Philhellenism, an intellectual movement, prominent mainly in the 18th and 19th century, contributed considerably to the Greek cause; it may be even safe to say that the outcome of the Greek revolution would have been different without this wide “sympathy” throughout the western world.

Some wealthy Americans and western European nobles, like the renowned poet Lord Byron, joined forces with Greek rebel leaders. Other Philhellenes sent financial aid, supplies and volunteers. Moreover, they put pressure on European governments to adopt a more positive attitude towards the Greek revolutionaries and liberate them from the Ottoman Empire.

The students of the second year of our High School researched among the most famous British, American, French and Italian Philhellenes and presented them in class. Lord Byron, George Canning, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Dr. Samuel Gridley Howe, George Jarvis, François-René de Chateaubriand, Victor Hugo and Eugene Delacroix are a few names worth mentioning.