1650 ca, FRANCE: The Greek Athenian scholar, politician, diplomat LEONARDOS PHILARAS (c. 1595 1673), advisor to the French court of King Louis XIII. Portrait engraved by C. Mellan, Paris. He moved to Rome at a young age where he was educated, he eventually became ambassador to the French court from the Duke of Parma. Philaras spent much of his career in persuading Western European intellectuals to support Greek independence