Byron the Giaour

Reading the notes I discovered that Byron experienced a similar situation as the Giaour with the slave Leila. Byron had an affair with a Turkish slave in Athens whom he saved from being executed in a similar manner as Leila. She was sown onto a sack and was to be thrown into the water, but Byron saved her by bribing them to lend her to him instead. I found this in google books; it turns out there is an entire book about Byron's love affairs by Francis Henry Gribble. So this poem was definitely a portrayal of himself.