Joseph Justus Scaliger (redirected from Joseph Juste Scaliger)

Scaliger, Joseph Justus 

Born Aug. 5, 1540, in Agen; died Jan. 21, 1609, in Leiden. French humanist of Italian descent.

Scaliger became a Calvinist in 1562 and took an active part in the Wars of Religion in France, fleeing to Geneva after the Massacre of St. Bartholomew. In 1593 he took up residence in Leiden, where he taught at the university. He won renown for his commentaries on Varro, Vergil, Cato, and other classical authors and for his studies in comparative linguistics. He laid the groundwork for a scientific chronology of classical antiquity with the treatise De emendatione temporum (1583) and developed a system to standardize chronology.

REFERENCE

Bernays, J. J. J. Scaliger. Berlin, 1855.