Representations of Greek Entrepreneurship between Projection and Reception in Eighteenth-Century German Sources

This chapter examines references to ‘Greeks’ in the German-speaking media discourse from the 1680s until the Greek War of Independence (1821), between ethno-stereotypical projections and empirical receptions, with a particular focus on their commercial activities. It is based on a wide range of text sources, including geographical and historical treatises, travelogues and literary fiction in a broader sense, especially contributions in contemporary journals and newspapers accessible in digital databases. This material shows that perceptions of Greek merchants-entrepreneurs at that time in the German-speaking world were strongly dominated by negative stereotypes whose origins – insofar they were of specific character – can be traced back to the Middle Ages or even to Antiquity. They proved impressively consistent even when, since the second half of the 18^th century, Greek entrepreneurs began more and more to appear in public media as real persons with increasing economic and social success. Powerful (multipotent) Greek entrepreneurs, who emerged in the 19^th century, especially in Austria, were therefore much less perceived as representatives of a commercial ‘Greek genius’ than as part of the multiethnic bourgeoisie of the Habsburg Empire.