The Enlightenment in modern Greece is, without exception, characterised in our recent literature as a period of outstanding significance for the cultural history of modern Hellenism. For those who research the character of contemporary Hellenism it is, moreover, a composite field of study which can only be approached with great difficulty. First and foremost, the period is, without doubt, one of great importance for our literature and for the history of the ideas underpinning our cultural life. In its entirety, however, it influenced the whole history of modern Greece and, in many respects, still today defines our thoughts and actions. The adoption of the ideas of the Enlightenment depended on the gigantic efforts of towering intellectuals, whose genius shone out from the fall of Constantinople right up to the middle of the 19th century. In respect of our cultural history, it continued and brought to a peak the endeavours of men of letters to assimilate Western philosophy during the last two centuries of the expiring Byzantine empire. Greek language text. 8 b&w illustrations.