Gian Riario

Gian Riario (b. 1247) was an Italian physician living in Constantinople. For the benefit of locals, he sometimes rendered his name as Ioannes Rhiarios. Vigorous, stocky and broad-shouldered in his old age, Riario's face was covered with pock marks barely concealed by a beard, and the disfigurement of a long-ago broken nose. The death of his wife and two daughters in past plagues had left him bitter at the notion of God's justice, and he could be often heard to make statements that would have been noted as blasphemous were he not such a valued member of the community.