RENAISSANCE GREEKS
.
.
.
.
George of Trebizond (1395 – 1486)
Greek philosopher and scholar, eenaissance pioneer.
Sample of his work: Commentary on Almagest (Ptolemy), book X
.
.
.
Cardinal Basilios Bessarion (1403-1472)
His library, which contained a very extensive collection of Greek manuscripts, was presented by him in 1468 to the senate of Venice, and forms the nucleus of the famous library of St Mark's, the Biblioteca Marciana.
*Just a hint of how important Bessarion has been....
http://www.hps.cam.ac.uk/starry/regiomontanus.html
.
.
.
Gemistus Pletho (1355-1452)
Greek Neoplatonist philosopher and scholar, one of the chief pioneers of the revival of Greek learning in Western Europe. His grave resides in Tempio Malatestiano Rimini.
Plethon quoted: «εσμέν Έλληνες το γένος, ως η τε φωνή και η πάτριος παιδεία μαρτυρεί»
en: «Hellenes we are in race, obvious by our voice and education»
.
.
.
Theodorus Gaza (Gazis) (1400-1475)
Greek humanist and translator of Aristotle, academic in the
university of
Ferrara, held position also in
Rome. One of the Greek scholars who were the leaders of the revival of learning in the 15th century
.
.
.
Manuel Chrysoloras (1355-1415)
One of the pioneers in introducing Greek literature to Western Europe.
Some notable students of his were the humanist scholar Leonardo Bruni, Ambrogio Traversari, Guarino da Verona and Pallas Strozzi.
.
.
.
John Argyropoulos (1415-1487)
Byzantine lecturer, philosopher and humanist during the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance.
Lectured at the
universities of
Padua.
Florence and
Rome. Some of his students include Lorenzo and Pietro de' medici and Leonardo Da Vinci.
.
.
.
Constantine Lascaris (1434 – 1501)
Greek scholar and grammarian, one of the promoters of the revival of Greek learning in the Italian peninsula.
Constantine Lascaris. Erotemata (1512)
After the fall of Constantinople, he took refuge first in Corfu and then in Italy, where Francesco Sforza, Duke of Milan, appointed him Greek tutor to his daughter. Here was published his Grammatica Graeca, being probably the first book entirely in Greek issued from the printing press, in 1476.
Other sources say that the first printed book in Greek has been Constantine Lascaris "Summary of the Eight Parts of Speech" also in 1476 in Milan by Dionysius Paravisinus.
*Note that the first book that was printed was the Gutenberg bible in 1454-55, just 21-22 years before the first printed book in Greek...
Lascaris bequeathed his library of valuable manuscripts to the senate of Messina; the collection was afterwards carried to Spain and lodged in the El Escorial library.
.
.
.
Janus (John) Lascaris (1445-1535)
Portrait of Janus Lascaris, standing at extreme left with beard, next to Leo X, by Raphael ca. 1515, from one of the Raphael Cartoons
Noted Greek scholar in the Renaissance. On the death of Bessarion, Lorenzo de' Medici welcomed him to Florence, where Lascaris gave Greek lectures on Thucydides, Demosthenes, Sophocles, and the Greek anthology. Lorenzo sent him twice to Greece in quest of manuscripts. When he returned the second time (1492) he brought back about two hundred from Mount Athos.
Meanwhile Lorenzo had died. Lascaris entered the service of France and was ambassador at Venice from 1503 to 1508, at which time he became a member of the Greek Academy of Aldus Manutius; but if the printer had the benefit of his advice, no Aldine work bears his name. He resided at Rome under Leo X, the first pope of the Medici family, from 1513 to 1518, returned under Clement VII in 1523, and Paul III in 1534.
In the meantime he had assisted Louis XII in forming the library of Blois, and when Francis I had it removed to Fontainebleau, Lascaris and Budé had charge of its organization.
.
.
.
Ioannis Kottounios (1572-1657)
He was a student at the Greek college of Ayios Athanasios in Rome (1605-1613). He studied medicine, Greek literature, theology and philosophy at Italian universities. He taught at the universities of Padua, Bologna and Pisa.
.
.
.
Marcus Musurus (1470–1517)
Greek scholar and philosopher. In 1505, Musurus was made professor of Greek language at the University of Padua. In 1516, Musurus was summoned to Rome by Pope Leo X, where he where he lectured in the pope's Gymnasium and established a Greek printing-press
.
.
.
Leo Allatius (Leone Allacci) (1586-1669)
Greek Catholic scholar and theologian. A graduate of the Greek College of St. Athanasius in Rome, he spent his career in Rome as teacher of Greek at the Greek college. Allacci became librarian to Cardinal Francesco Barberini, and
Pope Alexander VII appointed him custodian of the Vatican Library in 1661, which post he held until his death.
.
.
.
George Hermonymus (15th century)
Greek scribe, diplomat, scholar and lecturer. He was the first person to teach Greek at the
Collège de Sorbonne in
Paris.
Later, as a lecturer at the Sorbonne he took advantage of the vast collection of ancient Greek books in the libraries of Paris to start his scholarly activities. He became renowned as a teacher of Greek and among his pupils were Erasmus, Budaeus, Reuchlin and Jacques Lefèvre d'Étaples
Hermonymus was also involved in diplomacy. In 1475 he was sent to the Kingdom of England by Pope Sixtus IV, in order to lobby for the release of George Neville from imprisonment by Edward IV of England.
.
.
.
Andronicus ContoblacasGreek Renaissance humanist and scholar. He was a lecturer at the
University of
Basel in
Switzerland. He is noted for having been a teacher to Johann Reuchlin.
.
.
.
John Servopoulos (1484-1500)
Greek scribe and scholar. In 1484 he was living in England where he copied Greek manuscripts for a living. From 1489 he was apparently working from the abbey of Reading and he was active there until at least 1500. Some of his manuscripts may have been destined for students or teachers at the nearby University of Oxford. William Grocyn owned several of his manuscripts and so was probably one of his patrons.
.
.
.
Andronicus Callistus (15th century)
He worked as a professor in
Rome,
Bologna,
Florence and
Paris, although he also traveled extensively in northern Europe and eventually died in the Kingdom of England in 1476.
.
.
.
Nikolaos Loukanis (16th century)
Greek Rennaisance humanist. He worked in Venice where in 1526 he produced a translation of Homer's Iliad into modern Greek which is credited as one of the first literate texts published in Modern Greek since most Greek scholars wrote in the Koine.
http://www.davidbrassrarebooks.com/wp-content/plugins/wp-shopping-cart/single_book.php?sbook=791
.
.
.
Iakovos Trivolis (16th century)
Greek Renaissance humanist and historian. He published a historical work titled History of Tayiaperas and histories of the King of Scotia and the Queen of England in modern Greek, works sometimes credited as among the first to be published in that language since most Greek scholars wrote in the Koine.
.
.
.
Zacharias Kalliergis & Nikolaos Vlastos (15th-16th century)
Publishers
Some books of theirs
"Horologion" Venice 1509
"Selection of Attic verbs and names" Rome 1517
"Appendix to the ten categories of Aristotle" Venice 1499
.
.
.
Thomas Flanginis (1578-1648)
A laywer and merchant in Venice, who founded the Flanginion Frontisterion Greek college where many teachers were trained.
PS
There is a lot of academic bibliography on renaissance Greeks for further info.
The recorded important Greek scholars that are found in Europe, especially Italy during the renaissance are about 170...
Edited by Heliocles - 12-Jul-2008 at 22:31