Pyrrhus Ligorius or Pyrro Ligorio (d. 1580) was a Neapolitan painter and architect, employed by popes Paul III, Paul IV and Pius IV.

Ligorius left a collection of ancient epigraphy

Epigraphy

Epigraphy Epigraphy Epigraphy (from the , literally "on-writing", is the study of inscriptions or epigraphs as writing; that is, the science of identifying the graphemes and of classifying their use as to cultural context and date, elucidating their meaning and assessing what conclusions can be...

, notorious for the numerous forgeries it contains. Many of Ligorius' falsifications persist in the literature of the 17th and 18th century, e.g. the work of Marquard Gude

Marquard Gude

Marquard Gude was a German archaeologist and classical scholar, most famous for his collection of Greek and Latin inscriptions....

and its later editions, but they were recognized by the mid 19th century.