Johannes Sarracenus

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Johannes Sarracenus was a 12th century scholar about whose circumstances little is known. He became known only through his translation of the writings of Pseudo-Dionysius Areopagita from Greek into Latin.

Life

John Sarracenus may have been a friend of John of Salisbury . Presumably he was commenting on the Heavenly Hierarchy of Ps.-Dionysius around 1140 . This comment has probably been preserved, but has not yet been printed.

Around 1167 Johannes Sarracenus probably made his revision of the Dionysiaca translation by Eriugena . For this purpose he is said to have obtained Greek manuscripts in the Eastern Roman Empire. This translation was significant because knowledge of the Greek language was not widespread in western Europe and Dionysius’s Greek is particularly complex. In addition, the Carolingian translation by Eriugena, the most important up until John's activity, was not easy to understand. In contrast, Sarracenus succeeded in creating a clearly clearer version, which gradually became established, u. a. was already used by Albertus Magnus and then Thomas Aquinas and made possible the strong effect of the Dionysian work on European mysticism. The translation by Robert Grosseteste was not used until the 13th century, and that by Ambrosius Traversari in the 15th . Meister Eckhart, for example, may have read the Heavenly Hierarchies according to Eriugena, but the Divine Names according to Sarracenus and only occasionally according to Eriugena.

Johannes dedicated two of his translations to the abbot of the Saint-Denis monastery near Paris. According to his own statements, he traveled to Greece for research purposes and was inspired to do his work by John of Salisbury . It is believed that he lived in Poitiers for a time.

Works

  • Pseudo-Dionysius translation, in: Philippe Chevallier (Ed.): Dionysiaca. Recueil donnant l'ensemble des traditions latines des ouvrages attribués au Denys de l'Aréopagrite . Verlag Frommann-Holzboog, Stuttgart 1989 (4 vols., Reprint of the Bruges edition 1937/50).

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ G. Théry, lc
  2. ^ Classen, lc
  3. ^ Classen, lc
personal data
SURNAME Johannes Sarracenus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION translator
DATE OF BIRTH 12th Century
DATE OF DEATH 12th Century