Bartolomeo (also Bartolommeo) Borghesi (11 July 178116 April 1860) was an
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
antiquarian who was a key figure in establishing the science of
numismatics
Numismatics is the study or collection of currency, including coins, tokens, paper money, medals and related objects.
Specialists, known as numismatists, are often characterized as students or collectors of coins, but the discipline also includ ...
.
He was born at
Savignano, near
Rimini
Rimini ( , ; rgn, Rémin; la, Ariminum) is a city in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy and capital city of the Province of Rimini. It sprawls along the Adriatic Sea, on the coast between the rivers Marecchia (the ancient ''Ariminu ...
, and studied at
Bologna
Bologna (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language, Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 1 ...
and
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
. Having weakened his eyesight by the study of documents of the Middle Ages, he turned his attention to
epigraphy and numismatics. At Rome he arranged and cataloged several collections of coins, amongst them those of the
Vatican
Vatican may refer to:
Vatican City, the city-state ruled by the pope in Rome, including St. Peter's Basilica, Sistine Chapel, Vatican Museum
The Holy See
* The Holy See, the governing body of the Catholic Church and sovereign entity recognized ...
, a task which he undertook for
Pope Pius VII. In consequence of the disturbances of 1821, Borghesi retired to
San Marino
San Marino (, ), officially the Republic of San Marino ( it, Repubblica di San Marino; ), also known as the Most Serene Republic of San Marino ( it, Serenissima Repubblica di San Marino, links=no), is the fifth-smallest country in the world an ...
, where he died in 1860.
Although mainly an enthusiastic student, he was for some time ''
podestà
Podestà (, English: Potestate, Podesta) was the name given to the holder of the highest civil office in the government of the cities of Central and Northern Italy during the Late Middle Ages. Sometimes, it meant the chief magistrate of a city ...
'' of the little republic. His monumental work, ''Nuovi Frammenti dei Fasti Consolari Capitolini'' (1818–1820), attracted the attention of the learned world as furnishing positive bases for the chronology of
Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
history, while his contributions to Italian archaeological journals established his reputation as a numismatist and antiquarian.
Before his death, Borghesi conceived the design of publishing a collection of all the Latin inscriptions of the Roman world. The work was taken up by the
Academy of Berlin under the auspices of
Theodor Mommsen
Christian Matthias Theodor Mommsen (; 30 November 1817 – 1 November 1903) was a German classical scholar, historian, jurist, journalist, politician and archaeologist. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest classicists of the 19th centu ...
, and the result was the ''
Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum''.
Napoleon III
Napoleon III (Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was the first President of France (as Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte) from 1848 to 1852 and the last monarch of France as Emperor of the French from 1852 to 1870. A nephew ...
ordered the publication of a complete edition of the works of Borghesi. This edition, in ten volumes, of which the first appeared in 1862, was not completed until 1897.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Borghesi, Bartolomeo
Italian antiquarians
Italian numismatists
1781 births
1860 deaths
Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (civil class)
Members of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities