Cornucopia Unit Four

The Levantine Frank Community in Athens under Ottoman Rule

This paper investigates the Levantine Frank community in Athens under Ottoman rule. It focuses primarily on the latter half of the eighteenth century, when a small number of Western Europeans, mainly of French descent, established permanent residence in the city, through the Greek Revolution. Shifting attention away from their primarily commercial roles, the study examines the cultural impact of this Levantine community by analyzing travel accounts, French consular records, local historiography, and material evidence. Re-examining these sources reveals a complex interplay of identity, culture, commerce, and rivalry, offering new insights into the Levantine Franks’ processes of local adaptation, their degree of acculturation, and the reciprocal mixing of cultural norms and practices.