The revolutionary storm that swept over Spain and Italy in 1820 was approaching Greece. Alexander Ypsilanti, general of the Russian army and head of the secret Greek society, in February 1821 raised an uprising that led to the liberation of Greece from the four-century Ottoman yoke. His brothers Dmitry, George and Nikolai, also officers of the Russian army, took an active part in the struggle for the national liberation of Greece. The stay of this Greek family in Russia is one of the most significant, but little-studied pages in the history of versatile Russian-Greek relations in the first half of the XIX century. 1 The appearance of the Ypsilanti family in Russia was connected with the vicissitudes of the political career of its head, phanariot Konstantin Ypsilanti. The Greek monetary and commercial aristocracy of Phanar (a quarter of Constantinople) gained great political influence in the Ottoman Empire from the end of the 17th century. Several Phanariot families were granted preferential rights to hold important government positions - the dragoman of the Porte and the gospodars of the Danubian principalities. This privileged circle also included the Ypsilanti family. Constantin Ypsilanti served as dragoman of the Porte (1796-1799) and gospodar of Moldavia (1799-1801), Wallachia (1802-1806). The Phanariote Gospodars used their short rule to enrich themselves as soon as possible through feudal exploitation of the population of the principalities. The lords of Ypsilanti, not being an exception in this respect, acquired estates in the Danubian principalities, which brought them considerable income. K. Ypsilanti was distinguished from most of his colleagues by the breadth and variety of his intellectual interests. He was considered the most learned man in Phanar. His scholarship was a rare fusion of European education with a deep knowledge of the culture of the Muslim East. Proficient in ancient Greek, Latin, Arabic, Persian, Turkish, French, Italian and German, he tr ... Read more