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From Greek to the Greeks: Homer (and Pseudo-Homer) in the Greco-Venetian Context between the Late Fifteenth and Early Sixteenth Century

  • Caterina Carpinato
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Making and Rethinking the Renaissance
This chapter is in the book Making and Rethinking the Renaissance

Abstract

In the years following the print revolution, Greek intellectuals adopted the new medium in order to convey the Greek literary heritage to a wider audience. One of the first (if not actually the first) Greek literary texts to be printed was the Batrachomyomachia, published in Brescia in 1474: the poem was printed at least three times during the second half of the fifteenth century (1474, 1486, 1488) and the first decades of the sixteenth century. It was also published in a vernacular Greek version (1539?). In 1526 Nikolaos Loukanis published a poetical reworking of the Iliad in Greek that included a poem about the fall of Troy. The use and re-use of the Homeric heritage by Greeks who had settled in Venice is symptomatic of reflection on the use of the spoken language and of vernacular literature amongst Greek scholars in the West.

Abstract

In the years following the print revolution, Greek intellectuals adopted the new medium in order to convey the Greek literary heritage to a wider audience. One of the first (if not actually the first) Greek literary texts to be printed was the Batrachomyomachia, published in Brescia in 1474: the poem was printed at least three times during the second half of the fifteenth century (1474, 1486, 1488) and the first decades of the sixteenth century. It was also published in a vernacular Greek version (1539?). In 1526 Nikolaos Loukanis published a poetical reworking of the Iliad in Greek that included a poem about the fall of Troy. The use and re-use of the Homeric heritage by Greeks who had settled in Venice is symptomatic of reflection on the use of the spoken language and of vernacular literature amongst Greek scholars in the West.

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Preface V
  3. Contents VII
  4. List of figures IX
  5. Introduction 1
  6. Through the Eyes of the Greeks: Byzantine Émigrés and the Study of Greek in the Renaissance 9
  7. Janus Lascaris’ Florentine Oration and the ‘Reception’ of Ancient Aeolism 27
  8. Manuel Calecas’ Grammar: Its Use and Contribution to the Learning of Greek in Western Europe 51
  9. Issues in Translation: Plutarch’s Moralia Translated from Greek into Latin by Iacopo d’Angelo 67
  10. Translating from Greek (and Latin) into Latin: Niccolò Perotti and Plutarch’s On the Fortune of the Romans 79
  11. Humanist Translations and Rewritings: Lucian’s Encomium of the Fly between Guarino and Alberti 95
  12. Cardinal Bessarion and the Introduction of Plato to the Latin West 109
  13. The Reception of Aeschylus in Sixteenth-Century Italy: The Case of Coriolano Martirano’s Prometheus Bound (1556) 125
  14. Rethinking the Birth of French Tragedy 143
  15. ‘Pantagruel, tenent un Heliodore Grec en main [...] sommeilloit’: Reading the Aethiopica in Sixteenth-Century France 157
  16. From Greek to the Greeks: Homer (and Pseudo-Homer) in the Greco-Venetian Context between the Late Fifteenth and Early Sixteenth Century 175
  17. The Wanderings of a Greek Manuscript from Byzantium to Aldus’ Printing House and Beyond: The Story of the Aristotle Ambr. B 7 inf. 195
  18. The Reception of Horace’s Odes in the First Book of Marcantonio Flaminio’s Carmina 213
  19. Orazio Romano’s Porcaria (1453): Humanist Epic between Classical Legacy and Contemporary History 233
  20. List of Contributors 253
  21. Index 255
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110660968-012

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Preface V
  3. Contents VII
  4. List of figures IX
  5. Introduction 1
  6. Through the Eyes of the Greeks: Byzantine Émigrés and the Study of Greek in the Renaissance 9
  7. Janus Lascaris’ Florentine Oration and the ‘Reception’ of Ancient Aeolism 27
  8. Manuel Calecas’ Grammar: Its Use and Contribution to the Learning of Greek in Western Europe 51
  9. Issues in Translation: Plutarch’s Moralia Translated from Greek into Latin by Iacopo d’Angelo 67
  10. Translating from Greek (and Latin) into Latin: Niccolò Perotti and Plutarch’s On the Fortune of the Romans 79
  11. Humanist Translations and Rewritings: Lucian’s Encomium of the Fly between Guarino and Alberti 95
  12. Cardinal Bessarion and the Introduction of Plato to the Latin West 109
  13. The Reception of Aeschylus in Sixteenth-Century Italy: The Case of Coriolano Martirano’s Prometheus Bound (1556) 125
  14. Rethinking the Birth of French Tragedy 143
  15. ‘Pantagruel, tenent un Heliodore Grec en main [...] sommeilloit’: Reading the Aethiopica in Sixteenth-Century France 157
  16. From Greek to the Greeks: Homer (and Pseudo-Homer) in the Greco-Venetian Context between the Late Fifteenth and Early Sixteenth Century 175
  17. The Wanderings of a Greek Manuscript from Byzantium to Aldus’ Printing House and Beyond: The Story of the Aristotle Ambr. B 7 inf. 195
  18. The Reception of Horace’s Odes in the First Book of Marcantonio Flaminio’s Carmina 213
  19. Orazio Romano’s Porcaria (1453): Humanist Epic between Classical Legacy and Contemporary History 233
  20. List of Contributors 253
  21. Index 255
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