Onorio Belli
Onorio Belli also Honorius Bellus (* mid-16th century in Vicenza ; † beginning of 1604 there ) was an Italian doctor and botanist of the late Renaissance .
He was born in Vicenza in the middle of the 16th century as the son of the doctor Elio Belli and was the grandson of the gem cutter Valerio Belli . He studied medicine, architecture and botany at the University of Padua . He was probably a student of Melchior Wieland . In 1579 he became a member of the Accademia Olimpica . In 1583 he accompanied the new Provveditore Alvise Antonio Grimani to Crete. There he devoted himself in his free time to researching the flora and archaeological sites of the island. Prospero Alpini supported him in studying plants. Onorio Belli was in contact with Melchior Wieland, Giacomo Antonio Cortusi , Giorgio Pona, Charles de l'Écluse and the brothers Johann Bauhin and Caspar Bauhin . Onorio Belli described a total of 85 species, of which only 71 could be identified.
During his archaeological research he came to Leben , Lyktos and Rethymno , among others . He measured the ruins of seven ancient theaters, made drawings of statues and collected ancient inscriptions. He was the first to describe Knossos and equate the city of Candia with ancient Heraklion . In 1592/93 he went to Italy and visited Venice and Padua . In September 1593 he went to Kefalonia and then returned to Crete. On April 2, 1597, his wife died there. He married again and had three children with his second wife, Laura. Onorio Belli finally left Crete in 1599 and spent the rest of his life in his hometown of Vicenza until he died in early 1604.
As early as 1589, a statue of him was erected in the top row of the proscenium of the Teatro Olimpico in Onorio Belli's honor . The whereabouts of his manuscripts for his research on Crete in two parts could be traced until the 18th century. Whether it still exists today and where it is is unknown.
Web links
- Onorio Belli
- Belli, Onorio -1604
- Notes Bibliografico. Periodico della Giunta regional del Veneto. Part 45, Padua 1991, pp. 65-66
literature
- Franco Barbieri: BELLI, Onorio. In: Alberto M. Ghisalberti (Ed.): Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (DBI). Volume 7: Bartolucci – Bellotto. Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome 1965.
- Florike Egmond: The World of Carolus Clusius: Natural History in the Making, 1550-1610. 2010, ISBN 978-1-84893-008-7 , pp. 85-88
- Hans Walter Lack: The early botanical exploration of the island of Crete. Vienna 1996 ( online )
- Ángel Martínez Fernández: Epigramas helenísticos de Creta. Madrid 2006, ISBN 84-00-08469-1 , pp. 32-33
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Belli, Onorio |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Bellus, Honorius |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Italian doctor and botanist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 16th Century |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Vicenza |
| DATE OF DEATH | 1604 |
| Place of death | Vicenza |