CYRIAC Biography:
CIRIACO DE' PIZZICOLLI
(aka Cyriacus of Ancona)
(1391-1455)

Born in Ancona, Italy, Ciriaco (or Cyriac or Cyriacus or Kuriacou or Kyriacus ) was a Renaissance merchant who loved to travel.  During his trips throughout the Mediterranean area, including Syria, Egypt, and Morea Greece, he sketched, collected, copied and wrote descriptions of as much as he could with the time he had.  Discovered in late July 2008, thanks to an OUSTANDING review by Diana Wright, the Edward W. Bodnar & Clive Foss book, Cyriac of Ancona: Later Travels. (The I Tatti Renaissance Library. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2003. Pp. xxii, 459. ISBN 0-674-00758-1. $29.95) has:
"Called Cyriacus in Latin, German, and sometimes in English; Cyriaque in French; and Ciriaco de' Pizzecolli in Italian.  He usually signed himself as Kyriacus Anconitanus de Picenicollibus (abbreviated to K.A.P.) or, occasionally in his later years, as Kuriakos ho ex Ank“nos."

Cyriac Family Newsletter article - December 1973

CYRIAC of ANCONA

MADISON, Wis.  Two articles discussing this very interesting, well-traveled man were found in the library of the University of Wisconsin.  Bernard Ashmole, a fellow of the British Academy, read a lecture, "Cyriac of Ancona", November 6, 1957 in London.  Mr. Ashmole defended Cyriac against critics questioning the authenticity of some of his drawings of ancient monuments in Egypt, Greece, and Italy.

Cyriac, who lived from 1391-1455, started traveling at age 9 with his maternal uncle, a merchant.  At age 30 he studied Latin, apparently in Rome where he made drawings of many of Rome's monuments.  Four years later Cyriac was in Constantinople studying Greek.  All this training got him into the Court of Sigismund at Siena.  And when Sigismund came to Rome for his coronation as Emperor, Cyriac was his guide among Rome's antiquities.  Two years later in 1435, Cyriac was back exploring in Greece and Egypt.

These travels and drawings were recorded in six volumes of Commentaries.  But in 1514 a fire destroyed the library in which the six volumes were apparently kept in the town of Pesaro.  Fortunately, some of Cyriac's friends, and other humanists** of the next generation, had copied some of his work.  Unfortunately, according to Ashmole some of the copying may not have been too accurate.  Thus, some critics have knocked old Cyriac's scholarly aptitude.  The purpose of Ashmole's paper was to show that Cyriac succeeded in making such a true record of objects that he occasionally puts later investigators to shame.  (Refer to Proceedings of the British Academy XLV, p. 25-41, 1959).

**FOOTNOTE: The term "humanist" during the Renaissance did not have the strong rejection of God connotation that exists in our time.  The humanist was concerned with the revival of classical letters and an individualistic and critical spirit, but he still maintained a faith, a trust, in the God whose son Jesus Christ was born to save man from his sinful nature.  (Refer to The Renaissance, Time-Life Books, 1960s).

It is interesting to note that Cyriac signed his drawing of the Parthenon, Kyriacus Anconitanus.  In the literature, he is also called Cyriacus of Ancona and Ciriaco de' Pizzicolli.  The other article about Cyriacus and Albrecht Durer is in the "thick" German of the 1820s. 

The copying of ancient inscriptions is said by De Rossi (Inscriptiones Christ.  Urbis Romae, VII saec antiquiores, II, 377) to have been "the chief credit and undying glory of Ciriaco", according to the detail of that biography about him.  That bio also indicates Pizzicolli to be his family name as opposed to a reference to an area of Italy, presumably around Ancona.

Due to events subsequent to this death, his collection became scattered coincident with the destruction of many of the items he had documented.  Most were destroyed due to various and sundry wars occurring almost constantly in the area.  It's intimated that thanks SOLELY to his efforts, a lot of what's known about early Mediterranean monuments and inscriptions is based upon what's left of his work.

In the specific case of The Parthenon, as noted on pages 43 & 44 of Woodford's book, had it not been for Ciriaco's drawings made on his visit to Athens, the only picture of the parthenon we would have had was as it's 1670 configuration as the 'Our Lady of Athens' Christian church.  That's because in 1687, the "whole centre of the Parthenon was blown out, though the ends were relatively undamaged", as a result of one of the aforementioned wars.  (The book also points to what may have been discrepancies in some of the detail work in Ciriaco's drawings - maybe because he was pressed for time while making them or did some portions from memory.)

There are some who believe that some, if not all, of his work was a hoax.  Volume 2 of 6 of Gibbons Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire has the following footnote:

[Footnote 43: See Dodwell. Paucitat. Mart. l. xiii.  The Spanish Inscription in Gruter, p. 238, No. 9, is a manifest and acknowledged forgery contrived by that noted imposter.  Cyriacus of Ancona, to flatter the pride and prejudices of the Spaniards.  See Ferreras, Histoire D'Espagne, tom. i. p. 192.]  (This slander is contradicted by the comparison of the actual tombstone picture of one of Ciriaco's hand drawings noted in the text immediately following.)

Family History Discussion by Ben Ciriacks, Webmaster
My guess is that Ciriaco was also one of our early Family History Project researchers.  (It takes one to know one - his interests, travels and opportunistic activities make it seem that Shirley MacLaine has been channeling him into me.)

His use of the Greek spelling Kyriacus in the Kyriacus Anconitanus signature on his drawing of the Parthenon referenced above indicates his affinity with the ancient Greek origins of his and our family name.  Combined with his interest in inscriptions, it could also mean that his basis for doing so was to discover more about the ancient family name references inscribed in stone in the catacombs of Rome and possibly elsewhere throughout the ancient Roman Empire.  That also could mean that his "To wake the dead." quote (below) had more significance to those in know because the primary focus of pre-legalized Christians (before the FINAL Great Persecution of 303 ~ 313) was to preserve the bodies of dead Christians for their glorious resurrection when Jesus Christ would return and defeat the pagan rulers of the Roman Empire - probably without having to resort to force, which would contradict Christian beliefs in non-violence, merely from the number of resurrected Christians being so numerous as to not allow an enemy any movement of their arms to strike blows against them.
    And, of course, our own St. Cyriacus at the Baths was one of the greatest leaders among ancient Christians at that time - about whom little was known in fact due to everything being destroyed in conjunction with the FINAL Great Persecution that also resulted in his own martyrdom - a martyrdom that could have at least a half-dozen disparate (by locale and method) versions reflected at various pages in this web site and in writings throughout Christian history.

Many of Ciriaco's actions and the variations in the way he, himself, spelled his name could explain his time spent in Rome, Syria and Morea, Greece and hints at something possibly happening in Egypt regarding our family.  The family history portion of his efforts may have been subsidiary to his other interests, or vice versa.  In any case, some valuable documentation regarding our early family may exist among what remains of his work.  (His "maternal uncle" may have been a Cyriac - meaning his mother may have given him the ancient family name, along with stewardship of and dedication to the Family History Project -- meaning that what's happening on this web site is a continuation of what began hundreds of years ago --- meaning that this is all getting more interesting by the day ---- meaning that ..., well wait for Star Wars - the Cyriacus beginning!)

Another OUTSTANDING web site indicates that Cyriacus:

"... obviously visited Mani on a number of occasions.  What is fascinating about Cyriacus is his interest in Antiquity and his habit of sketching what he saw and writing down inscriptions.  He must have visited "Keria - not presumably out of interest in its church - but the Roman fragments in the wall - and there are sketches in his own inimitable style (he wasn't a dreadfully good draughtsman) of the gravestones used in the west facade at Ag. Iannis Keria."
    [ July 29, 2008 update:  It should be noted that regardless of his ability, Cyriaco at least took the time to copy ancient artifacts, some of which were unknown to later generations for having been destroyed and lost except for his sketches of them.  Any critique of 'any ONE OF A KIND work' seems meaningless, eh?! ]
    ("Mani, the southernmost and middle peninsula of the Peloponnese or Morea, straddling the districts of Lakonia and Messenia in southern Greece, is a treasure trove of ...")

There is a St. Ciriaco church in Ancona, so his efforts may also have been connected with completing the story regarding this saint - which would probably have been as fruitless for him as it had been for us -- given that the records for which we are all looking were destroyed in 303 along with everything else except the faith that was Christian.

The new WikiPedia site for Judas Cyriacus appears to have the best information regarding Ancona, the church and the saint to whom it is dedicated.  Our now outdated Judas Cyriacus page has other references to him.  The Saints page of this web site has has a St. Cyriacus (???-250) about whom is written:

    During the persecutions of Decius (249-251), he and Saints Faustinus, Florentius, Julian and Marcellinus were beheaded at Perugia.  Perugia (Perusia) is inland between Ancona on the Adriatic and the island of Elba in the Tyrrhenian Sea.

 

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(Click here to visit the OUTSTANDING web site
from whence many of these images came.)

Links
(Including those embedded above.) 		  Bryn Mawr Classical Review  

 

 

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