Giovanni Dario

Giovanni Dario (Latin: Johannes Darius, Greek: Ἰωάννης Δαρεῖος; 1414–1494)[1] was a Venetian official who served multiple times as ambassador of the Republic of Venice.

His family hailed from Crete, a Venetian colony at the time; his knowledge of Greek allowed him to serve as interpreter and envoy to Constantinople during the last years of the Byzantine Empire.

[4] By 1450, Giovanni began his career in the Venetian administration as a notary; although noted for his excellent command of both Greek and Latin, he failed to be appointed chancellor of Chania (Canea).

[4] Nevertheless, from August of the same year he served as interpreter to Niccolò da Canal during the latter's embassy to the Byzantine imperial court in Constantinople, and then to the Despotate of the Morea.

A later tradition, which however is not supported by any available evidence, holds that during the Fall of Constantinople he was the unnamed Italian who along with the famous humanist Cyriacus of Ancona is said to have accompanied Sultan Mehmed II, reading to him from the works of ancient historians.

[7] On his return from Milan, Dario was sent to Constantinople as part of Niccolò Cocco's embassy seeking to conclude a peace in the ongoing war between Venice and the Ottoman Empire.

[9] Venice's need to conclude peace was pressing, and this was reflected in Dario's instructions: he was given permission to accede to any demands Mehmed II might make, in exchange for restoring the Republic's access to the Levantine trade.

The terms were heavy, as Venice was forced to cede the fortresses of Scutari and Croia in the Adriatic Sea, the Aegean islands of Lemnos and Euboea, and the Mani Peninsula in southern Greece.

Dario was to obtain Ottoman recognition for the Venetian occupation of the Ionian Islands of Zakynthos and Cephalonia in 1482, as well as sound out the possibility of common operations against the Kingdom of Naples.

[20] On his return to Venice in autumn 1486, Dario received extraordinary honours: the right to bear arms, and assist in the sessions of the Council of Ten when the boards of the savi were also invited to attend.