22 Facts About Gemistos Plethon

Gemistos Plethon was a chief pioneer of the revival of Greek scholarship in Western Europe.

Gemistos Plethon admired Plato so much that late in life he took the similar-meaning name Gemistos Plethon.

Gemistos Plethon's pupils included Bessarion and George Scholarius.

Gemistos Plethon produced his major writings during his time in Italy and after his return.

In 1428 Gemistos Plethon was consulted by Emperor John VIII on the issue of unifying the Greek and Latin churches, and advised that both delegations should have equal voting power.

Marsilio Ficino's introduction to the translation of Plotinus has traditionally been interpreted to the effect that Cosimo de' Medici attended Pletho's lectures and was inspired to found the Accademia Platonica in Florence, where Italian students of Gemistos Plethon continued to teach after the conclusion of the council.

Nevertheless, Gemistos Plethon came to be considered one of the most important influences on the Italian Renaissance.

Gemistos Plethon claimed he had written it "without serious intent" while incapacitated through illness, "to comfort myself and to please those who are dedicated to Plato".

Gemistos Plethon touched little on religion, although he expressed disdain for monks, who "render no service to the common good".

Gemistos Plethon vaguely prescribed three religious principles: belief in a supreme being; that this being has concern for mankind; and that it is uninfluenced by gifts or flattery.

In De Differentiis Gemistos Plethon compares Aristotle's and Plato's conceptions of God, arguing that Plato credits God with more exalted powers as "creator of every kind of intelligible and separate substance, and hence of our entire universe", while Aristotle has God as only the motive force of the universe; Plato's God is the end and final cause of existence, while Aristotle's God is only the end of movement and change.

Gemistos Plethon derides Aristotle for discussing unimportant matters such as shellfish and embryos while failing to credit God with creating the universe, for believing the heavens are composed of a fifth element, and for his view that contemplation was the greatest pleasure; the latter aligned him with Epicurus, Gemistos Plethon argued, and he attributed this same pleasure-seeking to monks, whom he accused of laziness.

Later, in response to Gennadius' Defence of Aristotle, Gemistos Plethon argued in his Reply that Plato's God was more consistent with Christian doctrine than Aristotle's, and this, according to Darien DeBolt, was probably in part an attempt to escape suspicion of heterodoxy.

Gemistos Plethon recommended religious rites and hymns to petition the classical gods, such as Zeus, whom he saw as universal principles and planetary powers.

Gemistos Plethon rejected the concept of a brief reign of evil followed by perpetual happiness, and held that the human soul is reincarnated, directed by the gods into successive bodies to fulfill divine order.

Gemistos Plethon drew up plans in his Nomoi to radically change the structure and philosophy of the Byzantine Empire in line with his interpretation of Platonism.

Gemistos Plethon proposed more practical, immediate measures, such as rebuilding the Hexamilion, the ancient defensive wall across the Isthmus of Corinth, which had been breached by the Ottomans in 1423.

Gemistos Plethon believed that labourers should keep a third of their produce, and that soldiers should be professional.

Gemistos Plethon held that love should be private not because it is shameful, but because it is sacred.

Gemistos Plethon describes the creation of the universe as being perfect and outside of time, so that the universe remains eternal, without beginning or end.

Forster wrote an essay about Gemistos Plethon, to be found in his book Abinger Harvest.

Gemistos Plethon thus played a key but hidden role in the Italian Renaissance.