200 years after the revolutionary Romantic poet Lord Byron’s death, Greeks are celebrating his place in their national pantheon

On Wednesday 18 August 1880, a sale was held at Sotheby’s in London. Among the items up for grabs were “interesting relics of Lord Byron”. The articles, once the property of Augusta Leigh, the poet’s half-sister, included the crown of Greek laurel placed on the aristocrat’s coffin “when laying in state” in Great George Street.

Joannes Gennadius, a diplomat-cum-scholar born and raised in Athens, ensured he was there. Fifty-six years had elapsed since the great Romantic poet died on 19 April 1824 in Missolonghi, spearheading the Greeks’ revolt against Ottoman rule.