On Wednesday 18 August 1880, the scholar and diplomat John Gennadios made sure to attend the Sotheby’s auction in London, where among the items going under the hammer were “interesting relics of Lord Byron”. They were personal items that once belonged to Augusta Lee, half-sister of the Philhellenic romantic poet, including the laurel wreath that the Messolongites had placed on his coffin 56 years before. Byron had died on April 19, 1824 in Messolonghi, leading the Greek revolt against the Ottoman conquerors.
Ioannis Gennadios, who was born in 1844 in Athens and died in 1932 in London, was a scion of the historical Benizelos family. He served as a diplomat in Constantinople and London, strongly supporting the interests of Greece. He also dealt with archaeology, history and philology, and published many of his works. In 1922, he donated his rich family collection of books to the American School of Classical Studies, which was later named the Gennadios Library in honor of his father, Georgios Gennadios, a great Teacher of the Genus and one of the greatest Greek benefactors.
Growing up with the admiration instilled in him by his father for Lord Byron’s contribution to the struggle of the Greeks, Ioannis Gennadios acquired at the London auction the laurel wreath, with which he would begin the creation of a formidable collection of Lord Byron’s personal effects, which today is located in Gennadeio. Among them would be a lock of his characteristic auburn hair – cut off by his sad servant, William Fletcher, while the poet lay on his deathbed – the gold watch of Europe’s most famous writer at the time, rare manuscripts, paintings and a piece of the Scottish plaid cloak he wore at Messolonghi, writes Elena Smith in the Guardian.
On the occasion of the celebrations for the 200th anniversary of his death, in her extensive article in the Guardian, the correspondent of the British newspaper in Athens, explains why Greeks celebrate with such fervor the position of the English poet in the pantheon of Greek history.
For Alicia I. Stollings, Professor of Poetry at the University of Oxford, to face objects once so familiar to the poet is to be “very close” by him and nothing less than “exciting».
“I think the fact that they ended up in Greece is very important” said the American poet, who lived for a long time in Athens, where she wrote several books of poetry, and “inevitably» he thinks of Byron and his relationship with the nation, for which he would ultimately sacrifice his life. “[Στο εξωτερικό] there is little sense or understanding of how important he was to Greece. I often have to explain that it is not a trick to attract attention to a celebrity, that it is not a joke, that the gravity of the assessment [για αυτόν] they are genuine“, he emphasized.
On Friday, April 19, 2024 – exactly 200 years to the day that Byron succumbed to a fever 100 days after arriving in the country whose freedom he so fiercely defended – Greeks did everything to show their appreciation, writes the Elena Smith in the Guardian. With the pomp usually afforded by dignitaries, a brass band appeared alongside a guard of honor outside Parliament, while dignitaries laid wreaths at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier to commemorate foreign Philhellenes, beginning with Byron, the whose support, courage and influence were instrumental in the final outcome of the revolution.
In Messolonghi, the site of an unprecedented tribute to the poet, the celebrations ranged from a permanent exhibition inaugurated by Culture Minister Lina Mendoni to the world premiere of the opera “The Last Days of Byron”, commissioned by the Institute of Digital Archaeology. of Oxford and was held by the Byronic Society of the Holy City of Messolonghi.
Greece’s war of independence was brutal. More than 350 volunteers from Europe and America are believed to have died on the battlefield at the hands of the Ottomans. They were brought up with the classics, and most despaired of the disastrous situation in which the Orthodox Christians had fallen after centuries of Ottoman rule.
As the British newspaper article points out, for Alexis Sotiropoulos, mayor of Byron, the Athenian municipality named after the romantic poet, the fact that Byron died defeated by fever before he could prove his worth is of little consequence. into battle, leading the rebel troops out of the malaria-ridden city.
In a country where almost every town has a street named after the Englishman and many men are named Byron in his honour, his status as a hero remains undisputed, writes Elena Smith in the Guardian. “Byron may not have fought, but he gave us everything, he gave us his life“, said Mr. Sotiropoulos from his office surrounded by flags and souvenirs in the form of Byron, while behind him there is also a bust of the poet. “In life it’s all about what you leave behind, and in the end he left behind a free Greece. Without him it might not have happened“, emphasized the mayor of Byron.
The rebellious spirit, which led the English lord to the marshes of Messolonghi – impelled by a valor praised by those who accompanied him on the doomed mission – was far greater than the smell of scandals, which forced him into self-exile, or his defects, he said Mr. Sotiropoulos. “Maybe he had weaknesses. But he was a democrat ahead of his time, a man of unquestionable ideals. We are forever grateful“, he emphasized.
Historians believe that had it not been for Byron’s generosity or influence, London would never have been able to consent to the loans, which were essential to the provisional government of Greece. Although his initial destination was Morias, Byron finally settled in Messolonghi, where he came into contact with the pro-Western polyglot Alexandros Mavrokordatos, whom he supported financially by donating a huge amount of his personal wealth to the war effort. At a time when the rebellion was plagued by factional intrigues, his own support is seen as crucial to the creation of the modern nation.
In England, however, reports the publication, where the revolutionary poet is remembered as “mad, evil and dangerous to know” – according to the inimitable characterization of Lady Caroline Lamb, his lover whom he had scorned – his political role is often overlooked. But the commemorations that mark the landmark anniversary also offer an opportunity for reassessment, Roderick Beaton, emeritus professor of Modern Greek at King’s College London, told the Guardian, who in his book “Byron’s War” (published in Greek from Pataki publications) reexamines the life and work of the famous poet, as well as his dedication to the struggle for Greek independence.
“There is a huge discrepancy in how he is remembered in the UK and Greece,” notes the British academic, lamenting the “amazing» fact that most of Byron’s poetry, as well as his extant correspondence, have never been translated into Greek.
“In this anniversary there is a great opportunity for the Greeks to know him better as a poet and for the British to open up beyond the clichés and scandals, and see Byron’s contribution to the creation of a European state. It is important because it is really part of the history and identity of GreeceRoderick Beaton pointed out finally.
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