Drei neapolitanische Humanisten über die Liebe

This volume contains both the Latin and German version each of three works on the topic of love. These were written by the politicians and/or condottieri and highly educated Neapolitan humanists Panormita, Pontano, and Marullus. Antonio Beccadelli, born in 1393/4 and called Panormita, came from Palermo and worked also in Siena. Giovanni Pontano, born in Cerreto di Spoleto in 1429, was his successor in Naples, and Michael Tarchaniota Marullus from Byzantium mainly worked in Florence apart from Naples. Panormita's 'Hermaphroditus' in two volumes is dedicated to Cosimo de' Medici the Elder and forms a variegated collection of obscene epigrams praising sexual love. Pontano's three books of 'Amores Coniugales' are novel-like continuous elegies focussing on love in happy marriage. Marullus' four volumes of 'Hymni Naturales' are an eulogy on pagan gods and goddesses under the aspect of platonic love for the perception of good and the contemplation of the divine. The three opera are based on the antique literature traditions of Martial's epigrams, Roman love elegies, and Homeric and Orphic hymns.