The SHP, in collaboration with the Academy of Athens, awarded the Lord Byron Medal to 3 distinguished British Philhellenes, in a ceremony that took place on 16 November 2024, at Trinity College, Cambridge University.

The medal was awarded to:

• Sir Roderick Beaton FBA (Emeritus Koraes Professor of Modern Greek and Byzantine History, Language and Literature, King’s College London)
• Dr John Kittmer (Former Ambassador of the United Kingdom to the Hellenic Republic)
• Kate Lucy Smith CMG (Former Ambassador of the United Kingdom to the Hellenic Republic)

The medals were presented by the President of the SHP, Mr. K. Velentzas, and the Academician and Professor at Cambridge, Mr. A. Fokas.

The event was welcomed by Professor Louise Merrett, Vice Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, and Professor Napoleon Katsos, of the Centre for Greek Studies, Cambridge.

For information: info@eefshp.org

The SHP (eefshp.org) and the Philhellenism Museum (phmus.org) participate in the 25-member Honorary Committee for the organisation of events and activities dedicated to the 200th anniversary of the Exodus.

The Exodus of Missolonghi is the leading moment of the Greek War of Independence, which inspired all civilized humanity, gave maximum impetus to the philhellenic movement and triggered diplomatic processes that led to the Treaty of London, the naval battle in Navarino and the establishment of the independent Greek state.

The SHP and the Philhellenism Museum will organise a major exhibition at the Academy of Athens, an emblematic concert and a series of events and publications in Greece and internationally, to highlight the effect that the heroic Exodus had on the development of Philhellenism and international solidarity in favor of nations struggling for their freedom and the values ​​of Western civilization.

Information: info@eefshp.org

The premiere of the play entitled “Byron. The farewell. Messolonghi 1824” took place in the Amphitheatre of the War Museum. The play, which moved and impressed the audience, deals with the last days of Lord Byron in Messolonghi.

The two theatrical performances were offered to the public of Athens with free admission, by the Society for Hellenism and Philhellenism (SHP) and the Philhellenism Museum, in collaboration with the War Museum and under the auspices and support of the British Embassy in Athens. Other presentations of the play are planned to follow in Greece and abroad.

The event was addressed by the president of the War Museum, Mr. Konstantinos Karamesinis, the president and founder of SHP and the Philhellenism Museum, Mr. Constantinos Velentzas and the attaché of the British Embassy, ​​Ms. Katharina Arnold.

Mr. Velentzas prefaced the performance by outlining the historical context of the era to the audience, highlighting unknown details about the volunteer military and medical scientists who were by the side of the British Philhellene in the last days of his life.

The plot of the play was focused on a final account of the life and work of the Romantic poet, filled with the ideals of struggle and freedom, and the search for the higher meanings of human existence.

Emilianos Stamatakis, one of the most distinguished and talented actors of his generation, captivated the audience with his performance as Lord Byron. The role of Byron’s loyal valet, Fletcher, was performed by Pericles Lianos, who is particularly loved and known through his television roles.

The scenario is written by Iordanis Kalesis and directed by Vassilis Kontaxis. In addition, an original music by Angeliki Della was especially composed for the play, while the lyricism and unparalleled interpretive skill of soprano Angeliki Vardaka captivated the audience.

The play incorporates elements of cinematography, directed by the award-winning artist Thanos Angelis, while Pantelis Konsolakis was charged with the photography direction.

The Romantic poet who was the greatest Philhellene of all times, inspired and inspires the movement of Philhellenism internationally. His sudden death at the age of 36 was a global event, which moves the new generations to this day. Byron’s unconventional temperament, is a starting point to discover at the same time his literary intelligence, which even today influences fiction and artistic creation.

The intention of the SHP – Philhellenism Museum and the contributors, is the tour of the play in other cities in Greece and abroad.

Byron. The Farewell, Messolonghi 1824

Under the auspices and support of the British Embassy

Author: Iordanis Kalesis | Direction – stage plan: Vassilis Kontaxis | Original Music – piano: Angeliki Della | Film direction and costume design: Thanos Angelis | Director of photography: Pantelis Konsolakis | Research advisor: Dr. Zambia Agrimaki | Lighting: Thodoris Gogos

Cast:

Kostas Gerantonis | Iordanis Kalesis | Dimitris Pneumatikos | Ilias Sardellis | Special guest: Pericles Lianos | Soprano Angeliki Vardaka

Emilianos Stamatakis as Lord Byron

The naval battle at Navarino successfully seals the liberation struggle of the Greeks, and paves the way for the establishment of the independent Greek state. The driving force behind this great victory is clearly the British Prime Minister Georges Canning, who, before he died in August 1927, gave clear instructions to Admiral Codrington to implement the London treaty even by force of arms.

But how many of us know that Canning was a true Philhellene, and a poet influenced by Lord Byron, with a real interest in the Greeks, who also wrote a poem entitled “the slavery of Greece”? On the occasion of the anniversary of the naval battle of Navarino, we present from the collection of the Philhellenism Museum the translation into French of a book containing George Canning’s poetry collection including the following poem dedicated to Greece.

The Slavery Of Greece

Unrivall’d Greece! thou ever honor’d name,
Thou nurse of heroes dear to deathless fame!
Though now to worth, to honor all unknown,
Thy lustre faded, and thy glories flown;
Yet still shall Memory, with reverted eye,
Trace thy past worth, and view thee with a sigh.

Thee Freedom cherish’d once with fostering hand,
And breath’d undaunted valour through the land;
Here, the stern spirit of the Spartan soil,
The child of poverty, inur’d to toil.

Here, lov’d by Pallas and the sacred Nine,
Once did fair Athens’ tow’ring glories shine,
To bend the bow, or the bright faulchion wield,
To lift the bulwark of the brazen shield,
To toss the terror of the whizzing spear,
The conqu’ring standard’s glitt’ring glories rear,
And join the mad’ning battle’s loud career.

How skill’d the Greeks; confess what Persians slain
Were strew’d on Marathon’s ensanguin’d plain;
When heaps on heaps the routed squadron fell,
And with their gaudy myriads peopled hell.
What millions bold Leonidas withstood,
And seal’d the Grecian freedom with his blood;
Witness Thermopylæ! how fierce he trod!
How spoke a hero, and how mov’d a God!
The rush of nations could alone sustain,
While half the ravag’d globe was arm’d in vain.
Let Leuctra say, let Mantinea tell,
How great Epaminondas fought and fell!

Nor war’s vast art alone adorn’d thy fame,
“But mild philosophy endear’d thy name.”
Who knows not, sees not with admiring eye,
How Plato thought, how Socrates could die?

To bend the arch to bid the column rise,
And the tall pile aspiring pierce the skies;
The awful scene magnificently great,
With pictur’d pomp to grace, and sculptur’d state,
This science taught; on Greece each science shone:
Here the bold statue started from the stone;
Here, warm with life, the swelling canvass glow’d;
Here, big with life, the poet’s raptures flow’d;
Here Homer’s lip was touch’d with sacred fire,
And wanton Sappho tun’d her am’rous lyre;
Here bold Tyrtæus rous’d th’ enervate throng
Awak’d to glory by th’ inspiring song;
Here Pindar soar’d a nobler, loftier way,
And brave Alcæus, scorn’d a tyrant’s sway;
Here gorgeous Tragedy, with great controul,
Touch’d every feeling of th’ impassion’d soul;
While in soft measure tripping to the song,
Her comic sister lightly danc’d along—

This was thy state! But oh! how chang’d thy fame,
And all thy glories fading into shame.
What! that thy bold, thy freedom-breathing land,
Should crouch beneath a tyrant’s stern command;
That servitude should bind in galling chain;
Whom Asia’s millions once oppos’d in vain,
Who could have thought? Who sees without a groan,
Thy cities mould’ring and thy walls o’erthrown?
That where once tower’d the stately solemn fane,
Now moss-grown ruins strew the ravag’d plain;
And unobserv’d but by the traveller’s eye
Proud vaulted domes in fretted fragments lie;
And thy fall’n column on the dusty ground,
Pale ivy throws its sluggish arms around.

Thy sons (sad change!) in abject bondage sigh;
Unpitied toil, and unlamented die;
Groan at the labours of the galling oar,
Or the dark caverns of the mine explore.
The glitt’ring tyranny of Othman’s sons,
The pomp of horror which surrounds their thrones
Has aw’d their servile spirits into fear;
Spurn’d by the foot, they tremble and revere.

The day of labour, night’s sad sleepless hour,
Th’ inflictive scourge of arbitrary pow’r,
The bloody terror of the pointed steel,
The murd’rous stake, the agonizing wheel,
And (dreadful choice!) the bow-string or the bowl,
Damps their faint vigour, and unmans the soul.

Disastrous fate! still tears will fill the eye,
Still recollection prompt the mournful sigh,
When to thy mind recurs thy former fame,
And all the horrors of thy present shame.

So some tall rock, whose bare broad bosom high,
Tow’rs from th’ earth, and braves th’ inclement sky;
On whose vast top the blackening deluge pours,
At whose wide base the thund’ring ocean roars;
In conscious pride its huge gigantic form
Surveys imperious, and defies the storm.
Till worn by age and mould’ring to decay,
Th’ insidious waters wash its base away;
It falls, and falling cleaves the trembling ground,
And spreads a tempest of destruction round.