John Argyropoulos

John Argyropoulos, who lived from about 1415 to 1487, was a Greek educator and humanist born in Constantinople who played a central role in reviving classical Greek learning in Renaissance Italy. He studied theology and philosophy in Constantinople before earning a Doctor of Theology degree from the University of Padua in 1443 or 1444, took part in the Council of Florence as a Byzantine delegate, and after the fall of Constantinople in 1453 relocated to Italy, where he headed the Greek department of the Florentine Studium from 1456 to 1470 and later taught in Rome until his death in 1487. His central achievement was translating major works of Aristotle into Latin, covering logic, physics, metaphysics and ethics, translations that were instrumental in transmitting ancient Greek philosophy to the Latin West, and his students included Lorenzo de' Medici, Pietro de' Medici, Angelo Poliziano and Johann Reuchlin.