Editing Bessarion (section)

==Works==
[[Image:Bessarion - Epistolae et orationes, MCCCCLXXI - 3845584.tif |thumb|180px|''Epistolae et orationes'', 1471]]

Bessarion was one of the most learned scholars of his time. Besides his translations of [[Aristotle]]'s ''Metaphysics'' and [[Xenophon]]'s ''Memorabilia'', his most important work is a treatise directed against [[George of Trebizond]], a vehement Aristotelian who had written a polemic against [[Plato]], which was entitled ''In Calumniatorem Platonis'' ("Against the Slanderer of Plato").<ref>Ludwig Mohler, ''Bessarionis in calumniatorem Platonis libri IV'' [Kardinal Bessarion als Theologe, Humanist und Staatsmann. Funde und Forschungen Band 2]. Paderborn: Ferdinand Schöningh, 1927 (repr. 1967).</ref> Bessarion, though a Platonist, was not so thoroughgoing in his admiration as [[Gemistus Pletho]], and he strove instead to reconcile the two philosophies. His work, by opening up the relations of [[Platonism]] to the main questions of religion, contributed greatly to the extension of speculative thought in the department of [[theology]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=822}}

It was thanks to him that the ''[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Bibliotheca]]'', an important compendium of [[Greek mythology]], has survived to the present. His library, which contained a very extensive collection of Greek manuscripts, was presented by him in 1468 to the [[Venetian Senate|Senate]] of the [[Republic of Venice]], and forms the nucleus of the famous library of St Mark's, the ''[[Biblioteca Marciana]]''.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=822}} It comprised 482 Greek and 264 Latin manuscripts.<ref>[https://www.qantara-med.org/public/show_document.php?do_id=826&lang=en Emblem of Cardinal Bessarion] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304033229/http://www.qantara-med.org/qantara4/public/show_document.php?do_id=826&lang=en |date=4 March 2016 }}</ref> Most of Bessarion's works are in [[Jacques Paul Migne|Migne]], ''[[Patrologia Graeca]]'', volume 161.

===Editions===
*{{cite book |editor1-last=Monfasani |editor1-first=John |title=Liber Defensionum contra Obiectiones in Platonem: Cardinal Bessarion's own Latin translation of his Greek defense of Plato against George of Trebizond |date=2023 |publisher=De Gruyter |location=Berlin; Boston |isbn=9783111246352}}