Holste, Luc

Luc Holste, Latin Lucas Holstenius, (born Sept. 27, 1596, Hamburg—died Feb. 2, 1661, Rome), classical scholar and Vatican librarian best known for his annotated editions of geographical works and whose Epistolae ad diversos (1817; “Letters to Various Persons”) is a valuable source of information on the literary history of his time.

Holste travelled in Italy and Sicily (1617–18) with Philipp Clüver, a geographer, collecting materials for Clüver’s Italia antiqua (1624; “Ancient Italy”). Holste’s notes on this work appeared in 1666. He went to Rome as librarian to Cardinal Francesco Barberini (1627) and in 1629 received a Vatican post. His edition (1630) of some lesser works of Porphyry, the 3rd-century-ad Greek Neoplatonist, contained a dissertation on the philosopher’s life and writings.

A scholar of unwearied industry and immense learning that reflected the Humanist, theological, and scientific currents of his time, Holste became Vatican librarian in 1641. Though his vast literary schemes were never realized, he assembled voluminous notes, some of which were printed posthumously. His chief geographical works include revisions of maps of Italy in the Vatican gallery. He prepared corrections (1663) of the Italia antiqua, and his edition of the Ethnica by the Greek geographer Stephanus Byzantinus appeared in 1684.