The pure sciences

it was in the domain of philosophy and theology that many creative intellectuals sought the essence of human existence. However, the disagreements among them were linked with the current political and social events and problems. The intellectuals themselves thus became involved in disputes, which developed into stormy social conflicts (as in the case of the hesychast movement and the controversy over the Union of the Churches). In the field of literature, among the most outstanding personalities were Demetrios Triklinios, Manuel Moschopoulos, Thomas Magistros and Maximos Planoudes, all of whom lived in the 14th century , and George Gemistos Plethon who lived in the 15th century. They compiled lexicons of ancient Greek and copied or commented on the poems of Homer and many other classical works, such as Ptolemy's Geography and Plutarch's Greek Anthology, which otherwise would not have survived. Moreover, they republished poetic works written by Hesiod and Pindar, the tragedies of Euripides and Sophocles and the comedies of Aristophanes with comments which are still considered apt and pertinent.