Plethon

Plethon, commonly known as Gemistos Plethon, was a Byzantine Greek philosopher of the late medieval period (c. 1355–c. 1452). He is best known for advocating a revival of ancient Greek philosophy, law, and religious practice and for shaping ideas that would influence early Renaissance thought. His work helped connect late Byzantine intellectual culture with Western humanism through the suggestion of a unified Greek heritage and a pre-Christian Greek civil religion.

Life and career: Plethon was active in the Despotate of the Morea (the Peloponnese) and taught philosophy there before traveling to the Italian peninsula in the late 1430s. In 1437–1438 he visited Florence, where his writings and ideas reached Italian humanists and helped stimulate interest in Platonic philosophy. He is believed to have died around 1452, with details of his later years and death uncertain.

Thought and writings: Plethon is most associated with his project of reviving an ancient Greek civil religion and political life grounded in Platonist philosophy. His principal work, often cited as The Laws (Nomoi), outlined a model of governance and education inspired by ancient Greek practice, while advocating a worldview that emphasized Greek unity and a pre-Christian religious sensibility. He argued that the Greek world had a shared heritage that could serve as a foundation for civic life, philosophy, and culture, drawing on Neoplatonic influences and classical sources.

Legacy: Plethon is regarded as a key figure linking Byzantine intellectual currents with Renaissance humanism. His emphasis on a common Greek heritage and on Platonic philosophy contributed to later debates about Hellenic identity and the revival of classical learning in Italy, influencing the milieu that fostered the Florentine Platonic circle. Modern scholarship views him as an important, though debated, intermediary between Byzantine thought and early modern European intellectual currents.