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Silvio Giuseppe Mercati (born Giuseppe Mercati; 16 September 1877 – 16 October 1963) was an Italian Byzantinist, recognized as the first Italian classical scholar who specialized in Byzantine studies.

Biography

Mercati was born in Reggio Emilia (precisely in the village of Villa Gaida) from a middle-class family. He had two older brothers, Giovanni and Angelo, who both became ecclesiastics, the former working as 'Dottore' of the Ambrosian Library and later as Prefect of the Vatican Library, whereas the latter became Archivist of the Vatican Secret Archive.

Mercati initially enrolled in the Accademia Scientifico-Letteraria of Milan (precursor of the University of Milan) in 1896, but soon had to move to Naples for health reasons (1897-1898), studying at the local university. After a year-break, in 1899-1900 he studied at the University of Rome and, from 1900-1901 to 1904-1905, at the University of Bologna, where he graduated defending a thesis on the Greek versions of the writings of Ephrem the Syrian (tutored by Vittorio Puntoni). From 1905 to 1907 he taught in middle and high schools; in that year he won a scholarship and spent three years in Germany, where he specialized in Byzantine philology with Wilhelm Meyer (Göttingen) and Karl Krumbacher (Munich).

In 1924-1925 he was nominated Professor of Greek Literature at the University of Catania, but moved almost immediately to the Sapienza University of Rome, where he taught Byzantine philology until his retirement in 1949. He died in Rome in 1963.

Research

Mercati specialized in Byzantine literature, in particular poetry and literature with religious background. He wrote several short articles and notes, but only one monograph – the critical edition of Ephrem's Greek sermons.

Publications

• Mercati, Sylvius Joseph (Silvio Giuseppe), ed. (1915). S. Ephraem Syri opera. Vol. I: Sermones in Abraham et Isaac, in Basilium Magnum, in Eliam. Rome: Pontificium Institutum Biblicum.

References

1. ^ Vian 2009.
2. Ephraem (1915).

Bibliography

• Vian, Paolo (2009). "Giuseppe Mercati". Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani.

• Italian Byzantinists
• Sapienza University of Rome
• University of Bologna alumni