Greek Renaissance commentaries on the Organon

In his study Aristotle and the Renaissance, Charles Schmitt focuses on the international character and the geographical, chronological and intellectual variations in Aristotelianism during the Renaissance, which he defines as a ‘time span in European history from the late fourteenth century until the mid-seventeenth’. ¹ The American scholar recognises the various restrictions of this definition, ² but introduces two arguments of pivotal importance for his analysis: (a) that during these ‘three hundred years of the Aristotelian tradition … publications were more numerous than at any time before or since’; ³ and (b) that the

main binding force was the Latin language in which the greatest bulk of literature on the subject was written…philosophers or scientists at Oxford, Coimbra, or Cracow could read one another and, in turn, be read in Rome as well as in Paris or Uppsala. ⁴

Schmitt’s arguments about Aristotelian publications, Latin, the philosophical discourse and the numerous educational institutions during the Renaissance ⁵ could apply both to those Greek scholars who chose to study and/or pursue a career abroad – especially in Italy – after the Ottoman 149conquest or to those already living in areas under Venetian rule. ⁶ For instance, Athanasios Rhetor ⁷ (ca. 1571–1663) published his Ἀριστοτέλης ἑαυτὸν περὶ τῆς ἀθανασίας τῆς ψυχῆς διατρανῶν (Paris 1641) in both Greek and Latin; ⁸ John Kottounios (ca. 1577–1658) published all his Aristotelian works in Latin, ⁹ taking over from Cesare Cremonini (1550–1631) as teacher of philosophy at the University of Padua in 1632. ¹⁰ As regards the educational institutions where Greek students could start, continue or complete their studies, there were six such schools functioning in Italy from the beginning of the sixteenth century: the short-lived ‘Gymnasio mediceo ad Caballinum montem’ ¹¹ (1514–21) and the ‘Pontificio Collegio Greco di Sant’Atanasio’ ¹² (1576–1797) in Rome; the colleges of Ioasaph Palaiokapas ¹³ (1633–1772) and John Kottounios in Padua ¹⁴ (1653–1797); the Greek School ¹⁵ (1593–1701, 1791–1926) and the college of Thomas Flagginis ¹⁶ (1665–1797) in Venice. To these institutions we should add the University of Padua, a popular educational destination for Greeks at that time. ¹⁷