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    "source_title": "Encyclopaedia Britannica (1911)",
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    "chunk_id": "1911:aurispa:08b00d7187ba",
    "title": "AURISPA",
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    "verified_text": "aurispa, giovanni (c. 1370-1459), one of the learned italians of the 15th century, who did so much to promote the revival of the study of greek in italy, was born at noto in sicily. in 1418 he visited constantinople, where he remained for some years, perfecting his knowledge of greek and searching for ancient mss. his efforts were rewarded by the acquisition of some 250 mss., with which he returned to venice. here he is said to have been obliged to pawn his treasures for 50 gold florins to provide for his immediate wants. cosimo de' medici, hearing of his embarrassment, redeemed the mss. and summoned the owner to florence. in 1438, at the council of basel, aurispa attracted the attention of pope eugenius iv., who made him his secretary; he held a similar position under nicholas v., who presented him to two lucrative abbacies. he died at ferrara. considering his long life and reputation aurispa produced little: latin translations of the commentary of hierocles on the golden verses of pythagoras (1474) and of _philisci consolatoria ad ciceronem_ from dio cassius (not published till 1510); and, according to gesner, a translation of the works of archimedes. aurispa's reputation rests upon the extensive collection of mss. copied and distributed by him, and his persistent efforts to revive and promote the study of ancient literature. aurochs (from lat. _urus_, the wild ox, and \"ox\") or urus, the name of the extinct wild ox of europe (_bos taurus primigenius_), which after the disappearance of that animal became transferred to the bison. according to the german freiherr von herberstein (1486-1566), in his _moscovia_, of which an italian translation was published at venice in 1550, the aurochs survived in poland (and probably also in hungary) during the latter middle ages. in this work appear woodcuts--rude but characteristic and unmistakable--of two distinct types of european wild cattle; one the aurochs, or ur, and the other the bison. as herberstein had travelled in poland, it is probable that he had seen both species alive, and the drawings were most likely executed under his own direction. it has indeed been suggested that the figure of the aurochs was taken from a domesticated ox, but this is a mistaken idea. not the least important feature of the work of herberstein is the application of the name aurochs to the wild ox, as distinct from the bison. the locality where aurochs survived in herberstein's time was the forest of jaktozowka, situated about 55 kilometres west-south-west of warsaw, in the provinces of bolemow and sochaczew. from other evidence it appears that the last aurochs was killed in this forest in the year 1627. herberstein describes the colour of the aurochs as black, and this is confirmed by another old picture of the animal. gesner's figure of the aurochs, or as he calls it \"thur,\" given in the _icones_ to his _history of animals_, was probably adapted from herberstein's. it may be added that an ancient gold goblet depicts the hunting and taming of the wild aurochs. as a wild animal, then, the aurochs appears to have ceased to exist in the early part of the 17th century; but as a species it survives, for the majority of the domesticated breeds of european cattle are its descendants, all diminished in point of size, and some departing more widely from the original type than others. aurochs' calves were in all probability captured by the early inhabitants of britain and the continent and tamed; and from these, with perhaps an occasional blending of wild blood, are descended most european breeds of cattle. much misconception, however, has prevailed as to which breeds are the nearest to the ancestral wild stock. at one time this position was supposed to be occupied by the white half-wild cattle of chillingham and other british parks. these white breeds are, however, partial albinos; and such semi-albinos are always the result of domestication and could not have arisen in the wild state. moreover, park-cattle display evidence of their descent from dark-coloured breeds by the retention of red or black ears and brown or black muzzles. in the chillingham cattle the ears are generally red, although sometimes black, and the muzzle is brown; while in the breed at cadzow chase lanarkshire, both ears and muzzle are black, and there are usually flecks of black on the head and forequarters. it is further significant that, in the chillingham herd, dark-coloured calves, which are weeded out, make their appearance from time to time. a very ancient british breed is the black pembroke; and when this breed tends to albinism, the ears and muzzle, and more rarely the fetlocks, remain completely black, or very dark grey, although the colour elsewhere is whitish, more or less flecked and blotched with pale grey. in the shape and curvature of the horns, which at first incline outwards and forwards, and then bend somewhat upwards and inwards, this breed of cattle resembles the aurochs and the (by comparison) dwarfed park-breeds. moreover, in both the pembroke and the park-breeds the horns are light-coloured with black tips. evidence as to the affinity between these breeds is afforded by the fact that a breed of cattle very similar to that at chillingham was found in wales in the 10th century; these cattle being white with red ears. individuals of this race survived till at least 1850 in pembroke, where they were at one time kept perfectly pure as a part of the regular farm-stock. until a period comparatively recent, they were relatively numerous, and were driven in droves to the pasturages of the severn and the neighbouring markets. their whole essential characters are the same as those of the cattle at chillingham. their horns are white, tipped with black, and extended and turned upwards in the manner distinctive of the park-breed. the inside of the ears and the muzzle are black, and the feet are black to the fetlock joint. the skin is unctuous and of a deep-toned yellow colour. individuals of the race were sometimes born entirely black, and then were not to be distinguished from the common pembroke cattle of the mountains. it is thus evident that park-cattle are an albino offshoot from the ancient pembroke black breed, which, from their soft and well-oiled skins, are evidently natives of a humid climate, such as that of the forests in which dwelt the wild aurochs. this disposes of a theory that they are descendants of a white sacrificial breed introduced into britain by the ancient romans. the pembroke and park-cattle are, however, by no means the sole descendants of the aurochs, the black spanish fighting-bulls claiming a similar descent. this breed shows a light-coloured line along the spine, which was characteristic of the aurochs. it has also been suggested that the swiss siemental cattle are nearly related to the aurochs. the latter was a gigantic animal, especially during the pleistocene period; the skulls and limb-bones discovered in the brick-earths and gravels of the thames valley and many other parts of england having belonged to animals that probably stood six feet at the shoulder. (r. l.*) aurora (perhaps through a form _ausosa_ from sansk. _ush_, to burn; the common idea of \"brightness\" suggests a connexion with _aurum_, gold), the roman goddess of the dawn, corresponding to the greek goddess eos. according to hesiod (_theog_. 271) she was the daughter of the titan hyperion and thea (or euryphassa), and sister of helios and selene. by the titan astraeus, she was the mother of the winds zephyrus, notus and boreas, of hesperus and the stars. homer represents her as rising every morning from the couch of tithonus (by whom she was the mother of emathion and memnon), and drawn out of the east in a chariot by the horses lampus and phaethon to carry light to gods and men (_odyssey_, xxiii. 253); in homer, she abandons her course when the sun is fully risen (or at the latest at mid-day, _iliad_, ix. 66), but in later literature she accompanies the sun all day and thus becomes the goddess of the daylight. from the roseate shafts of light which herald the dawn, she bears in homer the epithet \"rosy-fingered.\" the conception of a dawn-goddess is common in primitive religions, especially in the vedic mythology, where the deity usas is closely parallel to the greco-roman; see paul regnaud, _le rig-veda_ in _annales du musee guimet_, vol. i. c. 6 (paris, 1892). she is also represented as the lover of the hunter orion (_odyssey_, v. 121), the representative of the constellation that disappears at the flush of dawn, and the youthful hunter cephalus, by whom she was the mother of phaethon (apollodorus iii. 14. 3). in works of art, eos is represented as a young woman, fully clothed, walking fast with a youth in her arms; or rising from the sea in a chariot drawn by winged horses; sometimes, as the goddess who dispenses the dews of the morning, she has a pitcher in each hand. in the fresco-painting by guido reni in the rospigliosi palace at rome, aurora is represented strewing flowers before the chariot of the sun. metaphorically the word aurora was used (e.g. virg. _aen_. viii. 686, vii. 606) for the east generally.",
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