Johannes Crastonis (Crastonus; Crastone) was an Italian renaissance humanist and scholar. Crastonus was probably born in

Castel San Giovanni Castel San Giovanni (Emilian language#Dialects, Piacentino: ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Piacenza, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. History The origins of the town are probably related to an ancient ''pieve'' called ''Olubra'' and a fort ...

close to Piacenza. He was a member of the

Carmelites The Order of the Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel (; abbreviated OCarm), known as the Carmelites or sometimes by synecdoche known simply as Carmel, is a mendicant order in the Catholic Church for both men and women. Histo ...

. He studied in

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

but migrated to

Modena Modena (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena, in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. It has 184,739 inhabitants as of 2025. A town, and seat of an archbis ...

(near

Ferrara Ferrara (; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Emilia-Romagna, Northern Italy, capital of the province of Ferrara. it had 132,009 inhabitants. It is situated northeast of Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main ...

) in

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. There he published a

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

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 ...

dictionary about 1480. In Milan, together with

Bonus Accursius Bonaccorso da Pisa or Bonus Accursius Pisanus ( 1456–1480) was an Italian humanist, editor and publisher. Educated in Milan and Pavia and active in Pisa and Milan, he is best known for his many editions of Greek texts. Life Bonaccorso was born in ...

, he edited various works to facilitate the learning of Greek. His collaboration with Bonus Accursius started no later than 1478. Among these works were a bi-lingual Greek and Latin edition of the Psalms, dedicated to Ludovico Donà, published on 21 September 1481. This was the first printed version of the Greek Psalms. While at Milan, he was friends with

Ermolao Barbaro Ermolao Barbaro, in Latin Hermolaus Barbarus (21 May 145414 June 1493), was a Venetian Renaissance humanist, diplomat and churchman. From 1491, he was the patriarch of Aquileia. He is often called "the Younger" to distinguish him from his cous ...

Francesco Filelfo Francesco Filelfo (; 25 July 1398 – 31 July 1481) was an Italian Renaissance humanism, Renaissance humanist and author of the philosophic dialogue ''On Exile''. Biography Filelfo was born at Tolentino, in the March of Ancona. He is believed t ...

Giorgio Merula Giorgio Merlani (c. 1430 – 1494), commonly known as Georgius Merula, was an Italian humanist and classical scholar. Life Merlani was born in Alessandria in Piedmont between late 1430 and early 1431. He later took the Roman cognomen Merula, ...

and

Iacopo Antiquari Iacopo is a given name, form of Jacopo, an Italian variation of Giacomo. May also refer to: *Iacopo II Appiani (1400–1441), the lord of Piombino from 1405 until 1441 *Iacopo III Appiani (1422–1474), Prince of Piombino of the Appiani dynasty in ...

. His ''Vocabulista'', a Greek-Latin dictionary, was first printed probably in Milan and then re-printed twice before 1500 by

Dionysius Bertochus The name Dionysius (; ''Dionysios'', "of Dionysus"; ) was common in classical and post-classical times. Etymologically it is a nominalized adjective formed with a -ios suffix from the stem Dionys- of the name of the Greek god, Dionysus, parallel ...

. A translation of

Constantine Lascaris Constantine Lascaris ( ''Kostantinos Láskaris''; 1434 – 15 August 1501) was a Greek scholar and grammarian, one of the promoters of the revival of Greek learning in Italy during the Renaissance, born in Constantinople. Life Constantine Lasca ...

's ''Erotemata'' was published on 29 September 1480, which was reprinted in 1489. Crastonus died after 1497, as is clear from a reference made to him in that year.Giorgio Galbiati, reface in Terentianus Maurus, ''De litteris, syllabis et metris Horatii'', Milan, Uldericus Scinzenzeler, 1497, sig. a iii r

Known works

*''Lexicon graeco-latinum'', printed not after 28 March 1478 *''Lexicon latino-graecum'' or ''Vocabulista''; no place ut probably Milanor date; preface by

* '' ilingual edition of the Psalms', Milan, Bonus Accursius, 1481

References

15th-century Byzantine writers Greek Renaissance humanists {{Greece-academic-bio-stub

Known works

See also

References