Girolamo Maggi (1523, in Anghiari – 27 March 1572 in Constantinople), also known by his Latin name Hieronymus Magius, was an Italian scholar, jurist, poet, military engineer, urban planner, philologist, archaeologist, mathematician, and naturalist who studied at Bologna under Francis Robortello. He authored several works, including a collection of poems on the Flemish wars, (Cinque primi canti della guerra di Fiandra, 1551), one detailing military fortifications (Della fortificatione delle città, by his friend Giacomo Fusto Castriotto, but edited, annotated, and published posthumously by Maggi in 1564), and several on the subject of philosophy. Early life and education Maggi was born in Anghiari, Tuscany. Little is known about his youth. His year of birth is unknown; several authors have speculated, based on varying access to information. Maggi specifically mentioned how, in infancy, he was attacked by the same pestilence which, in 1563, he states was the most recent one to occur. This was most likely the black death of 1527 spread by Charles V's Protestant mercenaries (Landsknechts) when they defeated the French and pillaged the Vatican, but may have been one of the following year or of three years later. His parents were Paolo and Luisa, who quickly left him an orphan. As a young man, Maggi studied oratory with Pierantonio Ghezzi from Laterina, a master of Latin. Afterwards, to proceed with the then popular studies, he went at first to the nearby University of Perugia, then to that of Pisa, and finally to that of Bologna. In Pisa, he attended the lectures of the famous professor of Latin and Greek oratory, Francis Robortello, who was a faculty member from 1543 to 1549. Professional life Maggi, who beyond his native Tuscan, had mastered Latin and was erudite in Greek, Hebrew, and Spanish. Availing himself of such endowments, he went into jurisprudence, more to examine its spirit than its profession. Initially, he studied the method of Andrea Alciato, then that of Bartolo da Sassoferrato and the 14th and 15th century schools of thought. He became interested in ancient history, and quickly began studying epigraphy and architectonics. As part of this interest, Maggi accumulated a large collection of ancient tombstones, including ones from Como, Ravenna, Rieti, Foligno, Perugia and Rome. In Pisa, where he was still engaged in formal studies, and in other Italian cities, he visited and examined sepulchres and sarcophagi, and used his growing knowledge to dispute a universally accepted belief