Cydones, Demetrius

Cydones, Demetrius

(born c. 1324, Thessalonica, Byzantine Empire—died c. 1398, Crete) Byzantine humanist scholar, statesman, and theologian. After studying under a Greek scholar, he made Greek translations of St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas. He was twice prime minister of the Byzantine empire (1369–83, 1391–96). An academy of Greek culture that he established in Venice in 1390 diffused Greek thought throughout Italy, stimulating the Italian Renaissance. A convert to Latin Catholicism, he worked unsuccessfully for East-West Christian unity; in his Symbouleutikoi (“Exhortations”) he vainly encouraged the Byzantine people to unite with the Latins against the Turks. He is considered the most brilliant Byzantine writer of the 14th century.