Dionisios Solomos-Zakynthos
Dionysios Solomos (1798 - 9 February 1857) was a Greek poet from Zakynthos. He is best known for writing the Hymn to Liberty* , of which the first two stanzas became the Greek national anthem. He was the central figure of the Heptanese School of poetry, and is considered the national poet of Greece - not only because he wrote the national anthem, but also because he contributed to preservation of earlier poetic tradition and highlighted its usefulness to modern literature. Other notable poems include ''Ôhe Cretan'', ''The Free Besieged'' and others. A characteristic of his poems is that no poem except the Hymn to Liberty was completed and almost nothing was published during his lifetime.
*The Hymn to Liberty is a poem written by Dionésios Solomïs in 1823 that consists of 158 stanzas, set to music by Nikolaos Mantzaros. In 1865, the first two stanzas officially became the national anthem of Greece and later also that of the Republic of Cyprus. According to the Constitution of the Republic Of Cyprus, the lyrics of the song shall not be used. Hymn to Liberty was also the Greek Royal Anthem.
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