Politian (1454-1494)

Italian poet, playwright, and exponent of humanist ideals. He was tutor to Lorenzo de Medici's children, and professor at the University of Florence from 1480. He was one of the greatest masters of Latin style of the Renaissance, the best example of this being provided by his Sylvae, while two sets of Miscellanea deal with problems of classical scholarship. His humanism is reflected in his Italian writings, notably the Stanze per la giostra in celebration of a joust in which Lorenzo's brother Giuliano had participated in 1475 and Orfeo 1480, a dramatic piece.

He was born in Montepulciano, Tuscany. Before the age of 20, Politian had produced Latin letters and Greek verse, translated the first four books of the Iliad into Latin hexameters, and published an edition of Catullus.