Philology, Italian History - Social Aspects, Renaissance - History, Europe - Civilization, General & Miscellaneous Italian History, Humanism

From Byzantium to Italy

Name: From Byzantium to Italy
Author: Nigel Guy Wilson
ISBN: 9780801845635

by Wilson, N. G., Nigel Guy

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Overview

Which famous poet treasured his copy of Homer, but could never learn Greek? What prompted diplomats to circulate a speech by Demosthenes - in Latin translation - when the Turks threatened to invade Europe? Why would enthusiastic Florentines crowd a lecture on the Roman Neoplatonist Plotinus, but underestimate the importance of Plato himself? Having all but disappeared from western literacy during the Middle Ages, classical Greek would recover a position of importance - eventually equal to that of classical Latin - only after a series of surprising failures, chance encounters, and false starts. From Byzantium to Italy offers a detailed account of the rediscovery and growing influence of classical Greek scholarship in Italy from the fourteenth to the early sixteenth centuries. Continuing the story he began in his acclaimed study, Scholars of Byzantium, N.G. Wilson describes how the classical heritage preserved by the Byzantines was transmitted to a vigorous culture, first in fourteenth-century Florence and then throughout Italy. Wilson recounts the early attempts of Petrarch and Boccaccio to master Greek and the efforts of the Byzantine diplomat Chrysoloras to simplify the teaching of the language. He chronicles the work of Bruni and other translators as well as important teachers such as Vittorino, Guarino, Filelfo, and Politian. He also follows the spread of Greek studies to cities throughout Italy, including Padua, Bologna, Ferrara, Messina, Rome and Venice. Wilson concludes with the death of Aldus Manutius, the great publisher of Greek texts. From a leading authority on Greek palaeography in the English-speaking world, here is a complete account of the historic rediscovery of Greek philosophy, language, and literature during the Renaissance.

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Wilson (classics, Oxford U.) continues the chronicle of Greek studies in Renaissance Italy that he began in Scholars of Byzantium. He describes how the classical heritage preserved by the Byzantines was transmitted to 14th-century Florence, and spread slowly to other centers of learning in Italy by the 16th century; the difficulty of Petrarch, Boccaccio, and others in learning Greek; attempts to simplify the language and its teaching; and others aspects. Not illustrated. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)