DR JOVAN ARGIROPUL (1410-1492)

Abstract

Dr. John Argyropulos (Dr. John Argyropulus, Dr. John Argyropoulos) was the last but, along with Dr. John Hortazmen, the most well known professor of Medical School, founded in 1308 by the Serbian king Stefan Uroš II Milutin at the Hospital of St. John the Baptist monastery in Constantinople. After the town fell to the Turkish hands, Dr. Argyropulos stayed at Peloponnesus from 1453 to 1456, when he moved to Italy, in which he spent the rest of his life. He is not important only for the Serbs, he is more important for the Greeks and particularly for the Italians and Italy, in which he spent the largest part of his life, in which he achieved the university education, taught the Greek philosophy, language and literature, as well as translated a number of Aristotle’s works from old Greek to Latin and New Greek, wrote a number of poems, letters and notes and made a strong influence on a number of Renaissance humanists in Florence, Italy, as well as on a number of intelectuals throghout Europe. We found no evidence that Dr. John Argiropulos either practised medicine in Italy, or that he taught medicine at the Italian medical schools.

Keywords: Dr. John Argyropulos; Medical School; Serbian hospital; King’s hospital; Prodrom’s monastery; Constantinople