Natale Conti or
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
Natalis Comes, also Natalis de Comitibus and
French
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
Noël le Comte (1520–1582) was an Italian
mythographer
Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narrat ...
, poet,
humanist and historian. His major work ''Mythologiae'', ten books written in
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
, was first published in Venice in 1567 and became a standard source for
classical mythology in later Renaissance Europe. It was reprinted in numerous editions; after 1583, these were appended with a treatise on the
Muses
In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Muses ( grc, Μοῦσαι, Moûsai, el, Μούσες, Múses) are the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the p ...
by
Geoffroi Linocier. By the end of the 17th century, his name was virtually synonymous with mythology: a French dictionary in defining the term ''mythologie'' noted that it was the subject written about by Natalis Comes.
Conti believed that the ancient poets had meant for their presentations of myths to be read as
allegory
As a literary device or artistic form, an allegory is a narrative or visual representation in which a character, place, or event can be interpreted to represent a hidden meaning with moral or political significance. Authors have used allegory th ...
, and accordingly constructed intricate genealogical associations within which he found layers of meaning. Since Conti was convinced that the lost philosophy of
Classical Antiquity
Classical antiquity (also the classical era, classical period or classical age) is the period of cultural history between the 8th century BC and the 5th century AD centred on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ...
could be recovered through understanding these allegories, "The most apocryphical and outlandish versions of classical and pseudo-classical tales," notes
Ernst Gombrich
Sir Ernst Hans Josef Gombrich (; ; 30 March 1909 – 3 November 2001) was an Austrian-born art historian who, after settling in England in 1936, became a naturalised British citizen in 1947 and spent most of his working life in the United Kin ...
, "are here displayed and commented upon as the ultimate
esoteric wisdom."
Taking a
Euhemeristic
Euhemerism () is an approach to the interpretation of mythology in which mythological accounts are presumed to have originated from real historical events or personages. Euhemerism supposes that historical accounts become myths as they are exagge ...
approach, Conti thought that the characters in myth were idealized human beings, and that the stories contained philosophical insights syncretized through the ages and veiled so that only "initiates" would grasp their true meaning. His interpretations were often shared by other Renaissance writers, notably by
Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban (; 22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626), also known as Lord Verulam, was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England. Bacon led the advancement of both ...
in his long-overlooked ''De Sapientia Veterum'', 1609. In some cases, his interpretation might seem commonplace even in modern mythology: for Conti, the
centaur
A centaur ( ; grc, κένταυρος, kéntauros; ), or occasionally hippocentaur, is a creature from Greek mythology with the upper body of a human and the lower body and legs of a horse.
Centaurs are thought of in many Greek myths as being ...
represents "
man's dual nature," both animal passions and higher intellectual faculties.
Odysseus
Odysseus ( ; grc-gre, Ὀδυσσεύς, Ὀδυσεύς, OdysseúsOdyseús, ), also known by the Latin variant Ulysses ( , ; lat, UlyssesUlixes), is a legendary Greek king of Ithaca and the hero of Homer's epic poem the ''Odyssey''. Odysse ...
, for instance, becomes an
Everyman whose wanderings represent a universal life cycle:
Despite or because of its eccentricities, the ''Mythologiae'' inspired the use of myth in various art forms. A second edition, printed in Venice in 1568 and dedicated to
Charles IX, like the first edition, was popular in France, where it served as a source for the ''
Ballet comique de la Reine
The ''Ballet Comique de la Reine'' (at the time spelled ''Balet comique de la Royne'') was an elaborate court spectacle performed on October 15, 1581, during the reign of Henry III of France, in the large hall of the Hôtel de Bourbon, adjacent ...
'' (1581), part of wedding festivities at court. The ''Ballet'' was a
musical drama with dancing set in an elaborate recreation of the island of
Circe
Circe (; grc, , ) is an Magician (paranormal), enchantress and a minor goddess in ancient Greek mythology and Ancient Greek religion, religion. She is either a daughter of the Titans, Titan Helios and the Oceanid nymph Perse (mythology), Perse ...
. The surviving text associated with the performance presents four allegorical expositions, based explicitly on Comes' work: physical or natural, moral, temporal, and logical or interpretive.
The allegorization of myth was criticized during the
Romantic era
Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate ...
;
Benedetto Croce
Benedetto Croce (; 25 February 1866 – 20 November 1952)
was an Italian idealist philosopher, historian, and politician, who wrote on numerous topics, including philosophy, history, historiography and aesthetics. In most regards, Croce was a lib ...
said that medieval and Renaissance literature and art presented only the "impoverished shell of myth." The 16th-century mythological manuals of Conti and others came to be regarded as pedantic and lacking aesthetic or intellectual coherence.
Nor were criticisms of Conti confined to later times:
Joseph Scaliger
Joseph Justus Scaliger (; 5 August 1540 – 21 January 1609) was a French Calvinist religious leader and scholar, known for expanding the notion of classical history from Greek and Ancient Roman history to include Persian, Babylonian, Jewis ...
, twenty years his junior, called him "an utterly useless man" and advised
Setho Calvisio not to use him as a source.
Conti, whose family (according to his own statement) originated in
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 ...
, was born in
Milan
Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...
. He described himself as "Venetian"
[For example, on the title page of his translation of ]Athenaeus
Athenaeus of Naucratis (; grc, Ἀθήναιος ὁ Nαυκρατίτης or Nαυκράτιος, ''Athēnaios Naukratitēs'' or ''Naukratios''; la, Athenaeus Naucratita) was a Greek rhetorician and grammarian, flourishing about the end of th ...
' '' Deipnosophists'': "''Athenaei Dipnosophistarum sive coenae sapientium libri XV, Natale de Comitibus Veneto nunc primum e Graeca in Latinam linguam vertente''" (Venice, 1556). because his working life was spent in
Venice
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...
.
Notes
Further reading
*''Natale Conti's Mythologiae'', translated and annotated by John Mulryan and Steven Brown, vol. 1-2 (Tempe: Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies (ACMRS), 2006) (Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies, 316).
*''Natale Conti, Mitología'', translation with notes and introduction by Rosa María Iglesias Montiel and Maria Consuelo Álvarez Morán (Universidad de Murcia, 1988). In Spanish. Navigat
table of contentsto download chapters.
* Maria Consuelo Álvarez Morán and Rosa María Iglesias Montiel, "Algunas lecturas de textos latinos en la ''Mythologia'' de Natalis Comes," ''Cuadernos de Filología Clásica'' 20 (1986) 31-39, full tex
downloadable.* Maria Consuelo Álvarez Morán and Rosa María Iglesias Montiel, "Natale Conti, estudioso y transmisor de textos clásicos" in ''Los humanistas españoles y el humanismo europeo'' (Murcia, 1990), pp. 33–47.
* Maria Consuelo Álvarez Morán, Rosa María Iglesias Montiel, "Isacius en la Mythologia de Natalis Comes", ''Euphrosyne'' 31 (2003) 395-402.
* Virgilio Costa, "I frammenti di Filocoro tràditi da Boccaccio e Natale Conti", in E. Lanzillotta (ed.), Ricerche di Antichità e Tradizione Classica (Edizioni TORED, Tivoli
oma 2004), pp. 117–147.
* Virgilio Costa, "Natale Conti e la divulgazione della mitologia classica in Europa tra Cinquecento e Seicento", in E. Lanzillotta (ed.), Ricerche di Antichità e Tradizione Classica (Edizioni TORED, Tivoli
oma 2004), pp. 257–311.
* Virgilio Costa, "«Quum mendaciis fallere soleat». Ancora sui frammenti della storiografia greca tràditi da Natale Conti", in C. Braidotti - E. Dettori - E. Lanzillotta (eds.), οὐ πᾶν ἐφήμερον. Scritti in memoria di Roberto Pretagostini, vol. II (Università di Roma Tor Vergata, 2009), pp. 915–925.
* Rosa María Iglesias Montiel and Consuelo Álvarez Morán, "Los manuales mitológicos del Renacimiento", ''Auster'' 3 (1998). 83-99.
* Robert Thake, "A largely unexplored account of the Great Siege", Treasures of Malta, Vol XVIII No.1, (Christmas, 2011).
External links
Images from a 1616 edition
{{DEFAULTSORT:Comes, Natalis
1520 births
1582 deaths
Italian male writers
Mythographers
Italian Renaissance humanists
16th-century Italian writers