Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology/Sophianus
SOPHIA′NUS (Σοφιανός). 1. Michael. There is a Latin version by a Michael Sophianus of Aris- totle's treatise De Anima^ which was printed with the In Libras de Anima Aristolelis Ea'positio of St. Thomas Aquinas, Fol. Venice (apud Juntas) 1565. Of the age of the translator nothing appears to be known unless we could identify him with the sub- ject of one or other of the following articles, which cannot be done without supposing that there is some mistake as to his first name. If, as is likely, he is a different person, we may conjecture that he was one of the many Greek refugees who sought refuge in Italy on the capture of Constantinople by the Turks, or a Greek of Corfu, to which island we judge from the following article a branch of the Sophiani be- longed. We may perhaps identify him with the Sophianus, a Greek, who translated into Latin, and addressed to Lelio del Valle, a work De Re Militari et de Militaribus I/idrumentis, which is extant in the MS. in the Medicean library at Florence, or with the author of a work In Topica Aristotelis, of Epistolae in Laudem ipsius, and of Epigramiy.ata Sacra, all m the Ambrosian Library at Milan. (Montfaucon, Biblioth. Biblivtlwcar. vol. i. pp. 331, 602.)
2. Nicolaus. Raphael Volaterranus {Commen- iar. Urban. Lib. xxi.) mentions among the emi- nent persons of a then recent period, Sophianus, a Greek, who had taught Greek at Rome, but had not much cultivated an acquaintance with Latin. This notice would rather lead us to identify him with the Michael Sophianus just mentioned. [No. ].] But Vossius {De Naturu Artium, lib. ii. seu De Philoloyia, c. xi. § 21 ; Lib. iii. seu De Matliesi seu De Scicntiis Muthe7naticis, c. Ixviii. § 14) identifies him with Nicolaus Sophianus, a Greek of Corfu, who drew a map of ancient Greece, which was published, and had its value at the time, though partaking considerably of the imperfection of the geographical science of that day. Mont- faucon (I.e. p. 187) mentions among the MSS. of the Library of Card. Ottoboni at Rome Nicolai Sophiaiii Grammatica, apparently a Greek grammar, ttudin the Library of St. Miuk at Venice there is a treatise in Greek by Sophiaims, rov 2,o<piaiov De Spdaat, cod. ccccxcii. A Greek treatise by Nico- laus Hophimnis, De Praeparatioiie (s. Covfedione) et Usu Antro/abii, extant in MS. in various Libraries (Montfaucon, /. c. pp. 632, 741, 1289, Biblioth. Rey. Paris. Catal. Eol. 1740. Codd. mmcdxcix. and mmdcclxxxii. a.), must be ascribed to a later Sophianus who lived in the sixteenth century, as appears by its dedication to Pope Paul III. The similarity of the subject would lead us to ascribe the map of Greece to this later Sophianus, were it not for the assertion of Vossius.
3. Theodorus. Josias Simler in his Epitome Bibliothecae Gemerianae (p. 784, ed. Frisii. Fol. Zurich, 1583, comp. Vossius, De Scientiis Matlie- maticis, c. Iviii. § 19), speaks of the works of Theo- dorus Sophianus, which he terms Aatronoviica et Musica. The subjects would lead to the suspicion that he had in view the works of the later Nico- laus Sophianus, and gave him in mistake the name of Theodorus. There was, however, a Theodorus Sophianus in the last period of the Byzantine Empire : he was nephew of the patriarch Genna- dius II. of Constantinople [Gennadius, No. 2], as appears from the title of the funeral oration which his uncle the patriarch pronounced for him, A. D. 1 457 — 'EvrtTa^jos t^ fxaKapicf) &eo5oopcp t<j5 2,o(l)iav(fi iv TTJ lepd jnovfj BaroTreSiou ratpeuTi^ tv eltrcv e| viroyviov 6 Selos avrov rtwdSios (xova- Xos ku Tw Ta(picf, (TeTTTsS /crj, rq^e. O ratio fune- bris beati Theodori Sophiani., in Sacra Manusterio Batopedii sepulti, quam extempore pronuniiavii avunculus ejus Gennadius monachus ad sepul- crum. 28 Septembris, anno 6965. {a. n. 1457.) (Fabric. Bibl. Gruec. vol. xi. 382). It is perhaps to this Theodorus Sophianus that we may refer the Sophiani Epistola ad Ar-chiepiacujmm Philadel- phiensem in the King's Library at Paris. Cod. mccclx. {Catalog. Biblioth. Rey. vol. ii. Fol. Paris 1740). (Vossius, //. cc. ; Fabric. Bibl. Grace, vol. xi.pp. 295, 714.) [J.C. M.]