Two centuries later, Greece loves Lord Byron more than ever

Her Wednesday, August 18, 1880was held auction in the house Sotheby’s in London. Among the items that went under the hammer were “interesting relics of Lord Byron». The items, once owned by the poet’s half-sister, included the Greek laurel wreath placed on the aristocrat’s coffin.

THE John Gennadios, the diplomat-professor who was born and raised in Athens, made sure to be there. It had been 56 years since the great romantic poet died, on April 19, 1824, in Messolonghi, leading the rebellion of the Greeks against Ottoman rule, writes the Guardian.

Raised by his patriotic father with lessons about Byron’s legendary contribution to the struggle, Gennadius successfully outmaneuvered his competitors and took much of the auctioned items. It was the beginning of a terrible one collection which included, among other things, a lock of his distinctive auburn hair, rare manuscripts, Byron’s gold watch, paintings and a fragment of the tartan cloak he wore at Messolonghi.

Last week, as Greece celebrated the 200 years since Byron’s death, the objects brought an air of excitement to the magnificent reading room of the library that Gennadius, one of the country’s most important benefactors, bequeathed to American School of Classical Studies in Athens.

For Alicia Stallings, a professor of poetry at the University of Oxford who lives in Greece, seeing these objects of the poet was equivalent to being “within breathing distance” of him.

“I think it is very important that they ended up in Greece,” said the American, who has written several acclaimed books.

“There is little sense or understanding [στο εξωτερικό] about how important he was for Greeceshe said and emphasized that she is often forced to explain that it is not a trick, but a deep love.

On Friday, exactly 200 years after Byron succumbed to the fever – just 100 days after arriving in the country whose freedom he had so fiercely defended – the Greece made sure to prove the strength of the relationshipthe British newspaper points out.

In one ceremony full of pomp, a brass band played alongside a guard of honor outside the Athens parliament, and dignitaries laid wreaths in front of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier to honor foreign Philhellenes, starting with Lord Byron.

In the Medium length, the celebrations were “unprecedented”. From exhibition openings, to the world premiere of the opera “The Last Days of Byron”, the day was full of events.

In a country where almost every town has a street named after an Englishman and many men are named Byron in his honor, his place remains undisputed.

“He may not have fought, but he gave us everythinghe gave us his life” explains the mayor of Byron, Alexis Sotiropoulosspeaking to the medium.

“What matters in life is what you leave behind. And finally he left behind a free Greece. Without him it might not have happened” he remarked.

“Maybe he had weaknesses, but he was a democrat, ahead of his time, a man with unquestionable ideals. We are forever grateful to him,” he added.

In England, again, the revolutionary poet is remembered as “mad, bad and dangerous”. Roderick Beaton, emeritus professor of Modern Greek at King’s College London and author of Byron’s War, spoke of “a huge mismatch in the way he is remembered in the UK and in Greece.”