Cyprus Mail 9 April 2022 - by Eleni Philippou
A new lecture has been added to the Let’s Talk History online portal of the Bank of Cyprus Cultural Foundation. The lecture series, similar to a podcast, invites acclaimed scholars to discuss a host of Cyprological topics related to the museums, collections, exhibitions and actions of the Cultural Foundation, but also to any given period of Cypriot history, archaeology, art history and literature.
Its latest episode-lecture welcomes Roderick Beaton, Emeritus Koraes Professor of Modern Greek and Byzantine History, Language and Literature at King’s College London, in a session titled Lord Byron and the Greek Revolution of 1821. Following the life and work of Lord Byron, the online lecture embarks on a historical walk focusing on his relationship with Greece.
“Even though Lord Byron, the renowned British philhellene and poet, never came to Cyprus,” say the organisers, “his contribution to the national struggle of the Greeks is known to all.” His experiences prompted within him the idea of restoration of ancient glory. In 1812, his poem Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage was met with instant acclaim, not only in England but also in its translated editions into almost all European languages. “The entire world spoke of the famous Lord Byron and, seeing that the poem’s second part was dedicated to Greece and modern Greeks, people also spoke of the Greek question,” they add.
Then in 1824, delirious with fever and in his death throes, Byron dreams that his mission has been accomplished. He imagines that the revolution is already triumphant, that Greece is free and that he arrives in the United States as its first diplomatic envoy. “Of course, this is not the true course of things,” explain the organisers, “but it could be suggested that the great philhellene, in his final hour, foresaw the outcome of the Greek Revolution, which would be sealed by the London Protocol of 3 February 1830, officially establishing Greece as a ‘fully independent’ sovereign state.”
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