Cyriacus of Ancona

Cyriacus of Ancona, also known as Ciriaco De’ Pizzicolli, was an Italian merchant and Humanist whose writings, based on topographical observations and antiquarian findings relating to ancient Greek civilization, proved useful for later archaeological surveys and classical scholarship.

Cyriacus travelled extensively through southern Italy, Greece, Egypt, and the Near East. During his travels he copied hundreds of inscriptions, made drawings of monuments, and collected medallions, statuettes, and manuscripts. His collection of copies of the inscriptions was contained in six volumes of Commentaries. The Commentaries were destroyed by fire in 1514, but some of his notebooks and copies of them survive.