Ioannis Kottounios (Ioannes Cottunius)
Born1577 (1577)
Veroia, Ottoman Empire
Died1658 (aged 80–81)
Padua, Republic of Venice
Alma mater
EraRenaissance
RegionWestern philosophy
Institutions
Main interests
Medicine, Greek literature, theology and philosophy

Ioannis Kottounios (Greek: Ἰωάννης Κωττούνιος, Latin: Joannes Cottunius de Verria; c. 1577[1] – 1658) was an eminent ethnic Greek scholar who studied philosophy, theology and medicine, taught Greek[2] from 1617 and philosophy[2] from 1630 in Bologna, Italy becoming professor of philosophy in 1632[3] he also founded a college for unwealthy Greeks at Padua in 1653.[4]

Biography

"Patritius Veriensis Ioannes Cottunius".

Ioannis Kottounios was born of Greek[5][6][7] descent in Veroia (Karaferye),[1] Rumelia Eyalet, Ottoman Empire in 1577. While in Wallachia he was arrested by Tatar brigands along with his brothers Charalampos and Angelos. Once ransomed he went to Germany with a recommendation letter written by Patriarch Raphael. There Ioannis and his brothers received further reference letters from Rudolf, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst. He subsequently stayed in Tübingen where he may have studied under the philhellene Martin Crusius.

After a stay in Venice he went to Rome, where he studied at the Collegio Pontifico Greco of Agios Athanasios (1605–1613) associated with the church Sant'Atanasio dei Greci, which operated under a Venetian administration. During his time at the college he converted to Roman Catholicism from Greek Orthodoxy and became a member of the religious community of Virgin Mary. He studied Greek, grammar, theology and philosophy and subsequently taught these subjects to new students. He moved to the University of Padua in 1613 and began studies in medicine until 1615. From 1615, he taught rhetoric, poetry and the works of Aristotle at the University of Bologna. He published there his first two books. His second book De conficiendo epigrammate was dedicated to Louis XIV and was taken to him in person by a Cretan priest named Antonios Boumboulis. The Macedonian Kottounios was hoping in an initiative by the king of France for a crusade to liberate Greece, as did many of his fellow countrymen, including his former fellow student from Rome and French diplomat Leonardos Filaras from Athens.[8] Following the death of Camillo Belloni, Κottounios was appointed associate professor of philosophy at the University of Padua in 1633. In 1637 he succeeded his former teacher, the renowned Italian philosopher Cesare Cremonini, at the Chair of Philosophy at the University of Padua. In 1648, he founded in Padua, the Cottunian College (Greek: Κωττούνιον Ἑλληνομουσεῖον), a boarding school for Greek boys. The nearly contemporary Venetian diplomat in Paris F. Marchesini wrote that the French helped financially in the foundation of the Cottunian College. It was under the administration of the Collegio degli Artisti and later came under the jurisdiction of the University of Padua. It was a theological college whose students were obliged to attend the Christmas and Easter Mass at the San Giorgio dei Greci in Venice.[8] Kottounios was a friend of Martin Crusius, Leo Allatius and other personalities of his time. He was an eminent scholar and commentator on the works of Aristotle. He died in Padua, in 1657.

Works of Ioannis Kottounios

  • Ioannes Cottunius De triplici statu animae rationalis ad aures ac tenorem Aristotelis,, veraeque philosoph. hoc est ... opus, Bononiae, 1628.
  • Ioannes Cottunius De conficiendo epigrammate liber unus, 1632, dedicated to Luis XIV.
  • Ioannes Cottunius Manuale Scholasticum de vitiis et peccatis, Padua, 1635.
  • Ioannes Cottunius Immortalitati Alcidii Philhellini, Padua, 1642.
  • Ioannes Cottunius Commentarii in quatuor libros Aristotelis de Caelo, 1653.
  • Ioannes Cottunius Commentarii lucidissimi in tres Aristotelis libros de Anima, 1656.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Merry, Bruce (2004). Encyclopedia of modern Greek literature. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 239. ISBN 0-313-30813-6. KOTOUNIOS, IOANNIS (1577–1658) Born at Beroia (Macedonia)
  2. 1 2 Spruit, Leen (1995). Species Intelligibilis: Renaissance controversis, later scholasticism, and the elimination of the intelligible species in modern philosophy, Volume 2 of Species Intelligibilis: From Perception to Knowledge. BRILL. p. 327. ISBN 90-04-10396-1. Johannes Cottunius, 1577 Vena – 1658 Padua; studied philosophy, theology and medicine; taught Greek (from 1617) and philosophy (from 1630) in Bologna
  3. ↑ Hutton, James (1935). The Greek anthology in Italy to the year 1800 Volume 23 of Cornell studies in English. Cornell University Press. p. 268. OCLC 1018945. JOANNES COTTUNIOS (c. 1600-c.1657) … In 1632 he was professor of philosophy at Padua
  4. ↑ Grant, Edward (2007). In Defense of the Earth's Centrality and Immobility: Scholastic Reaction to Copernicanism in the Seventeenth Century. American Philosophical Society. p. 41. ISBN 978-1-4223-7459-7. Cottunius was a Greek who studied at the Greek College in Rome and even founded a college for indigent Greeks at Padua in 1653
  5. ↑ Grant, Edward (2007). In Defense of the Earth's Centrality and Immobility: Scholastic Reaction to Copernicanism in the Seventeenth Century. American Philosophical Society. p. 41. ISBN 978-1-4223-7459-7. Cottunius was a Greek who studied at the Greek College in Rome and even founded a college for indigent Greeks at Padua in 1653. In addition to philosophy and theology, he also earned a doctorate in medicine at Padua. His commentary on the Meteorology was apparently unpublished.
  6. ↑ Hutton, James (1935). The Greek anthology in Italy to the year 1800 Volume 23 of Cornell studies in English. Cornell University Press. p. 268. OCLC 1018945. JOANNES COTTUNIOS (c. 1600-c.1657) Cottunius was a Greek, born at Veroia (ancient Beroea) near Thessalonike, then part of the Ottoman Empire. He early came to Italy, where he received most of his education, becoming Doctor of Medicine, Philosophy, and Theology. In 1632 he was professor of philosophy at Padua
  7. ↑ Garin, Eugenio (1967). Storia della filosofia italiana, Volume 2. G. Einaudi. p. 578. OCLC 312459656. Patavii 1570) e il greco Giovanni Cottunio (De triplici statu anim. rationalis, Bononiae 1628; comm. all'anima, Padova 1657).
  8. 1 2 Αθανάσιος Ε. Καραθανάσης Πραγματείαι περί Μακεδονίας (Athanasios Karathanasis Treatises on Macedonia, in Greek) Εκδοτικός Οίκος Αδελφών Κυριακίδη, Thessaloniki, 1990.
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