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Nicholas Leonicus Thomaeus (, , ; 1456–1531) was a Venetian scholar and professor of
Thomaeus was born in
philosophy
Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...
as well as of Greek and Latin at the University of Padua
The University of Padua (, UNIPD) is an Italian public research university in Padua, Italy. It was founded in 1222 by a group of students and teachers from the University of Bologna, who previously settled in Vicenza; thus, it is the second-oldest ...
.
Biography
Thomaeus 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 ...
, 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 ...
on February 1, 1456, to an Albanian
Albanian may refer to:
*Pertaining to Albania in Southeast Europe; in particular:
**Albanians, an ethnic group native to the Balkans
**Albanian language
**Albanian culture
**Demographics of Albania, includes other ethnic groups within the country ...
or 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 ...
family from Epirus
Epirus () is a Region#Geographical regions, geographical and historical region, historical region in southeastern Europe, now shared between Greece and Albania. It lies between the Pindus Mountains and the Ionian Sea, stretching from the Bay ...
or Albania. While in Florence
Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025.
Florence ...
, he studied Greek philosophy
Ancient Greek philosophy arose in the 6th century BC. Philosophy was used to make sense of the world using reason. It dealt with a wide variety of subjects, including astronomy, epistemology, mathematics, political philosophy, ethics, metaphysic ...
and literature
Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...
under the tutelage of Demetrios Chalcondyles. In 1497, the University of Padua
The University of Padua (, UNIPD) is an Italian public research university in Padua, Italy. It was founded in 1222 by a group of students and teachers from the University of Bologna, who previously settled in Vicenza; thus, it is the second-oldest ...
appointed Thomaeus as its first official lecturer on the Greek text of 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 ...
. In 1504, he was elected to succeed Giorgio Valla as chair of Greek in Venice, but because Thomaeus failed to take the post seriously, he was succeeded in 1512 by Marcus Musurus
Marcus Musurus (; ; – 1517) was a Greek scholar and philosopher born in Candia, Venetian Crete (modern Heraklion, Crete).
Life
The son of a rich merchant, Musurus became at an early age a pupil of Janus Lascaris in Venice. In 1505, Musurus w ...
. In 1524, Thomaeus published a collection of philosophical dialogues 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 ...
, the first of which was titled ''Trophonius, sive, De divinatione''. He was admired by scholars such as Desiderius Erasmus
Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus ( ; ; 28 October c. 1466 – 12 July 1536), commonly known in English as Erasmus of Rotterdam or simply Erasmus, was a Dutch Christian humanist, Catholic priest and Catholic theology, theologian, educationalist ...
for his philological capabilities. When the University of Padua was reopened after the wars of the League of Cambrai, Thomaeus taught at the university until his death on March 28, 1531.
Works
* ''Aristotelis Parva quae vocant Naturalia'', Bernardino Vitali, Venice 1523. * ''Trophonius, sive, De divinatione'', 1524. * ''Bembo sive de immortalitate animae'', 1524. * ''Opuscula.'' Ex Venetiis, Bernardino Vitali, Venice 1525. * ''Conversio in Latinum atque explanatio primi libri Aristotelis de partibus animalium… nunc primum ex authoris archetypo in lucem aeditus.'' G. Farri, Venice 1540.See also
* Byzantine scholars in RenaissanceReferences
Sources
* * * * * *Further reading
* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Thomaeus, Nicholas Leonicus 15th-century Venetian writers 1456 births 1531 deaths Republic of Venice philosophers Venetian Albanians 16th-century Albanian people 15th-century Albanian people Academic staff of the University of Padua Italian philologists Aristotelian philosophers Venetian Greeks 16th-century Italian educators 15th-century Greek educators 16th-century Greek educators 16th-century Italian philosophers 16th-century Italian male writers