In Greece, the second half of the eighteenth century tends to be seen as the beginning of the Greek Enlightenment which paved the way for Greek national independence. Analysing literary texts produced by members of Phanariot circles between 1750 and 1800, I argue that their purpose is predominantly entertainment rather than enlightenment. Finally I argue that these texts, which have been marginalized as being banal and as using an excessive number of Turkish loanwords, allow us to gain important insights into the thought-world of elite members of the Orthodox millet who did not envisage a national revolution against the Ottoman empire.