Blaisio Ugolino (also known as Blasius or Biagio, surname Ugolini or Ugolinus) (born c. 1700) was an Italian

polyhistor A polymath or polyhistor is an individual whose knowledge spans many different subjects, known to draw on complex bodies of knowledge to solve specific problems. Polymaths often prefer a specific context in which to explain their knowledge, ...

. He is best known for a huge collection of treatises on

Jewish antiquities ''Antiquities of the Jews'' (; , ''Ioudaikē archaiologia'') is a 20-volume historiographical work, written in Greek, by the Roman-Jewish historian Josephus in the 13th year of the reign of the Roman emperor Domitian, which was 94 CE. It contains ...

Life

Ugolino was born in

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

. He is stated to have been a

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

convert, and was certainly well acquainted with

Talmud The Talmud (; ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of Haskalah#Effects, modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cen ...

ic literature.

Works

Ugolino is known for the huge collection of treatises on Jewish antiquities, written in

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

, which he brought together in his ''Thesaurus Antiquitatum Sacrarum'' (34 vols., Venice, 1744–69). In this work he reprinted most of the seventeenth-century treatises on Jewish antiquities.By

Samuel Bochart Samuel Bochart (30 May 1599 – 16 May 1667) was a French Protestant biblical scholar, a student of Thomas Erpenius and the teacher of Pierre Daniel Huet. His two-volume (Caen 1646) exerted a profound influence on seventeenth-century Biblical e ...

, Jacques Bonfrère,

Johannes Buxtorf Johannes Buxtorf () (December 25, 1564September 13, 1629) was a celebrated Hebraist, member of a family of Orientalists; professor of Hebrew for thirty-nine years at Basel and was known by the title, "Master of the Rabbis". His massive tome, '' ...

, Carpzov,

Christoph Cellarius Christoph (Keller) Cellarius (22 November 1638 – 4 June 1707) was a German classical scholar from Schmalkalden who held positions in Weimar and Halle. Although the Ancient-Medieval-Modern division of history was used earlier by Italian Re ...

, Clavering, Salomon Deyling, Goodwin,

Johann Heinrich Hottinger Johann Heinrich Hottinger (10 March 1620 – 5 June 1667) was a Swiss philologist and theologian. Life and works Hottinger studied at Geneva, Groningen and Leiden. After visiting France and England he was appointed professor of church history ...

Pierre Daniel Huet P. D. Huetius Pierre Daniel Huet (; ; 8 February 1630 – 26 January 1721) was a French churchman and scholar, editor of the Delphin Classics, founder of the Académie de Physique in Caen (1662–1672) and Bishop of Soissons from 1685 to 1689 ...

Robert Lowth Robert Lowth ( ; 27 November 1710 – 3 November 1787) was an English clergyman and academic who served as the Bishop of Oxford, Bishop of St Davids, Professor of Poetry and the author of one of the most influential textbooks of Englis ...

, Opitz, Pfeiffer,

Humphrey Prideaux Humphrey Prideaux (3 May 1648 – 1 November 1724) was a Cornish churchman and orientalist, Dean of Norwich from 1702. His sympathies inclined to Low Churchism in religion and to Whiggism in politics. Life The third son of Edmond Prideaux, he ...

Adriaan Reland Adriaan Reland (also known as ''Adriaen Reeland/Reelant'', ''Hadrianus Relandus''; 17 July 1676 – 5 February 1718)John Gorton, ''A General Biographical Dictionary'', 1838, Whittaker & Co. was a Dutch Orientalist scholar, cartographer and philo ...

, Jacob Rhenferd, Saubertius i.e. Johann Saubert,

John Selden John Selden (16 December 1584 – 30 November 1654) was an English jurist, a scholar of England's ancient laws and constitution and scholar of Jewish law. He was known as a polymath; John Milton hailed Selden in 1644 as "the chief of learned m ...

Carolus Sigonius Carolus Sigonius (Carlo Sigonio or Sigone) (c. 152412 August 1584) was an Italian humanist, born in Modena. Biography Having studied Greek under the learned Franciscus Portus of Candia, he attended the philosophical schools of Bologna and ...

, John Spencer, Jacobus Trigland, Salomon van Til,

Johann Christoph Wagenseil Johann Christoph Wagenseil (26 November 1633 – 9 October 1705) was a German historian, Orientalist, jurist and Christian Hebraist. Life and career Wagenseil was born in Nuremberg on 26 November 1633. As a youth he was educated at Stockholm, ...

, and Hermann Witsius. He also obtained fresh contributors, and translated himself from the

Midrash ''Midrash'' (;"midrash"
. ''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. ; or ''midrashot' ...

im. The subjects treated are as follows: (a) Festivals, i. (b) General antiquities, ii.-iv. (c) Geography, v.-vi. (d) Priests and temple, vii-xiii. (e) Midrashim, xiv.-xvii. (f) Talmud, xvii.-xx. (g) Ritual and synagogue, xxi. (h) Sects and proselytes, xxii. (i) Gentile deities, xxiii. (j) Jewish law, xxiv.-xxvii. (k) Numismatics, xxviii. (l) Costume, marriage, and medicine, xxix.-xxx. (m) Poetry and music, xxxi.-xxxii. (n) Death and burial, xxxiii. Biblical, Hebrew, author, and subject indices are contained in vol. xxxiv. Ugolino himself translated the treatises Menaḥot and Zebaḥim (vol. xix.); Pesaḥim, Sheḳalim, Yoma, Sukkah, Rosh ha-Shanah, Ta'anit, Megillah, Ḥagigah, Beẓah, Mo'ed Ḳaṭan, Ma'aserot, Ma'aser Sheni, Ḥallah, Orlah, and Bikkurim (vols. xvii.-xviii.); Sifra, Sifre, and Tosefta (vols. xvii.-xix.); besides a part of Maimonides' "Yad" and of Abraham Portaleone's "Shilṭe ha-Gibborim".

References

Works by and about Blaisio Ugolino in University Library JCS Frankfurt am Main: Digital Collections Judaica
*http://153.106.5.3/ccel/schaff/encyc12/Page_54.html *

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ugolino, Blaisio 18th-century Italian Jews Jewish scholars Writers from Venice