Cyriacus of Ancona

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Cyriacus on a fresco from 1459.
Cyriacus on a relief.
A Greek text written by Cyriacus in 1436. Manuscript Berlin, State Library, Gr. quarto 89, fol. 22v

Cyriacus of Ancona ( Latin Ciriacus Anconitanus , Italian Ciriaco de 'Pizzicolli ; * around 1391 in Ancona , † around 1455 in Cremona ) was an Italian merchant and humanist . He is considered one of the forerunners of modern classical archeology and one of the first epigraphers . His first studies were on the Arch of Trajan in Ancona . Cyriacus copied numerous ancient Greek and Latin inscriptions. Many ancient texts have come down only through him. His important work was highlighted by the 19th century Italian archaeologist Giovanni Battista de Rossi .

As a merchant, Cyriacus of Ancona traveled to Adrianople , Constantinople , Propontis , the North Aegean , the Cyclades , Crete , Chios , Miletus , Lesbos , the Peloponnese and Epiros between 1412 and 1454 . He visited the Hagia Sophia , the Athens Acropolis and the ruins of Delphi , among others . Everywhere he made drawings and copies of inscriptions in order to save the ancient artifacts from oblivion. However, he did not publish his notes during his lifetime.

Cyriacus was the first to identify the ruins near a monastery in central Albania as the remains of the ancient city of Apollonia .

Cyriacus was immortalized literarily by Fritz von Herzmanovsky-Orlando in his grotesque and fantastic novel Maskenspiel der Genien, published posthumously in 1958 .

Source editions

  • Francesco Scalamonti: Vita viri clarissimi et famosissimi Kyriaci Anconitani. Edited by Charles Mitchell, Edward W. Bodnar. American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia 1996, ISBN 0-87169-864-1 (edition of the Latin text and English translation)
  • Francesco Scalamonti: The Life of Cyriac of Ancona. In: Charles Mitchell, Edward W. Bodnar, Clive Foss (Eds.): Cyriac of Ancona: Life and Early Travels. Harvard University Press, Cambridge (Massachusetts) 2015, ISBN 978-0-674-59920-8 (pp. 1–171 Latin text and English translation of Scalamonti's vita, pp. 265–303 other sources)

Editions of works and translations

  • Charles Mitchell, Edward W. Bodnar, Clive Foss (Eds.): Cyriac of Ancona: Life and Early Travels (= The I Tatti Renaissance Library. Vol. 65). Harvard University Press, Cambridge (Massachusetts) 2015, ISBN 978-0-674-59920-8 , pp. 173-253, 273-291 (Latin text and English translation of several letters from and to Cyriacus and the De Pontiano Taraconensium regis conflictu navali commentarium )
  • Edward W. Bodnar (Ed.): Cyriac of Ancona: Later travels (= The I Tatti Renaissance Library. Vol. 10). Harvard University Press, Cambridge (Massachusetts) 2003, ISBN 0-674-00758-1 (Latin text and English translation)
  • Edward W. Bodnar, Charles Mitchell (ed.): Cyriacus of Ancona's journeys in the Propontis and the Northern Aegean, 1444-1445 (= Memoirs of the American Philosophical Society. Vol. 112). American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia 1976, ISBN 0-87169-112-4

literature

  • Edward W. Bodnar: Cyriacus of Ancona and Athens (= Collection Latomus. Vol. 43, ZDB -ID 129900-1 ). Latomus, Bruxelles-Berchem 1960.
  • M. Chatzidakis: Ciriaco d'Ancona and the discovery of Greece in the 15th century. (= Cyriacus. Studies on the Reception of Antiquity, 9). Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2016.
  • Jean Colin: Cyriaque d'Ancône. Le voyageur, le marchand, l'humaniste. Maloine, Paris 1981, ISBN 2-224-00683-7 .
  • G. Grimm: Cyriacus von Ancona , in: Biographisches Lexikon zur Geschichte Südosteuropas . Vol. 1. Munich 1974, p. 355 f.
  • Anna Mastrogianni: Cyriacus in Thrace. In: Ludwig Braun (Ed.): Album Alumnorum. Gualthero Ludwig. Septimum decimum lustrum emenso. Dedicatum. Königshausen & Neumann, Würzburg 2014, ISBN 978-3-8260-5365-8 , pp. 251–288.
  • Gianfranco Paci, Sergio Sconocchia (ed.): Ciriaco d'Ancona e la cultura antiquaria dell'Umanesimo. Atti del convegno internazionale di studio, Ancona, 6-9 February 1992 (= Collana Progetto Adriatico. Vol. 2). Edizioni Diabasis, Reggio Emilia 1998, ISBN 88-8103-031-4 .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Diana Gilliland Wright: To Tell You Something Special . January 2012. Retrieved March 26, 2012.
  2. ^ Gabriele Baldelli: Su due pretesi ritratti anconetani di Ciriaco Pizzecolli e Francesco Scalamonti. In: Sconocchia Paci (ed.): Ciriaco d'Ancona e la cultura antiquaria dell'Umanesimo. 1998, pp. 383-394; Diana Gilliland Wright: To Tell You Something Special . January 2012. Retrieved March 26, 2012.
  3. ↑ Cyriac of Ancona was the most enterprising and prolific recorder of Greek and Roman antiquities, particularly inscriptions, in the fifteenth century, and the general accuracy of his records entitles him to be called the founding father of modern classical archeology ; Edward W. Bodnar, Later travels, with Clive Foss (2004) ISBN 9780674007581
personal data
SURNAME Cyriacus of Ancona
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ciriaco de 'Pizzicolli
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian businessman and humanist
DATE OF BIRTH around 1391
PLACE OF BIRTH Ancona
DATE OF DEATH around 1455
Place of death Cremona