ABSTRACT
To speak of the self-image of the Armenian under Ottoman rule during the last century of that empire is to consider two basic ingredients of modern Armenian history. First, Armenians did not have a uniform view of themselves. Second, whereas some groups maintained the same self-image throughout many decades of change and political upheaval, others, threatened by social, economic, spiritual degeneration, strove to change theirs. At the cost of simplifying social structures, it is possible to delineate three distinct self-images of the Armenian under Ottoman rule. The first is the self-image of the Armenian in Zeytun, an Armenian district in the Taurus Mountains in Cilicia. A second, dominant image of the Armenian is found in the prosperous, contented Armenian communities in Istanbul, the capital, in the coastal cities, and to some extent in other major cities, especially Izmir. The third dominant self-image is that of the Armenian in the provinces. He is typified by the defenseless, poor, dispossessed Armenian—the rayah.
