On 20 May, at 7:00pm as part of the Greek History and Culture Seminars offered by the Greek Community of Melbourne, Dr Leonidas Moiras will give a lecture entitled Ottoman Perceptions of the Greek Revolution.

The Greek Centre will host Dr Moiras who is currently teaching History of the Ottoman Empire (15th – 18th cent.) and Ottoman Paleography at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens.

The outburst of the Greek Revolution consisted a major challenge for the Ottomans, since they had to suppress a “millet-wide sedition” of their subjects, who were claiming independence. The sultan, the central state elite and the intelligentsia tried to identify the reasons that triggered the “insurrection” of their subjects.

The Ottoman administration responded to this challenge with the mobilization of her military power alongside several attempts to reincorporate the subjects back to the imperial order.

At the same time, the Greek Revolution became the main channel of transmission, through which the main ideas of the French Revolution and the Enlightenment entered the Ottoman mind and shaped decisively the imperial political thought and ideology.

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Through the intercepted documents of the Greek rebels, the Ottoman authorities tried to find the responses to the new challenges.

This lecture will attempt to investigate the Ottoman perceptions and reactions to the Greek Struggle of Independence. Dr Moiras will try to investigate how the Ottoman Sultan Mahmud II., the central state elite and the intelligentsia experienced the Greek War of Independence and the “making” of the modern Greek state through the examination of the contemporary Ottoman sources and the terminology of the state elite.

He will also discuss the reflection of the major events of the Greek Revolution, such as the Chios Massacre, in the Ottoman sources.

As Dr Moiras is based in Greece, the event will take place on the mezzanine level at 168 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne, 3000, but will be broadcast on the big screen.

For more information call 03 9662 2722 or email info@greekcommunity.com.au