Romantic philhellenism distorted Western perception of the Ottoman Turks.

Evidence

In more recent times, Western hostility to the Turk was perpetuated by the enthusiasm of the philhellenes who, in their just admiration for Greece, did less than justice to the Turk, seeing in him only the brutal destroyer of the liberties of Hellas, and forgetting the famous words of the Byzantine dignitary Lucas Notaras, “It is better to see in the city the power of the Turkish turban than that of the Latin tiara.” — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 630

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s taste for how ideological narratives (here philhellenism) warp historiography — parallels earlier material on present-mindedness in history writing.
• CANDY: Lucas Notaras’s line preferring the Turkish turban to the Latin tiara is a compact, quotable historical gem.