Leontius Pilatus

Background

According to Petrarch, he was a Calabrian, who posed as a Greek in Italy and as an Italian abroad. He was a native of Thessalonica.

Career

In 1360 he went to Florence at the invitation of Boccaccio, by whose influence he was appointed to a lectureship in Greek at the Studio, the first appointment of the kind in the west.

After three years he accompanied Boccaccio to Venice on a visit to Petrarch, whom he had already met at Padua. Petrarch, disgusted with his manners and habits, despatched him to Constantinople to purchase manuscripts of classical authors. Pilatus soon tired of his mission and, although Petrarch refused to receive him again, set sail for Venice. Just outside the Adriatic Gulf he was struck dead by lightning.

Achievements

• Leontius translated and commented upon works of Euripides, Aristotle and Homer including the Odyssey and the Iliad into Latin and was the first professor of Greek in western Europe.

Works

More photos

• book

  • The Classical Tradition: Greek and Roman Influences on Western Literature

    (Traces the literary influence of Greek and Roman culture ...)

References

• Culture and society in Italy, 1290-1420 (Studies in cultural history)