ABSTRACT
Since he was the leading Platonist of his time, it is not surprising that Plethon’s zeal for Plato spilled over into the proposals for reform that he presented to
assumed from the early 1440s, when he was already in his eighties. For general discussions of Plethon, see especially F. Masai, Pléthon et le platonisme de Mistra (Paris, 1956); C.M. Woodhouse, George Gemistus Plethon, the Last of the Hellenes (Oxford, 1986); S. Spentzas, G. Gemistus-Plethon, ho Philosophos tou Mustra: hoi Oikonomikes, Koinonikes kai Demosionomikes tou Apopseis (Athens, 1987); and W. Blum, Plethon, Georgius Gemistus: Politik, Philosophie und Rhetorik im spätbyzantinischen Reich (Stuttgart, 1988). On Mistra see S. Runciman, Mistra: Byzantine Capital of the Peloponnese (London, 1980). I am very grateful to Niketas Siniossoglou for invaluable assistance. In addition, I have benefited, not for the first time, from the generous advice of John Dillon, Richard Gordon and Caroline Humfress.
