Marcello Gigante

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Marcello Gigante (born January 20, 1923 in Buccino near Salerno , † November 23, 2001 in Naples ) was an Italian classical philologist and papyrologist .

Life

Marcello Gigante studied Classical Philology at the University of Naples Federico II . After receiving the Laureate in 1944 and his diploma in 1945, he worked from 1949 to 1960 as a high school teacher at the Liceo statale "Antonio Genovesi" in Naples. In 1951 he completed his habilitation at the University of Naples and received the libera docenza in Greek language and literature. From 1953 he held byzantine events at the University of Naples as a part-time lecturer . A grant from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation enabled him to do research in Germany in 1956/57.

In 1960 Gigante left school when the University of Trieste appointed him extraordinary professor of Byzantine philology. In 1963 he was promoted to full professor. In 1968 he returned to the University of Naples as professor for Greek and Latin grammar. In 1981 he changed to the chair of Greek literature at the same university , which he held until his retirement . From 1982 until his death he was President of the Associazione Italiana di Cultura Classica . Since 1983 he has edited the series Studi Italiani di Filologia Classica with Umberto Albini .

Marcello Gigante has been a corresponding member of the British Academy since 1984, of the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences since 1985, and of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences since 1988 . In 1991 he was appointed a member of the Academy of Athens . The University of Athens awarded him an honorary doctorate in 1987.

Services

Gigante's main research interests were Epicurean philosophy, Byzantine studies and especially papyrology, with which he has been concerned since his student days. As early as 1948 he published an edition of the papyrus fragments on the history of Pentecontaetie , in 1949 a critical edition of the Hellenica Oxyrhynchia including commentary, which was also his doctoral thesis. Since his appointment to Naples in 1968, the Herculaneum papyri have become the focus of his work. He was particularly interested in the writings of the Epicurean Philodemus of Gadara , whose writings are mainly known from the papyrus finds at Herculaneum.

In order to institutionally promote research into the Herculanean papyri, Gigante founded the Centro Italiano per lo Studio dei Papiri Ercolanesi in Naples in 1969 . In the following years he developed it into an international meeting place for papyrological research. In 1971, Gigante founded the magazine Cronache Ercolanesi , which serves as a publication organ for the Centro.

In Byzantine studies, Gigante emerged from the 1950s as editor and commentator of the writings of Byzantine scholars who worked in Italy.

In addition to the above-mentioned focal points, Gigante dealt with Greek and Latin authors from antiquity and modern times and with the history of ideas from ancient times . His book Nomos Basileus , published in 1956 , in which he determined the Greek principle of nomos and traced its effect on Greek thought through ancient times, is considered a standard work. It was awarded the Premio Ministeriale per le Scienze Filosofiche in 1957 and was translated into English in 1979. It appeared in 1993 in a revised and expanded form.

Fonts

  • Nomos Basileus . Edizioni Glaux, Naples 1956. Revised and expanded new edition: Nomos Basileus. Con un'appendice . Bibliopolis, Naples 1993, ISBN 8-870-88282-9 .
  • Filodemo in Italia. Le Monnier, Firenze, 1990. English translation: Philodemus in Italy: The Books from Herculaneum . Translated by Dirk Obbink . Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1995. ISBN 0-472-10569-8 , online . Review by: Alan C. Mitchell, in: Bryn Mawr Classical Review 96.9.24, online

literature

  • Ernst Vogt : Marcello Gigante † . In: Gnomon . Volume 75 (2003), pp. 755–760 (with picture, basic bibliography and evidence of further obituaries)
  • Francesca Longo Auricchio: Marcello Gigante (1923-2001) . In: Mario Capasso (Ed.): Hermae. Scholars and Scholarship in Papyrology . Pisa 2007, pp. 347–355 (with picture)

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Gigante, Marcello
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian classical philologist and papyrologist
DATE OF BIRTH January 20, 1923
PLACE OF BIRTH Buccino
DATE OF DEATH November 23, 2001
Place of death Naples