(Derived from Greek: philos, "friend", and hellenes, "Greeks")
A term used to describe one of the European or American volunteers in the Greek War of Independence (1821-1829). The philhellenes counted such famous names as Byron, Shelley and Goethe. For the most part, however, the movement consisted of idealistic students.
Phil*hel"lene (?), n.
A friend of Greece, or of the Greeks; a philhellenist.
Emerson.
© Webster 1913.
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