Read our latest MU Library Treasures blog post; 'MITHRIDATES and the Irish connection' by Penelope Woods. This blog post discusses a rare book Mithridates, held in the collections of Maynooth University Library. Conrad Gessner (1516-1565), Swiss physician, naturalist and bibliographer, a man of enormous output and energy, who in 1555 had Mithridates printed in his native Zürich. It reflects the contemporary thinking on languages. Gessner wanted to find out how the vernacular languages had evolved, their connections and distinctions. The three chief biblical languages, Hebrew, Greek and Latin were widely seen as parents of all the vernaculars, with Hebrew as progenitor.
This item is currently on display outside the Special Collections and Archives reading room on the second floor. You can read the blog post here; https://mulibrarytreasures.wordpress.com/2018/08/08/mithridates-and-the-irish-connection/