Lorenzo M. Ciolfi, Venezia come luogo del Rinascimento della paremiologia greca. La famiglia Apostolis ed Erasmo da Rotterdam

Lorenzo M. Ciolfi - EHESS – Centre d’Études Byzantines Néo-Helléniques et Sud-Est Européennes, Paris
TOME LII 2014
p. 107-121
Online publication date: 
02/05/2024
Keywords: 
Paremiology; Greek proverbs; XV–XVI century Venice; Michael and Arsenius Apostolis; Desiderius Erasmus
Abstract: 

After the fall of Constantinople in 1453, Venice received an influx of Greek refugees. The Venetians gave the lost children of the Empire the opportunity to retain their cultural identity; moreover, the lagoon city was a natural crossing point between East and West, and as such acted as tributary for Greek knowledge to Western Europe. This move West was the destiny of the Greek proverbs tradition too. Divided into three related chapters – dedicated respectively to Michael Apostolis, his son Arsenius Apostolis and Desiderius Erasmus –, this paper aims to present some features of these scholars’ work. It intends to retrace some of the steps from Apostolis’ Violarium to Erasmus’ Adages, and finally highlight the role Venice played between XVth and XVIth centuries in the proverbs field. It was most likely the real starting point for the “Renaissance” of Greek paremiology.

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