Joseph justus scaliger biography

He introduced the concept of "language family" or "matrix" , dividing known European languages into 11 groups descended from 11 ancestral "mother tongues. Joseph Justus Scaliger's immense erudition and profound scholarship had a lasting impact on the humanities. Despite his mathematical errors, his vast knowledge of the ancient world remained unmatched until the advent of modern scholarship.

His contributions to philology, chronology, history, and linguistics continue to inspire scholars today. Contact About Privacy. Luis Awadh. Philippe Labbe. Mukhitdin Kurbangaliev. Reproduction: Geneva, Switzerland: Slatkin, Pattison, Mark. Edited by Henry Nettleship, — The first essay was originally published in as a review of Bernays Van Ommen, Kasper.

PhD diss. Van Ommen analyses how Scaliger collected his manuscripts and printed books in eastern languages, drawing on his epistolary network involving scholars, merchants and diplomats. Users without a subscription are not able to see the full content on this page. Please subscribe or login. Oxford Bibliographies Online is available by subscription and perpetual access to institutions.

For more information or to contact an Oxford Sales Representative click here. Publications Pages Publications Pages. Sign in Get help with access You could not be signed in, please check and try again. Username Please enter your Username. Password Please enter your Password. Forgot password? Don't have an account? Sign in via your Institution.

You could not be signed in, please check and try again. Sign in with your library card Please enter your library card number. Scales v. United States U. Scalero, Rosario. Scaliger, Julius Caesar. Scaling the Heights: Mountaineering Advances between Scallion, Gordon Michael. Scallon, Dana Rosemary —. Scaly-Tailed Squirrels Anomaluridae.

Scaly-Tailed Squirrels: Anomaluridae. He was the first to lay down and apply sound rules of criticism and revision, and to change textual criticism from a series of haphazard guesses into a "rational procedure subject to fixed laws" Mark Pattison. These works, despite proving Scaliger's skill among his contemporaries as a Latin scholar and critic, did not go beyond simple scholarship.

It was reserved for his edition of Manilius , and his De emendatione temporum , to revolutionize perceived ideas of ancient chronology —to show that ancient history was not confined to that of the Greeks and Romans , but also comprises that of the Persians , the Babylonians and the Egyptians , hitherto neglected, and that of the Jews , hitherto treated as a thing apart; and that the historical narratives and fragments of each of these, and their several systems of chronology, must be critically compared.

It was this innovation that distinguished Scaliger from contemporary scholars. Neither they nor those who immediately followed seem to have appreciated his innovation. Instead, they valued his emendatory criticism and his skill in Greek. His commentary on Manilius is a treatise on ancient astronomy , and it forms an introduction to De emendatione temporum ; in this work, Scaliger investigates ancient systems of determining epochs , calendars and computations of time.

In the remaining twenty-four years of his life, he expanded on his work in the De emendatione.

Joseph justus scaliger biography

He succeeded in reconstructing the lost Chronicle of Eusebius —one of the most valuable ancient documents, especially valuable for ancient chronology. This he printed in in his Thesaurus temporum , in which he collected, restored, and arranged every chronological relic extant in Greek or Latin. When Justus Lipsius retired from the University of Leiden in , the university and its protectors, the States-General of the Netherlands and the Prince of Orange , resolved to appoint Scaliger as his successor.

He declined; he hated lecturing, and there were those among his friends who erroneously believed that with the success of Henry IV learning would flourish, and Protestantism would be no barrier to his advancement. This offer Scaliger accepted provisionally. Midway through , he set out for the Netherlands, where he would pass the remaining sixteen years of his life, never returning to France.

His reception at Leiden was all that he could have wished for. He received a handsome income; he was treated with the highest consideration. His supposed rank as a prince of Verona , a sensitive issue for the Scaligeri , was recognized. Leiden lying between The Hague and Amsterdam , Scaliger was able to enjoy, besides the learned circle of Leiden, the advantages of the best society of both these capitals.

For Scaliger was no hermit buried among his books; he was fond of social intercourse and was himself a good talker. During the first seven years of his residence at Leiden, his reputation was at its highest point. His literary judgment was unquestioned. From his throne at Leiden he ruled the learned world; a word from him could make or mar a rising reputation, and he was surrounded by young men eager to listen to and profit from his conversation.

He encouraged Grotius when only a youth of sixteen to edit Martianus Capella. At the early death of the younger Douza , he wept as at that of a beloved son. Daniel Heinsius , at first his favourite pupil, became his most intimate friend. At the same time, Scaliger had made numerous enemies. He hated ignorance, but he hated still more half-learning, and most of all dishonesty in argument or quotation.

He had no toleration for the disingenuous argument and the misstatements of facts of those who wrote to support a theory or to defend an unsound cause. His pungent sarcasm soon reached the ears of the persons who were its object, and his pen was not less bitter than his tongue. He was conscious of his power, and not always sufficiently cautious or sufficiently gentle in its exercise.