The Plethon Gemistos Institute
The Plethon Gemistos Institute is a unique ethnocultural think tank dedicated to the study and advancement of Hellenism. Our mission is to cultivate a new generation of intellectuals and activists that seek to challenge the current sociopolitical paradigm and develop new innovative solutions to the different challenges facing Hellenic people worldwide.
We hope to serve as an essential resource for understanding the Hellenic World and its different issues through our various initiatives, publications, and media projects. While also providing the next generation of Hellenic and Philhellenic activists with the tools necessary to advocate for Hellenism and Hellenic Principles.
Who was Plethon Gemistos?
Georgios “Plethon” Gemistos was one of the greatest Byzantine-Greek philosophers of his time. A champion of Hellenism, he is known to have played a central role in the revival of Platonism in Western Europe, which influenced the Renaissance. He held many vital positions within the Byzantine Empire throughout his distinguished career, serving as a Senator, Judge, and Imperial Advisor.
Although little is known about his early life, he is thought to have been born around 1355. Plethon is said to have studied in both Constantinople and Adrianople, before settling in Mistra, Peloponnese. It was here that he taught and wrote on matters of philosophy, history, and astronomy.
In 1415 and 1418, he published pamphlets, which urged Emperor Manual II and his son Theodore to reject Justinian’s idea of a Universal Empire. Instead, Plethon was the first to call for a Hellenic Nation-state based on Plato’s Republic. During his time as an Imperial Advisor, he proposed several social and governmental reforms to Emperors Manual II Palaeologus (1391–1425) and John VIII Palaeologus (1425–1448). Plethon later served as a member of the Byzantine delegation at the Council of Florence. In Italy, he delivered his treatise, De Differentiis (On the Difference Between Aristotle and Plato), which inspired Cosimo de’Medici to found a Platonic Academy in Florence.
Plethon is believed to have died around the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks. In 1466, a group of his Italian disciples, led by Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta, retrieved his remains from Mistra and placed them in the Tempio Malatestiano in Rimini, Italy, “so that the great Teacher may be among free men.”