ABSTRACT
The revival of classical antiquity that took place in Italy at the end of the Middle Ages brought about a keen interest in classical mythology. While this is a well-known phenomenon whose importance hardly needs to be stressed, its progressively changing nature has not always received adequate acknowledgment. Not unlike many other fifteenth-century humanists, Giovanni Pontano pursued a political career in the service of an Italian potentate. Pontano's prodigious activity as witnessed by his contemporaries receives further confirmation from the available manuscript evidence. Conceived shortly after 1469 and progressively expanded, Urania was declared ready for the press more than thirty years later, when Pontano gave his friend Suardino Suardo permission to supervise its printing in Venice. Competition with the ancients was once again the main driving force behind Pontano's accomplishment. As in Urania, transformation of the ancient sources occurs in the Horti Hesperidum through 'crossing' at several levels.
