Byron was inspired to write the poem during 1810 and 1811 in the course of his 1809-1811 Grand Tour, which he undertook with his friend John Cam Hobhouse.

While in Athens, he became aware of the Turkish custom of throwing a woman found guilty of adultery into the sea wrapped in a sack.

[citation needed] Byron wrote the poem after he had become famous overnight following the 1812 publication of the first two cantos of Childe Harold's Pilgrimage; it reflects his disenchantment with fame.

It also reflects the gloom, remorse, and lust of two illicit love affairs, one with his half-sister Augusta Leigh and the other with Lady Frances Webster.

Its runaway success led Byron to publish three more "Turkish tales" in the next couple of years: The Bride of Abydos in 1813, The Corsair in 1814, and Lara.

could I scale Parnassus, where the Muses sit inditing Those pretty poems never known to fail, How quickly would I print (the world delighting) A Grecian, Syrian, or Assyrian tale; And sell you, mix'd with western sentimentalism, Some samples of the finest Orientalism.

So did Ary Scheffer, who painted Giaour, today housed at the Musée de la Vie romantique, Paris.

Polidori immediately wrote to Colburn stating that 'the tale of the Vampyre – which is not Lord Byron's but was written entirely by me at the request of a lady [...] saying that she thought it impossible to work up such materials, desired I would write it for her, which I did in two idle mornings by her side.'