gems, history of gemology, history of science, history of mineralogy, Greek, Greece, Ferrante Imperato, early lapidaries

The first translation of Theophrastus’ περὶ λίθων (De lapidibus) into a modern language was not the English one by John Hill in 1746, at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, as usually reported, but an Italian one made by Ferrante Imperato (Naples, ca. 1525–1621), at the end of the Renaissance. Imperato’s translation is to be found as two separate chapters of Book 22 of Dell’Historia Naturale, published in 1599. This treatise, despite the title being generically on natural history, summarizes all knowledge on minerals assembled in Europe to date. Imperato’s translation ends with the opening statement of section 48, i.e., it concerns only stones and gemstones, and leaves out the earths that follow up to section 69 that closes Theophrastus’ treatise. Probably, Imperato used, for his Italian translation, a Latin translation (as yet unknown) rather than the Greek original text as retrieved and printed by Aldus Manutius (Aristotelis et Theophrasti Opera, vol. II, 1497). Certainly, such a Latin source was not the translation made by Adrianus Turnebus (Theophrasti De Lapidibus Liber, ab Adriano Turnebo Latinitate donatus, 1578), which was the only Latin one available in print at Imperato’s time.