Coriolan Cepio (1425 - 1493)

Coriolan Cepio

Coriolanus Cepio, or Coriolanus Cepico (Latin: Coriolanus Ceppico, Coriolanus Cepio) was a Venetian humanist nobleman of Croatian origin, historian, and military officer.

In Venice and Padua he studied humanities, navigation and military strategy, then worked as an official in his native Trogir. During the war of the Republic of Venice with Turkey, which lasted four years (1470-1474), Cepio participated in this expedition as commander of the Trogir galley. In Petri Mocenici imperatoris gestorium libri III (Venice, 1477) he described the military expedition and his experiences therein. Cepio describes in detail the military operations in the Levant, near the Ionian Islands, in the Peloponnesus and the Balkans, and in Asia Minor. He is especially interested in the conquest of Izmir, the attempts to set fire to the Gallipoli arsenal and the siege of Shkoder, the capture of Smyrna, the Venetian protectorate of Cyprus, and Scutari.

He covers the Venetian victories at Mochenigo very carefully. As a humanist, Cepio noticed everything that pertained to antiquity and ancient monuments. This book is one of the oldest printed works by Croatian authors.