From Jupiter’s Rod to the School Mace

The article presents an edition, prose translation, and commentary concerning a Humanist Greek poem composed by Michael Retell and published in Danzig in 1571. The poem is dedicated to the origin of the academic mace as a symbol of authority and power within the Danzig academic school (Gymnasium Dantiscanum). Through an analysis of this text, the study aims to shed light on some organisational aspects of the renowned Reformed school during its formative period and to highlight the contributions of a talented yet lesser-known Hellenist of the Polish Renaissance.