RUMIYÜLİBARE: Catalogue and Edition of the bilingual Ottoman Turkish / Greek documents preserved in the Library of the Monastery of Saint John Theologos on the island of Patmos

The project aims to complement the earlier work undertaken by the National Hellenic Research Foundation on the Ottoman archival holdings of the Monastery of Saint John the Theologian on the island of Patmos. This began with the publication of the Catalogue du fonds Ottoman des archives du Monastere de Saint-Jean a Patmos: Les vingt-deux premiers dossiers, Εθνικό Ίδρυμα Ερευνών. Ινστιτούτο Βυζαντινών Ερευνών, 2011), by N. Vatin, G. Veinstein and E. Zachariadou, and was followed by the second volume by Michael Ursinus, Catalogue of the Ottoman Holdings of St John’s Monastery in Patmos, Part Two: Dossiers 21–38 (Peeters, Collection Turcica, 2019). The forthcoming third volume of the catalogue, authored by Research Director Elias Kolovos and to be published in English by the Institute of Historical Research of the National Hellenic Research Foundation, will include an edition of the bilingual Ottoman Turkish/Greek documents dated between 1719 and 1820. These documents are of particular importance, as they illuminate the mechanisms of Ottoman administration in the Aegean Sea, especially through the intermediary role of the Phanariote Dragomans of the Fleet.

Preliminary findings from this research have been published in the Journal of the Section of Neohellenic Research of the Institute: Kolovos, E. (2025). ‘Rumiyülibare: Ottoman Visuals and Greek Content in the Orders of the Kapudan Pasha’. The Historical Review/La Revue Historique, 20(1), 199–207. https://doi.org/10.12681/hr.40063

In alignment with best practices in digital scholarship, the project also will include the creation of a digital edition of the documents. This initiative forms part of the broader strategy of the IHR/NHRF to develop a comprehensive repository for the digital documentation of historical sources.

Upon completion of the third volume, the Monastery of Saint John the Theologian—an institution that has served for nearly a millennium as a vital archival hub of the Aegean—will possess a complete catalogue of its Ottoman Turkish holdings.

Dr Efthimios Machairas, whose doctoral dissertation focused on Patmos, is also collaborating in this project.