GREECE BOOKS AND WRITERS This publication has been sponsored By the Hellenic Cultural Heritage S.A., the organising body of the Cultural Olympiad. PUBLICATION COMMITTEE VANGELIS HADJIVASSILIOU STEFANOS KAKLAMANIS ELISABETH KOTZIA STAVROS PETSOPOULOS ELISABETH TSIRIMOKOU YORYIS YATROMANOLAKIS Sourcing of illustrations SANDRA VRETTA Translations JOHN DAVIS (sections I-III), ALEXANDRA KAPSALI (sections IV-V) JANE ASSIMAKOPOULOS (sections VI-VII) ANNE-MARIE STANTON-IFE (introductory texts, captions) Textual editing JOHN LEATHAM Secretariat LENIA THEOPHILI Design, selection of illustrations and supervision of production STAVROS PETSOPOULOS ISBN 960 - 7894 - 29 - 4 © 2001, MINISTRY OF CULTURE - NATIONAL BOOK CENTRE OF GREECE 4 Athanasiou Diakou St, 117 42 Athens, Greece Tel.: (301) 92 00 300 - Fax: (301) 92 00 305 http://www.books.culture.gr e-mail:
[email protected] GREECE BOOKS AND WRITERS NATIONAL BOOK CENTRE OF GREECE MINISTRY OF CULTURE GREECE - BOOKS AND WRITERS – SECTION I Cardinal BESSARION (black and white engraving 17 X 13 cm. National Historical Museum, Athens) The most celebrated of the Greek scholars who worked in Italy was Cardinal BESSARION (1403-1472). An enthusiastic supporter of the union of the Eastern and Western Churches, he worked tirelessly to bring about the political and cultural conditions that would allow this to take place. He made a major contribution to the flowering of humanist studies in Italy and played a key role in gathering and preserving the ancient Greek, Byzantine and Latin cultural heritage By systematically collecting and copying manuscripts of rare literary and artistic value, frequently at great personal expense and sacrifice and with the help of various Greek refugee scholars and copyists (Conati autem sumus, quantum in nobis fuit, non tam multos quam optimos libros colligere, et sin- gulorum operum singula volumina, sicque cuncta fere sapien- tium graecorum opera, praesertim quae rara errant et inventu dif- ficilia, coegimus).