On Thursday, 10 October 2024, the Minister of National Defence Nikos Dendias attended the concert at Herodion to honour the 200th anniversary of the death of Lord Byron and the rise of Philhellenism.
The Minister was accompanied by the Chief of Hellenic National Defence General Staff, General Dimitrios Choupis, and the Chief of Hellenic Army General Staff, Lieutenant General Georgios Kostidis.
The event was organised by the Society for Hellenism and Philhellenism and the Philhellenism Museum, featuring the ERT Contemporary Music Orchestra, under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture, the Region of Attica, the Municipality of Athens, and the British Embassy in Athens.
The event was also attended by MPs for Arta Georgios Stylios and Lakonia Athanasios Davakis, the Head of the Prime Minister’s Diplomatic Office Anna Maria Boura, the British Ambassador to Greece Matthew Lodge, the French Ambassador to Greece Laurence Auer, Rear Admiral (MD) Antonios Papageorgiou HN as representative of the Chief of Hellenic Navy General Staff, Lieutenant General (HAF) Georgios Georgiadis as representative of the Chief of Hellenic Air Force General Staff, the President of the Society for Hellenism and Philhellenism and the Philhellenism Museum in Athens Konstantinos Velentzas, the President of the Hellenic National Commission for UNESCO Maria-Ekaterini Papachristopoulou-Tzitzikosta, the President of the “Lilian Voudouri” Foundation Irini Kairi, other heads of foreign diplomatic delegations, Armed Forces officers, and Region of Attica and local government officials.
Before the concert, the Minister of National Defence gave the following address:
“It is a great honour to be here with you tonight, at this sacred site, the Herodion, to honour the Philhellenes and especially Lord Byron.
To honour the people who stood by the side of Greeks during the major event of the birth of the New Greece.
We honour these people who were not born on the Land of Greece,
had no Greek blood running through their veins,
but identified themselves with the values of Hellenism and fought for the freedom of Greece.
Philhellenism, this global force, constituted one of the spirits, one of the lungs of the movement of Romanticism and a historic aspect of Enlightenment.
But it was not restricted to literary or artistic aspects.
It was also expressed through active participation in the Greek War of Independence.
George Gordon, 6th Baron Byron, was an enfant gaté and enfant terrible of the 19th century, an emblematic figure of Philhellenism, who did not remain a mere bystander during this historic gestation period.
He did not restrict himself to abstract discussions, declarations, or literary production.
On the contrary, he identified the course of his life with the struggle of the new Hellenism.
And served in praxi the global ideal of human freedom.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The Armed Forces of Greece honoured Byron.
An event was held in April, at the Hellenic Military Academy, dedicated to the 200th anniversary of his death.
I said there that the Greek War of Independence and the Italian Risorgimento are perhaps the most beautiful stories of Romanticism.
Lord Byron embodies, personifies the former, Garibaldi the latter.
Two men, two nations, two eras.
They fought for their freedom.
They were inspired by the same ideals.
Freedom, Byron said, is not only a political right.
It is the vindication of the existence of man.
Human existence is not fulfilled without sacrifice, in the valley of tears that is, according to the Gospel, human life.
In Mesolonghi, Lord Byron and the other Philhellenes forged a vision of sacrifice that inspired generations beyond the limits of Greece.
The vision of Mesolonghi is captured by our National poet Solomos in the excellent drafts of the Free Besieged.
The expression Free Besieged.
A logical and verbal oxymoron.
And at the same time a great truth.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The consequences of the choices of great people define the future of nations and peoples.
The loss of a great soul, a great life, has historic repercussions.
As Konstantinos Tsatsos said in his historic speech on Ioannis Kapodistrias at the Palace of St. Michael and St. George,
“The great dead speak and whoever wants to can hear them”.
And the dead Byron spoke.
Clearly, lucidly, to the entire then known world.
His poem “On This Day I Complete My Thirty-Sixth Year”
describes his free personal choice at the surrounded by the armies of Kütahı and Ibrahim Mesolonghi.
“A Soldier’s Grave – for thee the best,
Then Look around, and choose thy Ground,
And take thy Rest! “
Byron chose not to complete his thirty-seventh year.
He chose to end his life at 36 in Mesolonghi as a Free Besieged.
Thanks to his contribution, the New Greece is today a free country of 203 years.
Every true Greek remembers and loves him.
Thank you very much”.