The life and work of Ciriaco Pizzicolli (Cyriacus of Ancona) is in various ways a reflection of the Renaissance. Ciriaco was born into a family of merchants that travelled east to Constantinople, Greece, and even to Alexandria for business ventures (Belozerskaya, 2009). It was during these travels that Ciriaco gained a profound interest and engagement in studying the antiquity remains and their relation to situations in his country of origin, which he also examined with great attention (Belozerskaya, 2009). He became one of the earliest individuals to combine their occupations with the study of ruins. This hence shows the significance of him being a merchant since he developed his interest in the ruins and antiquities as he travelled for business purposes.
Ciriaco’s life also depicted renaissance in several ways. One was by studying Latin in ancient Rome where he drew many antiquities as well as monuments in the ancient city (Belozerskaya, 2009). He also studied Greek in Constantinople since his interest in archeological studies was not just visual (Belozerskaya, 2009). He loved Greek literature and during his travels to the east, he collected many Greek manuscripts. Due to his knowledge of ancient Greece, he had a better understanding of the relevance of the inscriptions he would copy during his travels (Belozerskaya, 2009).
His great interest in archeology increased so much that he travelled all over the Eastern Mediterranean where in his day-book named Commentaria, he noted down the archeological discoveries that he made (Belozerskaya, 2009). Commentaria gradually filled six volumes and that denotes his great dedication to the study of archeology hence an evidence of humanism. Ciriaco actually spent the remaining part of his life in the study of ancient monuments, recording of ancient architecture, and copying of inscriptions in Greece, Italy, Egypt, Turkey and Dalmatia (Belozerskaya, 2009). His studies clearly show the element of the renaissance of revival of learning.
There are many ways in which the work of Ciriaco contributes to archeology today. It is important to first mention that Ciriaco is regarded as the founder of archeology (Belozerskaya, 2009). That is a major way that his contribution may be attributed since without him the field of archeology would probably not exist. It was while he was studying the Latin inscription on Trajan’s triumphal arch in 1421 that an idea inspired him that a better testimony of antiquity could be obtained from archeological monuments than from literary tradition (Belozerskaya, 2009). The inscription on Trajan’s monument that inspired him is one way that depicts of the politics of the day influenced his work. Ciriaco’s work gained the interest of artists as well as well architects making them appreciate more the classical heritage present on their land.
Ciriaco’s notes have been great use to present day archeologists, and in 2005 the discovery of a block he had found on the Aeropagus was made in the Little Metropolis’ structure (Belozerskaya, 2009). This church of Athens was earlier dated in the 12th century but the newest assumption is that it was built in 1436 when the documentation of Aeropagus was done by Ciriaco (Belozerskaya, 2009). Ciriaco also contributes to the contemporary archaeology because via a drawing made for him, there is a recording of the Column of Justinian’s appearance prior to its destruction by the Ottomans. Even though time did not allow him to publish his work Commentarii, it luckily circulated in manuscript as well as in copies of his drawings (Belozerskaya, 2009). His work on Commentarii was however lost in 1514 in a tragic fire in library of Sforza and Alessandro in Pesaro. In 1532, his manuscripts on Ancona too were destroyed by a fire in the archives of the city. Therefore, only little of his original work including Commentaria has reached the hands of modern archeologists which may prove challenging. All they have is copies that were from contemporaries of the day. However, the impact of the work of Cyricus of Ancona on posterity was highly significant.
Reference
Belozerskaya, M. (2009). To wake the dead. New York: W.W. Norton & Co.
