Leontius Pilatus was of
Greek origin, born in
Calabria.
Giovanni Boccaccio and
Petrarch persuaded Leontius to produce a complete translation of the Homeric poems. For more than two years, from 1360 to 1362, Leontius lived in Boccaccio's house in
Florence, worked with him on
Homer, and taught
Greek. Boccaccio's mythological works, and especially,
The Genealogy of the Pagan Gods were influenced by Leontius and his knowledge; according to
Edward Gibbon: "a work, in that age, of stupendous erudition, and which he ostentatiously sprinkled with Greek characters and passages, to excite the wonder and applause of his more ignorant readers." Petrarch received copies of Leontius' translations around 1367, from Boccaccio. It is through this connection with Petrarch and Boccaccio, that the important contribution of Pilatus to the revival of Greek in Western scholarship was effected. He and his translations were made known in modern times through the writings and acknowledgments of
Humphrey Hody and
Marquis de Sade. ==See also==