Pierio Valeriano Bolzani

Pierio Valeriano (1477–1558), born Giovanni Pietro dalle Fosse, was an Italian Renaissance humanist, specializing in the early study of Egyptian hieroglyphs.

[2] Around 1493, Valeriano was brought to Venice by his uncle Fra Urbano Bolzanio, a well-connected Franciscan friar and authority on the Greek language.

[3] Bolzanio taught the young Valeriano Greek, and made it possible for him to study under some of Venice's finest teachers at the time including Giorgio Valla and Marcantinio Sabellico.

Soon after arriving in Rome, Valeriano made friends with Egidio di Viterbo, who would support his work on hieroglyphics and introduce him to powerful intellectual circles.

[8] Because of his connection to the new pope, Valeriano was soon invited to tutor his nephews including the young Ippolito de' Medici, raising him to the inner circles of the papal court.

[12] Under the Medici popes Valeriano attained a number of positions and titles, including, protonotary apostolic, secret chamberlain, and given a canonry in his home of Belluno.

Throughout this period from 1523 to 1527, Valeriano made the most of this relative prosperity and security of income to continue his research of hieroglyphics dividing his time between Florence and Rome.

[14] When Pope Clement VII fell ill and was expected to die in January 1529, he named his nephew (and Valeriano's pupil) Ippolito de' Medici as cardinal.

[16] Valeriano's Hieroglyphica was written following a frenzy of popularity surrounding the rediscovery of the Hieroglyphics of Horapollo, but was not published until after the initial excitement had subsided.

The book was influenced largely by the Hieroglyphics of Horapollo, Valeriano's lifetime of studying Egyptian antiquities throughout Italy, and by first-hand knowledge passed down by his uncle Fra Urbano.