John Argyropoulos

John Argyropoulos
Ἰωάννης Ἀργυρόπουλος

John Argyropoulos as depicted by Domenico Ghirlandaio in 1481 in the Vocation of the Apostles fresco in the Sistine Chapel, Rome.[1][2][3][4]
Born Ioannis Argiropoulos
1415
Constantinople, Byzantine Empire
Died 1487
Florence, Republic of Florence
Alma mater University of Padua
(Theol. Dr., 1444)
Era Renaissance philosophy
Region Western Philosophy
School Renaissance philosophy
Aristotelianism
Institutions University of Constantinople[5]
Main interests
 Rhetoric, theology

John Argyropoulos (Greek: Ἰωάννης Ἀργυρόπουλος, Ioannis Argiropoulos, Italian: Giovanni Argiropulo, surname also spelt Argyropulus, or Argyropulos, or Argyropulo; 1415 – 26 June 1487) was a Greek[7] lecturer, philosopher and humanist, one of the émigré scholars who pioneered the revival of Classical learning in Western Europe in the 15th century.[8] He played a prominent role in the revival of Greek philosophy in Italy[9] and translated Greek philosophical and theological works into Latin besides producing rhetorical and theological works of his own. He divided his time between Italy and Constantinople.

Biography

Early life

John Argyropoulos was born in 1415, in Constantinople. He is of Greek extraction.[10][11]

Education and career

Argyropoulos studied theology and philosophy in Constantinople. As a teacher there he had amongst his pupils the scholar Constantine Lascaris. He was an official in the service of one of the rulers of the Byzantine Morea and was sent on a diplomatic mission to Italy in 1439 to attend the Council of Florence.[12]

In 1444, he received a Doctor of Theology degree from the University of Padua[13][14] before returning to Constantinople.[15]

When Constantinople fell in 1453, he left it for the Peloponnesus and in 1456, took refuge in Italy, where he worked as a teacher in the revival of Greek philosophy in the universities of Padua, Florence and Rome and as head of the Greek department at Florence’s ‘Florentine Studium’ university.[16][17][18] In 1471, on the outbreak of the plague, he moved to Rome, where he continued to act as a teacher of Greek till his death.[19]

He made efforts to transport Greek philosophy to Western Europe. He had students such as Pietro de' Medici and Lorenzo de' Medici, Angelo Poliziano and Johann Reuchlin.

It is well known that students hailing from different parts of Europe came to see and hear him at those classes, when he taught Greek and philosophy courses. Leonardo da Vinci probably attended the lectures of Argyropoulos.[20] He was a member of the Byzantine delegation to the Council of Ferrara-Florence and left a number of Latin translations, including many of Aristotle's works. His principal works were translations of the following portions of Aristotle, Categoriae, De Interpretatione, Analytica Posteriora, Physica, De Caelo, De Anima, Metaphysica, Ethica Nicomachea, Politica; and an Expositio Ethicorum Aristotelis. Several of his writings exist still in manuscript.[19]

Death

He died on June 26, 1487 in Florence, supposedly of consuming too much watermelon.[21]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Sleptzoff, L. M. (1978). Men or supermen?: The Italian portrait in the fifteenth century. Magnes Press. p. 68. OCLC 4331192. Cf. E. Steinmann, Ghirlandaio, Leipzig, 1897, pp. 18-21, and pl. 10 and 13, who recognizes, among the members of the Florentine colony in Rome, Argyropoulos and Giovanni Tornabuoni. 88. See Steinmann, op. cit., p. 40 ff.
  2. ↑ Burnell, Frederic Spencer (1930). Rome. Longmans, Green & co. p. 217. OCLC 7141638. We may perhaps recognize, in the group on the right, the bearded head of the famous Greek scholar, Argyropoulos, and, immediately to the left, the wealthy banker, Giovanni Tornabuoni
  3. ↑ Marle, Raimond van; Marle, Charlotte van (1923). The development of the Italian schools of painting, Volume 13. M. Nijhoff. p. 30. OCLC 162830458. Among the portraits Herr Steinmann has succeeded in recognizing the Greek, Jean Argyropoulos, commentator of Aristotle, who is the old man with a long beard, the papal treasurer, Giovanni Tornabuoni ... he is the clean-shaven man to the right of Argyropoulos while the oldest of the three boys might be Lorenzo, the son of Giovanni Tornabuoni.
  4. ↑ Davies, Gerald Stanley (1909). Ghirlandaio. Methuen and co. p. 53. OCLC 192133437. Next to him a greybearded man with a flat hat, seen only head and shoulders, is with tolerable certainty recognised as the Greek humanist, Johannes Argyropulos, the translator into Italian of Aristotle. He had been invited by Cosimo dei Medici
  5. ↑ Spyros Panagopoulos, "Higher Education in Byzantium"
  6. 1 2 3 John Argyropoulos at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
  7. ↑ Doby, Tibor (1963). Discoverers of blood circulation: from Aristotle to the times of da Vinci and Harvey. Abelard-Schuman. p. 252. OCLC 315911202.
  8. ↑ "John Argyropoulos.". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 2009-10-02. John Argyropoulos Byzantine educator born 1415, Constantinople [now Istanbul, Turkey] died June 26, 1487, Rome, Papal States [Italy] Byzantine humanist and active promoter of the revival of Classical learning in the West.
  9. ↑ Rabil, Albert (1991). Knowledge, goodness, and power: the debate over nobility among quattrocento Italian humanists. Medieval & Renaissance Texts & Studies. p. 197. ISBN 0-86698-100-4. John Argyropoulos (c. 1415-87) played a prominent role in the revival of Greek philosophy in Italy. He came to Italy permanently in 1457 and held
  10. ↑ Masters, Roger D. (1999). Fortune Is a River: Leonardo Da Vinci and Niccolo Machiavelli's Magnificent Dream to Change the Course of Florentine History. Plume. p. 55. ISBN 0-452-28090-7. Cosimo was also a lover and exalter of literary men; he therefore brought Argyropoulos to Florence, a man of Greek birth and very learned for those times, so that Florentine youth might learn from him
  11. ↑ Magnus, Laurie; Boas, Frederick Samuel (1934). A history of European literature. I. Nicholson and Watson. p. 72. OCLC 1614734. Foremost among the interpreters was the Greek, Johannes Argyropoulos, who lectured in Florence to Politian and in Rome to Johann
  12. ↑ "John Argyropoulos.". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 2009-10-02. John Argyropoulos Argyropoulos divided his time between Italy and Constantinople; he was in Italy (1439) for the Council of Florence and spent some time teaching and studying in Padua, earning a degree in 1443.
  13. ↑ Spyr. P. Lampros, Argyropouleia, published: P.D. Sakellariou, 1910, p. liii.
  14. ↑ Jonathan Woolfson, Padua and the Tudors: English Students in Italy, 1485-1603', James Clarke & Co, 1998, p. 4.
  15. ↑ Grendler, Paul F; Renaissance Society of America (1999). Encyclopedia of the Renaissance: Galen-Lyon Volume 3. Scribner's published in association with the Renaissance Society of America. p. 86. ISBN 0-684-80510-3. Another Greek, John Argyropoulos (1415-1487), received a degree from the University of Padua in 1444 and then returned to Constantinople
  16. ↑ Hancock, Lee (2005). Lorenzo de' Medici: Florence's great leader and patron of the arts. The Rosen Publishing Group. p. 35. ISBN 9781404203150. He learned Greek from Johannis Argyropoulos (circa 1416-1486), who was the head of the Greek department at the city’s university, called Florentine Studium.
  17. ↑ "John Argyropoulos.". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 2009-10-02. When Constantinople fell in 1453 he left it for the Peloponnese and in 1456 took refuge in Italy.
  18. ↑ Rabil, Albert (1991). Knowledge, goodness, and power: the debate over nobility among quattrocento Italian humanists. Medieval & Renaissance Texts & Studies. p. 197. ISBN 0-86698-100-4.
  19. 1 2 Chisholm 1911.
  20. ↑ This conclusion is based on researches such as
    • Deno John Geanakoplos in Constantinople and the West: Essays on the Late Byzantine (Paleologan) and Italian Renaissances and the Byzantine and Roman Churches, University of Wisconsin Press, 1989,
    • Fotis Vassileiou and Barbara Saribalidou in "John Argyropoulos teacher of Leonardo Da Vinci", Philosophy Pathways 117, 2006,
    • Charles Nicholl, Leonardo Da Vinci: The Flights of the Mind, 2005,
    • Fotis Vassileiou & Barbara Saribalidou, "Short Biographical Lexicon of Byzantine Academics Immigrants to Western Europe", 2007.
  21. ↑ Harris, Jonathan, The End of Byzantium (Yale University Press, 2011), p. 252.
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