Ermolao or Hermolao Barbaro, also Hermolaus Barbarus (21 May 145414 June 1493), was an Italian

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD ...

scholar A scholar is a person who pursues academic and intellectual activities, particularly academics who apply their intellectualism into expertise in an area of study. A scholar can also be an academic, who works as a professor, teacher, or researc ...

Education

Ermolao Barbaro was born in

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...

, the son of Zaccaria Barbaro, and the grandson of Francesco Barbaro. He was also the uncle of

Daniele Barbaro Daniele Matteo Alvise Barbaro (also Barbarus) (8 February 1514 – 13 April 1570) was an Italian cleric and diplomat. He was also an architect, writer on architecture, and translator of, and commentator on, Vitruvius. Barbaro's fame is chief ...

and

Marcantonio Barbaro Marcantonio Barbaro (1518–1595) was an Italian diplomat of the Republic of Venice. Family He was born in Venice into the aristocratic Barbaro family. His father was Francesco di Daniele Barbaro and his mother Elena Pisani, daughter of the banke ...

Much of his early education was outside of Venice, accompanying his father who was an active politician and diplomat. He received further education in

Verona Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city municipality in the region and the second largest in nor ...

with an uncle, also named Ermolao. In 1462 he was sent to

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 ...

, where he studied under Pomponius Laetus and

Theodorus Gaza Theodorus Gaza ( el, Θεόδωρος Γαζῆς, ''Theodoros Gazis''; it, Teodoro Gaza; la, Theodorus Gazes), also called Theodore Gazis or by the epithet Thessalonicensis (in Latin) and Thessalonikeus (in Greek) (c. 1398 – c. 1475), wa ...

. By 1468 he had returned to Verona, where Frederick III awarded him a laurel crown for his poetry. He completed his education at the

University of Padua The University of Padua ( it, Università degli Studi di Padova, UNIPD) is an Italian university located in the city of Padua, region of Veneto, northern Italy. The University of Padua was founded in 1222 by a group of students and teachers from ...

, where he was appointed professor of philosophy there in 1477. Two years later he revisited Venice, but returned to

Padua Padua ( ; it, Padova ; vec, Pàdova) is a city and ''comune'' in Veneto, northern Italy. Padua is on the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice. It is the capital of the province of Padua. It is also the economic and communications hub of the ...

when the

plague Plague or The Plague may refer to: Agriculture, fauna, and medicine *Plague (disease), a disease caused by ''Yersinia pestis'' * An epidemic of infectious disease (medical or agricultural) * A pandemic caused by such a disease * A swarm of pe ...

broke out in his native city.

Career

Barbaro had an active political career, though he resented these duties as a distraction from his studies. In 1483 he was elected to the Senate of the

Republic of Venice The Republic of Venice ( vec, Repùblega de Venèsia) or Venetian Republic ( vec, Repùblega Vèneta, links=no), traditionally known as La Serenissima ( en, Most Serene Republic of Venice, italics=yes; vec, Serenìsima Repùblega de Venèsia, ...

. He was twenty when he gave the funeral oration for Doge Nicholas Marcello in 1474. In 1486, he was sent to the court of the

Duchy of Burgundy The Duchy of Burgundy (; la, Ducatus Burgundiae; french: Duché de Bourgogne, ) emerged in the 9th century as one of the successors of the ancient Kingdom of the Burgundians, which after its conquest in 532 had formed a constituent part of the ...

Bruges Bruges ( , nl, Brugge ) is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium, in the northwest of the country, and the sixth-largest city of the country by population. The area of the whole city a ...

. In 1488 he held the important civil post of '' Savio di Terrafirma''. In 1489 he was appointed ambassador to the Duchy of Milan and in 1490 he was appointed Ambassador to the

Holy See The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of R ...

. In 1491, Pope Innocent VIII, nominated him to the office of

Patriarch of Aquileia The highest-ranking bishops in Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, the Catholic Church (above major archbishop and primate), the Hussite Church, Church of the East, and some Independent Catholic Churches are termed patriarchs (and in certain ...

Accademia - Incontro dei pellegrini con papa Ciriaco - Vittore Carpaccio

It was illegal under Venetian law for ambassadors to accept gifts or positions of foreign heads of state. There was also a dispute between Venice and the Papacy as to who should nominate Patriarchs of Aquileia. Barbaro was accused of treason and the Venetian Senate ordered him to refuse the position. Pope Innocent and his successor

Alexander VI Pope Alexander VI ( it, Alessandro VI, va, Alexandre VI, es, Alejandro VI; born Rodrigo de Borja; ca-valencia, Roderic Llançol i de Borja ; es, Rodrigo Lanzol y de Borja, lang ; 1431 – 18 August 1503) was head of the Catholic Churc ...

threatened to excommunicate Barbaro if he resigned as Patriarch of Aquileia. The Venetian Senate revoked Barbaro's appointment as ambassador and exiled him from Venice. They threatened the same for his father, Zaccaria, as well as confiscation of both men's property, but Zaccaria died shortly afterwards. Barbaro then lived in a

Roman villa A Roman villa was typically a farmhouse or country house built in the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, sometimes reaching extravagant proportions. Typology and distribution Pliny the Elder (23–79 AD) distinguished two kinds of villas n ...

on the

Pincian Hill The Pincian Hill (; it, Pincio ; la, Mons Pincius) is a hill in the northeast quadrant of the historical centre of Rome. The hill lies to the north of the Quirinal, overlooking the Campus Martius. It was outside the original boundaries of th ...

belonging to his brothers Daniele and Ludovico. He died there of the

in 1493 and was buried at the church of

Santa Maria del Popolo it, Basilica Parrocchiale Santa Maria del Popolo , image = 20140803 Basilica of Santa Maria del Popolo Rome 0191.jpg , caption = The church from Piazza del Popolo , coordinates = , image_size ...

. Ferdinando Ughelli mentions an inscription to Barbaro there, but it was lost by 1758. Valeriano wrote a tribute to Barbaro.

Scholarly works

Barbaro edited and translated a number of classical works:

Aristotle Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of ph ...

's ''Ethics'' and ''Politics'' (1474); Aristotle's ''Rhetorica'' (1479);

Themistius Themistius ( grc-gre, Θεμίστιος ; 317 – c. 388 AD), nicknamed Euphrades, (eloquent), was a statesman, rhetorician, and philosopher. He flourished in the reigns of Constantius II, Julian, Jovian, Valens, Gratian, and Theodosius I; ...

's ''Paraphrases'' of certain works of

(1481);''Castigationes in Pomponium Melam'' (1493). His own work, ''De Coelibatu'' was less influential, but Barbaro's ''Castigationes Plinianae'', published in Rome in 1492 by Eucharius Silber, was perhaps his most influential work. In this discussion of

Pliny Pliny may refer to: People * Pliny the Elder (23–79 CE), ancient Roman nobleman, scientist, historian, and author of ''Naturalis Historia'' (''Pliny's Natural History'') * Pliny the Younger (died 113), ancient Roman statesman, orator, w ...

's '' Natural History'' Barbaro made 5000 corrections to the text. The work was written in only twenty months and dedicated to the newly elected Pope Alexander VI. ''Castigationes Plinianae'' was considered by Barbaro's contemporaries to be the most authoritative work on Pliny. Even before his death, he was considered a leading authority on the Greek and Latin works of antiquity.

Erasmus Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus (; ; English: Erasmus of Rotterdam or Erasmus;''Erasmus'' was his baptismal name, given after St. Erasmus of Formiae. ''Desiderius'' was an adopted additional name, which he used from 1496. The ''Roterodamus'' w ...

frequently cited Barbaro's works, often with respect. His letters to Giovanni Pico were also widely circulated. Much of his work was published after his death: ''In Dioscuridem Corollarii libri quinque'', a work on

Dioscorides Pedanius Dioscorides ( grc-gre, Πεδάνιος Διοσκουρίδης, ; 40–90 AD), “the father of pharmacognosy”, was a Greek physician, pharmacologist, botanist, and author of '' De materia medica'' (, On Medical Material) —a 5-vo ...

, in 1516, his translations of Aristotle in 1544, and ''Compendium Scientiae Naturalis'' in 1545. Barbaro's work ''De Officio Legati'' was representative of a revolution in the conduct of diplomacy which took place during the Renaissance.Garrett Mattingly 'Changing Attitudes Towards the State' in ''Facets of the Renaissance'' 1963), 33

Publications

Barbaro, Ermolao – In Caii Plinii Naturalis historiae libros castigationes, 1534 – BEIC 8791029

* * Hermolaus Barbarus oratio.jpg, ''Oratio ad Federicum imperatorem'', c. 1487: incipit Hermolaus Barbarus Dioscorides tp.jpg, ''

'', version by Barbaro, 1516: title Hermolaus Barbarus Corollarii 1530 tp.jpg, ''In Dioscoridem corollariorum libri V'', 1530 edition

Notes

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Barbaro, Ermolao 1454 births 1490s deaths 15th-century Venetian writers Italian classical scholars Italian translators Patriarchs of Aquileia Republic of Venice politicians Ambassadors of the Republic of Venice to the Duchy of Milan Ambassadors of the Republic of Venice to the Holy See 15th-century Italian Roman Catholic bishops University of Padua alumni Academic staff of the University of Padua Ermolao, Scholar 15th-century Italian diplomats