n. 184).
189Kntovulos. Tarih-i Sultan MehmedHan-i Sant. Miitercimi Izmir mebCusu
Karolidi, Istanbul, Ahmed Ihsan ve ;iurekasi,1328 [1912].
190 See also the new edition Krntovulos,Tarih-i Sultan MehmedHdn-t Smnt
(Istanul'unFethi), simplified by Muzaffer G6kman, Istanbul 1967 The English ver-
sion of the chronicle (based on Dethier's edition) was made by the Rev Charles
T Riggs, a teacher at Robert College in Istanbul (Historyof Mehmedthe Conqueror
by Krztovulos,translated from the Greek by Charles T Riggs, Princeton 1954
(reprint 1970)).
lapse of the Ottoman Empire in Europe. Many Ottoman Greeks

now became citizens of, or emigrated to, a considerably enlarged
Greek state. Karolidi Efendi left first for Germany, then moved to
Athens, where he was to spend most of the rest of his life.191 His
translation was the last in the relatively short but nonetheless note-
worthy series of contributions made by Ottoman Greeks to Ottoman
literature, language, and historiography, which had been started by
a number of prominent Phanariots in the late eighteenth century.
Ironically, their contribution ends with the translation of a Greek
author whom Manuel Gedeon, the indefatigable chronicler of the
Greek Orthodox Patriarchate, had once called "the first Phana-
riot" 192
Conclusion
Despite its potential, the Greek contribution to Ottoman letters

was then surprisingly limited. Given the central position of transla-
tions and translated literature in the Middle East in general193 and
in the Ottoman context in particular, one would have expected the
Katernnetarihi or the Tarih-i Iskenderbin Filipos to have had a much
greater impact. However, works by non-Muslims always seem to
have had a somewhat different reception and their position in the
annals of Turkish literature is therefore precarious. Some Greek
Ottoman scholars had a very specific interest, namely that of trans-
mitting the heritage of classical Greece and Byzantium to an Otto-
man readership. But even here, the Ottomanists found a strong rival
among some Muslims from Albania, who had received a thorough
training in Greek schools. Thus, the first attempts to translate
Homer's Iliad into Ottoman Turkish were made by Muslims, and
191Just one year after his emigration he published his personal recollections
(A6yol Kcai'Ynropv4jara,Athens 1913) which provide us with interesting details on
the policy of the Greek milletand parliamentary life in Istanbul after the Second
Constitutional Period.
192 See M. Gedeon, "IlEpi Tfq (pavapatolTIK11 KotvCOVi(ac gtXpt TCOV&p%cov Th;
Fvsorcdovlg cKaTovrasTTjpi8o4 (1887-89), KHPhS (1887-89), pp. 55-71, p. 56.
193 See Robin Ostle (ed.), Modem Ltteraturein the Near and Middle East, 1850-
1970, London-New York 1991, esp. Part I "The age of translation and adaptation,
1850-1914", pp. 3-75.
248 JOHANN STRAUSS
not by Greeks,194while a major work of Modern Greek literature,

the Erotokritos,was translated by a Muslim from Crete.195 Naim
Bey Frasheri (1946-1900), the first translator of the Iliad, even
broke the monopoly of Ottoman Greeks in the publication of Otto-
man grammars for Greeks in publishing an Othomanike Grammatike
in 1884.196
On the other hand, all these translationswith a few notable excep-
tions like Teodor Kasap's Moliere adaptations, share the destiny of
translated (and non-fictional) Ottoman literature of the nineteenth
century in general: they are no longer read today, since their lan-
guage has become obsolete as a result of the radical transformation
of the Turkish language in the twentieth century. The Phanariot
translations, admired as they were by learned Ottoman and Greek
contemporary for their brilliance, eventually lost much of their
lustre when a new model for literary prose began to emerge. This
development seems to have passed by the learned Greeks of Istan-
bul, and the Oriental scholars among them did not grasp its sig-
nificance: whereas the Ottoman Greeks, known for their purism and
attachment to the katharevousa, tried to preserve the linguistic status
quo, the Ottoman Turks were graduallyadopting a new literarylan-
guage. Thus, when the tortuous chancery style so cherished by the
Greek dragomans had finally become obsolete, the Phanariots were
blamed by one prominent Ottoman statesman (who may have been
provoked by the boasting statements of Handjeri and others) for
194 M. NaCim Fraanr, Iliyada eser-z Homer, Istanbul, Karabet ve Kasbar

MatbaCasi,1303 [1887] (only the first book); Selanikli Hilmi (tr.) Ilyasyahud!acir-z
pehir-iOmiros,Istanbul 1316 [1898] (also unfinished).
195 See on this translationJ. Strauss, "AretosyaCniSevdd:The Nineteenth Cen-
tury Ottoman Translation of the 'Erotokritos'," Byzantine and Modern GreekStudies
16 (1992), pp. 189-201.
196 Naem Vee Frasares, FpauaTiK4 c r7q rIoSaaai [Turkish title:
'00iopavmq
Kavacid-zcosmanyye],Constantinople, I.G. Margarites, 1884. In the preface Naim
Bey criticises the traditionalmethod used in Ottoman grammars(including in those
written by Greeks), where each of the three "branches" of the language (i.e., Per-
sian, Arabic, and Turkish) was studied independently of the others. The student
should study "one language composed of three languages, not three separate lan-
guages which are unrelated to each other" - Naim Frasheri also belonged to the
small group of Ottomans of Albanian extraction who occasionally used Greek as
a medium of literary expression.
having caused this corruption "by imitating the sentence structure

of Ancient Greek in their writings" 197
But these translations fared hardly better among their Greek com-
patriots. Since many of these adopted-sometimes almost slav-
ishly-"Oriental" prototypes, they have not entered the canon of
Modern Greek literature, which took its inspiration from the West.
But even among their contemporaries, they were known only to the
small number of tourkomathets,while other works such as those of
Teodor Kasap, seem to have been more or less ignored. Almost all
of these authors produced masterpieces of imitation or adaptation;
the only thing they lack is that quality which still seems to be the in-
dispensable prerequisite to good literature: originality.
197 "Lisan-tCattfk-tyunanide bzrdereceye

tsecumleler kadarbirbirlerzne
merbutvesanayi-tz
lafzzyyemultezimoldugundan,
umur-ihadrncyyeye me'murolanrtcalimtzlisdn-istyastFener-
suretdedir
lilerznyazdzklarz zanntnadiierekoyola taklidebasladzlar"
(Sa'id Pasha, Gazetect
Dili, Istanbul 1306 [1909], pp. 105-106). This argument seems rather implausible,
the more so, since the Grand Vizier Mehmed Sacid Pasha (1840-1914) dates the
beginning of this influence between 1829 and 1834 (Cf. also Fahir Iz "Ottoman
and Turkish" Donald Little (ed.), Essayson IslamtcCivilization,presented
to Niyazz
Berkes, Leiden 1976, pp. 118-39, p. 120, who takes up this argument).

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When one considers the relations between Greeks and Turks

1 Cf. the bibliography by P Chidiroglou, "BtiptoypoaplKfi EugpoXfiei;q Tiv

? E.J. Brill, Leiden, 1995 Die WeltdesIslams35, 2

3 The termderivesfromthe Phanar(Turkish:Fener)districtin Istanbulwhere

From 1711 onwards members of the Phanariot community, who

Although the cosmopolitan Phanarlot dragomans, with their

9 Two of these-rather dry-translations are described by V.L. Menage,

highly appreciated since the translatorwas promptly promoted and

Thestudyof the Ottomanliterarylanguage

13 Cf. Stamatiades, Bloypaqpiai,pp. 152-55. Ypsilanti's translation of Vau-

afterwards to the Hospodariate, a situation in which they might in-

16 See Charles Swan, Journal a voyageup theMediterranean;

Among those who had apparently mastered these difficulties was

to the intrigues of his competitor Michael Soutzo (1778 (1784?)-

29 This is the title which occurs m the

printed, on the other hand, would facilitate its distribution among

seventeenthcenturytranslationsof the AtlasMatorare not mentioned(On these

l'ingenieursur l 'tat actuelde I'artmilitaire,du genieet dessciencesa Con-

The Katertne Tarihz

The basis of this translation was Jean Henri Castera's Histotre de

tera's "Histoire de Catherine", in the Proceedings of XXIII. DeutscherOrtentalisten-

tory. Many parts of Castera's Histotre,for example, those dealing

mastery of the Ottoman literary language prevalent among the

GeorgeRhasts (? - ) and the Tarih-i Iskenderbin Filipos

48 On Arrlan see Michael Grant, GreekandLatinAuthors800 B. C. -A.D. 1000,

who is probably identical with the author of a French-Ottoman dic-

much impact. Unlike the KatertneTarihtand some other translations

Handjerz(1760 -1854) andhtsDictionnaireTurc-Arabe-Persan

54 Alexander Handjernwas born in Istanbul. He was descended from a well-

ary contribution but since it can be considered, to some extent, as

as the highlights of their classicalliterature. During his stay in Istan-

The Greekrevival in the OttomanEmpire after 1821

equal opportunities for Christians and Muslims and in 1856 further

67 On these diplomats see A. Alexandris, "Oi "EXXilveq", (cited n. 1); Sinan

71 On the reactions of the Greek

Ottomanlearnedsocietiesand the OttomanGreeks

The Encimen-z Danzi

75 In the contemporary literature, it figures as the AcademieOttomane.

continuous cultural contacts with the West. A thorough knowledge

the most illustrious figures of Ottoman literature in the nineteenth

bibliography). Numerous sources are quoted in Mehmed Zeki Pakalin, AhmedVefik

whose knowledge and erudition was also admired by his Muslim

scure preface of the Dalkavukname, he had also been an exile (gurbet-

87 Inal, Son astr Osmanltfatrlern,II, p. 705.

cism of Ottoman society. There is, however, nothing in the bombas-

93 So when ,,Epicurus,,becomes ,-Hippocrates,

(Fenelon, Fontenelle, Voltaire).96In the preface, the dialogue is in-

96 Muhaverdt-t Fransahiikema-yi benamindan VolterveFenelonveFontenel'in

ber of the "Greek Literary Society" ('EAvIOlKOcb A,zoXAoylKnb6

100 On this institution see Tatiana Stavrou, '0 v KoavaraTavrvovor6ei 'EU2rjVI

be elected irrespective of their religion and nationality.104 The

104 (Paragraph 5) " bunlartn intihabtnda ihtilaf-t diyanet ve cinszyyetebakzlmtya-

(Kostaki Antopulo; 1835-1902),107 and the ambassador to Berlin,

107 He contributed an edifying article on the "Advantages of good house-

1860.109For the MecmuCa-tFiinun,Phardys wrote several articles on

109 AeciK6v 'E;AA7lvorouVpKIKvavvrax&Ovt6rb. A. A.O. ap6M [ ] Kai K. 'Iao.

sight if we compare them with the thorough research carried out by

too, became the monopoly of a limited number of families; some of

113 Cf. Sicill-tzOsmant,IV, 877, Mahmud

the aforementioned Greek-Ottoman dictionary. The new spirit of

garding the translationwith Ahmed Cevdet Pasha himself, who had