George of Trebizond (c. 1395–1484)

Cretan-born teacher of Greek. A pioneer of Renaissance Greek studies, he was a secretary to Pope Eugenius IV, and taught Latin and rhetoric in several Italian cities, including Venice, and Greek in Rome. He was involved in a well-known feud with the Greek scholar Bessarion over translations of Aristotle, a feud which illustrates how important Greek studies had become in Renaissance Italy by the middle of the 15th century.

His family came from Trebizond on the Black Sea. Brought to Venice in 1417 by the Italian scholar Ermolao Barbaro, who employed him as a copyist and had him taught Latin, he mastered the language so well that he became a public teacher of Latin literature at Venice, Padua, and Vicenza. Pope Eugenius IV used George's knowledge of Greek at the Council of Florence in 1438 and subsequently appointed him apostolic secretary and professor at Rome, which aroused the jealousy of Italian humanists.

Though a pioneer of Greek studies in Italy, Goerge was not popular – his ill temper was shown in his feud with Bessarion, who had accused him of faulty translations of Aristotle – and his reputation was overshadowed by the greater abilities of the scholars who came to Rome in the papacy of Nicholas V. He died impoverished and largely ignored.