Bartolomeo della Rocca

Bartolomeo della Rocca, also known as Cocles (March 19, 1467 – September 9, 1504) was a scholar of chiromancy, physiognomy, astrology, and geomancy^[1] who lived in Bologna, Italy during the rule of the House of Bentivoglio from 1323 to 1506.

In the months which preceded April, 1498, he participated (with others) in the preparation of a list of predictions relating to the life expectancies of different personalities for Giovanni Bentivoglio, dictator of Bologna and father of his boss Alessandro Bentivoglio.^[2] The work of Bartolomeo della Rocca was promoted by the Italian philosopher Alessandro Achillini. His main work, Chiromantie ac physionomie anastasis was published in 1504^[3] then the Compendio of Fisiognomica ("Compendium of Physiognomics"), was published after his death, in 1553 in Strasbourg. Bartolomeo della Rocca was assassinated by the Italian condottiero Ermes Bentivoglio because of his prediction that Ermes would die in battle.

References

1. Ahonen, Marke (28 July 2013). "Medieval and Early Modern Physiognomy". Sourcebook for the History of the Philosophy of Mind. Studies in the History of Philosophy of Mind. Vol. 12. pp. 633–637. doi:10.1007/978-94-007-6967-0_39. ISBN 978-94-007-6966-3.
2. Ziegler, Joseph (2004). "Médecine et physiognomonie du XIVVe au début du XVIe siècle". Médiévales (in French). 46: 89–108. Retrieved 14 January 2016.
3. Ziegler, Joseph. "The Medieval Foundation of Renaissance physiognomy". diffusion.ens.fr/. Ecole Normale Supérieure de Paris. Retrieved 14 January 2016.