Johannes Meursius (van Meurs) (9 February 1579 – 20 September 1639) was a Dutch

classical scholar Classics, also classical studies or Ancient Greek and Roman studies, is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, ''classics'' traditionally refers to the study of Ancient Greek literature, Ancient Greek and Roman literature and ...

and

antiquary An antiquarian or antiquary () is an 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 artefacts, archaeological and historic sit ...

Biography

Meursius was born Johannes van Meurs at

Loosduinen Loosduinen () is a former village in the Netherlands that was a municipality unto itself until 1923, when it was annexed by The Hague and subsequently became a district of the city. Within the district there is also a neighbourhood (Dutch:wijk) c ...

, near

The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...

. He was extremely precocious, and at the age of sixteen produced a commentary on the ''Cassandra'' of

Lycophron Lycophron ( ; ; born about 330–325 BC) was a Hellenistic Greek tragic poet, grammarian, and commentator on comedy, to whom the poem ''Alexandra'' is attributed (perhaps falsely). Life and miscellaneous works He was born at Chalcis in Euboea, a ...

. For ten years he was the tutor to the children of

Johan van Oldenbarnevelt Johan van Oldenbarnevelt (; 14 September 1547 – 13 May 1619), Lord of the manor, Heer van Berkel en Rodenrijs (1600), Gunterstein (1611) and Bakkum (1613), was a Dutch statesman and revolutionary who played an important role in the Dutch rev ...

, accompanying the family on Oldenbarnevelt's diplomatic missions to many of the courts of Europe.Johannes van Meurs in Abraham van der Aa While on such a trip, in 1608 he obtained a doctorate of Law in

Orléans Orléans (,"Orleans"
(US) and 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 ...

and history at

Leiden Leiden ( ; ; in English language, English and Archaism, archaic Dutch language, Dutch also Leyden) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Nethe ...

, and in the following year historiographer to the

States-General of the Netherlands The States General of the Netherlands ( ) is the supreme bicameral legislature of the Netherlands consisting of the Senate () and the House of Representatives (). Both chambers meet at the Binnenhof in The Hague. The States General originated i ...

. After Oldenbarnevelt's execution in 1619, though he had attempted to remain neutral in religious affairs, Meursius was seen as leaning toward

Arminianism Arminianism is a movement of Protestantism initiated in the early 17th century, based on the theological ideas of the Dutch Reformed theologian Jacobus Arminius and his historic supporters known as Remonstrants. Dutch Arminianism was origina ...

, or Remonstrant beliefs by reason of his service to the Oldenbarnevelt children, and his position at Leiden was challenged. In consequence of this he welcomed the offer (1625) of

Christian IV of Denmark Christian IV (12 April 1577 – 28 February 1648) was King of Denmark and King of Norway, Norway and List of rulers of Schleswig-Holstein, Duke of Holstein and Schleswig from 1588 until his death in 1648. His reign of 59 years and 330 days is th ...

to become professor of history and politics at Soro, in

Zealand Zealand ( ) is the largest and most populous islands of Denmark, island in Denmark proper (thus excluding Greenland and Disko Island, which are larger in size) at 7,031 km2 (2715 sq. mi.). Zealand had a population of 2,319,705 on 1 Januar ...

, combined with the office of historiographer royal, in which role he produced a Latin history of Denmark (1630–38), ''Historia Danica''. He died in

Sorø Sorø () is a town in Sorø municipality on the island of Zealand (Denmark), Zealand in east Denmark with a population of 8,433 (2025).

. Meursius was the author of classical editions and treatises, many of which are printed in J.F. Gronovius's ''Thesaurus antiquitatum graecarum''. Their lack of arrangement detracts from their value, but they are a storehouse of information, and Meursius does not deserve the epithets of "pedant" and "ignoramus" which Joseph Justus Scaliger applied to him. Meursius also wrote about the troubles in the Netherlands. Meursius also authored the ''Glossarium graeco-barbarum'',''Glossarium graeco-barbarum''
/ref> one of the first dictionaries of

Modern Greek Modern Greek (, or , ), generally referred to by speakers simply as Greek (, ), refers collectively to the dialects of the Greek language spoken in the modern era, including the official standardized form of the language sometimes referred to ...

. Complete edition of his works by J. Lami (1741–1763). See Van der Aa's ''Biographisch Woordenboek der Nederlanden'' (1869), and J.E. Sandys, ''History of Classical Scholarship'' (1908), ii. 311.

Selected works

* 1612: ''Res Belgicae'', Lugduni Batavorum * 1614: ''Glossarium graecobarbarum'', Lugduni Batavorum * 1617: ''Lectiones Atticae'', Lugduni Batavorum * 1619: ''Eleusinia, siue, De Cereris Eleusinae sacro, ac festo: Liber Singularis'', Lugduni Batavorum * 1625: ''Athenae Batavae'', Lugduni Batavorum * 1630: ''Historia Danica'', Hafniae * 1684: ''Theseus; sive de ejus vita rebusque gestis liber postumus. Accedunt ejusdem Paralipomena de pagis Atticis, et excerpta ex ... Jacobi Sponii Itinerario de iisdem pagis. Ultrajecti: apud Franciscum Halma (On J. F. Gronovius's '' Thesaurus antiquitatum graecarum'')

Biography

Selected works

References

Further reading