John Chortasmenos

Johannes Chortasmenos (Greek Ιωάννης Χορτασμένος, also Ignatios of Selymbria ; * around 1370; † 1431) was a Byzantine polymath and metropolitan of Selymbria .

Chortasmenos initially worked as a private teacher of philosophy and also taught subjects of the quadrivium , especially geometry. His students included Markos Eugenikos , Bessarion , Georgios Scholarios and Johannes Argyropulos . From 1391 to 1415 he was a notary at the Patriarchate Chancellery of Constantinople . Later Chortasmenos became a monk and took the monk name Ignatios. He was made Metropolitan of Selymbria.

Chortasmenos was an avid collector, copyist and restorer of manuscripts and was involved in palaeography . Around three dozen manuscripts from his possession are known. On behalf of the monk Nathanael of the Petra monastery, he restored the magnificent manuscript of the Wiener Dioskurides from around 512 in 1406 . Transcriptions of the Greek Bible major in minuscule come from him ; he numbered the sheets, rearranged them, and made a new cover.

The best-known work of the Chortasmenos are his Prolegomena to the Logic of Aristotle , an introduction to a compilation of logical texts conceived as a textbook, which was intended as an introduction to logic. He took the material mainly from Neoplatonic commentaries on Aristotle. He also wrote a book of moral advice, prolegomena on rhetoric, writings on grammar, mathematics and astronomy as well as letters, poems and speeches. He is also said to have written a chronicle.

Text output

Herbert Hunger : Johannes Chortasmenos (approx. 1370 - approx. 1436/37). Letters, poems and small writings. Introduction, regesta, prosopography, text . Böhlau, Vienna 1969, ISBN 3-7001-0887-7 .

literature

Herbert Hunger: Johannes Chortasmenos. In: Lexicon of the Middle Ages . Volume 5: Hiera means to Lucania. Artemis & Winkler, Munich / Zurich 1991, ISBN 3-7608-8905-0 , Sp. 562 f.
Georgi Kapriev: Johannes Chortasmenos. In: Laurent Cesalli, Gerald Hartung (ed.): Outline of the history of philosophy . The philosophy of the Middle Ages. Volume 1: Byzantium, Judaism. Schwabe, Basel 2019, ISBN 978-3-7965-2623-7 , pp. 198, 287.

Remarks

^ Der Wiener Dioskurides: Codex medicus Graecus 1 of the Austrian National Library (= highlights of book art. Volume 8/1). Akademische Druck- und Verlagsanstalt, Graz 1998–1999, commentary on p. 10 f.
^ Georgi Kapriev: Johannes Chortasmenos. In: Laurent Cesalli, Gerald Hartung (ed.): Outline of the history of philosophy. The philosophy of the Middle Ages. Volume 1: Byzantium, Judaism. Basel 2019, p. 198.

personal data
SURNAME	Chortasmenos, Johannes
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Selymbria, Ignatios of
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Polymath
DATE OF BIRTH	around 1370
DATE OF DEATH	1436 or 1437

[1] Der Wiener Dioskurides: Codex medicus Graecus 1 of the Austrian National Library (= highlights of book art. Volume 8/1). Akademische Druck- und Verlagsanstalt, Graz 1998–1999, commentary on p. 10 f.

[2] Georgi Kapriev: Johannes Chortasmenos. In: Laurent Cesalli, Gerald Hartung (ed.): Outline of the history of philosophy. The philosophy of the Middle Ages. Volume 1: Byzantium, Judaism. Basel 2019, p. 198.