The importance of Bessarion's contribution to the history of Byzantine and Renaissance
philosophy and culture during the 15th century is beyond dispute. However an adequate
appreciation of his contribution still remains a desideratum of scholarly research. One serious
impediment to scholarly progress is the fact that the critical edition of his main
philosophical work In Calumniatorem Platonis is incomplete and that this work has not been
translated in its entirety into any modern language yet. Same can be stated about several minor
but equally important treatises on literary theological and philosophical subjects. This makes
editing translating and interpreting his literary religious and philosophical works a
scholarly priority. Papers assembled in this volume highlight a number of philological
philosophical and historical aspects that are crucial to our understanding of Bessarion's role
in the history of European civilization and to setting the directions of future research in
this field.
