Pinakes | Πίνακες

Résumé :

In 1449, at the request of Pope Nicholas V, Poggio Bracciolini translated the first five books of Diodorus of Sicily. This resulted in consequence of the Council of Florence (1439-1443), which brought about a considerable expansion of geographical knowledge, particularly in the direction of the South and East. In this paper we study the historical context of this translation and its relationship with the De varietae fortunae published in 1448, as well as identifying Poggio’s Greek models. As his principal exemplar, Poggio used Vaticanus Graecus 995, copied by Leon Atrapes around 1427; for supplementary purposes he also used Laurentianus 70, 16 available at the convent of San Marco. Poggio’s correspondence demonstrates that in the course of his work and in the period following its completion, Poggio received the assistance of a series of correctors – notably George of Trebizond – to revise and improve his text.