Theodore of Gaza

(Theodore Gazes, in Greek). Byzantine scholar and translator (ca. 1400-1475) who was among the first wave of genuine Byzantine humanists (including Manuel Chrysoloras, Bessarion, and Plethon [qq.v.]) to influence the 15th-century Italian Renaissance. Born in Thessalonike (q.v.), his studies there and in Constantinople (q.v.) benefited from the Palaiologan revival of ancient Greek literature, philosophy, and science, which was much broader than the studia humanitatis of rhetoric, history, poetry, and ethics being studied in Italy (q.v.). It was this breadth of knowledge that he brought to Ferrara (q.v.) in 1440, where he translated not only Aristotle's (q.v.) philosophic works, but also his scientific treatises. There, he also wrote a Greek grammar that was recognized as the best of all such manuals; Erasmus, for example, praised it highly. He subsequently taught in Naples (q.v.) and was invited to Rome (q.v.) by Pope Nicholas V (q.v.), where he joined a literary circle of Greek scholars, among whom was Bessarion. His pupils included many Italian humanists who later became famous, such as Lorenzo Valla. Along with a handful of other Byzantine scholars, he helped to establish Greek studies as an important component of Italian humanism.