A Christian Printer in Selanik under Trial in the City’s Tanzimat Council in the Early 1850s: Kiriakos Darzilovitis and his Seditious Books Cover Image

1850’lerin Başında Selanik Tanzimat Meclisinde Bir Hiristiyan Matbaacının Yargılanması: Kiriakos Darzilovitis ve Fesat Kitapları
A Christian Printer in Selanik under Trial in the City’s Tanzimat Council in the Early 1850s: Kiriakos Darzilovitis and his Seditious Books

Author(s): Anna Vakali
Subject(s): Cultural history, 19th Century, The Ottoman Empire
Published by: İzmir Kâtip Çelebi Üniversitesi, Sosyal ve Beşeri Bilimler Fakültesi
Keywords: printing;Ottoman Balkans;Selanik;sedition

Summary/Abstract: The present article deals with Kiriakos Darzilovitis, a Greek-educated Slavophone and the second Christian printer of Selanik. This article touches on some of the main points in Kiriakos’s biography, with two main stations: first, his trial by the city’s Tanzimat council because of the seditious books he was accused of printing; and second, the closure of his bookstore some years later, orchestrated by two Orthodox metropolitans and the local Ottoman authorities. The article follows how an ordinary Ottoman subject was consciously able to manoeuvre his way through different lingual, ethnic identities, citizenships, and even legal jurisdictions. More importantly, Kiriakos’s life story sets an example for the limits of such “navigation.” Indeed, the different governing authorities in the late Ottoman world could punish an individual for not fulfilling the expected commitments of each identity he or she asserted.

  • Issue Year: I/2015
  • Issue No: 2
  • Page Range: 23-38
  • Page Count: 16
  • Language: English