Page 308 - Beholding Liberty!

II.8.Α
New Thermopylae
«Remember those who gave their blood, invincible, with Leonidas»
William Haygarth, Greece, a poem, 1814
DURING THE REVOLUTIONARY DECADE OF 1820, the archaeolatry (love for antiquity) of the early Philhellenism is transformed gradually into hellenolatry (love for Hellenism). The foreigners view the modern Greeks (Hellenes) as direct de- scendants of the ancient, heirs of Classical antiquity and its beautiful monuments.
For this reason, in the heroic struggle of ’21, even in its military defeats, they recognize Thermopylae and highest moral victory: for instance, Markos Botsaris, who died after an uneven battle against the more numerous enemies in 1823 at Kefalovryso of Karpenissi, is paralleled to Leonidas, and Th. Kolokotronis is compared to the archetypical hero, while the Exodus of Misso- longhi shows the tortured city as new Thermopylae.
The figure of the Spartan king, the battle of Thermopylae and other themes of the Median wars, such as Marathon, become common rhetoric topics (topoi) and popular motifs of the phil- hellenic iconography, recognizing the Greek fighters as worthy continuation of their ancestors.
308 BEHOLDING LIBERTY!
II.8.Α.1
Richard Glover
Leonidas, A Poem, Adorned with plates.
Vol. I. The sixth edition.
London: Printed by T. Bensley; For F. J. Du Roveray, Great St. Helens; And sold by T. Boosey, Old Broad Street; And J. Wright, Piccadily. 1798 Library of the Hellenic Parliament
THE BRITISH POET Richard Glover (1712-1785) pub- lished in 1737 the epic poem Leonidas, in which the Greek hero is portrayed as a paragon of liberty, in reference to the contempo- rary political developments of the poet’s time. In fact, the success of Leonidas paved the way for Glover to become actively involved in politics. This late-eighteenth century reissue documents the revival of the heroic models of Antiquity in the context of the Liberal ideals during the Age of the Enlightenment.