Marcus Musurus
Marcus Musurus (Μάρκος Μουσούρος) (c.
1470-
1517), Greek scholar, was born at
Rethymno,
Crete. At an early age he became a pupil of
John Lascaris at
Venice.
In
1505, Musurus was made professor of
Greek language at the
University of Padua. But when the university was closed in
1509 during the
War of the League of Cambrai, he returned to
Venice where he filled a similar post .
In
1516, Musurus was summoned to
Rome by
Pope Leo X, who appointed him
archbishop of
Monemvasia (
Malvasia) in the
Peloponnese, but he died before he left the
Italian peninsula.
Since 1493 Musurus had been associated with the famous printer
Aldus Manutius, and belonged to the
Neacademia, a society founded by Manutius and other learned men for the promotion of Greek studies. Many of the Aldine classics were brought out under Musurus' supervision, and he is credited with the first editions of the scholia of
Aristophanes (1498),
Athenaeus (1514),
Hesychius of Alexandria (1514), and
Pausanias the geographer (1516).
