Ancient Athens in Plaka
the Monument of Lysicrates & Lord Byron
The Choragic Monument of Lysicrates in Athens Plaka District Page 4

The Maid of Athens
Maid of Athens, ere we part Give, oh give me back my heart!
Or, since it has left my breast, keep it now and take the rest.
Hear my vow before I go. By my life, how I love you so!

There's more, but thats the jist of it! In typical Greek tragedy style, the beautiful Theresa, who was the daughter of the English vice-consul, afterward became the wife of an admirer of Byrons, another young Englishman, Mr. Black, who later became Athens prefect of police. But all this is really mute as Lord Byron was gay and had the companionship of Nicolo Giraud a 15 year old bot with whom he spent all his time and later had educated abroad.

There is a whole neighborhood in Athens named after Lord Byron called Vyronas or Veeronas which is how to say Byron in Greek.

Lord Byron went on to write 'Childe Harold' and 'Giaour' and died an early death at 42, after catching a fever in Mesolonghi on Easter Sunday 1824 just prior to leading his Greek troops into battle.

His statue, left, is in Mesolonghi and his heart buried beneath it. I am not sure what they did with the rest of the body. Probably put it in a barrel of spirits and sent it home to Britain.

Mesolonghi then, was a depressing and stagnant marsh, now, its a pretty normal Greek town which I visited last fall. No need to go really, imho unless you are in the witness protection program.

He is particularly loved by the Greeks because of his desire to fight the Turks in the cause of Greek Liberation. Streets, neighborhoods and children are named after him to this day here! He looks like Douglas Fairbanks? Even though he died before he could torture, skewer and roast alive any Turkish or Albanian captives (as was the fashion then), the mere fact that he died in the cause of Greek Liberation focused European royal opinion on the issue in general and in Christian Greece's favor in particular.

They saw a ragged Greek populace making military gains against a weakened expansionist Turkish Empire and smelled a new way to enrich their inbred monarchies and further stem the Turk. Of Course Lord Byron was totally gay and his" love" for Theresa did a lot to help sanitize his image in homo-phobic Victorian Britain. She later went on to become famous as his love throughout all Europe!

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