GEMISTUS PLETHO  [or PLETHON), GEORGIUS (c . 1355-1450),

Greek Platonic philosopher and scholar, one of the chief pioneers of the revival of learning in Western Europe, was a Byzantine by birth who settled at Mistra in the Peloponnese, the site of ancient Sparta . He changed his name from Gemistus to the equivalent Pletho (" the full "), perhaps owing to the similarity of sound between that name and that of his master Plato . He invented a religious system founded on the speculative mysticism of the Neoplatonists, and founded a sect, the members of which believed that the new creed would supersede all existing forms of belief . But he is chiefly memorable for having introduced Plato to the Western world . This took place upon his visit to Florence in 1439, as one of the deputies from Constantinople on occasion of the general council . Cardinal Bessarion became his disciple; he produced a great impression upon Cosimo de' Medici; and though not himself making any very important contribution to the study of Plato, he effectually shook the exclusive domination which Aristotle had exercised overEuropean thought for eight centuries . He promoted the union of the Greek and Latin Churches as far as possible, but his efforts in this direction bore no permanent fruit . He probably died before the capture of Constantinople . The most important of his published works are treatises on the distinction between Plato and Aristotle as philosophers (published at Venice in 1540); on the religion of Zoroaster (Paris, 1538); on the condition of the Peloponnese (ed . A . Ellissen in Analekten der mittel- and neugriechischen Literatur, iv.); and the Nbµoe (ed .

C .

Alexandre, Paris, 1858) . In addition to these he compiled several volumes of excerpts from ancient authors, and-wrote a number of works on geography, music and other subjects, many of which still exist in MS. in various European libraries . See especially F . Schultze, Geschichte der Philosophie der Renaissance, i . (1874); also A . Symonds, The Renaissance in Italy (1877), ii. p . 198; H . F . 'Tozer, " A Byzantine Reformer," in Journal of Hellenic Studies, vii . (1886), chiefly on Pletho's scheme of political and social reform for the Peloponnese, as set forth in the pamphlets addressed to Manuel II . Palaeologus and his son Theodore, despot of the Morea; W .

Gass, Gennadius and Pletho (1844) . Most of Pletho's works will be found in J . P .

Migne, Pairologia Graeca, clx . ; for a complete list see Fabricius, Bibliotheca Graeca (ed . Harles), xii .