John Italus or Italos (, ''Iōánnēs ho Italós''; ) was a

neoplatonic Neoplatonism is a version of Platonic philosophy that emerged in the 3rd century AD against the background of Hellenistic philosophy and religion. The term does not encapsulate a set of ideas as much as a series of thinkers. Among the common id ...

Byzantine philosopher of the eleventh century. He was

Calabria Calabria is a Regions of Italy, region in Southern Italy. It is a peninsula bordered by the region Basilicata to the north, the Ionian Sea to the east, the Strait of Messina to the southwest, which separates it from Sicily, and the Tyrrhenian S ...

n in origin, his father being a soldier. He came to

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 ...

, where he became a student of

Michael Psellus Michael Psellos or Psellus (, ) was a Byzantine Greek monk, savant, writer, philosopher, imperial courtier, historian and music theorist. He was born in 1017 or 1018, and is believed to have died in 1078, although it has also been maintained tha ...

in classical Greek philosophy. He succeeded Psellus in his position as head of the philosophical school. Subsequently, some of his tenets were found heretic in 1076-77 by Patriarch Cosmas I of Constantinople, and in 1082The Byzantine Empire in the 11th Century
he was personally condemned, having come into conflict with Emperor

Alexios I Komnenos Alexios I Komnenos (, – 15 August 1118), Latinization of names, Latinized as Alexius I Comnenus, was Byzantine Emperor, Byzantine emperor from 1081 to 1118. After usurper, usurping the throne, he was faced with a collapsing empire and ...

Life

John Italus was born 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 ...

from where he derived his name. He was the son of an Italian, who was engaged as an auxiliary in an attempt by the

Sicilians Sicilians () are a European ethnographic group who are indigenous to Sicily, the largest island in the Mediterranean, as well as the largest and most populous of the autonomous regions of Italy. History The Sicilian people are indigenous to ...

to withdraw from their subjection to the Byzantine emperor, and took with him his son, then a child, who thus spent his early years not in the schools but the camp. When the Byzantine commander, George Maniaces, revolted against Constantine IX Monomachos in 1042, the father of Italus fled back to Italy with his son, who after a time found his way to

. He had already made some attainments, especially in

logic Logic is the study of correct reasoning. It includes both formal and informal logic. Formal logic is the study of deductively valid inferences or logical truths. It examines how conclusions follow from premises based on the structure o ...

. At Constantinople he pursued his studies under several teachers, and last under

, with whom he soon quarrelled, not being able, according to Anna Comnena, to enter into the subtleties of his philosophy, and being remarkable for his arrogance and disputatious temper. He is described as having a commanding figure, being moderately tall and broad-chested, with a large

head A head is the part of an organism which usually includes the ears, brain, forehead, cheeks, chin, eyes, nose, and mouth, each of which aid in various sensory functions such as sight, hearing, smell, and taste. Some very simple ani ...

, a prominent

forehead In human anatomy, the forehead is an area of the head bounded by three features, two of the skull and one of the scalp. The top of the forehead is marked by the hairline, the edge of the area where hair on the scalp grows. The bottom of the fo ...

, an open

nostril A nostril (or naris , : nares ) is either of the two orifices of the nose. They enable the entry and exit of air and other gasses through the nasal cavities. In birds and mammals, they contain branched bones or cartilages called turbinates ...

, and well-knit limbs. He acquired the favour of the emperor

Michael VII Doukas Michael VII Doukas or Ducas (), nicknamed Parapinakes (, , a reference to the devaluation of the Byzantine currency under his rule), was the senior Byzantine emperor from 1071 to 1078. He was known as incompetent as an emperor and reliant on ...

(1071–1078) and his brothers; and the emperor, when he was contemplating the recovery of the Byzantine portion of Italy, counting on the attachment of Italus, and expecting to derive advantage from his knowledge of that country, sent him to Dyrrachium; but having detected him in some acts of treachery, he ordered him to be removed. Italus, aware of this, fled to

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, ...

; from whence, by feigning repentance, he obtained the emperor's permission to return to Constantinople, where he fixed himself in the Monastery Zoödochos Pege. On the banishment of Psellus from the capital, and his enforced entrance on a monastic life, Italus obtained the honorary title of "Chief of the Philosophers" (, '' hýpatos tōn philosóphōn''); and filled the office with great appearance of learning; though he was better skilled in logic and in the Aristotelian philosophy than in other parts of science, and had little acquaintance with

grammar In linguistics, grammar is the set of rules for how a natural language is structured, as demonstrated by its speakers or writers. Grammar rules may concern the use of clauses, phrases, and words. The term may also refer to the study of such rul ...

and

rhetoric Rhetoric is the art of persuasion. It is one of the three ancient arts of discourse ( trivium) along with grammar and logic/ dialectic. As an academic discipline within the humanities, rhetoric aims to study the techniques that speakers or w ...

. He was passionate, and rude in disputation, not abstaining even from personal violence; but eager to acknowledge his impetuosity, and ask pardon for it, when the fit was over. His school was crowded with pupils, to whom he expounded the writings of

Proclus Proclus Lycius (; 8 February 412 – 17 April 485), called Proclus the Successor (, ''Próklos ho Diádokhos''), was a Greek Neoplatonist philosopher, one of the last major classical philosophers of late antiquity. He set forth one of th ...

and

Plato Plato ( ; Greek language, Greek: , ; born BC, died 348/347 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher of the Classical Greece, Classical period who is considered a foundational thinker in Western philosophy and an innovator of the writte ...

Iamblichus Iamblichus ( ; ; ; ) was a Neoplatonist philosopher who determined a direction later taken by Neoplatonism. Iamblichus was also the biographer of the Greek mystic, philosopher, and mathematician Pythagoras. In addition to his philosophical co ...

, Porphyry, and

Aristotle Aristotle (; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, a ...

. His turbulence and arrogance of spirit seem to have been infectious; for Anna Comnena declares that many seditious persons (''tyránnous'') arose among his pupils; but their names she could not remember: they were, however, before the accession of

. The disturbances which arose from the teachings of Italus attracted the emperor's attention apparently soon after his accession; and by his order, Italus, after a preliminary examination by Isaac Comnenus, the brother of Alexios, was cited before an ecclesiastical court. Though protected by the patriarch Eustratius, whose favour he had won, he narrowly escaped death from the violence of the mob of Constantinople, and he was forced publicly and bareheaded to retract and anathematize eleven propositions, embodying the sentiments which he was charged with holding. He was charged with teaching the transmigration of

soul The soul is the purported Mind–body dualism, immaterial aspect or essence of a Outline of life forms, living being. It is typically believed to be Immortality, immortal and to exist apart from the material world. The three main theories that ...

s, with holding some erroneous opinions about ideas, and with ridiculing the use of images in worship; and he is said to have succeeded in diffusing his heresies among many of the nobles and officers of the palace, to the great grief of the orthodox emperor. Notwithstanding his enforced retractation, he still continued to inculcate his sentiments, until, after a vain attempt by the emperor to restrain him, he was himself sentenced to be anathematized and banished to the Monastery Zoödochos Pege;Janin (1953), p. 234 but as he professed repentance, the anathema was not pronounced publicly, nor in all its extent. He afterwards fully renounced his errors, and made the sincerity of his renunciation manifest. The above account rests on the authority of Anna Comnena, whose anxiety to exalt the reputation of her father, and her disposition to disparage the people of Western Europe, prevents our relying implicitly on her statements. Some works of Italus are extant: # Ἐκδόσεις εἰς διάφορα Ζητήματα, ''Expositiones in varias quas varii proposuerunt Quaestiones, Capp. xciii. s. Responsa ad xciii. Quaestiones philosophicas Miscellaneas''. The questions were proposed chiefly by the emperor Michael Doukas and his brother Andronicus. # Ἕκδοσις εἰς τὰ Τοπικά, ''Expositio Topicorum Aristotelis'' # Περὶ διαλεκτικῆς, ''De Dialectica'' # Μέθοδος ῥητορικῆς ἐκδοθεῖσα κατὰ σύνοψιν, ''Methodus Synoptica Rhetoricae'', an art of which Anna Comnena says he was altogether ignorant. # ''Epitome Aristotelis de Interpretatione'' # ''Orationes'' # ''Synopsis quinque vocum Porphyrii''

Editions

# Wallies M.: Die gr. Ausleger der Arist. Topik, Berl. 1891 # Успенский, Ф. Ив.: Синодик в неделю Праволсавия, Одесса, 1893 # Gregorius Cereteli, Joannis Itali Opuscula selecta. Vol. I: De arte dialectica & II: De syllogismis, De arte rhetorica. Tbilisi: -, 1924 & 1926. # Ioannou P.: Ioannes Italos, Quaestiones Quodlibetales. Studia Patristica et Byzantina 4. Ettal: Buch-Kunstverlag, 1956. # Ketschakmadze N.: Ioannis Itali Opera, Tbilisi, 1966 # Kotsabassi, S.: Joannes Italos & Leon Magentinos: Byzantinische Kommentatoren der aristotelischen Topik. Thessaloniki: Vanias, 1999.

Notes

References

* *Lowell Clucas (1981), ''The Trial of John Italos and the Crisis of Intellectual Values in Byzantium in the Eleventh Century'' *F. Lauritzen, "Psello discepolo di Stetato", Byzantinische Zeitschrift 101.2 (2008) 715-725 * **

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:John Italus 11th-century Greek philosophers 11th-century Byzantine writers People from Calabria Greek literature Neoplatonists People excommunicated by Eastern Orthodox Church bodies