DIOSCÓRIDES AND THE PORTUGUESE HUMANISM: THE AMATO LUSITANO COMMENTS

Team: introduction

For project execution we founded a work-team of researchers from six universities in Portugal (Aveiro, Católica, Coimbra, Madeira, Minho, Porto) and Brazil (Federal University of Amazonas), composed of translators (Greek and Latin) and researchers in the fields directly related to «materia medica» (Botany, Pharmacy, Physics, Chemistry, Geology and Medicine).

The translators involved in this project, as can be seen from their curricula, have accredited experience in critical editing, translation and commentary of classical and humanistic texts (in Greek and Latin). They therefore offer solid guarantees of being able to fully undertake the task and of accomplishing the end purpose. Amongst the array of texts subject to editing, translation and commentary by the members of this group, emphasis is given to books by Greek-Latin authors (Bacchylides, Euripides, Pindaro, Semonides of Amorgos, Sophocles, Cicero and Corpus Priapeorum), and to Neo-Latin Portuguese authors of the 16th and 17th centuries (André de Resende, Aquiles Estaço, Diogo Paiva de Andrade, Diogo Pires – cousin and partner in exile to Amato Lusitano, Jerónimo Cardoso, Jerónimo Osório, Lucas Pereira e Luís da Cruz). Furthermore, various translators of Latin are in a privileged position to cope with this project’s main challenge, as their research has centred precisely on Neo-Latin literature of the 1500s., of which Amato Lusitano’s and Pietro Andrea Mattioli’s books are a part.

The researchers from the four most important areas of study of «materia medica» (Botany, Pharmacy, Geology and Medicine) possess unequalled knowledge in their respective fields, well-evidenced by the extended curricula. As a matter of fact, they have published several scholarly monographs in the scope of History of Science, some of which give particular attention to the study of the work of João Rodrigues de Castelo Branco, in the area of History of Medicine. The most relevant scientific area of «materia medica» is, undoubtedly, Botany, where the team of researchers can count on the collaboration of Jorge Paiva, one of the world’s most renowned specialists. He is a member of the publishing and editorial boards of «Flora Ibérica» and «Flora de Cabo Verde», and has contributed to various African flora editions such as «Flora Zambesiaca» and «Flora of Tropical East Africa».

Events


2013-11-21

Publications

BORGES, Ana Margarida de Almeida, “Léxico portugués bajo la marca Hispanice en los comentarios de Amato a Dioscórides”, Revista de Lexicografía (aceite para publicação).