SCENK IN A Mv\CEDONIAN VILLAGlJ : ALI^ WOMEN OF A TOWN DRESS AEIKEi 



and frequent pillaging by their masters, 

 were granted certain privileges, and 

 eventually obtained a position of consid- 

 erable influence in the Turkish Empire. 

 By the term Greeks were meant not the 

 Hellenes only, but all the ex-subjects of 

 the East Roman Empire who adhered to 

 the Orthodox Church. They were con- 

 stituted into a millet or community, con- 

 sisting of a lay and an ecclesiastical coun- 

 cil, which dealt with the internal affairs 

 of the people, and many important offices 

 were habitually conferred on Greeks. 



The Greeks came to be the brain of 

 Turkey and the representatives of civili- 

 zation in the Levant. The Greek lan- 

 guage was the language of culture, even 

 among non-Hellenic Christians, and the 

 Greek Church a powerful agency for the 

 promotion of Greek ideas. In the i8th 

 century Greek influence declined, and the 

 insurrectionary movements in what is 

 now the Kingdom of Greece made the 

 Turks look upon the Hellenes with sus- 

 picion and hatred. When Greece be- 

 came free, the inhabitants of that coun- 



try considered that the work of emanci- 

 pation was but half completed, and as- 

 pired to the annexation of a much larger 

 portion of Turkish territory. Some even 

 dreamed of the revival of the Greek Em- 

 pire, with the capital at Constantinople, 

 but the majority limited their aspiration 

 to Thessaly, Macedonia, and some of the 

 islands. 



In most of the towns of Macedonia the 

 Greek element is the most conspicuous, 

 and in some the wealthiest ; trade and 

 banking are to a great extent in their 

 hands — although the Rumans and the 

 Jews are keen competitors — and the 

 shops and the inns all bear Greek inscrip- 

 tions. In the cafes and public places one 

 hears much Greek spoken, and most of 

 the people with whom the traveler comes 

 into contact are Greeks or Greek-speak- 

 ing; but in point of actual numbers they 

 are far inferior to the Slavs, and in 

 places like Kastoria, where the town is 

 thoroughly Greek, the surrounding coun- 

 try is inhabited by an almost wholly Bul- 

 garian population. But the Greek pa- 



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