Members-only oddcast episode

Into the Hellenic Underground with Levan Gigineishvili

We discuss the question of a mediæval ‘Hellenic underground’ in which Psellos, Italos, and Petritsi might have participated, and look at how the Gelati monastic academy became, during Constantinople’s investment by the Latin crusaders, the foremost centre of Hellenic learning in the east, allowing Georgia to claim the mantle of ‘second Rome’ for herself. We then turn to the vexed question of the survival of Origenism in this eastern Orthodox milieu, and in Petritsi’s thought in particular: did our man believe in the pre-existence of souls and in universal salvation? Listen and find out. We finish with a textual discussion on the ways in which detailed study of Petritsi’s translation of the Elements is likely to affect Proclean studies in the coming period.