1. The Greek and the Biblical chronology

15. The date of Parthenon's construction, and the reason it was called the Temple of St. Mary

We already referred to this subject in Chron1, Chapter 7. Let us remind the reader of the issue at hand. F. Gregorovius informs us of the following: “Our Lady already began the victorious struggle for Athens with Athena Pallas… the Athenians built a majestic church [in the alleged X century a.d. – A. F.], and installed the altarpiece there [depicting St. Mary – A. F.], having called it Athenaya [or Athena – A. F.” ([195], page 24).

In the XII century the Parthenon functions as the Latin temple of Our Lady of Athens “as if it were built only recently [sic! – A. F.]” ([1274], page 16). The statue of the Catholic Virgin Mary serves as double of the “ancient” statue of the Lady of Athens by Phidias in the Latin Parthenon. The statue was crafted in the XIII century ([544], Volume 4, page 806). Thus, the “ancient” goddess Athena becomes the mediaeval Christian Virgin Mary, the Mother of God!

We proceed to learn the following about the Parthenon: “the Christian religion managed to covert the ancient halidom of the city’s ancient goddess on the Acropolis without inflicting any harm upon the temple in any way… the entire history of converting pagan beliefs and sacraments for Christian use doesn’t know another example of such easy and complete substitution as this transformation of Athena Pallas into Virgin Mary… the people of Athens didn’t even have to use a different alias for their divine virginal protectrix, since they started calling Our Lady Parthenos” ([195], page 31). This leads us to the following natural hypothesis.

The “ancient” Athena (Parthenos) is the Christian Virgin Mary. The “ancient” Parthenon thus becomes a Christian temple that was built in the XIII century a.d. the latest.

Most probably, the reconstruction of the Parthenon under Nerio, qv below, had really been the creation of the Parthenon that took place in his reign, which falls on the second half of the XIV century a.d.

87a. The Parthenon emerges from oblivion under Nerio in the XIV century a.d. The Parthenon is supposed to have been erected in the “ancient” epoch. After that, Scaligerian history makes it disappear from the historical arena up until the Middle Ages when it re-emerges under Nerio, in the XIV century a.d. Mediaeval chroniclers tell us that Nerio had “adorned the Parthenon royally”, making the temple regain its former importance in his reign ([195], pages 293-294).

It turns out that the name of the Parthenon under Nerio had been “the Santa Maria Temple in Athens” – the temple of St. Mary, in other words! This is what we learn of the Parthenon in Nerio’s reign:

“He treated the Parthenon [the Santa Maria Temple in Athens], where he wanted to be buried, with the utmost reverence… he bequeathed his capitals… as well as his luxurious stables, to the Parthenon. Its gates were plated with silver, with maintenance and repairs to be funded by the council. Moreover, the very city was to be regarded as the temple’s legacy, with all of the temple’s rights protected by the Venetian Republic… it was a horrendous plot from the part of Nerio to make the entire city property of the Latin priests from the Parthenon… Virgin Mary thus became the owner of one of the greatest cities in history; the dying duke hardly remembered that Lady Parthenos from the same temple on the Acropolis had already been the protectrix of Athens [presumably in the “ancient” epoch – A. F.]. The city of Theseus came under the aegis of the Divine Virgin once again [sic! – A. F.]” ([195], page 294).

87b. “Ancient” Greece. When was the Parthenon built? The alleged date of its construction is 447 b.c. However, a shift of 1810 years forwards transforms this dating into 1363 a.d., which coincides with the mediaeval epoch when Nerio gained prominence.

Thus, the most likely date of the Parthenon’s construction falls onto the second half of the XIV century.

88a. The city of Athens belongs to the Parthenon in the XIV century a.d. The city of Athens is regarded as property of the Parthenos Temple in late XIV century, which is presumably “a revival of an ancient custom”, qv above.

88b. “Ancient” Greece. The city of Athens had been the property of the Parthenos Temple in the alleged V century b.c. A shift of 1810 years brings us right into the epoch of late XIV century a.d.

16. The mediaeval Gemisto Pleton as the “ancient” Plato

89a. Gemisto Pleton in the XV century a.d. Gemisto Pleton (Plython, or Plyton) was a prominent philosopher, writer and public figure in mediaeval Greece and Italy ([195], page 309).

89b. “Ancient” Greece. Plato. Plato is a famous philosopher, writer and public man in the “ancient” Greece (the alleged years 428-347 b.c.). See [766], page 249. The names Plato and Pleton are virtually identical. In fig. 3.5 we can see an ancient engraving of the alleged year 1497 depicting Plato, who looks perfectly mediaeval here.

Fig. 3.5 An ancient picture of the philosopher Plato from Hartmann Schedel’s Liber Chronicarum. Augsburg, 1497. Taken from [90], page 25.

Commentary. We failed to find out about the exact timeframe of Pleton’s life. It is known that he had played an important part in the social and political life of Greece and Italy around 1415 a.d. He had died “around 1450 a.d.” ([195], page 363). Thus, exact dates of his birth and death remain unknown. Other authors cite 1452 as the year of his death. At any rate, it turns out that the biography of the “ancient” Plato is known to us a great deal better. One often comes across the opinion that the “antiquity” deserves more attention than the dark and near-impenetrable Middle Ages. At any rate, what we know is that Gemisto Pleton had died in Rimini and was buried in this city’s famous cathedral ([195], page 363).

A 1810-year shift of dates forward makes the years of Plato’s life cover the period between 1382 and 1463 a.d. – the very epoch that Pleton was active in, that is. And a shift of 1800 years shall date the death of the “ancient” Plato to 1453. The date all but coincides with 1450 or 1452, the year when the mediaeval Gemisto Pleton had died. Let us turn our attention to the peculiar name Gemisto of the mediaeval Pleton. The Latin word geminus translates as “double”, “twin”, “one item in a pair”, or “spitting image” ([237], page 452). Therefore, “Gemisto Pleton” can translate as “Plato’s double”, or “Plato the Second”. The personality of Gemisto Pleton deserves our unmitigated attention.

As we have pointed out in Chron1, Chapter 1, the “ancient” Plato is considered the founding father of Platonism. His teaching dies with him to be revived several centuries later by the famous Neoplatonist Plotinus (the alleged years 205-270 a.d.), whose name is virtually coincident with that of Plato, his spiritual teacher, and perfectly accidentally so.

After that, Scaligerian history tells us of the death of Neoplatonism, which is to be revived another couple of centuries later, in the XV century a.d., by another famous Platonist – Gemisto Pleton, whose name is once again almost completely similar to that of his “ancient” mentor Plato. Nowadays it is supposed that Gemisto Pleton “revived Plato’s ancient Platonism” and became its zealous propagator. This is the very epoch when the “ancient Hellenistic ideas” begin to flourish, inspiring the mediaeval Greeks to unite against the Turkish invaders.

Mediaeval Greek history that was further declared “ancient” and moved into the distant past originated in the XIV century Florence: “The Strozzi and the Medici… have been Philhellenes and used their fortunes for supporting the falling Byzantine throne as well as the study of Greek literature… Cosimo conceived the plan of reconstructing Plato’s Academy on the Arno [presided over by Gemisto Pleton – A. F.]” ([195], page 330). It is from Florence that the “ancient” Greek literature began to spread across Europe.

The manuscripts of the “ancient Plato” are said to have emerged from obscurity for the first time in the epoch of the XV century a.d., precisely when Gemisto Pleton had been active ([247], pages 143-147). Gemisto Pleton founds Pleton’s Academy in Florence, which is an exact analogue of the “ancient” Plato’s Academy. A. A. Vassilyev points out that “his [Pleton’s – A. F.] sojourn in Florence marks one of the key moments in the entire history of exporting the ancient Greek sciences to Italy – in particular, the propagation of the Platonic philosophy in the West. His large utopia [it is significant that voluminous utopian oeuvres are written by both Plato and Pleton – A. F.] entitled The Tractate on Law failed to reach our age in its entirety [unlike the complete codex of the “ancient” Plato’s Laws – A. F.]; it stands for… an attempt of reviving paganism… with the aid of certain elements of Neoplatonic philosophy”. Quoting by [544], Volume 7, pages 638-639.

One can sum up by saying that Scaligerian history tries to make us believe that it suffices for the parents to call their son by any name resembling Plato’s (Plotinus, Pleton etc) for his entire destiny to be shaped in this manner, making his biography a carbon copy of “the ancient Plato’s”.

90a. The revival of Greek science in the XV century a.d. We have reached the second part of the XV century a.d. “This is the time when the spirit of Greek science became to rise from its slumber of many centuries” ([195], page 308). This is the epoch of Gemisto Pleton. We learn that he has revived the spirit of the “ancient civilization”. “The famous Byzantine Giorgio Gemisto Pleton had lived at the court of Theodore II. He was an ancient Hellene resurrected; a late Neoplatonist from the school of Proclus, and a fantastical admirer of the ancient gods; the Italian humanists that followed him were similar to some extent… Pleton’s idea to turn back the clock of world history a thousand years after Julian the Apostate, to revive the belief in gods and demigods as a mystical allegorical cult of his invention, and to replace the Christian religion with a dreamlike mixture of Zoroaster’s teachings, Brahmanism, Plato, Porphirius and Proclus – why, this idea clearly verged on insanity” ([195], page 308).

90b. “Ancient” Greece. The golden age of the “ancient” science. What we encounter here is the “ancient” epoch considered to be the “golden age” of literature and science in the “ancient” Greece. Here we find Herodotus, Thucydides, Socrates, Plato etc.

91a. The despotate of Mystras in the XV century a.d. This is the epoch when the famous mediaeval despotate of Mystras (Mistra) had flourished ([195], pages 306-307).

91b. “Ancient” Greece. The famous polis of Sparta. The famous Sparta was a military state of the despotic type.

Commentary. Gregorovius once again cannot fail to point out the self-implying parallelisms, noting that “Mystras, or Sparta [sic! – A. F.] becomes the political and spiritual stronghold of Hellenism… the remnants of the Spartan antiquity still resonated with the memory of the age of Licurgus and Leonidas, Pausanias and Agesilaus” ([195], pages 307-308).

92a. The Platonic Academy in the XV century a.d. The mediaeval Platonic academy is supposed to have been “revived” by Gemisto Pleton. He is responsible for the following: “it seems that Gemisto had founded an academy or a sect of some sort. Amongst his students (if not adepts of his mystical religious philosophy) were such prominent Platonists [sic! - A. F.] as Manuel Chrysoloras and Bessarion… in the time of the Florentine Union he was the first to proclaim the glory and the greatness of Plato, having… affected Cosimo de Medici to such an extent that the very idea of founding the Platonic Academy in Florence [sic! - A. F] owes its naissance to the latter for the most part” ([195], pages 308-309).

92b. “Ancient” Greece. Plato’s Academy. The “ancient Plato” founds the famous Academy.

93a. Middle Ages in the XV century a.d. The incinerated work of Pleton entitled The Doctrine of Statehood was his primary masterpiece ([195], page 309, comment 1). It is presumed that it did not survive until our day and age due to having been incinerated ([195], page 309).

93b. “Ancient” Greece. Plato’s Republic. Unlike its mediaeval counterpart, Plato’s “ancient” tractate entitled The Republic managed to reach our day through many centuries quite unperturbed, escaping death in the numerous fires of the “dark ages” of European history.

Commentary. It is most likely that the “ancient” Republic is really the allegedly incinerated work of Gemisto Pleton. He is also supposed to have been the author of the tractate On the Differences between the Philosophies of Plato and Aristotle ([195], page 309). If this book is really his and not a work of his followers, Gemisto Pleton may have written about the differences between his own philosophy and that of Aristotle. Likewise “the ancient Plato”, the mediaeval Gemisto Pleton tries to bring his abstract political ideas concerning the organization of an “ideal state” into practical realization ([195], page 309).

We can formulate the following consideration as a summary of the above: the “ancient Plato” of the alleged V century b.c., as well as the “ancient Plotinus” of the alleged III century a.d. are both phantom reflections of Gemisto Pleton from the XV century a.d. Those who wish to see the sepulchre of the famous “ancient Plato” can visit the Rimini Cathedral, where the tomb of Gemisto Pleton is located. However, it remains to be seen whether the “tomb of Gemisto Pleton” demonstrated to us today is genuine.