Michael Apostolius (Greek: Μιχαὴλ Ἀποστόλιος or Μιχαὴλ Ἀποστόλης; c. 1420inConstantinople – after 1474 or 1486, possibly in Venetian Crete)[1]orApostolius Paroemiographus, i.e. Apostolius the proverb-writer, was a Greek teacher, writer and copyist who lived in the fifteenth century.
Apostolius, a student of John Argyropoulos, taught for a short time at the Monastery of St. John of Petra in Constantinople.[1] Taken prisoner by the Turks during the fall of Constantinople in 1453, he was later released and fled to Crete, then a Venetian colony.[1] There he earned a scanty living by teaching and by copying manuscripts for Italian humanists, including his patron, Cardinal Bessarion.[2][1] He often complained about his poverty: one of his manuscripts, a copy of the EikonesofPhilostratus, now in Bologna, bears the inscription: "The king of the poor of this world has written this book for his living."[2]
Apostolius died about 1480, leaving a son, Arsenius Apostolius, who became bishop of Malvasia (Monemvasia) in the Morea.[2]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Apostolius, Michael". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 2 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.| International |
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