Don Alphonsus Ciacconius (; 15 December 153014 February 1599) was a Spanish Dominican scholar in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

. Ciacconius was an expert on

ancient Ancient history is a time period from the beginning of writing and recorded human history through late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the development of Sumerian cuneiform script. Ancient h ...

Graeco-Roman and Paleo-Christian

epigraphy Epigraphy () is the study of inscriptions, or epigraphs, as writing; it is the science of identifying graphemes, clarifying their meanings, classifying their uses according to dates and cultural contexts, and drawing conclusions about the wr ...

, the Medieval

paleography Palaeography (American and British English spelling differences#ae and oe, UK) or paleography (American and British English spelling differences#ae and oe, US) (ultimately from , , 'old', and , , 'to write') is the study and academic disciplin ...

and

manuscript A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand or typewritten, as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced in some indirect or automated way. More recently, the term has ...

s, besides the history of the papacy.

Biography

Ciacconius studied theology at the university of Santa Catalina,

Jaén Jaén may refer to: Places Peru *Jaén Province, Peru, a province in Cajamarca Region, Peru ** Jaén District, one of twelve districts of the province Jaén in Peru ***Jaén, Peru, a city in Peru, capital of the Jaén Province Philippines * Jaen ...

, from 1548 to 1553, when he was appointed ‘collegiale perpetuo’ at the Colegio de Santo Tomás,

Seville Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Guadalquivir, ...

. His archaeological interests were spurred by his friendship with

Ambrosio de Morales Ambrosio de Morales ( Cordoba, Spain, 1513 – ''ib.'', September, 1591) was a historian. After his studies at the University of Salamanca and Alcalá, he took Holy orders In certain Christian denominations, holy orders are the ordinati ...

, author of ''Las antigüedades de las ciudades de España'' (Alcalá de Henares, 1575). In 1566 Ciacconius was summoned to Rome as Minor

Apostolic Penitentiary The Apostolic Penitentiary (), formerly called the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Penitentiary, is a dicastery led by the Major Penitentiary of the Roman Curia and is one of the three ordinary tribunals of the Holy See, Apostolic See. The Ap ...

of St Peter’s. While there he lived as a guest of Cardinal Francisco Pacheco de Toledo and wrote his first major work on

Roman history The history of Rome includes the history of the Rome, city of Rome as well as the Ancient Rome, civilisation of ancient Rome. Roman history has been influential on the modern world, especially in the history of the Catholic Church, and Roman la ...

, the ''Historia seu verissima a calumniis multorum vindicata'' (1576), dedicated to

Pope Gregory XIII Pope Gregory XIII (, , born Ugo Boncompagni; 7 January 1502 – 10 April 1585) 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 commissioning and being the namesake ...

. His ''Historia utriusque belli Dacici a Traiano Caesare gesti ex simulacris'', illustrated with

engravings Engraving is the practice of incising a design on a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or glass are engraved, or may provide an inta ...

of the helical reliefs by

Francesco Villamena Francesco Villamena (1564–1624) was an Italian engraver, drawing teacher and art collector. Villamena was born in Assisi. He studied under Cornelis Cort. Others state he was a follower of Agostino Carracci. Villamena produced primarily works o ...

after drawings by

Girolamo Muziano Girolamo Muziano or Mutiani ( – 1592), was an Italian painter, one of the most prominent artists active in Rome in the mid-to-late sixteenth century. Life He was born in Acquafredda, near Brescia, but worked mainly in Rome. Accounts from the ...

, was completed in the same year. Ciacconius’ research into

Early Christian Early Christianity, otherwise called the Early Church or Paleo-Christianity, describes the historical era of the Christian religion up to the First Council of Nicaea in 325. Christianity spread from the Levant, across the Roman Empire, and be ...

archaeology began in 1578, with the discovery of the

Catacomb of the Iordani The Catacomb of the Iordani (Italian - ''Catacomba dei Giordani'') is a catacomb on the left side of the ancient via Salaria in Rome, under the modern villa Ada in the Parioli quarter. It is named after the family who owned the land in which it was ...

on the Via Salaria Nuova, Rome. He commissioned copies of the wall paintings, and a second exemplar was ordered by

Federico Borromeo Federico Borromeo (; 18 August 1564 – 21 September 1631) was an Italian cardinal (Catholicism), cardinal, Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milan, Archbishop of Milan, and prominent figure of the Counter-Reformation in Italy. His acts of charity, ...

for the

Biblioteca Ambrosiana The Biblioteca Ambrosiana is a historic library in Milan, Italy, also housing the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, the Ambrosian art gallery. Named after Ambrose, the patron saint of Milan, it was founded in 1609 by Cardinal Federico Borromeo, whose age ...

(Milan, Bib. Ambrosiana, F. 221, inf. 1–4). Following

Onofrio Panvinio Onofrio Panvinio (; 23 February 1529 – 27 April 1568) was an Italian Augustinian friar, historian and antiquary who was the librarian to Cardinal Alessandro Farnese. Life and work Panvinio was born in Verona. At the age of eleven, he ...

, Ciacconius assembled portraits of the Early Christian popes (Rome, Vatican, Bib. Apostolica, MS. Vat. lat. 6103) and drawings of the papal tombs of

Honorius IV Pope Honorius IV (born Giacomo Savelli; — 3 April 1287) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 2 April 1285 to his death on 3 April 1287. His election followed the death of Pope Martin IV and was notable for its spe ...

Urban VI Pope Urban VI (; ; c. 1318 – 15 October 1389), born Bartolomeo Prignano (), was head of the Catholic Church from 8 April 1378 to his death, in October 1389. He was the last pope elected from outside the College of Cardinals. His pontificate be ...

and

Boniface VIII Pope Boniface VIII (; born Benedetto Caetani; – 11 October 1303) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 24 December 1294 until his death in 1303. The Caetani family was of baronial origin with connections to the p ...

(Rome, Bib. Angelica, MS. 1564). His final work, the ''Vitae et gesta summorum pontificum a Christo Domino usque ad Clementem VIII'', was published posthumously in 1601. Two other treatises were sketched out but left incomplete at his death: an ‘Antiquitates Romanae’ (Rome, Vatican, Bib. Apostolica, MS. Chig. vat. lat. R. II. 62) is composed of two books, the first presenting ''300 uomini famosi'' and the second dealing with ancient dress, weapons and occupations; the ‘Historica descriptio urbis Romae sub pontificibus’ (Rome, Vatican, Bib. Apostolica, MS. Chig. lat. I. V. 167 and Madrid, Bib. N., MS. 2008), begun c. 1567 , covers 300 Christian cult sites in Rome, including inscriptions from ancient, medieval and Renaissance

epitaphs An epitaph (; ) is a short text honoring a deceased person. Strictly speaking, it refers to text that is inscribed on a tombstone or plaque, but it may also be used in a figurative sense. Some epitaphs are specified by the person themselves be ...

Works

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Bibliography

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External links

''Orazio and Artemisia Gentileschi''
a fully digitized exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Libraries, which contains material on Alphonsus Ciacconius (see index) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ciacconius, Alphonsus 1530 births 1599 deaths Spanish heraldists 16th-century Spanish Roman Catholic theologians Spanish Dominicans Historians of the Catholic Church 16th-century Spanish philosophers

Biography

Works

See also

Bibliography

External links