Category Archives: Philhellenes

Duchess of Plaisance Occupation: Noblewoman 1785-1854 The American-French philhellene, Sophie de Marbois-Lebrun (1785-1854), was better known as the Duchess of Plaisance. She supported the military needs of the Greek national struggle and she continued her social contribution in the first years of the Greek state, by taking care of the education of daughters of revolution […]

Member of the House of Lords Occupation: Poet, Politician 1788-1824 George Gordon Byron, known simply as Lord Byron, was an English peer, who was a poet and politician. He was one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement and is regarded as one of the greatest English poets. “I should not like to give […]

Cavalry Colonel Occupation: Army officer 1783-1847 Antonio Figueira d’Almeida was born in 1784 in the Portuguese city of Elbe. He served as an officer and fought against the French army sent to Spain to support the Bourbon dynasty. He was the first Portuguese philhellene who supported Greeks. The creator of the greek cavalry army After […]

Director of the first military band of Revolutionary Greece and the Greek Kingdom Occupation: Musician, Composer 1800-1887 Ernst Michael Mangel was a Hungarian musician, composer, and philhellene, who became the director of the first military band of Revolutionary Greece and the Greek Kingdom. He had served before as a lieutenant in the French Army. An […]

Leader of the French Romantic school Occupation: Artist 1798-1863 Delacroix ’s desire for inspiration of dramatic and romantic content led him to travel in North Africa, in search of the exotic. He believed that the North Africans provided a visual equivalent to the people of Classical Rome and Greece. An engaged artist Eugène Delacroix was […]

A Turk against his nation Hasan Agas Kourt Alis was born before 1800 and lived with his family in Atalanti, a town in the centre of Greece. He was working as an empirical surgeon, when the Greek Revolution burst in his town and his family was slaughtered in front of his eyes. Although he lost […]