Tafuri, Matteo

Abstract

Matteo Tafuri, lover of Greek and Latin literature, philosophus, physician, and skilled astrologer, was born in 1492 in Soleto, a small town in the Otranto area, where he died in around 1584.

From the Aristotelian tradition, he adopted elements of physica, understood as knowledge of celestial and terrestrial phenomena in relation to their natural causes, whereas Plato’s Timaeus was a particular inspiration for his Commentary on the Orphic Hymns, where, as in the Pronostico, Ptolemy also proved to be a decisive source of influence, reinterpreted in the light of Plotinus’ concept of star signs.

While the Pronostico confirms Tafuri’s ability to read horoscopes, his Commentary on the Orphic Hymns is a fairly bold attempt to combine Orphic, Platonic, and Hermetic elements with Aristotelianism, as well as Counter-Reformation Thomism.