Letter issued by Sultan Ahmed III (r. 1703-1730) assigning Nicola Danal Spiro as dragoman to Thomas Funck, Swedish envoyée to the Ottoman court. National Archives of Sweden.
A dragoman (ترجمان) served as an interpreter, translator, and official intermediary between the Turkish-, Arabic-, and Persian-speaking regions of the Middle East and European diplomatic or commercial representatives, including embassies, consulates, and trading posts. The role required fluency in Arabic, Persian, Turkish, and various European languages.
Within the Ottoman Empire, most dragomans came from the Ottoman Greek community, renowned for their multilingual proficiency and active involvement in trade across the Mediterranean, Black Sea, and beyond. To a lesser degree, members of other commercially connected groups—especially Armenians—also served in this capacity.
The position of dragoman—an interpreter and mediator—became prominent in the Ottoman Empire due to the reluctance of Muslim Ottomans to learn non-Muslim languages. The first imperial dragoman mentioned in records was Lutfi Pasha, sent to Venice in 1479. The role combined diplomatic and linguistic duties, particularly in relations with Christian states, and was long dominated by ethnic Greeks such as Panagiotis Nikousios and Alexander Mavrocordatos.
This Greek dominance ended after the outbreak of the Greek War of Independence (1821), when the chief dragoman Constantine Mourouzi was executed for disloyalty and his successor exiled. Ishak Efendi, a Muslim and naval instructor, then assumed the role, pioneering the translation of Western scientific works into Turkish and coining new terminology. Subsequently, the Translation Office (Tercüme Odası) became a key institution for advancement during the Tanzimat reforms, rivaling traditional military and religious routes to power.
Dragomans, often Jewish due to their linguistic skills, were exempt from taxation, raising legal debates within Jewish communities about internal tax obligations. Many Phanariote hospodars who ruled Moldavia and Wallachia (1711–1821) had previously served as Ottoman dragomans, though several later joined anti-Ottoman conspiracies.
