In 1458, just a few years after the death of Plethon, Michael Tarchaniota Marullus was born near the site of ancient Sparta in the Despotate of the Morea or in Constantinople. Both of Marullus's parents were Greek exiles who had fled from Constantinople when it fell to the Turks in 1453, and he always proudly called himself a Greek. Marullus was a poet and stratioti-soldier. Among his works, Marullus composed a collection of hymns, the "Hymni naturales," in which he celebrates the Olympian pantheon. Bartolomeo Scala, his father-in-law, was a member of the Platonic Academy in Florence, Italy.So, my good king of the gods,