It does what it says on the tin.
The Medici's invented Plato, to promote Democracy, which they could control using money/bribery/intimidation/blackmail.
As far as 'inventing Plato', there was a guy by the name of Georgius Gemistus, later named Plethon (Plethon = Plato). It seems he either wrote or translated someone else's work and that became known as 'Plato's work':
"1360 – 1452/1454, later called Plethon, was one of the most renowned philosophers of the late Byzantine era.[4] He was a chief pioneer of the revival of Greek scholarship in Western Europe.[5] As revealed in his last literary work, the Nomoi or Book of Laws, which he only circulated among close friends, he rejected Christianity in favour of a return to the worship of ancient Hellenic Gods as well as ancient wisdom based on Zoroaster and the Magi.[6]
He re-introduced Plato's ideas to Western Europe during the 1438–1439 Council of Florence, a failed attempt to reconcile the East-West schism. Here, it was believed until recently, Plethon met and influenced Cosimo de' Medici to found a new Platonic Academy, which, under Marsilio Ficino, would proceed to translate into Latin all Plato's works, the Enneads of Plotinus, and various other Neoplatonist works. "
As for Cosimo De Medici:
"Cosimo's power over Florence stemmed from his wealth, which he used to control the votes of office holders in the municipal councils, most importantly the Signoria of Florence. As Florence was proud of its "democracy", he pretended to have little political ambition and did not often hold public office. Enea Piccolomini, Bishop of Siena and later Pope Pius II, said of him:
"Political questions are settled in [Cosimo's] house. The man he chooses holds office... He it is who decides peace and war... He is king in all but name"
"The arrival of notable Byzantine figures from the Eastern Roman Empire, including Emperor John VIII Palaiologos himself, started a boom in interest for Greek culture and arts in the city"
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[–] TrialsAndTribulation ago
I located all of the quotes you pulled from that great academic research tool Wikipedia, the lazy scholar's repository of some knowledge as decided upon by a few people.
Your thesis seems to be this: "Plato's work, and knowledge of it in Western Europe, is demonstrably no older than about 550-600 years old, and the 'translation' was sponsored by De Medici".
Huh? What the hell does that mean?
I believe it means you're saying that not only Plato's works but all ancient references to Plato by both his contemporaries and later neo-Platonists, including Plotinus, are fraudulent. This would mean that Plotinus is also a fiction. This also means that Augustine of Hippo, who was educated at a Platonist academy in Carthage and was influenced by Plato, is also a modern fiction.
So, where does it stop? So much of the ancient world is referenced by contemporaries over decades and centuries. Are you really saying this was all invented in the 14th/15th century by a group of "translators" inventing the whole thing?
It boggles the mind how this could happen. Stupidest theory ever.
[–] TheSeer [S] ago
I'm saying the ancient world as we know it, didn't happen when (or necessarily where) we think it did. So if Plato is Plethon, then Plotinus is just one of his students or acquaintances. Augustine of Hippo, look at when HIS ORDER was founded? 1254.
"Many Protestants, especially Calvinists and Lutherans, consider him to be one of the theological fathers of the Protestant Reformation due to his teachings on salvation and divine grace."
So what makes more sense, for this Augustine of Hippo to have done his work in the period 1440-1500, just before the Protestant Reformation, or hundreds of years earlier?
If you like Plato's work, you can STILL like Plato's work (or in this case Plethon's work). What changes is WHEN it was written, and widely distributed.
In the 1200-1300s almost no one had read the Bible. It didn't even exist in entirety, but some had read the Gospels, Proverbs, Psalms, etc. When do you think countries started adopting the BC/AD dating method?
Here's a good one. When was cement/concrete developed? It was used to build the Pantheon, right? So surely concrete was widely used thereafter?
[–] TrialsAndTribulation ago
Here's a useful rule of thumb: If a person's new theory or system completely repudiates everything that preceded it and replaces it all with a sweeping new conception of how things work, tends to be all-encompassing, and is a self-contained paradigm the requires multiple new but unproven concepts to reinforce the whole, that person is probably a crank. Such a person has too much imagination and not enough understanding or knowledge, and often too much ego and self-importance.
[–] TrialsAndTribulation ago
"So what makes more sense, for this Augustine of Hippo to have done his work in the period 1440-1500, just before the Protestant Reformation, or hundreds of years earlier?"
Augustine did not form the order named after him. He died in the fifth century in North Africa and there's abundant proof for that. It's clear you have no idea what you're talking about.
Plus you didn't address my point on this imaginary fraudulent and hoaxed history you claim Plethon wrote.