Martin Crusius’ Turcograecia as Ethnographic Archive

• In Event: Antiquarianism and Ethnography in the Early Modern World II

Abstract

Part ethnography, part ecclesiastical history, Martin Crusius’ Turcograecia (1584) forms an eclectic but rich record of the civilization of the Greek subjects of the Ottoman Sultan. Convinced of the precariousness of this civilization and fearing its ‘turkification,’ Crusius wrote to and interviewed ambassadors, itinerant Greeks, his former students, and others for textual, material, and empirical evidence of its remains. The resulting ethnographic documentary record became part of his private —and still extent— archive but also found its way to a broader audience through publication of the Turcograecia. This paper follows Crusius’ book from its inception to its publication and proposes to read it as an ethnographic archive.

Author

• Richard Calis, Princeton University