Twenty questions: the gross round

[Spartaculous]

Died later than 1599?

No.

Did he ever produce any published writings?

Yes. In fact, I own a (translated, of course) copy of something he wrote. Very good question.

[Hominidae]

Scientist, philosopher, or person primarily involved in the gaining of knowledge?

[Spartaculous]

Scientist, philosopher, or person primarily involved in the gaining of knowledge?

Yes.

[Hominidae]

Free guess: Niccolò Machiavelli?

[Spartaculous]

Free guess: Niccolò Machiavelli?

No.

[Hanging Rook]

Ancient Roman?

[Spartaculous]

Ancient Roman?

No. ("Ancient" is a bit subjective - we know this person died before 1600 - so I am using 476 AD as a cutoff. He did not live in the pre-476 Roman Republic/Empire.)

[Octavious]

Medical man?

[Spartaculous]

Medical man?

Yes, he practiced medicine.

[Octavious]

Mondino de Luzzi?

[Spartaculous]

Mondino de Luzzi?

No.

[Jamiet99uk]

Luigi Galvani?

[Hominidae]

Ancient Roman?

No. ("Ancient" is a bit subjective - we know this person died before 1600 - so I am using 476 AD as a cutoff. He did not live in the pre-476 Roman Republic/Empire.)

Also, "Romance languages" weren't really a thing back then.

[Hanging Rook]

Well I would consider Latin a Romance language.

[Hanging Rook]

But you are right apparently it isn’t considered as such.

[Hominidae]

Well I would consider Latin a Romance language.

Maybe you would, but it's not part of the generally agreed upon definition. If the answer turned out to be someone who only spoke Latin, I would complain about the inaccurate answer to that question.

[mOctave]

Oh, Mister Thicko. Imagine not knowing that!

Imagine going and fucking yourself!

In a bit of a grump this morning, old chap? I don't recall that particular response being favoured in any of the Blackadder scripts. I confess to hoping for something a bit more creative, or at the very least a recognition of the implication that I haven't the foggiest idea what a standardised flag is either

What I meant here was a flag made official by the government of the nation, rather than someone's piece of cloth they like to wave around.

Presuming that Spartaculous and I interpret that the same way, that means that we're looking at a significant country from no earlier than around 1100.

[Spartaculous]

Some comments, clarifications, clues, and corrections.

1. Not Luigi Galvani. (Note he died after 1600.)

2. I was using a definition of Romance languages that excluded Latin. Most of what this person wrote was in Latin (unsurprisingly, given the time period he lived in). But, I feel confident in saying that he also spoke a language that is commonly accepted to be a Romance language, especially given that one of his minor written works is in this Romance language.

3. A closer look at his list of publications shows that he actually did write a volume on a topic that would unquestionably fall under what I would call "the arts", broadly defined, so I guess I need to correct my answer to Q8. But, I also need to emphasize that this is a very minor work compared to everything else he did and is known for. The person's Wikipedia page doesn't mention his work in this particular artistic field in the main body of text - only in the long list of works at the bottom of the page.

4. I definitely found a picture of the flag of the nation-state he was born in (for the appropriate year) on Wikipedia, and it seems clear that the flag is representing the nation-state itself (rather than being a personal flag of the ruler of the state). Again, European political borders were somewhat fluid at the time period we are discussing, due to wars and things like that, but I will stand by my answer to Q6.

5. I personally have no intellectual interest in medicine, anatomy, or physiology.

[Jamiet99uk]

1. Real dead human man.
2. Born before 1st Jan 1800
3. Not born in Asia, Africa, South America, or any island nation except the current UK or Ireland.
4. Not aristocratic.
5. Not a native speaker of a Germanic language.
6. Born in a "country" with a standardised flag.
7. Speaker of a romance language.
8. He did something that he thought was art but most people now would not classify it as "the arts".
9. Died before 1599.
10. Published writer.
11. Scientist, philosopher, or person primarily involved in the gaining of knowledge.
12. Not an ancient Roman.
13. A practitioner of medicine.

NOT

Niccolò Machiavelli
Mondino de Luzzi
Luigi Galvani

[Jamiet99uk]

Did he ever live in the territory we now know as "Italy" ?