RHODOMANOLOGIA II - Digital Edition of the Greek and Latin Poetry written by Laurentius Rhodoman between 1589 and 1606

• Applicants: Professor Dr. Thomas Gärtner; Professor Dr. Patrick Sahle; Professor Dr. Stefan Weise
• Subject Area: Greek and Latin Philology
• Term: since 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 461456140

The German Humanist Laurentius Rhodoman (1545–1606) was one of the most important Renaissance poets of Ancient Greek verse. Both his contemporaries and posterity honored him as a “second Homer”. Rhodoman gained the ability and inspiration to write Greek verse at Ilfeld Monastery School under the guidance of Michael Neander (1525–1595), a former student of Melanchthon. After graduating from Rostock University, Rhodoman first served as headmaster at various Latin schools in Schwerin, Lüneburg, Walkenried and Stralsund, and then as professor at Jena and Wittenberg University. “Rhodomanologia II” continues the digital edition of Rhodoman’s poetic oeuvre (www.rhodomanologia.de), developed during the preceding research project “Rhodomanologia”. The current phase addresses texts written between 1589 and 1606, enhancing und completing the project. The edition includes a critical text, a German translation, a metrical analysis, apparatuses, introductions and notes to all poems. Additionally, the texts are searchable through various indexes. The poems from the period between 1589 and 1606 were composed during Rhodoman’s time as headmaster in Walkenried and Stralsund and as professor in Jena and Wittenberg. The prestige Rhodoman gained through his professorships and his coronation as a poet caused a massive increase in his output of occasional poetry and let him to foster contacts with famous contemporaries such as Joseph Justus Scaliger, Justus Lipsius, Isaac Casaubon, Henri Estienne, Jan Gruter and Paul Schede Melissus. The most important works from this time include his major opus, the Palaestina (1589), a Greek-Latin didactic poem about the history of the Holy Land from the creation until Rhodoman’s time; the Theologiae christianae tirocinia (1596), a poetic-dialogical paraphrase of Luther’s catechism in Greek-Latin hexameters; and several major occasional poems written for leading intellectuals of his day. As a classicist Rhodoman earned lasting renown through his major critical editions and translations of the imperial epic poet Quintus of Smyrna and the historian Diodorus Siculus, both published in 1604. In order to contextualize Rhodoman’s poetic and philological work, the digital edition will also include his existing letters and selected prose writings, that will be edited, translated and digitally linked with the poetic output and established databanks. Through tools of classical and digital editing, the edition will allow for a unique and differentiated insight into the intellectual culture of the late Renaissance and the Protestant German philhellenism of the sixteenth century. These possibilities will benefit a number of research disciplines, such as classical philology, German studies, church history, comparative literature studies, educational studies and early modern studies, as well as an interested general public (e.g., people interested in the local history of the places where Rhodoman was active).

• DFG Programme: Research Grants