Akademik

(1548–1600)

Gifted Italian philosopher, astrologer, poet, and magus, who lived a hectic career in various European cities, largely promoting a hermetic creed based on supposed Egyptian sources and allied with the recent discoveries of Copernicus . The extent to which the magical and animistic elements of his thought are mere throwbacks, or are brilliant foreshadowings of such thinkers as Leibniz, is debated. He unwisely placed himself within reach of the Inquisition, by whom he was eventually burned.