The Dragoman of the Sublime Porte (Ottoman Turkish: tercümân-ı bâb-ı âlî; Greek: διερμηνέας της Υψηλής Πύλης, romanized: diermineas tis Ypsilis Pylis), Dragoman of the Imperial Council (tercümân-ı dîvân-ı hümâyûn), or simply Grand Dragoman (μέγας διερμηνέας, megas diermineas) or Chief Dragoman (tercümân başı), was the senior interpreter of the Ottoman government—frequently referred to as the "Sublime Porte"—and de facto deputy foreign minister. From the position's inception in 1661 until the outbreak of the Greek War of Independence in 1821, the office was occupied by Phanariotes, and was one of the main pillars of Phanariote power in the Ottoman Empire.
In the Ottoman Empire, the existence of official interpreters or dragomans[a] is attested from the early 16th century. They were part of the staff of the reis ül-küttab ('head secretary'), who was responsible for foreign affairs within the Imperial Council. As few Ottoman Turks ever learned European languages, from early times the majority of these men were of Christian origin—in the main Austrians, Hungarians, Poles, and Greeks.[1]
In 1661, the Grand Vizier Köprülüzade Fazıl Ahmed Pasha appointed the Greek Panagiotis Nikousios as Chief Dragoman to the Imperial Council. He was in turn succeeded in 1673 by another Greek, Alexander Mavrocordatos.[1][2] These men began a tradition where almost all subsequent Grand Dragomans of the Porte were members of a small circle of Phanariote families.[1][2] The Phanariotes, taking their name from the district of Constantinople where the Patriarchate of Constantinople settled in 1599, were an elite group of Greek or Hellenized[b] magnate families that made enormous fortunes through trade and tax-farming. Their wealth, and the close contacts they had with the Ottoman sultan and his court as purveyors, advisors, and middlemen, they acquired enormous political influence, especially over the Patriarchate and the Eastern Orthodox communities of the empire more generally.[4] During the 17th century, many Phanariotes gained political experience as representatives (kapı kehaya) of the princes (voivodes or hospodars) of the tributary Danubian Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia at the Sultan's court, where, in the words of C. G. Patrinelis, "their task was to sustain their masters’ always precarious position by bribing Ottoman officials in key positions and, above all, to pre-empt and disrupt, by hook or by crook, the machinations of the rivals who coveted the princes’ enviable posts".[5] Others had also served in the staffs of the European embassies in Constantinople.[6] Nikousios, for instance, had previously (and for a time concurrently) served as translator for the Austrian embassy.[7]
All dragomans had to be proficient in the elsine-i selase, the 'three languages'—Arabic, Persian, and Turkish—that were commonly used in the empire's administration, as well as a number of foreign languages (usually French and Italian),[8] but the responsibilities of Dragoman of the Porte went beyond that of an interpreter, and were rather those of a minister in charge of the day-to-day conduct of foreign affairs.[9] The post was the highest public office available to non-Muslims in the Ottoman Empire.[10]
Nikousios and his successors managed to attach to their office a number of great privileges, such as tax exemption for themselves, their sons, and 20 members of their retinue; exemption from all customs fees for items destined for their personal use; immunity from all courts except from that of the Grand Vizier;[c] permission to dress in the same kaftans as the Ottoman officials, and use ermine fur; or the permission to ride a horse. These made the position highly coveted, and the object of the Phanariotes' aspirations and rivalries.[12] The salary of the Dragoman of the Porte amounted to 47,000 kuruş[d] annually.[14]
The success of the post led to the creation of a similar office, that of Dragoman of the Fleet, in 1701.[9][14][15] In practice, the latter often served as a stepping-stone to the office of Grand Dragoman.[14] There were also junior dragomans for specific jurisdictions, for example for the Ottoman army, or for the Morea Eyalet, but these positions were never formalized in the same manner.[8] From 1711, many former Grand Dragomans or Dragomans of the Fleet were appointed to the positions of princes of the Danubian Principalities. These four offices formed the foundation of Phanariote prominence in the Ottoman Empire.[16][17] The knowledge of foreign languages also made the Phanariote dragomans crucial intermediaries for the transmission of European concepts and technologies to the Ottoman Empire during the latter's attempts at modernization. Thus the Grand Dragoman Constantine Ypsilantis translated French military manuals for the reformed Nizam-i Djedid Army,[18] while Iakovos Argyropoulos translated into the Ottoman Turkish language from French the first modern Ottoman geographical work, as well as a biographical history of Catherine the Great.[19]
The Phanariotes maintained this privileged position until the outbreak of the Greek Revolution in 1821: the then Dragoman of the Porte, Constantine Mourouzis was beheaded, and his successor, Stavraki Aristarchi, was dismissed and exiled in 1822.[1][20] The position of Grand Dragoman was then replaced by a guild-like Translation Bureau, staffed initially by converts like Ishak Efendi, but quickly exclusively by Muslim Turks fluent in foreign languages.[1][21]