May 5, 2021
“Fair Greece! Sad relic of departed worth! Immortal, though no more! Though fallen, great!” Lord Byron published these lines in 1818 not knowing what a major figure in Greece's History he was destined to become. Three years before dying in its shores in 1824, the Greeks rose up against the Ottoman Empire to seize their national independence. The plight of the country of Plato and Pericles moved thousands of Europeans, including Lord Byron, Percy Shelley, and other luminaries. Well-read in the classics, this romantic generation saw the events of 1821 as a historic opportunity to repay Europe’s cultural and intellectual debt to Hellenic civilization. French poet Victor Hugo would even have Homer and "mother" rhyme in his poems. In the Uncommonly Decent quest to trace the cultural and civilizational roots of the European order, History is seldom brought up. This year's bicentennial of Greece's national liberation commemorates one such rare European moment, providing us thereby with a chance to reconnect with our project's guiding mission. Stathis Kalyvas (All Souls College, Oxford), Thanos Veremis (Athens University) and John Psaropoulos (independent journalist) join the episode this week.
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