Niccolò Alamanni (

Ancona Ancona (, also , ) is a city and a seaport in the Marche region in central Italy, with a population of around 101,997 . Ancona is the capital of the province of Ancona and of the region. The city is located northeast of Rome, on the Adriatic S ...

, 12 January 1583 –

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 ...

, 1626) was a Roman

antiquarian An antiquarian or antiquary () is an fan (person), aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient artifact (archaeology), artifac ...

of Greek origin. He was educated in Rome at the Greek College, founded by

Gregory XIII Pope Gregory XIII ( la, Gregorius XIII; it, Gregorio XIII; 7 January 1502 – 10 April 1585), born Ugo Boncompagni, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 13 May 1572 to his death in April 1585. He is best known for ...

, but was ordained deacon and priest according to the Latin rite. After teaching Greek for some time to persons of rank, he was appointed secretary to

Cardinal Borghese Pope Paul V ( la, Paulus V; it, Paolo V) (17 September 1550 – 28 January 1621), born Camillo Borghese, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 16 May 1605 to his death in January 1621. In 1611, he honored ...

, and afterwards made custodian of the

Vatican Library The Vatican Apostolic Library ( la, Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana, it, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana), more commonly known as the Vatican Library or informally as the Vat, is the library of the Holy See, located in Vatican City. Formally es ...

. His death is said to have been caused by too close attendance at the erection of the high altar of St. Peter's, to which honorable duty he had been assigned with orders to see that the sepulchres of the holy martyrs were not interfered with in the course of the work. He wrote a ''Syntagma de Lateranensibus parietibus'' (Rome, 1625) on the occasion of restorations carried out in the church of St. John Lateran by his patron, Cardinal Borghese; also a dissertation on the relative importance of the right and left side as exhibited in certain old papal coins that place

St. Paul Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...

to the right of St. Peter, ''De dextrae laevaeque manus praerogativa ex antiquis Pontificum nummis Paulum Petro apostolo anteponentibus''. He is known in the history of classical literature as the editor (Lyon, 1623) of the famous ''Anecdota'', or ''Secret History,'' of

Procopius Procopius of Caesarea ( grc-gre, Προκόπιος ὁ Καισαρεύς ''Prokópios ho Kaisareús''; la, Procopius Caesariensis; – after 565) was a prominent late antique Greek scholar from Caesarea Maritima. Accompanying the Roman gener ...

, a work that was violently criticized outside of Italy.

References

*
The Secret History of Art by Noah Charney on the Vatican Library and Procopius
An article by art historian

Noah Charney Noah Charney (born November 27, 1979) is an American art historian and novelist. He is the author of ''The Art Thief,'' a mystery novel about a series of thefts from European museums and churches, and is the founder of the Association for Res ...

about the Vatican Library and its famous manuscript, ''Historia Arcana'' by

. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Alamanni, Niccolo 1583 births 1626 deaths 16th-century Italian Roman Catholic priests 17th-century Italian Roman Catholic priests Italian librarians Italian people of Greek descent 16th-century Greek writers 16th-century male writers 16th-century Greek educators 17th-century Greek writers 17th-century Greek educators Pontifical Greek College of Saint Athanasius alumni