The Phanariots were Orthodox Christian elites who grew out of the social and
political fabric of the Ottoman administration, rising to power in the late
seventeenth century. Members of the Phanariot aristocracy such as Panayotis
Nikusios and Alexandros Mavrokordatos were also affiliated with the Köprülü
family of viziers and were instrumental in some of the translation efforts of
scientific literature. Indeed, Phanariotes formed the majority of the dragomans to
the Ottoman government and to foreign embassies in Istanbul due to their high level
of education and knowledge of languages.131 Ottoman intellectuals were certainly in
collaboration with them also for accessing Latin and Greek sources and for the
translation of these works.