Athens – Lord Byron Statue

I didn’t know that Lord Byron had anything to do with Athens (I didn’t actually know much about him at all if I’m being honest), let alone that some people thought that if he had lived then he might have become the King of Greece.

Byron, a complex character to say the least, sold his estate to give money to the Greeks to fight the Ottoman Empire. The money raised from that, combined with his other savings, came to £20,000 which was an enormous sum in the early nineteenth century.

Byron died in Greece in 1824 at the age of 36 in what was an eventful life. He is a hero to many Greeks, hence the statue next to the country’s National Park. The statue is technically though called Greece expresses her gratitude to Byron.