Nicholas Leonicus Thomaeus

Nicholas Leonicus Thomaeus (Italian: Niccolò Leonico Tomeo, Albanian: Nikollë Leonik Tomeu, Greek: Νικόλαος Λεόνικος Θωμεύς; 1456–1531) was a Venetian scholar and professor of philosophy as well as of Greek and Latin at the University of Padua.^[1]

Nicholas Leonicus Thomaeus
Nicholas Leonicus Thomaeus
Born	1 February 1456
Died	28 March 1531 (aged 75)
Nationality	Venetian
Occupation(s)	Scholar, professor of philosophy at the University of Padua
Notable work	Opuscula

Opuscula by Nicholas L. Thomaeus.

Biography

A 1942 standing portrait of Leonicus Thomaeus, depicting him as an Albanian, is found at the L'Aula Magna hall, in Palazzo del Bo.

Thomaeus was born in Venice, Italy on February 1, 1456, to an Albanian^{[2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14]} or Greek^{[15][16][17][18][19]} family from Epirus^[20] or Albania.^[1] While in Florence, he studied Greek philosophy and literature under the tutelage of Demetrios Chalcondyles.^[19][17] In 1497, the University of Padua appointed Thomaeus as its first official lecturer on the Greek text of Aristotle.^[15][16][17] 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.^[17] In 1524, Thomaeus published a collection of philosophical dialogues in Latin, the first of which was titled Trophonius, sive, De divinatione.^[16] He was admired by scholars such as Desiderius Erasmus for his philological capabilities.^[18] 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.^[17]

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 Renaissance