The birth and evolution of Philhellenism – A journey through the collection of SHP

 

 

Nike untying her sandal, is a sculpture of the 5th century BC, from the parapet of the temple of Nike (goddess Victory) on the Acropolis. It depicts Nike (Victory) slightly leaning her body to untie her sandal before she enters the sanctuary.

Georgios Vroutos (1843-1908) complemented the ancient sculpture and revived it in its original beauty. The sculpture belongs to the collection of SHP.

SHP has chosen this sculpture as a symbol of the honor and respect that we all show for those who laid the foundations of Greek culture, who expanded it, who protected it, who fought for the principles it stands for and who ensure its dynamics, in the future.

 

The Philhellenism

The Philhellenism emerged 3000 years ago and remains from the Hellenistic and Roman periods, the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, to this day, a dominant current that influences internationally historical, political and social developments, and of course the art and intellect.

 

The Renaissance

After a long dark period in history, the foundations of Greek culture reappeared during the Renaissance, paving new paths for the evolution of humanity.

Greek Mythology has been a constant source of inspiration for many painters since the Renaissance.

Aphrodite (Venus), married to Hephaestus, cheated on him with Aris (Mars), the god of war. The illicit relationship between Love and War inspired many artists. But as the great Renaissance philosopher Marcellus Ficinus wrote: “Aphrodite always rules Mars and never the other way around!”

Venus and Mars. Early 17th century, a painting by an unknown Dutch painter from the environment of Peter Paul Rubens (SHP collection).

 

Ancient Greece conquers European education

In the 18th century, Europe gradually discovered the richness and value of ancient Greek art.

In the middle of the 18th century, Johann Joachim Winkelman recorded Greek art and its beauty, presented Greek culture and laid the foundations for the science of archeology. His books were translated and circulated throughout Europe.

Johann Joachim Winckelmann, “Histoire de l’art chez les anciens”, Paris, 1766 first edition in French (SHP collection).

The trip to Greece

In 1778, archaeologist Jean-Jacques Barthelemy published The Journey of the New Anacharsis in Greece, which became a best seller. This work excited Rigas Feraios, who translated it, published it in Greek and got inspired to design the Charta and to write his Thοurios (two emblematic symbols which led to the uprising of the Greeks).

Voyage du Jeune Anacharsis en Grèce dans le milieu du quatrième siècle avant l’ère vulgaire, Paris 1788, first edition (SHP collection).

The new tour

The search for the cradle of Greek culture has given new dimensions to an early form of cultural tourism. A typical case is that of Choiseul Gouffier. His work Voyage Pittorèsque de la Grèce, shows already from the first page, enslaved Greece and the prospect of its release. Choiseul Gouffier is appointed head of the Greek-language hotel, a secret organization in France that aimed to support the liberation of Greece. Athanasios Tsakalov also took part in this organisation, and when in 1814 he took refuge in Odessa, he took over its archives and the valuable knowledge he had acquired on the operation of secret organizations.

Choiseul Gouffier, Marie Gabriel Florent Auguste de, French diplomat, Voyage pittoresque de la Grèce, Paris, J.-J. Blaise 1782 – the first page presents Greece in the form of a chained slave (SHP collection).

The Neoclassicism

Neoclassicism was born, along with the Enlightenment. One of the leading figures of this movement is the great French-Greek poet Andre Chenier (1762-1794), son of the Greek Cypriot Elizabeth Santi Loumaki Chenier. His mother’s literary salon in Paris was for many years the meeting point of the French intelligentsia and the catalyst for the establishment of the Greek-language hotel, the first secret organization aimed at liberating Greece.

Andre Chenier (1762-1794), “Elegy”, manuscript (SHP collection).

 

The Acropolis of Athens and the Parthenon

The Parthenon was the leading symbol of Hellenism. Top work of Greek architecture, but also a trademark of the Athenian Republic. It was the first monument whose construction was decided by free citizens through a democratic process, based on genius techniques and architecture, while recording with unique aesthetics’ sculptures the struggles of the people and their relationship with the divine. It was undoubtedly the monument that inspired most artists. It became the symbol of the debt of Europeans to Greek culture and therefore to the Greeks fighting for their freedom.

Early 19th century, a painting by the painter P. I. Witdoeck, the Parthenon of the Acropolis (SHP collection).

Romanticism

The philhellenic movement influenced education in Europe and systematically cultivated Greek-centered values ​​in many generations of young people.

One of them is Lord Byron, who relied on his education and visited Greece in 1810, in search of the ruins of ancient classical civilization. Lord Byron evolved into the main representative of Romanticism. A key feature of the romantic hero is the clash with superior forces for an ideal and especially freedom.

Lord Byron (George Gordon, Lord Byron, 1788-1824)
Early 19th century, a painting by an unknown painter, probably a British, depicts Lord Byron, inspired by the work of Childe Harrold’s Pilgrimage (SHP collection).

The Byronic heroes

Byron’s heroes are reflected in every art form. The bride of Abydos, the Giaour, the Corsair, Don Juan, etc. appear in porcelain, paintings, tapestries, table clocks, boxes, etc.

The work of Childe Harrold’s Pilgrimage records the feelings of a young man who realizes and regrets the decadence of the Greek civilization. This book became quickly famous throughout Europe.

“The mountains look on Marathon –
And Marathon looks on the sea;
And musing there an hour alone,
I dream’d that Greece might still be free.”

Mantel clock, early 19th century, the Byronic hero Don Juan (SHP collection).

Mantel clock, early 19th century, the bride of Abydos, from the work of Lord Byron (SHP collection).

Mantel clock, early 19th century, Lord Byron next to the ruins of Greece (SHP collection).

Paper box, early 19th century, Lord Byron (SHP collection).

Beginning of the 19th century, Lord Byron, leading a unit of soldiers, enters in Messolonghi, a dish of the Monterey series (SHP collection).

The bride of Abydos

The Byronic hero Selim is saddened by his forbidden love for his beloved Zuleika.

Middle of the 19th century, a painting by the French painter Alexandre Marie COLIN (Paris, 1798-1875), the bride of Abydos, from the work of Lord Byron (SHP collection).

 

The Greek War of independence

The philhellenic climate that prevails in the public opinion of Europe is strengthened with the start of the Greek War of independence. The Byronic heroes gradually became Greek Revolutionaries and philhellenism influenced every form of art and literary expression. The news from Greece are captured by a number of artists in France.

The fighter’s rest. Middle of the 19th century, a painting by the French painter Eugene Delacroix, a Greek fighter at rest (SHP collection).

 

The first victory of the Greeks – The liberation of Salona

The siege began very quickly, on March 27, 1821. The siege was led by the chieftain Panargias, after he was blessed by the bishop of Salona, ​​Isaiah (a Greek who participated in battles and finally sacrificed himself for the cause). The Turks surrendered in 13 days, on Easter day, April 10, 1821. Panourgias promised to release them if they surrendered their weapons, a promise that he kept.

Early 19th century, hand-painted lithography by the French painter Louis Dupré (1789-1837), the occupation of the Salona fortress by the Greek fighter Nikolakis Mitropoulos raises the flag of the Struggle at Salona (SHP collection).

Konstantinos Kanaris, the fire ship Captain

The achievement of the Konstantis Kanaris (1793-1877) to set fire to the Turkish flagship in Chios (1822) with a fire ship, impressed the public opinion of Western Europe which compared him to David who kills Goliath.

Second part of the 19th century, bronze ensemble of Benedetto CIVILETTI (1846-1899), the fire ship captains Kanaris and Pipinos (SHP collection).

Second half of the 19th century, painting by Konstantinos Volanakis (1837-1907), burning of a Turkish flagship by Kanaris (SHP collection).

Kanaris’ son in Paris

The eldest son of the glorious fire ship Captin, Nikolaos, was educated in France with the children of King Louis-Philippe. Nikolaos Kanaris served as a member of the Supreme Court, a diplomat and then a member of the Greek Parliament and Minister of the Navy. The exact year of his birth is unknown, while he died in 1880.

Beginning of the 19th century, painting by an unknown painter from France, a teacher, educates the son of Kanaris in Paris in geography (SHP collection).

The oath of the Freedom Fighter

Beginning of the 19th century, the painting is attributed to the French painter Michel-Philibert Genod (1796 – 1862), on the subject of the oath and the departure of a young Greek freedom fighter (SHP collection). The artist gives the measure of the nationwide uprising of the Greeks by participating in the struggle of all ages.

Philhellenism as art de vivre

The philhellenic movement makes gradually its presence felt in all European countries and in the United States. Philhellenic committees are established in all major cities, fundraisers are held in favor of the Greeks, volunteers are recruited, weapons are sent in Greece, events are organized and manifestos circulate. This climate of support led to the spread of the philhellenic art repertoire in works of art and objects of daily use of an impressive variety: clocks, vases, cups, plates, bottles, and even wallpapers, represent basic philhellenic themes.

Early 19th century, a bronze ensemble of a Greek freedom fighter with his horse, an evolution of the Byronic hero from Byron’s work the Giaour (SHP collection).

Early 19th century, bottles depicting a Greek couple (SHP collection).

Early 19th century, dishes with themes from the Greek Revolution and reference to the names of Greeks and Philhellenes freedom fighters (SHP collection).

Mantel clock, early 19th century, with a Greek fighter who defends a wounded comrade (SHP collection).

Mantel clock, early 19th century, Greek fighter with his horse (SHP collection).

Mantel clock, early 19th century, with Kanaris the fire ship Captain (SHP collection).

Mantel clock, early 19th century Greek shipwrecked (SHP collection).

Table clock, early 19th century, Greek fighter defends Messolonghi (SHP collection).

The Greek Patriarch Gregorios the 5th

The three pillars on which Philhellenism relied were the sense of debt to the Ancient Greek Civilization, the liberal sentiments against tyranny, and the common Christian faith. Many Europeans saw the Greek Revolution as a struggle of the Cross against the crescent.

Second part of the 19th century, painting by an unknown painter, probably from the United Kingdom, depicts the hanging of Patriarch Gregorios the 5th (SHP collection).

The Souliote

The achievements of the great Souliote chieftains Marcos Botsaris and Kitsos Tzavellas, as well as the fact that they served in the French army (Régiment Souliote), propagated the fame of the Souliotes in Western Europe.

Early 19th century, painting by a follower of the Italian painter Lodovico Lipparini (1802 – 1856), a Souliote fighter (SHP collection).

The Greek fugitives

As we progress through the years of the struggle (the 1820’s), the depiction of scenes from the difficult life of the struggling Greeks is a frequent topic. The fugitives take refuge in the mountains with their wives and children.

Early 19th century, painting by Belgian painter Edouard Charles Dons (1798-1869) (SHP collection).

 

Louis I of Bavaria, the great Philhellene

Philhellenism reached and inspired all social layers. The leading German philhellene was King Ludwig I of Bavaria. Writer Zacharias Papantoniou wrote a century ago, in his book about the son of Ludwig I, and first king of modern Greece, Othon, about the three famous Whitelsbachs: “They had by excellence the romantic element – the power to leave their time for the past and from material life for the dream. All three refused to accept the tangible reality. Ludwig I for his philhellenism, Othon for his national ambitions for Greece (Megali Idea) and Ludwig II for his Wagner-mania, forgot the throne, to live the gigantic phantasmagoria of the ethics and art they created.”

Beginning of the 19th century, painting by unknown painter depicts Ludwig I, with his family, examining the emblematic painting of the German Philhellene painter Peter Von Hess, showing the arrival of Othon in Nafplion (SHP collection).

The German Philhellenism

Along with France, the philhellenic movement took also great proportions in Germany. In addition to Ludwig I, who wrote poems about the struggle of the Greeks, the great romantic poet Wilhelm Müller, known today from the lyrics of Schubert’s song circles “The Beautiful Miller Maid” and “Winter Journey”, was the Philhellene with the greatest influence on the consciousness of his compatriots.

Known in Germany as Müller of the Greeks (Der Griechen Müller), he wrote collections of “Greek” poems in 1820, 1823 and 1824, with characteristic titles such as “The Greeks to the friends of their antiquity”, “The Phanariote”, “The Maid of Athens “, “The Maniatissa”, “The old man of Hydra”, “The Holy Corps”, “The spirits of the ancient heroes on the day of the Resurrection”, “The ruins of Athens to England” and “The hope of Greece”. One of the most beautiful is “Greece and the world” where he connects freedom with Greece and the world, exclaiming:

“Without freedom, what would you be, oh! Greece without you, what would the world be like! ”
«Ohne dieFreiheit, was wärest du Hellas? Ohne dich, Hellas, was wäre die Welt? ».

Many German painters chose Philhellenic themes, expressing their solidarity with the struggle of the Greeks. At the same time, it is the German painters who, through their works, highlighted the heroic dimension of the Greek fighters and their struggle.

Early 19th century, painting by the German-Swiss Philhellene, military and painter Carl Wilhelm Freiherr von Heideck (1788 – 1861), Mosho and Lambros Tzavelas (SHP collection).

Early 19th century, a painting by the German Philhellene painter Peter Von Hess (1792 – 1871), a Philhellene in Greek costume during the Greek Revolution (SHP collection).

Early 19th century, painting by the German Philhellene painter Christian Johann Georg Perlberg (1806-1884), Greek fighters during the battle (SHP collection).

Early 19th century, painting by the German Philhellene painter Christian Johann Georg Perlberg (1806-1884), Greek fighters during a battle (SHP collection).

Early 19th century, painting by the German architect and painter Ludwig Lange (1808 – 1868), the ancient market in Plaka, Athens (SHP collection).

Early 19th century, painting by the German painter and Philhellene Jacobs Paul Emil (1802 – 1866), looting and kidnapping (SHP collection).

First part of the 19th century, dishes with philhellenic content of German production, present scenes from the Greek Revolution (SHP collection).

At the beginning of the 19th century, a pipe of German origin, it depicts Alexandros Ypsilantis and the Holy Corps (SHP collection).

The Sortie of Messolonghi

The heroic resistance of the Greeks in Messolonghi and the Sortie of the free besieged, shocked Europe, especially because Lord Byron lived and died there, and the event received tremendous publicity. After Messolonghi, Philhellenism took the proportions of an avalanche.

Sortie of the Messolonghi garrison (Exodus of the Guards), 10/22 April 1826. To the Most Reverend King of Greece Othon reverently entrusted to Theodoros P. Vryzakis, (Paris, Lemercier, 1856), lithograph engraved by A. Charpentier, based on the painting of Vryzakis (SHP Collection).

Philhellenism and Music

Many Philhellenes composers wrote songs, but also larger compositions dedicated to the struggle of the Greeks. The musical works were presented in order to organize fund raising events, to collect money to send to the Greeks.

Berlioz with La Revolution Grècque (you can watch it here ) and Rossini with Le Siège de Corinthe (you can watch it here ) were the most famous.

Louis Ferdinand Hérold, known from the ballet “The Badly Guuarded Girl”, composed music for the heroic drama “The Last Day of Messolonghi” (Le Dernier Jour de Missolonghi), drame héroïque en trois actes, en vers, avec des chants. Musique de Hérold, Paris, Barba, 1828 (SHP collection).

L’Echo de Navarin, romance hellénique paroles de A. Jarry, Bataille de Navarin: fantaisie brillante pour piano-forte par J. Payer (SHP collection).

The death of Karaiskakis

The “son of the nun”, Georgios Karaiskakis (1782-1827), was together with Kolokotronis, one of the greatest leaders of the Revolution. He took part in countless battles and was fatally wounded in the battle of Faliro on April 22, 1827. He died in the early hours of the next day, surrounded by his rivals.

Early 19th century, painting by the Italian painter A. De Feoli, the death of a Greek fighter, probably Karaiskakis (SHP collection).

The naval battle of Navarino

The naval battle of Navarino (October 1827), in which the combined fleets of England, France and Russia with the Admirals of Codrington, Derigny and Hayden destroyed the Ottoman fleet, was the decisive military event that led to the implementation of the Treaty of London for the Independence of Greece. In Europe, the news of the victory of the Christian forces was reminiscent of the Battle of Nafpaktos – Lepanto (1571) and was celebrated in all major cities in Europe and the United States. The Battle of Navarino was the last major naval battle fought exclusively by sailing ships.

Early 19th century, painting by British painter John Christian Schetky (1778-1874), the naval battle of Navarino (SHP collection).

The Philhellenes

Hundreds of Greek volunteers took part in the struggle of the Greeks and stood by their side in all the critical moments of the Revolution. Many of them have made history internationally.

The first steamship in history to take part in military operations, was the Karteria of the Greek fleet, commanded by the great British Philhellene Frank Abney Hastings (1794 – 1828), who had even financed its weapons. The most important success of Hastings and Karteria was in the Battle of Agali (Itea Bay) on September 17, 1827, where Karteria sank alone the Turkish flagship and destroyed 9 enemy ships.

Portrait of the great British Philhellene Frank Abney Hastings (1794 – 1828), created by the German Philhellene
Karl Krazeisen (1794-1878) (SHP collection).

The slave market

The Philhellenic movement continued also after the establishment of the first modern Greek state. It was present in the art, it financed aid missions to Greece and encouraged many initiatives in favor of the Greeks. One of them had to do with the purchase of Greeks who were sold as slaves in the slave markets of the Ottoman Empire. A large number of slaves were rescued and released after the end of the Revolution. Their drama was reflected trough art in many ways.

Early 19th century, painting by German painter and philhellene Paul Emil Jacobs (1802 – 1866), a scene from the trade of Greek slaves (SHP collection).

Second part of the 19th century, a marble sculpture by the Italian artist Antonio Rossetti (1819 – 1870), the Greek slave (SHP collection).

 

The Cretan knife – An emblematic gift honors a great Philhellene

The Philhellenic movement continued to make its presence felt throughout the 19th and even 20th centuries, and its contribution has always been critical and decisive for the liberation of Greece.

In fact, many Philhellenes of the period 1821 returned to Greece when their assistance was needed it again. The great American Philhellene doctor and philanthropist Dr Samuel Howe, was one of them. He came to Greece for the second time in 1866-67 bringing aid for refugees from Crete during the Cretan Revolution.

Cretan knife 19th century, gift of the Cretans to the American philhellene Dr. Samuel Howe (SHP collection).

Garibaldi’s sword

Philhellenism continued to manifest itself throughout the 19th century, but also into the 20th. For example, in the unsuccessful Greek-Turkish War of 1897, the Italian Philhellene Ricciotti Garibaldi, the leader of a Corps of Garibaldi red-tunics, fought bravely.

However, this Corps returned to Greece and fought again on the side of the Greeks also during the victorious war of 1912-1913, which liberated Greece.

Sword donated by the French to the Italian Ricciotti Garibaldi, when he fought on the French side in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871 (SHP collection).

 

The noble hero composer musician Clement Harris

In 1897, the British composer and Philhellene Clement Harris came to Greece, he fought heroically and died for the independence of Greece in the Greek-Turkish war of 1897 in the Five Wells in Arta. He was buried in the Anglican Church of St. Paul in Athens.

A handwritten letter from a relative of Clement Harris to his friends in England, informing them that he was “killed in the Five Wells on April 23, 1897, fighting for the rights of Greece” (SHP collection).

The oath of Lord Byron next to the tomb of Markos Botsaris in Messolonghi,  painting by a follower of the Italian painter Lodovico Lipparini (1802 – 1856), oil on wood, 19th century (SHP collection).

 

Philellenism remains to this day an important cultural, political, social, philosophical and literary movement.

Philhellenism inspires educational and academic programs in all modern societies, and the values ​​on which it is based are the cornerstones of the civilized world.

The trip to Greece and the pilgrimage to the Acropolis of Athens and the other emblematic archeological sites throughout Greece, cause to every free man of today the same feelings as those they caused to Lord Byron 200 years ago.

The Society for Hellenism and Philhellenism supports the cultivation of this spirit internationally, with works and deeds.

/by

Pierre-Antoine Lebrun, French poet, writer and politician, passionate Philhellene

 

 

Pierre-Antoine Lebrun was born in Paris on November 29, 1785 and died on May 27, 1873. He was an important poet and writer of the 19th century of the Romantic school.

He studied at the Military College of Saint-Cyr. He began his career writing works that glorified the first empire. In fact, his first work, “Ode to the Great Army” (Ode à la grande armée – 1805), attracted the attention of Napoleon, who offered him a monthly remuneration from the state. He then wrote several works: Ulysses (1814), Marie Stuart (1820), Le Cid d’Andalousie (1825). In fact, the work of Marie Stuart (which was inspired by the charm and influence that Friedrich Schiller’s works exercised on him) was admitted to be one of the most important theatrical works of Romanticism. In 1822 he published a work on the death of Napoleon, which cost him his salary. He was a friend of many personalities from the world of intellectuals, such as Honore de Balzac, Victor Hugo, Sainte-Beuve, etc.

Lebrun traveled to Greece before the Greek Revolution in 1820 on the ship Themistocles. During his trip, he heard Rigas Feraios’s Thourios for the first time. Under the command of Tombazis, this ship proclaimed the Revolution in 1821 on most Greek islands. Many philhellenes, such as the American George Jarvis, also served on this ship during the Greek revolution.

During his stay In Greece, he recorded his impressions and experiences. With this material he prepared one of his most important works, which was published in 1828 in Paris. This is a great poem entitled Le voyage de Grèce (The Journey of Greece).

In the preface of his work he describes three categories of Greeks he met in pre-revolutionary Greece: the mountaineers who had maintained their independence to some extent, the seamen who were thinking of regaining it, and the inhabitants of the plains and cities that seemed to be unable to even dream of it, because they were fully acquainted with the idea of ​​slavery.

Lebrun presents in his preface, which he wrote towards the end of the Greek Revolution, what he experienced and saw, while referring in detail to the Battle of Navarino.

Throughout the Greek Revolution, Lebrun was a supporter of the cause of the Greeks.

Pierre-Antoine Lebrun, Le Voyage de Grèce, Paris & Leipzig: Ponthieu etc Cie., 1828 (SHP Collection).

Thanks to his work Le Voyage de Grèce, Lebrun was elected member of the French Academy in 1828. In 1831 he was appointed director of the Imprimerie Royale in France, a position that he held until 1848. From 1839 to 1848 he was a member of the Council of State, and in 1853 he was elected senator.

Pierre-Antoine Lebrun’s handwritten letter (SHP Collection).

France honored him in 1836 with the Order of the Knight of the Legion of Honor, in 1839 he received a title of nobility, and in 1861 the medal of the Grand Officier of the Legion of Honor. In 1844 he was also honored by the Academy of Sciences of Bavaria.

 

Pierre-Antoine Lebrun, Le Voyage de Grèce, “The Journey of Greece”

Lito Seizani translated some representative parts of Pierre-Antoine Lebrun’s work, “The Journey of Greece”, and refers to the full of emotion poet:

“With heroic Greece, with the Greece of Europe, I often mixed the one I could call my own, the one that consists of places I saw, of people I met, of joys I experienced.”

And Lito Seizani states: “As for the poem itself? All the heroes of the Greek Revolution, as numerous as the places of the battles, parade through his lyrics. Lebrun’s lyrics are very important, I repeat, as they were written at the time the great events were taking place, they are essentially a living imprint at the same time, in literary form.

Lebrun sees ecstatic Greece for the first time in front of him and cannot hide his enthusiasm:

“Sparta was there, hidden.
And I, high up on the mast
Towards her, towards her mountains, my eyes brought in haste
And stared focused, with tension and with thirst
I looked for her all over, her name I whispered
I laughed and I cried. Freedom, glory
Leonidas, Helena, legend and history
Greece with her arts, her wise men, her heroes
Was rising in front of me on the horizon of the waves
I was facing Greece and could not believe it!
The more I felt her approaching…
At a moment like this someone else would have lost his memory!
O my heart, how you beat with this remembrance alone!
As he’s about to set foot on the land, he’s thinking:
I’m Greek just like them
Yes, this is my country
And yes, like them, I’m returning to the beloved coast
I know all the streets, I’m familiar with all the names.”
(translated by Lito Seizani).

 

And as Lito Seizani points out (litoseizani.com) “Two hundred years later, his lyrics seem to have been written today. Such are the powers of true love, of the heart that beats in the sight of a man or a place. And such is the love that Greece can give birth to, to Greeks and to foreigners”.

 

Another extract from Le Voyage de Grece follows (free translation):

“Here are the heroes
Here are the heroes, here are the worthy sons!
Botsari! The three hundred believed that they had found their leader again
Old Kolokotroni, handsome Mavromichali,
Odysseus with the eagle’s eye, flying just as fast
Tzavella, Nikita, Mitso, fearless race
You are coming that is why I see the Ottomans turn pale
In the Archipelago I saw a huge fleet fleeing
Is it, Canary, your fireships that advance?
 
Triumph! Hurry up heroic achievements
Hurry up happy times for my voice to praise you
Make the time shine when Greece is finally free
With her sun, happy, sharing the joy
In the shadow of the cross she will go to sit crowned.
…
People, save a people who does not deserve slavery
Whose courage puts up with terrible dangers.
Will you leave him alone against so many hangmen?
Without, unfortunately, solidarity, since he has no leader
He has no weapons, no treasures. Does it have an arsenal?
Does it have lead, iron, muskets, gunpowder?
Does it have bread? Their fight may be yours too.”

 

Pierre-Antoine Lebrun also wrote about an “anathema” while he was near Patras, a place with a pile of stones. He writes (free translation):

“Every Greek who passes there, out of weakness, outraged,
He throws one at a time, and promises to take revenge on a Turk
Every stone is a wish, every stone a curse
And it represents a sword, and it plans a death.
The curse grows, and the plain is filled. “

/by

August Maximillian Myhrberg (1797–1867): Swedish-Finnish Philhellene, participant in numerous battles during the Greek War of Independence, Commandant of the Palamidi Fort and idealised figurehead as a model freedom fighter in Scandinavia

 

August Maximilian Myhrberg (lithograph, 1850’s)

 

August Maximilian Myhrberg was one of the two philhellenes who were born in Finland. He was born in 1797 in Raahe, a town on the west coast of Finland. Official documents most often refer to him named as a Swede, but the legend of his life, especially in relation to philhellenism, was linked to Finnish national awakening, particularly during the latter part of the nineteenth century.

After attending the local primary school in Finland, Myhrberg was sent to Uppsala in Sweden, first to a boarding school, and thereafter, in June 1815, to enrol in the university. We are told that he cherished interest in history and that he was well-versed in ancient Greek mythology, thanks to his mother Christina. In 1820 he left behind his academic studies to complete a general military service in Sweden, in order to fulfil his wish of becoming a soldier.

He left Sweden in 1823 to start a career as a freedom fighter which lasted more than a decade. His dream of becoming a freedom fighter could have resonated from Myhrberg’s admiration of Napoleon and was perhaps triggered by the news about the revolutions in South America, Spain, Italy and Greece. The motives behind Myhrberg’s decision to join the Greek War of Independence, were a combination of idealism and youthful desire for adventure, although it is difficult to glean the real reasons from the later biographical narrative which was often prone to idealisation of the historical reasons for the sake of other, circumstantial ideas. However, it is possible to follow the path of the soldier Myhrberg and his route to Greece, via Spain and France, in the light of the archival material and to reconstruct his philhellenic career in Greece from 1825 to 1831 (although the historical record does not always concord with what is told in the heroicised ‘legend’ about the life of the freedom-fighter).

Myhrberg was recruited in Marseille to Colonel Charles Fabvier’s cavalry as a soldier and started his philhellenic career in Greece in 1825 in Colonel Regnault de St. Jean d’Angely’s cavalry. Over the following six years Myhrberg spent in Greece, he rose in rank, served as an aid-de-camp of Fabvier, Major-General Thomas Gordon, Colonel Karl Wilhelm von Heideck and ended up to hold a position of the Commandant of the Palamidi fortress in Nauplion for one and half years (1829-31).

He attended the following battles and campaigns:

– at Euboea (1826),

– at Chaidari (1826 and 1827) for relieving the sieged Athens, where he was wounded,

– at Cape Colias (for which he left a preserved first-hand letter-account in the BSA Finlay-archives in Athens),

– at the land operation of Phaleron (1827), and

– at the campaign on Chios (1827-28).

In addition, Myhrberg is told in the legend of his life to have been present in Missolonghi guarding Byron’s front door when the Lord died in April 1824, and at the Acropolis in Athens during its seize in 1826-27. These last two episodes are part of the legendary biography of Myhrberg. These bibliographical details are historically impossible, but historiographically significant. In 1829 Governor Capodistrias nominated Captain Myhrberg Commandant of the Palamidi fortress in Nauplion.

Nomination letter for Myhrberg’s position as the Commandant of Palamidi signed on behalf of Governor Capodistrias by General Pisa (Swedish National Archives: Maximilian Myhrberg).

In 1831, Myhrberg left Greece and planned to volunteer as a freedom fighter in Poland’s uprising against Russia. Whether he took part in the Polish struggle is uncertain, although we have plenty of heroicising stories about his deeds in Poland and in France, where Myhrberg seems to have spent a fair deal of the 1830’s after his philhellenic career. In 1834 Myhrberg was decorated with the Greek Croix de Chevalier en argent de Ordre Royal du Saviour by King Othon (Historical Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Athens 42.113 dated in Athens 15/27 March 1835). The King of Sweden nominated him Major, in 1842 and granted him the title of Knight of the Order of the Swords. From the summer of 1843 Myhrberg spent almost five years as the Secretary of the Council on the island of St. Barthélemy in the West Indies, an island which was a Swedish Colony and free port until 1878. Myhrberg died in Stockholm in 31 March 1867 and was granted an official Swedish state burial, with full military honours at the Johannes Church graveyard in central Stockholm.

A wealth of different types of primary sources provide us with knowledge about the Philhellene Myhrberg. Archival material with numerous letter correspondence, including many letters of recommendations by his superiors, are deposited in the archives in Sweden, Finland, Greece and France. They mostly give factual information on historical Myhrberg regardless of preserved material written by Myhrberg himself being scanty. He left four different testimonials about his life, but even within and between the testimonials there is conflicting and incompatible information, particularly as compared to the official Greek testimonial. This was probably provided shortly before he left the country in 1831 or sent to him later together with, for example, the decoration of the Order of the Redeemer and its certificates (Swedish National Archives, Stockholm: Maximilian Myhrberg).

Greek testimonial on Myhrberg’s philhellenic career in Greece
(Swedish National Archives: Maximilian Myhrberg)

A great number of newspaper articles from the Finnish and Swedish press from the 1820s to the present day, recount mostly the endeavours of legendary Myhrberg. Most of them were written soon after his death and as such they contribute to the development of the narrative about him. There is a handful of relatively early first-hand accounts or memoirs of the Philhellene by those who knew him. By the latter part of the nineteenth century the first separate biographies about Myhrberg’s life were written in Finland and Sweden. In addition to these, there are adventure stories (particularly ‘for boys’), some epic poetry and even a recent fictional novel.

Cover of ‘adventure stories for boys’, Arvid Lydecken Murad Bey “Raahen poika”. Suomalaisen vapaustaistelijan seikkailuja Kreikassa (1935) (Murad Bey “The Boy from Raahe”. Finnish Freedom Fighter’s Adventures in Greece)

Among the authors of the different accounts about Myhrberg we have a gallery of the most prominent figureheads in the history of Finland. For example, the national philosopher J.V. Snellman, the poet Johan Ludwig Runeberg, the journalist and writer Zacharias Topelius (who wrote the well-known story ’A Boy from Raahe’), and the poet and cultural figurehead Fredrik Cygnaeus.

Myhrberg’s heroic reputation was developed through the less formal practices of social, cultural and political life, story-telling, gossip, news reporting, and circulation of literature about his adventures in newspapers. Heroicising biographies of Myhrberg appear in more codified form in his obituaries, in the state funeral he received and later in speeches given in his honour.

Finally, Myhrberg’s life, more or less legendarised and mythicised, was used continuously for public enlightenment where his activities and idealised persona were adopted as a model for a morally right, unselfish, and noble way of life particularly in the process of building a national myth. In this way legend of his life, especially in relation to philhellenism, was linked to Finnish national awakening particularly during the latter part of the nineteenth century. Myhrberg became, indeed, one of the most legendary figures in early modern Finnish history.

Myhrberg’s funeral 6 April 1867, Stockholm, cover of Ny Illustrerad Tidning, 20 April 1867.

Myhrberg Tomb in St. John’s Church Cemetery in Stockholm.

 

Petra Pakkanen

 

Addition by SHP:

SHP has in its archive a very important recommendation letter, issued by the Philhellene General Charles Nicolas Fabvier, on August Maximilian Myhrberg. In this letter, General Fabvier refers to Myhrberg as “intrépide et un homme de premier rang” (“fearless and a man of the first rank”). He also states : “Le soussigné déclare que Mr. Myrberg, suédois, a servi sous mes ordres en Grèce avec [.] une bravoure et un désintéressement digne des plus grandes éloges, qu’ayant voulu dès son arrivée en 1824 donner le noble et utile exemple de s’enrôler comme simple Cavalier il acquit tous les grades jusqu’à celui de Capitaine par son seul mérite, enfin que tous les étrangers qui ont servi sous mes Ordres en Grèce, nul mieux que Mr. Myrberg n’a mérité l’estime et l’amitié des habitantes et des Soldats [.]”. (English translation: “The undersigned declares that Mr. Myrberg, Swedish, served under my orders in Greece with [.] A bravery and a disinterestedness worthy of the highest praise, that having wanted from his arrival in 1824 to give the noble and useful example of s to enlist as a simple Cavalier he acquired all the ranks up to that of Captain by his sole merit, finally that all the foreigners who served under my Orders in Greece, no better than Mr. Myrberg deserved the esteem and l friendship of the inhabitants and the soldiers [.] “.)

Handwritten letter of General Fabvier, attesting the work and contribution of the great Finnish philhellene August Maximilian Myhrberg (1797-1867), SHP Collection. Fabvier refers to him as a brave, selfless man who served in the Cavalry of the Regular Corps with the rank of Captain.

The SHP and the people of Greece, pay homage to this great Philhellene, who contributed significantly to the liberation of Greece, and to the universal ideals that Hellenism advocates.

 

SOURCES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY:

  • Bruun, Patrick 1963. ‘August Maximilian Myhrberg. Legend och verklighet’, Skrifter utgivna av svenska litteratursällskapet i Finland 399 (Historiska och litteraturhistoriska studier 38), Helsingfors: SLS, 145–221.
  • Bruun, Patrick 1966. ‘Myhrberg i Grekland’, Skrifter utgivna av svenska litteratursällskapet i Finland 413 (Historiska och litteraturhistoriska studier 41), Helsingfors 1966: SLS, 133–173.
  • Cederberg, Eino 1928. August Maksimilian Myrberg. Suomalaisen vapaustaistelijan elämäntarina, Helsinki: Kirja.
  • Cygnaeus, Fredrik 1867. ‘Om A.M. Myhrberg’, Huvudstadsbladet no. 89, 16 April 1867.
  • Jägerskiöld, S. 1987–89. s.v. ‘Myhrberg, August Maximilian’ in Svensk biografiskt lexikon under redaktion av G. Nilzén, vol. 26, Stockholm: Bonnier.
  • Krohn, Julius 1875 (1887). En finsk krigarens lefnadsöden. Maximilian August Myhrbergs biografi, Stockholm: Carl Suneson.
  • Lydecken, Arvid 1935. Murad Bey “Raahen poika”. Suomalaisen vapaustaistelijan seikkailuja Kreikassa (Poikien seikkailukirjasto 61), Helsinki: Otava.
  • Pakkanen, Petra 2006. August Myhrberg and North-European Philhellenism. Building the Myth of a Hero (Papers and Monographs of the Finnish Institute at Athens 10), Helsinki: Finnish Institute at Athens.
  • Pakkanen, Petra 2008. ‘Role of philhellenism and image of Greece in nineteenth-century nation-building of Finland’, in Konstantinou, E. (ed.), Das Bild Griechenlands im Spiegel der Völker bis 18 Jahrhunderts (Philhellenistische Studien 14), Frankfurt am Main, Berlin & al.: Peter Lang, 61–88.
  • Topelius, Zacharias 1876, ‘Öfverste Fabviers Adjutant’, Sånger 2 (nya blad), Stockholm: Bonnier, 105–111.
/by

24 April 1915 – One of the greatest crimes against humanity begins. The organized genocide of 1,500,000 Armenians by the Turks.

 

 

24 April 1915 is a sad day in the history of mankind. The Turks started the first organized genocide of 1,500,000 Armenians. Along with the genocide of Greeks in Asia Minor and Pontos, as well as other peoples of the region (Assyrians, Chaldeans, etc.), Turkey managed to brutally exterminate the Christian population that lived there for many centuries.

The Armenian Genocide is the second greatest crime against humanity (after the Holocaust of the Jews during World War II), which remains unpunished. The perpetrators still defiantly refuse to acknowledge it and even apologize to the proud Armenian people.

Humanity honors the memory of all those victims and especially of the thousands of women who were horribly slaughtered by the Turks.

The SHP reminds that the commitment to the values ​​of freedom, democracy and humanity, advocated by Hellenism and Philhellenism, is a guarantee for the avoidance of such acts in the future.

The photo shows scenes from the martyrdom of the Armenians as described by eyewitness Aurora Mardiganian and the monument to the genocide in Yerevan, Armenia.

/by

Chardon de la Barre, Louis, French officer, Philhellene

 

 

Although this French officer was present in Greece for a log period, there are few things we know about him.

According to the biographer of the Philhellenes Henri Fornèsy, Chardon de la Barre, Louis, was born in Amiens, France. He died in Bourganeuf of illness on January 30, 1858. He was a descendant of the knight de la Barre, known for a judicial error. The knight de la Barre was the subject of an incredibly unjust condemnation by the judiciary of France in the 19th century. This conviction was considered a disgrace to French justice, while the defense of his reputation and the fruitless request for the restoration of his memory was one of Voltaire’s most glorious acts.

According to the same source, Chardon de la Barre, before coming to offer his services in the struggle for Greek independence, had taken part in twenty-seven campaigns during the French Empire and inflicted nine injuries on his body, two of which they were very serious and due to shootings.

The French newspaper Le Constitutionnel enthusiastically reports on the departure of the Greek galley from Marseilles to Spartanism, on May 27, 1826, with passengers of twenty-seven officers and non-commissioned officers, including Chardon de la Barre. At the port, at the time of departure, cheers were heard everywhere “Long live the independence and freedom of Greece”!

As soon as he arrived in Greece, in 1826, he had the honor of officially taking over an emblematic flag, sent from France. This flag was embroidered by ladies in Paris. It is worth noting here that a large part of the flags used by Greek and Philhellenic fighters were designed and sewn by French ladies as part of the actions in favor of the Greeks.

This flag was bravely held by Chardon de la Barre, for the first time, at the Battle of Haidari, on August 19 and 20 of the same year (1826), at the Battalion of the Philhellenes. Fornèsy reports that Chardon de la Barre made a vivid and graphic description of this battle, which we unfortunately do not know if it was published and where it is located.

Chardon de la Barre was a cavalry lieutenant in the Cavalry at the time of Governor Kapodistrias. During the reign of King Otto, he was appointed rapporteur of the 2nd War Council (Military Court), in which he was distinguished for his value, his unchanging stability and his incorruptible justice, for which he often had to fight against foreign demands.

He became known in Greece for his service, many incidents of which sometimes occupied the Greek press. Among them are the bilingual French newspapers Sotir and the Era in Nafplio.

According to the official newspapers of the administration, and after the reorganization of the Army by the Regency, in 1834, Chardon de la Barre was transferred from the 2nd War Council, to the 5th Infantry Battalion of the line, with the rank of captain. In 1836 he was transferred from the 5th Infantry Battalion to the 4th. In 1839, when the 4th Battalion was reorganized, it seems that he continued his service in the new formation, but at the same time he was re-employed in the War Councils, as a Captain-Rapporteur.

As an individual, he was appreciated by all his superiors, he was loved and respected by all his old colleagues. In fact, his Greek colleagues had Greekized his name and called him “Sardon”, as the historian of the Regular Army, Christos Byzantios, mentions.

Anninos states that Chardon de la Barre had the consolation to die in his humble homeland, bringing the rank and file of the retired General of the Greek Army. This reference is rather erroneous or misunderstood, and is due to the translation of Fornèsy’s handwritten word “commandant” as “commander”, a translation published in the newspaper Seventh in 1884. The word also means “major”, and given that in 1839 he was a captain, we consider this rank closer to the truth. Indeed, the Sun newspaper, a few days before Chardon de la Barre died, in its January 10, 1858 issue, referring to the philhellenes living in Greece at the time, referred to him as “a retired Major in France.” From this publication it appears that Chardon de la Barre was among the Philhellenes who lived permanently in Greece, and that they simply came and went between Greece and France, as most French Philhellenes did. Indeed, even earlier, in 1827, it appears to have returned to France for some time, according to general records in Paris.

The Chardon de la Barre was honored with the Cross of the Knights of the Legion of Honor, which he had received during the Hundred Days, the Cross of the Savior’s Officer and the Excellence of Greek Independence. He proudly called this award, which he wore with more pride, “his military staff” for his service in Greece.

Silver Excellence of the Struggle, “to the heroic defenders of the homeland”, was received during the reign of King Othon to those Greeks or Philhellenes who had participated with the rank of officer in the military operations of the Greek Revolution. This medal was the highest honor (SHP collection).

SOURCES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY

  • Archives France, Affaires politiques (police politique). Objets généraux (1815-1838), F/7/6678-F/7/6784.
  • Averoff Michelle, «Les Philhellènes», Bulletin de l’Association Guillaume Budé, αρ. °3, Οκτωβρίου 1967, σελ. 312-332.
  • Άννινος Μπάμπης, Ιστορικά σημειώματα, εκδ. Εστία, Αθήνα 1925.
  • Γενική Εφημερίς, αρ. 19, 7 Ιουνίου 1834.
  • Εθνική Βιβλιοθήκη, Τμήμα Χειρογράφων και Ομοιοτύπων, χειρόγραφο 1.697: Henri Fornèsy, «Le monument des philhellènes», 1860.
  • Εφημερίδα Le Constitutionnel, αρ. φ. 131, Παρίσι, 3 Ιουνίου 1826.
  • Εφημερίδα Εβδομάς, έτος Α΄ (1884), τ. Α΄, τεύχ. 1 (χ.ημ.) έως και τεύχ. 27 (2 Σεπτεμβρίου).
  • Εφημερίδα Ήλιος, αρ. φ. 148, 10 Ιανουαρίου 1858.
  • Εφημερίς της Κυβερνήσεως του Βασιλείου της Ελλάδας, αρ. 26, 10 Ιουνίου 1836 και αρ. 4, 27 Φεβρουαρίου 1839.
  • Χρήστος Βυζάντιος, Ιστορία των κατά την Ελλην. Επανάστασιν εκστρατειών και μαχών και των μετά ταύτα συμβάντων, ων συμμετέσχεν ο Τακτικός Στρατός, από του 1821 μέχρι του 1833, χ.ε., Αθήνα 1901
/by

Olivier Voutier – French officer, Philhellene who participated in the Greek Revolution, and wrote works about it

 

 

Colonel Olivier Voutier is another well-known French Philhellene officer who took part in the Greek War for Independence, promoted the cause of the Greeks throughout Europe with his writing, and contributed to the expansion of the philhellenic movement internationally.

He was born in Thouars, on the suburbs of Poitou, France, on May 30, 1796. He developed political activity and associated himself with the family of Emperor Napoleon III. At the same time, he was a writer with a literary work.

He enlisted in the French Navy at the age of just 15, being urged for this by his father. There, he received a multidisciplinary education and was introduced, among other things, to the plastic arts and design, which prompted him to develop, moreover, the status of an amateur archaeologist.

When the Greek Revolution broke out, “Mr. Voutier”, as his comrades-in-arms called him, had just lost a loved one, which had crushed him psychologically. Disappointed, he was looking for a noble cause, and left to fight in Greece. He ranked, as he confirms himself, among the first foreign officers who came to join the Struggle for liberation of the Greeks. He left Marseille on August 1, 1821, on a ship chartered by another important British Philhellene, Colonel Thomas Gordon from Scotland, carrying weapons and ammunition. A month later, he sailed to Hydra. There, he assisted the Greeks in their attempt to set up two artillery units at the entrance of the port, as he himself was an officer specialized in Artillery.

Lithography, early 19th century. A French officer trains Greeks in the use of cannons (SHP Collection).

He then went to Astros and finally he arrived at Dimitrios Ypsilantis’ camp. There, he was impressed by the poverty of the soldiers, most of whom were armed with damaged rifles. Voutier took over the “command of the operations” of the Artillery during the siege of Tripolitsa. He set up an artillery unit near the city’s small fortress and reinforced the siege. In his Memoirs he cites the information that he had “five canons, two of which were of eighteen liters, and two were mortars”. He even mentions that the Greeks “liked very much to see fired shells falling”, that they filled the canons with shells and they were targeting recklessly. After the fall of Tripolitsa, Voutier left for Patras and then for a tour in the Cyclades. Afterwards, he returned to Argos and participated in the siege of Nafplion, while at the end of December 1821 he left with Ypsilantis for the siege of the Acrocorinth. There he carried “two canons of twelve liters”, which he had brought from Hydra. From there, he joined the Battalion of the Philhellenes and took part in the Battle of Peta in 1822. In 1823 he returned to France, where he published his Memoirs.

Memoirs of Colonel Olivier Voutier, Paris, first edition, 1823, SHP Collection.

In 1824 he returned to Greece to leave soon and return again in 1826. In November 1826, he participated with the French Philhellene Raybaud, in a military operation (which failed) in Atalanti under the guidance of Ioannis Kolettis. His relationship with this French officer was competitive and bad. These differences led the two men to fight a duel, and they were both wounded. Voutier left Greece permanently in 1827.

This French officer believed that the Greeks deserved the sympathy of the Europeans, even if many times their attitude was disappointing. He fully understood their shortcomings, as he admits, and justified them. In his Memoirs, the French officer Olivier Voutier describes the historical course of the Greeks and the generative factors which led to the formation of the groups of Thieves (Kleftes), while at the same time he appears to be deeply religious. He fully understands the differences between the Greeks and the Turks, the sufferings of the Greek nation and the causes that led to the Revolution. At the same time, he puts forward the idea that strong and courageous faith were the means that helped the Greek people maintain their virtues and survive after so many atrocities. In a similar way, he understands the brutality of the war, as he realizes that these were horrific retaliations committed by both sides. However, like many other philhellenes, he criticizes the “predation of the leaders” and their tendency of looting as tactics, which did not allow the loots, coming from the successful battles and sieges, to enter the public treasury to help the Administration support the Struggle exercising policies centrally.

In an even more sincere spirit, he describes the pure and almost naive reaction of the population in front of the passage of the Philhellenes from the villages. The Greek population was excited, they ran in groups in front of the Philhellenes; the women saw them as angels who came from heaven to save them and the men greeted them with gunshots from their rifles. In these descriptions, he was sometimes criticized by his French compatriots, who accused him of exaggerating his role in his Memoirs,or even of inventing some of the facts he described.

Voutier is also the author of another work related to Greece, which, in fact, was published “in favor of Greece”, that is, in order for the revenues from its publication to be donated in favor of the Struggle of the Greeks. This is a collection, which includes letters to the Philhellene Mrs. Récamier (Voutier was frequently in her famous literary salon in France), documents about his office in the Army and evidence of his services (in order to refute the suspicions that, as mentioned above, “some wanted to create, accusing him of insincerity in his narratives”). This collection also contains translations of Greek traditional songs of military content. However, the most important part of this book is the “Study on the Regular Corps of Greece”. Voutier argues there that the model of warfare adopted by the Greeks (that is, the guerrilla type of warfare, which is based on the knowledge of the enemy’s means and habits), “does not require any other kind of soldiers than the Greek palikaria”. He also claims that “the freedom of the Greeks depends more on the war at sea, than on the war on the mainland”. Voutier’s study is indicative of the fact that Philhellenes recognized that the Greek guerilla mode was best-adapted to the morphology of Greek territory and that it was ideal against an enemy with overwhelming numerical superiority.

After the appointment of Alexandros Mavrokordatos as President of the Executive Body, in 1822, Voutier was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel. Along with Maxime Raybaud and François Graillard, he was appointed aide-de –camp of Mavrokordatos, and head of a small Artillery Corps, which disposed of two cannons. While the Regular Army was under the orders of Panagiotis Rodios in 1824, Voutier was promoted to Colonel. He was appointed commander of the Artillery Corps, which consisted of 100 men, who were in charge of managing and using the cannons of the Nafplion fortress. Voutier was highly regarded by the Greek government and was honored with the Medal of the Knight of the Golden Cross of the Order of the Redeemer.

Before coming to Greece in 1821, Olivier Voutier was directly involved in the discovery of the statue of Aphrodite of Milos (known today internationally as the Venus of Milo), in April 1820, and played a key role for the statute to end up at the Louvre Museum.

In April 1820, Voutier was 23 years old and a member of the crew of the French navy’s training ship “Estafette”. When the boat reached the island of Milos, Voutier asked a local resident named Kentrotas, to help him dig the ground of an ancient Greek temple to look for ancient artifacts. By chance, when night fell, they found the statue of Aphrodite of Milos. Kentrotas and the elder citizens of Milos then decided to sell the statue. Voutier and another French officer with a classical education, Dumont d’Urville, wrote to the French ambassador in Constantinople, Marquis de Riviere, and persuaded him to buy the statute, a purchase which finally took place on May 22, 1820. In fact, in the meantime, the Ottoman Empire had reacted, punishing the inhabitants who did not surrender the statute to it, and France paid an additional compensation in September 1820 to cover the fines imposed on Milos. The historical research (D. Chalkoutsakis, etc.), based on the testimonies of the people involved and six letters from French officers and executives, which were published in the French press in 1874, confirms that Voutier remained in France best known for this important discovery (which offered to the Louvre one of its most important exhibits), and less for his participation in the Struggle for Greek Independence.

This act of the purchase and appropriation of this important archeological monument from its birthplace, is evaluated negatively with the standards of today. This statute was donated by King Louis XVIII of France to the Louvre, and has been (and still is) one of its most emblematic exhibits, which among others promoted to the French public the beauty of the classical culture of Greece. In fact, this statute was another element catalyst for the expansion of the philhellenic movement in France and Europe, and the cultivation of the idea that Greece deserved to be liberated and that this was Europe’s duty. Ιτ prompted thousands of other young people, to take political, social, or even military action on the side of the Greeks.

Olivier Voutier was one of them and he was very proud of his involvement in the Struggle for Independence. He even asked for his tombstone to refer to it, and it indeed invites us to remember him as a “hero of the Greek Independence”. He died on April 19, 1877 in Hyères, Provence, France.

In his honor, a street in Athens (Filopappou area) bears his name: “Voutier Street”.

The Tomb of Olivier Voutier in Hyères, Provence.

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND SOURCES

  • Lemaire Jean, «Autour d’Olivier Voutier», ανακοίνωση σε συνέδριο της Société Hyéroise d’Histoire et d’Archéologie (16 Νοεμβρίου 2010), διαθέσιμη στην ιστοσελίδα http://www.as-lashha.com/medias/files/2010-11-16-cf-jl-voutier.pdf όπου και ένα πορτρέτο του Voutier, καθώς και φωτογραφία του τάφου του και αλλά και του δισέγγονου του Voutier κατά την επίσκεψή του στη Μήλο το
  • Persat Maurice, Mémoires du commandant Persat, 1806 à 1844, εκδ. Plon-Nourrit et Cie, Παρίσι
  • Voutier Olivier, Lettres sur la Grèce – Notes et chants populaires, extraits du portefeuille du colonel Voutier, εκδ. Firmin Didot père et fils – Ponthieu – Bossange frères – Delaunay, Παρίσι
  • Voutier Olivier, Mémoires du colonel Voutier sur la guerre actuelle des grecs, εκδ. Bossange frères, Παρίσι
  • Αρχεία της Ελληνικής Παλιγγενεσίας, Απόφαση υπ’ αριθμόν 102 του Προέδρου του Εκτελεστικού με ημερομηνία 10Μαΐου 1822.
  • Ζούβας Παναγής, Η οργάνωσις Τακτικού Στρατού κατά τα πρώτα έτη της Επαναστάσεως του 1821, χ.ε., Αθήνα 1969.
  • Ιστορία της οργανώσεως του Ελληνικού Στρατού, 1821-1954, εκδ. ΓΕΣ, Αθήνα 1955.
  • Ιστορία του Ελληνικού Στρατού, 1821-1997, εκδ. ΓΕΣ/ΔΙΣ, Αθήνα 1997.
  • Ιστορία των κατά την Ελλην. Επανάστασιν εκστρατειών και μαχών και των μετά ταύτα συμβάντων, ων συμμετέσχεν ο Τακτικός Στρατός, από του 1821 μέχρι του 1833, χ.ε., Αθήνα 1901.
  • Φορνέζι Ερρίκος, Το μνημείον των Φιλελλήνων, εκδ. Χ. Κοσμαδάκης & σία, Αθήνα 1968 [Απομνημονεύματα αγωνιστών του ΄21, τ. 20].
  • Χαλκουτσάκης Μ. Γιάννης, Η ιστορία της Αφροδίτης της Μήλου, χ.ε., Αθήνα 1988.
/by

‘21 The Renaissance of Greeks: Watch the first 4 parts of the documentary of MEGA here

 

SHP supports the work of George Malouchos by offering scientific support and access to the document and works of art of its collection.

 

‘21 The Renaissance of Greeks – 25/03/20

‘21 The Renaissance of Greeks – 05/04/20

‘21 The Renaissance of Greeks – 12/04/20

‘21 The Renaissance of Greeks – 18/04/20

/by

Héctor Berlioz, a famous composer, a great Philhellene

 

 

With a wooden horse, a Trojan Horse 6 meters high and weighing 3 tons that volunteers built in the birthplace of Hector Berlioz, the Berlioz Festival began in his birthplace of La Côte Saint-André, near Grenoble, dedicated to the 160 anniversary of his death, March 8, 1869, at the age of 66.

The Trojan Horse as a symbol of the composer’s favorite work, inspired by Virgil, “The Trojans”.

Héctor Berlioz was born on December 11, 1803, ten years before Wagner and Verdi. His parents were the 27-year-old Louis Berlioz of La Côte Saint André in Isère, who died in 1848 without ever hearing his music, and Marie-Antoinette-Josephine, daughter of Nicolas Marmion, a lawyer from Meylan. Hector was the first of six children.

His father was his first music teacher and in 1815, when he was 12 years old, he taught him music lessons. A rare case for a great composer, Berlioz was not taught piano, but flute and guitar.

Due to his father’s persistence, he enrolled in 1821 at the Medical School in Paris. After two barren years, he persuaded his father to help him enroll in the Conservatoire and study composition and counterpoint.

As early as 1825, he would present his work “Grande Messe Solennelle” in the church of Saint-Roch in Paris, with 150 musicians and choristers, conducting himself. For this concert he tried to borrow money from Chateaubriand, whom he admired together with his closest friend of his youth, Humbert Ferrand. The value of his work has gained some recognition, but also an enemy similar to Salieri: the director of the Paris Conservatory, L. Cherubini (composer of « Medea”).

Deeply liberal, but also spiritually philhellene, a connoisseur like any educated Frenchman, then and now, of Greek classical history and literature, he sides from the beginning with the Greek struggle for independence. Literature in general plays a big role in his life and musical creation. He loves two great Britons: Shakespeare and Lord Byron, but also a German, Goethe. A famous Shakespearean actress, Harriet Smithson, will become his first wife.

Berlioz’s favorite Lord Byron’s work was none other than Child Harold’s Pilgrimage, perhaps the most critical work on the development of the Philhellenic movement. Byron’s tragic death in Messolonghi, April 19, 1824, and the terrible effect on his psyche of Eugene Delacroix’s famous painting “The Massacre of Chios”, which was publicly exhibited at the Salon de Paris in August of that year, shocked him.

A close friend of a lifetime, lawyer Humbert Ferrand (1805-1868), shared his ideas and wrote, in 1825, the poem “The Greek Revolution” (Scène Héroïque: La Révolution Grècque), which Berlioz composed for two Bass soloists, Choir and Orchestra. The music is in the style of Spontini, the imperial composer of La Vestale, as the young Berlioz himself proudly pointed out.

The text of the poem is extremely interesting, mainly because it highlights the way in which a liberal poet sees the Greek Revolution, that is, from the point of view of the Hellenism – Christian view that was its heroes view.

The original and direct children of the Enlightenment, who were Ferrand and Berlioz, thus contrast with later intellectual obsessional constructions.

At the beginning of the play, a Greek Hero invokes the awakening of the children of Sparta that Leonidas calls from his grave to rise up for their freedom! Then a priest invokes Constantine the Great and then the two together, in the name of the latter, call on the Greeks (Hellènes in the text) to revolt.

Eugene Delacroix: Le massacre de Chios, 1824

Berlioz found it very difficult to present the work because Rodolphe Kreutzer, the well-known great violinist who was then Director of the Paris Opera, as a true exponent of the establishment, did not even want to hear about the presentation of a then unknown composer. In vain the famous composer Le Sieur, and even the famous Comte de La Rochefoucauld intervened to the unassailable Kreutzer. Finally, Berlioz produced it himself on May 26, 1828.

Berlioz found it very difficult to be recognized in his home country, France. Despite his success in winning, in his third attempt, the famous Prix de Rome in 1830, but also some recognition brought by the Symphonie Fantastique in the same year, which won him a loyal friend, the most generous composer to his fellow craftsmen throughout the history of music, Franz Liszt, he had to write music reviews to live.

Another composer, Paganini, will order him a viola concerto for 20,000 francs. Berlioz draws from Byron again and writes the famous symphonic work “Harold in Italy”, which Paganini will never execute, unknown why.

Humbert Ferrand (1805-1868)

In December 1837, he presented his own Requiem at the memorial service for General Damrémon, who was killed in Algeria, with 200 musicians and 200 choirs, at the church of Saint-Louis des Invalides.

Following repeated failures of his opera Benvenuto Cellini and Faust’s Damnation, translated from Goethe’s masterpiece by Gérard de Nerval, he will be forced to seek recognition abroad. In Germany, a guest of Liszt in Weimar, who even organized two « Berlioz weeks” in 1852 and 1853. He directed his works in ten cities in Germany, in Prague, Budapest, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Riga and 4 times in London, with which he developed a special relationship due to his love for Shakespeare and Lord Byron.

From April to April 1856-68 he wrote his leading work, Les Troyens, in his own libretto inspired from Virgil. A work in five acts lasting more than four hours. The Paris Opera, while accepting at the beginning, did not presented it in the end! Berlioz sadly had to present only the last three acts in the smaller Théâtre Lyrique, with the title “Les Troyens à Carthage” in November 1863. The entire opera will be performed for the first time after his death in Karlsruhe, Germany, under the direction of the famous Felix Mottl, in 1890!

In Paris, the entire work will be performed for the first time only in 2003, at the Théâtre du Châtelet under the direction of John Eliot Gardiner. Fate wanted a Greek, Yannis Kokkos, to direct, stage and costume design! He will state in connection with the suicide of the Trojan women in the second act of the play: “In this suicide I saw the influence from the Greek history of 1821, which had greatly influenced European artists. In group suicide, Berlioz gives an echo of Messolonghi or Zalongo ».

I remember with emotion the first performance at the Bastille Opera, under Myung-Whun Chung with some small cuts, at the opening of the theater in 1990.

After the Trojans he will compose the choral work « Le Temple Universel », where he prophesies that “Europe will one day have only one flag” (1861) and the opera “Beatrice and Benedict”, based on Shakespeare’s « Much ado about Nothing” (1862).

Two major blows to his life will follow: the death of his second wife, Maria Recio, of a heart attack at the age of 48, in 1862, and the death of his son Louis, captain of a merchant ship, of yellow fever, in Havana, in 1867. Berlioz died on March 8, 1869, at his home in Paris after a stroke.

The work of this great composer and philhellene will find its recognition 90 years after his death. London, which he loved so much, will be the city of the great performances of his works. Starting with the production of the Trojans in Covent Garden in 1957, conducted by Rafael Kubelik and directed by Sir John Gielgud. Sir Colin Davis’, his greatest champion will produce and record almost everything Berlioz had composed, followed by John Nelson and John Eliot Gardiner.

Here is how Isma Toulatou presents in BIMA the performance of “Faust’s Damnation” directed by Maurice Bejart, a Paris Opera production in Epidaurus in 1965:

“The performances of Berlioz’s” La Damnation de Faust “given by the Paris Opera on July 31 and August 1, 1965 at the Ancient Theater of Epidaurus, directed and choreographed by Maurice Bejart, surpassed domestic interest. Logical: It was the first appearance of the famous Company abroad in its full composition since its previous “excursion” to Japan concerned only its protagonists. This time, however, the entire potential would travel, from artists to technicians, which created a sense of anticipation.

“Four railway vehicles with the sets of Berlioz’s opera « La Damnation de Faust » have already arrived in Athens in view of the Paris Opera’s performance at the Ancient Theater of Epidaurus as part of the Greek Tourism Organization’s artistic events,” (Vima July 21, 1965), describing the impending performance as “the greatest theatrical venture with the participation of the famous institution”. For the presentation of the work, we read in another part of the report, “314 technicians and artists of the Paris Opera and 164 technicians and administrative staff will collaborate. Four aircraft were deployed to transport French singers, dancers and technicians, and an air bridge will be created on the night of July 25-26 between the French city of Orange – where the group appears – and the Athens airport.

The “Greek Revolution” was presented at the Megaron in 2011 by the Symphony Orchestra of the Municipality of Athens, under Eleftherios Kalkanis and in 2019 by Byron Fidetzis, at the OLYMPIA Theater with the Philharmonia.

Lucas Karytinos and Camerata have prepared the work for the Megaron in 2020.

The great composer’s and philhellene’s Hector Berlioz works are now a constant part of the international repertoire, but for Greeks his work is even more important, as he is inspired entirely by the love of beauty and freedom, the high human ideals that make up the legacy of Hellenism.

You can watch a performance of “The Greek Revolution” here.

The original text in French follows:

 

Scène héroïque (La révolution grecque)

I. Récit et Air

Héros Grec: Lève-toi, fils de Sparte! allons!… N’entends-tu pas
Du tombeau de Léonidas
Une voix accuser ta vengeance endormie?
Trop longtemps de tes fers tu bénis l’infamie,
Et sur l’autel impur d’un Moloch effronté
On te vit, le front ceint de mépris et de honte,
Préparer, souriant comme aux jours d’Amathonte,
L’holocauste sanglant de notre liberté.
Ô mère des héros, terre chérie,
Dont la splendeur s’éteint sous l’opprobre et le deuil!
Ce sang qui crie en vain, ce sang de la patrie,
Nourrit de vils tyrans l’indolence et l’orgueil!
Ô mère des héros, terre chérie.

II. Choeur Prêtre Grec:

Mais la voix du Dieu des armées
A répandu l’effroi dans leurs rangs odieux.
Hellènes! rassemblez vos tribus alarmées;
L’astre de Constantin a brillé dans les cieux:
A ses clartés victorieuses, marchez en foule à l’immortalité!
Prêtre Grec et Héros Grec: Hellènes! rassemblez vos tribus alarmées;
L’astre de Constantin a brillé dans les cieux.
Prêtre Grec: A ses clartés victorieuses,
Héros! marchez en foule à l’immortalité!
Et demain de nos monts les cimes glorieuses
Verront naître l’aurore avec la liberté.
Héros Grec et Choeur: A ses clartés victorieuses,
Héros / Guerriers, marchons en foule à l’immortalité, etc.
Prêtre Grec et Choeur: Oui, la voix du Dieu des armées, etc.

III. Prière

Femmes: Astre terrible et saint, guide les pas du brave!
Que les rayons vaincus du croissant qui te brave
S’éteignent devant toi!
Héros, Prêtre, Choeur: Astre terrible et saint, etc.
Femmes: Que les fils de Sion, riches de jours prospères,
De la liberté sainte et du Dieu de leurs pères
Sans crainte bénisse la loi!
Choeur: Que les fils de Sion, etc.

IV. Final

Héros, Prêtre, Choeur: Des sommets de l’Olympe aux rives de l’Alphée
Mille échos en grondant roulent le cri de mort:
Partons /Partez !… le monde entier prépare le trophée
Que nous promet un si beau sort.
Quel bruit sur ces bords expire?…
Tyrtée éveille sa lyre,
Et la Grèce, en ce jour, oppose à ses bourreaux
Tout ce que son beau ciel éclaire de héros.
Ils s’avancent… et la victoire Rayonne sur leurs fronts poudreux;
La terre, belle encor de son antique gloire,
Retentit sous leurs pas nombreux.
Partons / Partez!… Des sommets, etc.
Aux armes!… le ciel résonne…
Harpes d’or, marquez nos pas!
Peuples!… guerriers!… l’airain tonne.
Nos fers ont soif de combats! Aux armes!

 

FOTIS PAPATHANASIOU

/by

2020: Sotiris Tsiodras, professor of infectious diseases, doctor, heroic figure in the fight against COVID19 – 1854: Heinrich Treiber, professor, doctor, heroic figure in the fight against cholera in Athens

 

Sotiris Tsiodras, professor of infectious diseases, doctor

 

Professor Sotiris Tsiodras has contributed decisively with his scientific knowledge, his hyperactivity and his constant presence on all fronts, his ethos, his prestige and his modesty, in the struggle of our society to face the pandemic of COVID19. He is a model for everyone in Greece and internationally.

The example of this man reminds us of the role played by a great Philhellene, Professor Heinrich Treiber, during the cholera epidemic that plagued Athens in 1854.

When the great cholera epidemic struck Athens, and the streets of the city were deserted, the great Philhellene was the only one who crossed the streets on horseback many times every day to be present at the hospital or wherever else he was called, until he was also contaminated by the disease.

Heinrich Treiber, professor, doctor, Philhellene

SHP honors all those heroes who are inspired by the principles of Hellenism to contribute to society.

/by

Heinrich Treiber, German doctor, great Philhellene, present during all important moments of the Greek Revolution

 

 

Heinrich Treiber was born in 1796 in Meiningen, Germany and was of aristocratic descent. He was the son of a court pharmacist, he studied medicine at the universities of Iena, Munich and Wuertzburg, and specialized in surgery at the University of Paris.

Young Treiber was inspired by the struggle for independence of the Greeks, and he decided to go to Greece as a volunteer. On December 31, 1821, he left from Livorno, Italy, along with 36 other philhellenes, on the ship “Pegasus”, of the Zakynthian Vitalis, which was flying a Russian flag. After a twenty-day journey, they arrived in Messolonghi, to take part in the Greek Revolution.

From that day on, Treiber began to write down into his personal diary everything that had happened to him over the next six years, that is, until April 23, 1828, the day he took over the management of the military hospital in Acronafplia. It is his personal impressions and judgments that reveal some, behind the scenes, of the Struggle and the role that the Philhellenes played in it. At the same time, Treiber’s diary is an important historical source for the period of the Greek Revolution.

On January 13, 1822, Treiber landed in Messolonghi, and from there he arrived in Corinth, where he became a doctor in the Regular Corps (1st Greek Heavy Infantry Regiment).

With the Regular Corps he took part in the following battles and operations:

– In Kompoti and Peta (4 July 1822). In these battles, the Regular Corps under the Italian colonel Tarella, fought along with Markos Botsaris and his corps, the battalion of the Philhellenes under the command of General Norman and the battalion of the Ionian Islands. The battle had an unfortunate end and the majority of the Philhellenes were slaughtered by the Turks. Treiber just managed to escape. However, he lost all his personal belongings and even his surgical instruments, which at that time were hard to find in Greece.

– Military operations in the mountains of Salona (1-15 September 1822), Hani of Gravia, etc.

– By order of Dimitrios Ypsilantis, the Regular Corps undertook the defense of the Great Dervenia (Kakia Skala) pass.

– He took part in the siege of Nafplion (October – December 1822). The siege was under the direct command of Nikitaras and the general supervision of Kolokotronis.

During the civil confrontations among Greeks, Treiber remained in Greece, practicing medicine in Nafplio, Kranidi and elsewhere.

– In February 1824, Treiber enlisted in the military corps organized by Lord Byron in Messolonghi, as a military doctor in the “artillery” battalion.

On April 1824 Lord Byron fell ill. Treiber was a member of the medical team trying to cure him. On 19 April Lord Byron died. Treiber undertook, with the personal doctor of Lord Byron, an autopsy and then they embalmed the body.

– In October 1824, the Regular Corps was reorganized by Rodios and then by Fabvier, and Treiber resumed his duties as a military doctor. He then founded a hospital in Nafplio.

– In June 1825, Ibrahim Pasha attacked Nafplio with an army of 6,000 men, but was repulsed. There were many injured, who were treated by Treiber.

– In September 1825, the Regular Corps with the new commander Fabvier attempted to liberate Tripolitsa without success. Treiber was also involved in the operation.

– In October, the Regular Corps left Peloponnese for Athens, where Treiber establishes a hospital.

– In February 1826, Fabvier began a campaign in Evia, with the Regular Corps, in which Treiber also participated. First in Chalkis and then in Karystos. The number of injured was high and Treiber treated again their wounds.

– In June 1826, Treiber resigned from the Regular Corps and assumed the position of doctor in the Dervenia military camp under the command of Karaiskakis.

– In August, Treiber leaves with Karaiskakis’ corps for the Athens area. A number of battles took place around Haidari. Treiber established a hospital in Koulouri.

– On 6 November 1826, Treiber took part in the battle of Dombraina with the corps of Karaiskakis.

– In February 1827, Treiber took part in the landing operation at Castella under Colonel Gordon, along with the corps of Makrygiannis and of I. Notaras as well as the Regular Corps, with an aim to break the siege of the Acropolis by Kioutachis.

In the battle of Analatos “1,200 Greeks and all the Philhellenes fell”, as Treiber states in his diary. He had established a hospital in Ambelakia, Salamis, to treat the soldiers, and he provided medical care to the wounded, who were transported there from the battlefield.

– On 24 April 1827, the body of Karaiskakis, who had been killed the day before in Faliro, was brought to Ambelakia. Treiber accompanied his body to Koulouri, where the funeral took place.

– In June 1827, Treiber was assigned the post of ship’s doctor on the steamer Karteria, after an invitation by its commander, the great British Philhellene Abney Hastings.

– For the next 8 months, Treiber took part in all of Karteria’s operations. Karteria plowed all the seas. From the gulf of Corinth, to the Ionian Sea, to the sea of ​​Kythera, to the Aegean Sea and even as far as the coasts of Africa.

Together with the rest of the fleet, it patrolled these seas and imposed a naval blockade on the areas where hostilities were taking place.

– On 29 September 1827, Karteria, together with another boat, the “Sotir” and 5 other smaller ships, combatted with a Turkish fleet in the Gulf of Salona and set fire to 9 Turkish ships, including the Turkish flagship, while capturing another one (the naval battle of Agali).

– On 4 March 1828, Hastings submitted his resignation from the command of Karteria and two days later Treiber left as well. A little later, Hastings returned to his post and took part in a last operation in Messolonghi, where he was injured in the left shoulder. Unfortunately, Treiber was not there to cure him and it was too late to find another doctor, and this other great Philhellene succumbed to his injuries.

In late April 1828, Treiber became director of the Acronafplia Military Hospital (Its Kale).

When Kapodistria’s assassination took place, Treiber himself performed the autopsy and signed the relevant forensic report. He even had the sad privilege of embalming the dead body of Kapodistrias.

It is certain that this great Philhellene saved thousands of wounded and ill Greeks during the liberation struggle of 1821, in a country (Greece) where every notion of hospitalization and hospital care was at that time non-existent.

In order to describe what health services consisted of during the revolutionary period, we will use an excerpt from the work of Christos Byzantios, “History of the Regular Army”, which describes the battle of Karystos (1826), in which he himself was wounded. The only doctor there was Treiber. “The wounded,” writes Byzantiios, “advanced as best they could. Some were carried, others were helped by those who happened to be present, to reach the surgeon there. The sight of first aid offered by Chief Surgeon Treiber, was horrific. About two hundred wounded, lying on the ground in a lemon grove, moaning loudly, especially those wounded by gunfire. There was a wooden door placed on stones, used as a surgical table, on which the wounded lay. The chief surgeon, had rolled up his sleeves, and he was mercilessly cutting off the wounded members of the wounded and then wrapping them with bandage. At that moment, when I was placed myself on the bank, I saw this always worthy Philhellene surgeon, exhausted by fatigue and hunger, holding with his bloody hands and eating a small piece of bread”.

However, it was not only the provision of first aid to the wounded that concerned Treiber, but also, as Epam. Stasinopoulos states, their treatment, which usually took place in the hospitable houses of the villagers. But the villagers were accepting only the lightly injured, because there was a superstition that those who died from the wounds of the war turned then into vampires. It often took the doctor’s and the elders’ confirmation that the injured person was not going to die in order for him to be allowed to enter the house.

In 1831 Treiber married Santa Origoni, the daughter of Domenico Origoni from Corsica, and Francesca Agapiou from Athens. Origonis was a former officer of Napoleon Bonaparte, who had taken refuge in Greece since 1814.

In 1835, Treiber moved with his family to Athens, where he was assigned to organize and reform the Army’s Medical Corps, of which he became the first Chief.

Two-storey neoclassical house with gable at the crown. This is the home of the German doctor Heinrich Treiber, Asomaton Square (Biris, page 93)

Treiber participated in the design (by the architect Weiler) of the A’ Military Hospital (in Makrygiannis), and also in the design of the Municipal Hospital of Athens. He was the founder of the Military Pharmacy Warehouse.

In the foreground, the two-storey mansion with the gable at the crown was on Kriezotou and Zalokosta streets. At the center of the photo are the Old Palace, today’s Greek Parliament. Left: The Royal Military Pharmacy Warehouse 1 Akadimias Street and Vasilissis Sofias Avenue (then Ampelokipon Street and later Kifisias Street) Architects: Hans Christian Hansen [1803 – 1883] – Uprising: 1836 -1840 (Photographer: Henri Beck, 1804 – 1883).

He was one of the first teachers of the “Practical School of Surgery, Pharmacopoeia and Obstetrics” and in 1837 he was appointed “honorary” professor at the newly established University of Athens for teaching surgery.

Treiber was also appointed member of the Health Policy Congress, which defined the health policy of the country, and served as its president.

In 1842 he was appointed physician to King Othon.

Henry Treiber, portrait from the History of the Medical School. Centenary 1837-1937. National and Kapodistrian University of Athens.

It is worth noting that medical science in Greece owes to the great Philhellene and scientist the introduction of anesthesiology, which upgraded treatment practices and removed pain during treatment.

On 16 October 1846, the American W. Morton administered ethereal anesthesia to a patient at Massachusetts General Hospital. A few months later, on 10 April 1847, the first anesthesia with ether was administered in Greece by Heinrich Treiber (first professor of surgery in Greece), Chief Physician, and Nikolaos Petsalis, Physician, at the Athens Military Hospital, and the press of the time deified them. Also, Heinrich Treiber administered the first obstetric anesthesia in Greece, at the Athens Public Maternity Hospital, administering anesthesia with ether to a pregnant woman together with the obstetrician Nikolaos Kostis, the first professor of Obstetrics at the University of Athens.

When the great cholera epidemic struck Athens in 1854, and the streets of the city were deserted, the great Philhellene was the only one who crossed the streets on horseback many times every day to be present at the hospital or wherever else he was called, until he was also contaminated by the disease.

Treiber continued to serve in the Army for many years, advancing to the rank of Senior Chief Surgeon, and was demobilized in 1864.

He was awarded various decorations and medals. Among them are the Greek Golden Cross (1834), the Commander (1849), and Grand Officer (1876) of the Order of the Redeemer.

Medal of the Order of the Savior, during the reign of Othon.

Treiber also received the medal of Commander of the Order of St. Stanislaus of Russia (1859), of Commander of the Order of St. Michael from the King of Bavaria (1858), the Golden Medal of the Duke of Oldenburg, and the Iron Medal of the Order of the Constitution of 3 September 1843. However the decoration, which he was most proud of, was the silver medal of Excellence of the Greek Revolution.

Silver Excellence of the Struggle, “to the heroic defenders of the homeland”, was received during the reign of King Othon to those Greeks or Philhellenes who had participated with the rank of officer in the military operations of the Greek Revolution. This medal was the highest honor

In addition to his diary, Treiber left two lists, one with 59 names of other Philhellenes he met in Greece and another one with 102 names of Philhellenes who died in action or died of other causes in Greece.

From his marriage to Santa Origoni, Traiber had six children.

His eldest daughter, Rosa, married Peter Chiappe, the son of another Philhellene who fought in Greece during the 1821 Revolution, Joseph Chiape.

He died in Athens in 1882 at the age of 86.

It is a great honor for SHP to have in its Advisory Board two descendants of this great Philhellene, to whom Greece owes so much.

Sources and Bibliography

  • Αποστολίδης Χρήστος Ν. “ΕΡΡΙΚΟΣ ΤΡΑΙΜΠΕΡ ΦΙΛΕΛΛΗΝ Αναμνήσεις από την Ελλάδα 1822-1828”, Αθήνα 1960.
  • Barth Wilhelm – Kehrig-Korn Max, Die Philhellenenzeit, Muenchen, 1960.
  • Χρήστος Βυζάντιος (αξιωματικός του Πεζικού της Γραμμής), Ιστορία του Τακτικού Στρατού της Ελλάδος (1821 – 1832), Αθήνα, τυπογραφείο Ράλλη, 1837.
  • Μαρκέτος Σπ. – Σταυρόπουλος Αριστ. Ο φιλελληνισμός της εθνεγερσίας εφ. ΚΑΘΗΜΕΡΙΝΗ 25 Μαρτίου 1988.
  • Μοσχωνάς Αντώνιος. Δύο φιλέλληνες στρατιωτικοί ιατροί, Ερρίκος Τράϊμπερ και Αντώνιος Λίνδερμάγιερ. Περιοδικό Παρνασσός. τομ. ΚΘ’, αρ. 3, Ιούλιος – Σεπτέμβριος 1987.
  • Στασινόπουλος Επαμ. Αι αναμνήσεις του φιλέλληνος ιατρού Ερρίκου Τράϊμπερ εφ. ΚΑΘΗΜΕΡΙΝΗ 4 Ιανουαρίου 1961.
  • Γ. Δρουγολίνος, επιμ. (13 Μαΐου 1882). Έσπερος, Τομ. 2, Έτος Β’, τεύχ. 25. Λειψία.
  • Εθνικόν και Καποδιστριακόν Πανεπιστήμιον Αθηνών (1939). Αριστοτέλης Κούζης, επιμ. Εκατονταετηρίς 1837 – 1937, Τόμος Γ’, Ιστορία της Ιατρικής Σχολής. Αθήναι: Τύπος «Πυρσού» Α.Ε. Ανακτήθηκε στις 25 Μαΐου 2010.
  • Η αναισθησία τον 19ο αιώνα στην Ελλάδα, Αρμένη Κωνσταντίνα, Κορρέ Μαρία, Θεολογής Θωμάς, Παπαδόπουλος Γεώργιος, Αναισθησιολογική Κλινική Ιατρικής Σχολής Πανεπιστημίου Ιωαννίνων, ΙΑΤΡΙΚΑ ΧΡΟΝΙΚΑ ΒΟΡΕΙΟΔΥΤΙΚΗΣ ΕΛΛΑΔΟΣ 2011, Τόμος 8, Τεύχος 1.
  • Εφημερίδα ΑΙΩΝ, Αθήνα 1882, Λόγος επιτάφιος, εκφωνηθείς εν τω Α’ Νεκροταφείω Αθηνών τη 14 Απριλίου 1882, εις τον Φιλέλληνα Ερρίκον Τραϊμπερ, υπό του αρχιάτρου Περικλέους Σούτσου.
/by