Through the Eyes of the Greeks: Byzantine Émigrés and the Study of Greek in the Renaissance
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Federica Ciccolella
Abstract
The migration of Byzantine scholars to Italy in the fifteenth century was fundamental for the development of Renaissance culture. However, in spite of the receptive climate prompted by Manuel Chrysoloras’s teaching in Florence and the Council of Ferrara-Florence, and in spite of the sympathy caused by the fate of Constantinople, the condition of Greek emigres was difficult. Five academic prolusions in defence of Greek studies, composed in Latin by four emigres who taught in fifteenth-century Italy, provide important information about Western humanism as seen through Byzantine eyes. This paper focuses on the earliest of these orations, the one Theodore Gazes delivered in Ferrara in 1446. Gazes’ oration sheds light on the author’s sense of national and cultural identity and attitude toward Western culture; at the same time, it provides information on the status of Greek studies in Italy during the second half of the fifteenth century.
Abstract
The migration of Byzantine scholars to Italy in the fifteenth century was fundamental for the development of Renaissance culture. However, in spite of the receptive climate prompted by Manuel Chrysoloras’s teaching in Florence and the Council of Ferrara-Florence, and in spite of the sympathy caused by the fate of Constantinople, the condition of Greek emigres was difficult. Five academic prolusions in defence of Greek studies, composed in Latin by four emigres who taught in fifteenth-century Italy, provide important information about Western humanism as seen through Byzantine eyes. This paper focuses on the earliest of these orations, the one Theodore Gazes delivered in Ferrara in 1446. Gazes’ oration sheds light on the author’s sense of national and cultural identity and attitude toward Western culture; at the same time, it provides information on the status of Greek studies in Italy during the second half of the fifteenth century.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Preface V
- Contents VII
- List of figures IX
- Introduction 1
- Through the Eyes of the Greeks: Byzantine Émigrés and the Study of Greek in the Renaissance 9
- Janus Lascaris’ Florentine Oration and the ‘Reception’ of Ancient Aeolism 27
- Manuel Calecas’ Grammar: Its Use and Contribution to the Learning of Greek in Western Europe 51
- Issues in Translation: Plutarch’s Moralia Translated from Greek into Latin by Iacopo d’Angelo 67
- Translating from Greek (and Latin) into Latin: Niccolò Perotti and Plutarch’s On the Fortune of the Romans 79
- Humanist Translations and Rewritings: Lucian’s Encomium of the Fly between Guarino and Alberti 95
- Cardinal Bessarion and the Introduction of Plato to the Latin West 109
- The Reception of Aeschylus in Sixteenth-Century Italy: The Case of Coriolano Martirano’s Prometheus Bound (1556) 125
- Rethinking the Birth of French Tragedy 143
- ‘Pantagruel, tenent un Heliodore Grec en main [...] sommeilloit’: Reading the Aethiopica in Sixteenth-Century France 157
- From Greek to the Greeks: Homer (and Pseudo-Homer) in the Greco-Venetian Context between the Late Fifteenth and Early Sixteenth Century 175
- The Wanderings of a Greek Manuscript from Byzantium to Aldus’ Printing House and Beyond: The Story of the Aristotle Ambr. B 7 inf. 195
- The Reception of Horace’s Odes in the First Book of Marcantonio Flaminio’s Carmina 213
- Orazio Romano’s Porcaria (1453): Humanist Epic between Classical Legacy and Contemporary History 233
- List of Contributors 253
- Index 255
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Preface V
- Contents VII
- List of figures IX
- Introduction 1
- Through the Eyes of the Greeks: Byzantine Émigrés and the Study of Greek in the Renaissance 9
- Janus Lascaris’ Florentine Oration and the ‘Reception’ of Ancient Aeolism 27
- Manuel Calecas’ Grammar: Its Use and Contribution to the Learning of Greek in Western Europe 51
- Issues in Translation: Plutarch’s Moralia Translated from Greek into Latin by Iacopo d’Angelo 67
- Translating from Greek (and Latin) into Latin: Niccolò Perotti and Plutarch’s On the Fortune of the Romans 79
- Humanist Translations and Rewritings: Lucian’s Encomium of the Fly between Guarino and Alberti 95
- Cardinal Bessarion and the Introduction of Plato to the Latin West 109
- The Reception of Aeschylus in Sixteenth-Century Italy: The Case of Coriolano Martirano’s Prometheus Bound (1556) 125
- Rethinking the Birth of French Tragedy 143
- ‘Pantagruel, tenent un Heliodore Grec en main [...] sommeilloit’: Reading the Aethiopica in Sixteenth-Century France 157
- From Greek to the Greeks: Homer (and Pseudo-Homer) in the Greco-Venetian Context between the Late Fifteenth and Early Sixteenth Century 175
- The Wanderings of a Greek Manuscript from Byzantium to Aldus’ Printing House and Beyond: The Story of the Aristotle Ambr. B 7 inf. 195
- The Reception of Horace’s Odes in the First Book of Marcantonio Flaminio’s Carmina 213
- Orazio Romano’s Porcaria (1453): Humanist Epic between Classical Legacy and Contemporary History 233
- List of Contributors 253
- Index 255
