born с 1355, Constantinople
died 1450/52, Mistra, Morea
Byzantine philosopher and humanist scholar.
He served as lay theologian with the Byzantine delegation to the 1438–45 general council of On the Difference Between Aristotle and Plato revived interest in {{link=Plato">Plato and led to founding of the Platonic Academy of Florence by Cosimo I . His clarification of the distinction between Platonic and Aristotelian thought proved seminal in determining the philosophic orientation of the Italian Renaissance.