From Ravenna to Missolonghi: Shelley’s part in Byron’s last journey 

From Ravenna to Missolonghi: Shelley’s part in Byron’s last journey a talk by Professor Roderick Beaton on Thursday 12 September at 5 p.m.

This talk argues that a key role in Lord Byron’s decision to commit himself to the cause of Greece in 1823 was played by his friend Percy Bysshe Shelley. The story begins with Shelley’s visit to Byron in Ravenna in August 1821, when the Greek Revolution was only 5 months old. It is well known that Shelley persuaded his friend to move home to Pisa; less well known is the evidence that Shelley’s persuasive powers were directed towards the revolution in Greece, to which he and his wife Mary were already enthusiastically committed. The unexpected tragedy of Shelley’s death by drowning on 8 July 1822 seems to have focused Byron’s mind still further on Greece, so that Shelley in death would prove even more influential in shaping the poet’s fateful decision, the next year, to dedicate himself to the cause that would lead to his own death at Missolonghi on 19 April 1824. 

Admission is Free, but booking is required due to the limited number of seats. Please write to info@keats-shelley-house.org.

Sir Roderick Beaton is Emeritus Koraes Professor of Modern Greek and Byzantine History, Language and Literature at King’s College London and Chair of the British School at Athens. He is a Fellow of the British Academy (FBA), Commander of the Order of Honour of the Hellenic Republic, and was knighted in the King’s Birthday Honours list in 2024 for his services to history and to UK-Greek relations. His books include Byron’s War: Romantic Rebellion, Greek Revolution (2013), the co-edited volume (with Dr Christine Kenyon-Jones) Byron: The Poetry of Politics and the Politics of Poetry (2017), and most recently The Greeks: A Global History (2021). The Italian translation of his book Greece: Biography of a Modern Nation, was published by Einaudi in 2024.