Andronico Callisto

Andronico Callisto , Greek Ἀνδρόνικος Κάλλιστος (* around 1400 in Constantinople ; † between 1476 and 1487 in London ) was a Byzantine scholar and Graecist .

Life

According to the Romanist Emilio Bigi , Callisto was born in the first years of the 15th century. While Christian Gottlieb Jöcher names Thessaloniki as the place of birth in his scholarly lexicon , Bigi joins the Byzantinist Silvio Giuseppe Mercati , according to whom Callisto was born in Constantinople. Callisto could already have met Theodorus Gaza and Francesco Filelfo there.

Emigration to Italy

Contrary to Jöcher's assumption that Callisto fled from the Turks to Italy in 1453, Bigi considers it more likely that Callisto traveled to Italy for the Council of Ferrara / Florence as early as 1438 . According to Bigi, it is also fitting that Vespasiano da Bisticci speaks of an extremely learned Greek who is said to have lived with Johannes Argyropulos in the house of Palla Strozzi in Padua between 1441 and 1444 .

Between 1453 and 1455 Callisto moved to Bologna, where in 1458 he took over a teaching position for ancient Greek language and literature at the University of Bologna , which he held until 1466. In 1459 Callisto interrupted his teaching for three years to settle again in Padua near the house of Palla Strozzi. There Callisto dealt with the philosophers Plato and Aristotle , the latter he also defended in a pamphlet against Michael Apostolios . Callisto refrained from personal attacks in his work and therefore found approval from Cardinal Bessarion , who wanted to put an end to the philosophical disputes.

In 1466 Callistos gave up his position in Bologna to go to Rome. There he had the opportunity to meet Niccolò Perotti and Bartolomeo Platina , both friends of Bessarion , in addition to Gaza . On his initiative Callisto finally went to Florence as the successor of Argyropoulos , where he resumed his teaching activities and translated the Argonautica of Apollonios of Rhodes into Italian. Johann Christoph Adelung and Heinrich Wilhelm Rotermund suspect in 1784 that Callisto was also Andronicus Byzantinus, whose manuscripts are preserved in the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana in Florence.

Emigration to England

Callisto, who was poor all his life, moved to Milan in 1475, probably in the hope of a more lucrative post. There he sold the manuscripts he had in order to be able to pay for the travel money to France. Callisto taught at the University of Paris for a short time and then traveled on to London, where he arrived in March 1476.

It is certain that Callisto died in London, so Mercati puts the scholar's death at any time after 1476. Bigi reduces this period by giving 1487 as the latest possible year of death. According to Jöcher, Callisto died "at a very old age".

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o Emilio Bigi : ANDRONICO Callisto . In: Roberto Abbondanza, Fiorella Bartoccini, Mario Cavarale, Alberto Maria Ghisalberti (eds.): Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani . tape 3 : Ammirato - Arcoleo. Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome 1961 ( treccani.it ).
↑ ^a ^b ^c Christian Gottlieb Jöcher : ANDRONICUS Callistus . In: Christian Gottlieb Jöcher (Hrsg.): Allgemeine Gelehrten-Lexicon . First part: A - C. Johann Friedrich Gledithens Buchhandlung, Leipzig 1750, Sp. 401-402 ( google.at ).
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Silvio Giuseppe Mercati : ANDRONICO Callisto . In: Giovanni Gentile (Ed.): Enciclopedia Italiana di scienze, lettere ed arti . tape 3 : Ammo - Arbi. Giovanni Treccani, Milan 1929 ( treccani.it ).
^ Johann Christoph Adelung , Heinrich Wilhelm Rotermund : Andronicus Callistus . In: Johann Christoph Adelung, Heinrich Wilhelm Rotermund (Hrsg.): General learned lexicon: continuation and additions to Christian Gottlieb Joecher's general learned lexicon . tape 1 : A and B. Gleditsch, Leipzig 1784, p. 156 .

personal data
SURNAME	Callisto, Andronico
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Byzantine scholar and Graecist
DATE OF BIRTH	around 1400
PLACE OF BIRTH	Constantinople
DATE OF DEATH	between 1476 and 1487
Place of death	London

[:0-1] ↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o Emilio Bigi : ANDRONICO Callisto . In: Roberto Abbondanza, Fiorella Bartoccini, Mario Cavarale, Alberto Maria Ghisalberti (eds.): Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani . tape 3 : Ammirato - Arcoleo. Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome 1961 ( treccani.it ).

[:1-2] Christian Gottlieb Jöcher : ANDRONICUS Callistus . In: Christian Gottlieb Jöcher (Hrsg.): Allgemeine Gelehrten-Lexicon . First part: A - C. Johann Friedrich Gledithens Buchhandlung, Leipzig 1750, Sp. 401-402 ( google.at ).

[:2-3] Silvio Giuseppe Mercati : ANDRONICO Callisto . In: Giovanni Gentile (Ed.): Enciclopedia Italiana di scienze, lettere ed arti . tape 3 : Ammo - Arbi. Giovanni Treccani, Milan 1929 ( treccani.it ).

[4] Johann Christoph Adelung , Heinrich Wilhelm Rotermund : Andronicus Callistus . In: Johann Christoph Adelung, Heinrich Wilhelm Rotermund (Hrsg.): General learned lexicon: continuation and additions to Christian Gottlieb Joecher's general learned lexicon . tape 1 : A and B. Gleditsch, Leipzig 1784, p. 156 .