2025/10/10 by Hüseyin Alhas, Yiğit Sümbül · 1 voice
Arts and Humanities · Social Sciences · #Colonialism, slavery, and trade #Global Maritime and Colonial Histories #Maritime and Coastal Archaeology
paper · doi:10.1080/0013838x.2025.2566701
openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex publication_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/15
In contrast to the extensive body of research in European sources on the various political-economic, social-cultural and ethical subtleties of Lord Byron’s involvement in the Greek War of Independence, there has been a dearth of studies exploring the Ottoman perspective on the issue. This has stemmed primarily from the fact that Ottoman archival documents on Byron’s activities in Greece have so far remained untranslated. This article is the first full-fledged and extended attempt to fill this lacuna where those Ottoman archival documents on Byron are transcribed, translated, and critically interpreted. Taking four intelligence reports from the Ottoman archives as its focal point, this article not only examines the Ottoman Empire’s hitherto unsurveyed alertness to Byron’s political, economic, and military support to the Greeks, particularly in Missolonghi, but also elucidates the general Ottoman perception of philhellenism.