#Ed. Bibliotheca

[hopernicus]

Ep. 238. Poetica Anda Mihaela Miroiu.

Poeme din  volumul de poezie “Pastele Cailor”, Ed. Bibliotheca, Targoviste, 2023.In lectura autorului

[maodedefunto]

LISPECTOR, Clarice. A paixão segundo G.H. 7. ed. Rio de Janeiro: Nova Fronteira. 1978

Foto: meus arquivos pessoais

Recomendação de áudio livro:

[sottileincanto]

La verità sul caso di Mr. Valdemar

(E. A. Poe)

Non presumo certo di essere meravigliato che il caso straordinario del signor Valdemar abbia suscitato discussioni. Sarebbe un miracolo se, date le circostanze, questo non fosse avvenuto.

   Il desiderio di tutte le parti interessate a tener la cosa segreta, almeno per ora o in attesa di aver altre occasioni d’investigare, e i nostri sforzi per riuscirvi, hanno dato luogo a dicerie monche ed esagerate che, diffondendosi tra il pubblico, sono state causa di molte spiacevoli falsità e, naturalmente, di molto discredito.

   Si rende ora necessario che io racconti i fatti, almeno come li capisco io. Eccoli, in succinto.

   In questi ultimi tre anni, a varie riprese, mi sono sentito attirato dal soggetto del mesmerismo; e circa nove mesi fa a un tratto mi balenò l’idea che, nella serie degli esperimenti fatti sino a oggi, vi fosse una notevolissima e inesplicabile lacuna: finora nessuno era stato magnetizzato “in articulo mortis”.

   Rimaneva da vedere prima di tutto se, in tale condizione, esistesse nel paziente alcuna suscettibilità al fluido magnetico; in secondo luogo se, nel caso affermativo, questa fosse scemata o accresciuta dalla circostanza; in terzo luogo sino a che punto e per quanto tempo l’opera della morte potesse essere arrestata dall’operazione. Vi erano anche altri punti da essere accertati, ma questi tre eccitavano più degli altri la mia curiosità, e in modo speciale l’ultimo, dato il carattere importantissimo delle sue conseguenze.

   Cercando intorno a me un soggetto sul quale poter provare questi punti, fui portato a gettare gli occhi sul mio amico mister Ernest Valdemar, il ben conosciuto compilatore della Bibliotheca forensica e autore (con lo pseudonimo di Issachar Marx) delle traduzioni polacche del Wallenstein e del Gargantua. Il signor Valdemar, che dall’anno 1839 risiede generalmente a Harlem (New York), si distingue (o si distingueva) per l’eccessiva magrezza della sua persona, tanto che le sue gambe ricordavano quelle di John Randolph; e anche per la bianchezza dei suoi favoriti che contrastavano violentemente con la sua capigliatura nera, la quale perciò da molti era presa per una parrucca. Il suo temperamento oltremodo nervoso lo rendeva un buon soggetto per le esperienze magnetiche. In due o tre occasioni lo avevo addormentato con poca difficoltà, ma ero rimasto deluso negli altri risultati che la sua costituzione mi aveva naturalmente fatto sperare. La sua volontà non era mai positivamente, né del tutto soggetta al mio influsso, ed in fatto di chiaroveggenza non riuscii mai a ottenere da lui niente su cui fare assegnamento. Avevo sempre dato la colpa di tali insuccessi alla sua salute infermiccia. Qualche mese prima che ne facessi la conoscenza, i medici lo avevano definitivamente dichiarato tisico. Egli era solito parlare della sua prossima fine con molta calma, come di una cosa che non potesse né evitarsi né dispiacere.

   Quando, per la prima volta, mi vennero le idee alle quali ho alluso poc’anzi, era naturale che pensassi a Valdemar; conoscevo troppo bene la sua salda filosofia, per temere scrupoli da parte sua; né egli aveva parenti in America che potessero ragionevolmente intervenire. Gli esposi in modo franco la cosa, e, con mia meraviglia, egli sembrò interessarvisi vivamente. Dico con meraviglia, perché, sebbene egli avesse prestato liberamente la sua persona ai miei esperimenti, pure non aveva mai manifestato alcun segno d’interesse in quello che facevo.

   La sua malattia era di quelle che ammettono un calcolo preciso del tempo del loro termine; fu infine stabilito fra noi che mi avrebbe mandato a chiamare ventiquattro ore prima del tempo fissato dai medici per la sua morte.

   Ed ecco, un giorno, più di sette mesi fa, ricevetti, dal signor Valdemar medesimo, questo biglietto:

 “Mio caro P.,

Potete venire anche subito. D. e F. sono d’accordo nel dire che non passerò la mezzanotte di domani, e io credo che abbiano calcolato molto vicino al vero.

Valdemar”

   Ricevetti questo biglietto mezz’ora dopo che era stato scritto e non impiegai più di quindici minuti per trovarmi nella camera del moribondo.

   Non l’avevo visto da dieci giorni, e fui spaventato dalla terribile alterazione che si era prodotta in lui in quel breve intervallo.

Aveva il viso colore di piombo, gli occhi spenti, era dimagrito al punto che gli zigomi foravano la pelle. L’espettorazione era eccessiva, il polso appena sensibile. Ciò nondimeno serbava in modo straordinario le sue facoltà spirituali e una certa forza fisica. Parlava distintamente, prendeva senza bisogno di aiuto le sue medicine, e quando entrai nella stanza, era occupato a scrivere appunti su un libriccino. Stava seduto nel letto appoggiato ai guanciali. I dottori D. e F. gli prestavano le loro cure.

   Dopo aver stretto la mano all’infermo, trassi quei signori in disparte ed ebbi notizie precise sulle condizioni. Il polmone sinistro era da diciotto mesi in uno stato semi-osseo o cartilaginoso e perciò inetto a qualunque funzione vitale. Il destro nella parte superiore era ugualmente ossificato, seppure non del tutto, mentre la parte inferiore non era più che un ammasso di tubercoli purulenti. Esistevano varie profonde caverne, e in un punto si notava anche una permanente aderenza alle costole. Questi fenomeni del lobo destro erano relativamente di data recente. L’ossificazione aveva progredito con rapidità straordinaria, un mese prima non se ne era osservato nessun indizio; l’aderenza non era stata scoperta che negli ultimi tre giorni.  

   Indipendentemente dalla tisi si sospettava un’aneurisma all’aorta; ma i sintomi d’ossificazione rendevano impossibile la diagnosi precisa su questo punto. Era opinione dei due medici che Valdemar sarebbe morto il giorno dopo, domenica, verso la mezzanotte. Erano le sette di sera del sabato.

   I dottori D. e F., lasciando il letto del morente per discorrere con me, gli avevano dato un ultimo addio. Non era loro intenzione tornare, ma, alla mia preghiera, acconsentirono di venire a vedere il paziente verso le dieci della notte.

   Partiti che furono, parlai liberamente con Valdemar della sua morte vicina e specie dell’esperimento che ci proponevamo. Egli si dimostrava ancora disposto e anzi desideroso di sottoporsi a tale prova e mi sollecitò ad incominciar subito. Due infermieri, un uomo e una donna, erano presenti, ma io non mi sentivo tranquillo nell’accingermi a un’operazione di quel carattere, senza testimonianze più serie di quelle che potevano dare costoro in caso di un’improvvisa disgrazia.

   Rimandai dunque l’operazione sino a quando, verso le otto di sera, l’arrivo d’uno studente di medicina, che conoscevo (il signor Teodoro L.), mi levò d’imbarazzo. Era mia intenzione sul principio di aspettare i medici, ma fui poi persuaso a incominciare, prima dalle insistenti preghiere di Valdemar, poi perché ero convinto non esservi un momento da perdere, giacché appariva evidente che egli se ne andava rapidamente.

   Il signor L. ebbe la bontà di arrendersi al mio desiderio di prendere nota scritta di tutto quanto stava per succedere; ed è dal suo memorandum che condenso o, in massima parte, copio parola per parola quello che ho da raccontare.

   Erano circa le otto meno cinque, quando, presa la mano del paziente, lo pregai di confermare al signor L., e il più distintamente possibile, come egli fosse perfettamente disposto a permettere che io cercassi di magnetizzarlo in quelle condizioni.

   Ed egli debolmente, ma distintamente rispose:

   «Sì, desidero d’essere magnetizzato;» aggiungendo subito dopo «ma temo che abbiate differito troppo».

   Nel mentre parlava, incominciai i passi che avevo già riconosciuto più efficaci per soggiogarlo. Evidentemente subiva l’influenza del primo movimento della mia mano attraverso alla sua fronte; ma sebbene io spiegassi tutto il mio potere non si manifestò alcun altro effetto sensibile sino a qualche minuto dopo le dieci, quando, secondo il fissato, tornarono i medici D. e F. Io spiegai loro in poche parole il mio disegno, e poiché essi non facevano alcuna obbiezione, dicendo che il paziente era già in agonia, continuai senza esitazioni, cambiando tuttavia i gesti laterali in verticali, e concentrando il mio sguardo nell’occhio destro del paziente.

   A questo punto, il suo polso era divenuto impercettibile, e la sua respirazione segnava intervalli di mezzo minuto.

   Questo stato durò quasi senza cambiamenti un quarto d’ora. Allo spirare di questo tempo però, un sospiro naturale, benché molto profondo, sfuggì dal petto del morente e la respirazione sonora cessò; cessò cioè la sua sonorità; gli intervalli però non erano diminuiti. Le estremità del paziente erano gelate.

   Alle undici meno cinque percepii sintomi non equivoci dell’influenza magnetica. Il vacillamento vitreo dell’occhio si era cambiato in quell’espressione penosa dello sguardo, di esame interiore, che non si vede se non nei casi di sonnambulismo, e che è impossibile non riconoscere. Con alcuni gesti laterali feci battere le palpebre, come quando ci prende il sonno, e insistendo le chiusi interamente. Ma non ero ancora soddisfatto e continuai i miei atti con vigore e con la più intensa concentrazione di volontà fino a quando non ebbi irrigidito del tutto le membra del dormente, dopo averlo collocato in una posizione apparentemente comoda: le gambe lunghe distese, e così anche le braccia che posavano sul letto a poca distanza dai fianchi. La testa era leggermente sollevata.

   Quando ebbi terminato tutto questo, era mezzanotte; pregai allora i presenti di esaminare le condizioni del signor Valdemar.

   Dopo alcune constatazioni essi dichiararono che era in uno stato di catalessi singolarmente perfetta; la curiosità di ambedue i medici era grande. Il dottor D. risolse di passare tutta la notte presso l’infermo, mentre il dottor F. nel salutarci promise di tornare all’alba; il signor L. e gli infermieri restarono.

   Lasciammo Valdemar assolutamente indisturbato sino alle tre del mattino, quando lo avvicinai e lo trovai esattamente nello stesso stato di quando se ne era andato il dottor F., e cioè nella medesima posizione, il polso impercettibile, la respirazione calma (sensibile soltanto accostandogli uno specchio alle labbra), gli occhi chiusi naturalmente e le membra rigide e fredde come marmo. Però il suo aspetto generale non era certamente quello della morte.

Nell’avvicinarmi a Valdemar feci un debole sforzo per decidere il suo braccio a seguire il mio nei lenti movimenti che descrivevo in su e in giù sulla sua persona. Quando altre volte avevo tentato tali esperimenti con questo paziente, non mi erano mai riusciti perfettamente né speravo di riuscir meglio ora; ma, con mia grande meraviglia, il suo braccio, docilmente seppure debolmente, si mise a seguire le direzioni che gli assegnavo col mio. Mi decisi allora ad azzardare qualche parola di convenienza.

«Signor Valdemar,» dissi « dormite?»

Non rispose, ma scorsi un tremito sulle sue labbra e fui così indotto a ripetere la domanda, e poi ancora, e poi ancora. Alla terza volta tutto il suo corpo fu mosso da un lieve tremore, le palpebre si alzarono sino a mostrare una linea bianca dell’orbita, le labbra si mossero pigramente, ed emisero, in un sospiro appena intelligibile, le parole seguenti:

   «Sì, ora dormo. Non mi svegliate! Lasciatemi morire così!»

   Tastai le membra e le trovai sempre rigide come prima. Il braccio destro obbediva sempre alla direzione della mia mano. Interrogai nuovamente il sonnambulo:

   «Sentite sempre dolore al petto, signor Valdemar?»

La risposta, ora, fu immediata, ma anche più debole della prima.

«Nessun dolore, muoio.»

 Non credetti conveniente disturbarlo altrimenti e nulla di nuovo fu detto o fatto sino all’arrivo del dottor F., che giunse un’ po’ prima dell’alba e manifestò grandissima meraviglia nel trovare il paziente ancora vivo. Dopo di avergli sentito il polso e applicato uno specchio alle labbra, mi pregò di parlargli ancora un’altra volta.

   Ubbidii e gli domandai: «Signor Valdemar, siete ancora addormentato?»

   Come prima trascorsero alcuni minuti durante i quali il moribondo parve riunire tutte le sue forze per parlare. Alla quarta ripetizione della mia domanda, rispose molto debolmente, quasi inintelligibilmente: «Sì, sempre addormentato, muoio.»

   Fu allora opinione o meglio desiderio dei medici che il signor Valdemar venisse lasciato indisturbato, in quello stato di tranquillità apparente, sino a che non sopraggiungesse la morte; era opinione generale che questa dovesse avvenire fra qualche minuto. Tuttavia risolvetti di parlargli ancora una volta e ripetei semplicemente la domanda di prima.

   Nel mentre parlavo, un singolare cambiamento avvenne nella fisionomia del sonnambulo. Gli occhi si girarono lentamente aprendosi, le pupille sparirono in su, la pelle prese una tinta cadaverica, più simile alla carta bianca che alla pergamena; e le due macchie etiche, rotonde che fino allora si vedevano ben definite nel centro delle due guance, si spensero a un tratto. Adopero questa espressione perché la rapidità della loro scomparsa non suscitò altra idea che quella di una candela spenta da un soffio. Intanto il labbro superiore, che prima copriva completamente i denti, si ritorse scoprendoli; mentre la mascella inferiore cadeva con uno scatto e un rumore sensibile, lasciando la bocca tutta aperta e mostrando la lingua nera e gonfia. Coloro che assistevano, erano presumibilmente abituati agli orrori di un letto di morte, ma l’aspetto di mister Valdemar era talmente spaventoso che indietreggiammo tutti insieme dal letto.

   Sento di essere giunto al punto del mio racconto, che indurrà il lettore a non credermi. Ad ogni modo il mio compito è di seguitare.

   Mister Valdemar non dava più il minimo indizio di vita, e, concludendo che fosse morto, lo abbandonammo alle cure degli infermieri. Ma allora divenne sensibile una forte vibrazione della lingua che durò forse un minuto. Dalle mascelle tese e immobili uscì quindi una voce, che sarebbe follia tentar di descrivere.

   Vi sono tuttavia due o tre epiteti che potrebbero servire a designarla parzialmente; potrei dire per esempio che aveva un suono aspro, rotto, vuoto; ma l’orribile insieme non è descrivibile, per la semplice ragione che simili suoni non hanno mai offeso orecchie umane. Vi erano però due particolari, che, credevo allora e credo anche ora, potrebbero essere dati come caratteristici dell’intonazione e che possono suggerire un’idea della sua stranezza ultraterrena. In primo luogo la voce sembrava giungere alle nostre orecchie – almeno alle mie – da una gran distanza, o da qualche profonda caverna sotterranea. In secondo luogo, essa mi dette la stessa impressione (temo proprio che mi sia impossibile farmi comprendere) che danno le materie glutinose o gelatinose al senso del tatto.

   Ho parlato di suono e di voce. Voglio dire che il suono era d’una sillabazione distinta, anzi meravigliosamente distinta. Mister Valdemar parlava; evidentemente per rispondere alla domanda che gli avevo fatto qualche minuto prima. Gli avevo domandato, come si ricorderà, se dormiva sempre. Ora diceva:

   «Sì, – no – ho dormito…, e ora… ora son morto.»

   Nessuna delle persone presenti cercò menomamente di dissimulare e neanche di reprimere l’indicibile orrore che queste poche parole così pronunciate non mancarono di destare in ognuno. Mister L., lo studente, svenne. Gli infermieri lasciarono immediatamente la stanza, e fu impossibile indurli a ritornare. Quanto alle mie proprie impressioni, non pretendo di renderle intelligibili al lettore. Per circa un’ora ci occupammo in silenzio – senza pronunciare parola – a richiamare mister L. in vita, e quando questi fu ritornato in sé riprendemmo le nostre investigazioni sulle condizioni di mister Valdemar.

   Egli era rimasto assolutamente come l’ho descritto poc’anzi, tranne che lo specchio non dava più traccia di respirazione. Un tentativo di salasso al braccio non riuscì. Devo anche menzionare che questo arto non era più soggetto alla mia volontà. Fu invano che mi sforzai di fargli seguire la direzione della mia mano. Il solo vero indizio dell’influenza magnetica si manifestava ora nella vibrazione della lingua, ogni volta che facevo una domanda. Pareva che egli si sforzasse di rispondere, ma che non avesse più abbastanza volontà per farlo. Alle domande avanzate da altre persone sembrava del tutto insensibile, sebbene io tentassi di mettere il richiedente in rapporto magnetico con lui.

   Credo di aver ormai riferito tutto quanto è necessario per capire lo stato del sonnambulo in questo periodo. Furono procurati altri infermieri, e alle dieci uscii dalla casa in compagnia dei dottori e del signor L.

   Nel pomeriggio tornammo tutti a vedere il paziente. Il suo stato era sempre il medesimo. Avemmo allora una discussione sull’opportunità e la possibilità di svegliarlo, ma ci si trovò presto d’accordo nel concludere che non si sarebbe ritratto vantaggio alcuno. Era chiaro che sinora la morte (o quel che si suole definire con la parola morte) era stata arrestata dalla operazione magnetica. Sembrava evidente che svegliare mister Valdemar sarebbe stato semplicemente un assicurare il suo estremo istante o almeno accelerare la sua decomposizione.

   Da quel giorno fino alla fine della settimana passata – un intervallo di quasi sette mesi– abbiamo seguitato a far visite giornaliere a casa di mister Valdemar, accompagnati dai medici e da altri amici; in tutto questo tempo il sonnambulo è rimasto esattamente come l’ho descritto. La sorveglianza degli infermieri era continua.

   Venerdì passato finalmente risolvemmo di provarci a svegliarlo, ed è il resultato, deplorevole forse, di quest’ultimo tentativo che ha dato origine a tante discussioni private, nelle quali non posso trattenermi dal riscontrare un sentimento popolare ingiustificabile.

   Per sottrarre mister Valdemar alla catalessi magnetica adoperai i passi soliti. Questi per qualche tempo non dettero risultato di sorta. Il primo sintomo del ritorno alla vita fu dato dall’abbassamento parziale dell’iride. Venne notato come cosa strana che questa discesa dell’iride era accompagnata dalla fuoruscita di un umore abbondante di color giallognolo (da sotto le palpebre) di odore acre e ripulsivo.

   Mi venne allora suggerito di cercare di influenzare il braccio dei paziente, come pel passato. Tentai e non mi riuscì; il dottor F. manifestò il desiderio che io gli rivolgessi una domanda e gliela feci, così:

   «Mister Valdemar, ci potete spiegare quali sono ora le vostre sensazioni o i vostri desideri?»

   Vi fu un subitaneo ritorno delle macchie etiche alle gote, la lingua tremò o piuttosto roteò violentemente entro la bocca (sebbene le mascelle e le labbra rimanessero sempre immobili) e alla fine quella stessa orribile voce che ho descritto poc’anzi proruppe:

   «Per l’amor di Dio! Presto! Presto! Fatemi dormire! O svegliatemi subito! Presto! Vi dico che sono morto!»

   Io ero assolutamente snervato e per un momento rimasi indeciso sul da farsi.

   Mi provai dapprima a riaddormentare il paziente, ma la completa inerzia della mia volontà non me lo permise; tentai allora il contrario, e con tutte le mie forze mi adoperai a destarlo. Mi accorsi subito che a questo sarei riuscito, o almeno credetti che il mio successo sarebbe stato completo, e sono certo che tutti i presenti si aspettavano il risveglio del paziente.

Quello che avvenne in realtà, non è possibile che essere umano se lo fosse potuto immaginare.

   Nel mentre mi affrettavo a fare i passi magnetici tra le grida di “morto! morto!�� che letteralmente esplodevano sulla lingua e non sulle labbra del paziente, tutto il suo corpo a un tratto – e in non più di un minuto – si scompose, si sbriciolò, imputridì sotto le mie mani. Sul letto, dinanzi a tutti i testimoni, giaceva una massa fetida e quasi liquida; un’orrida putrefazione.

[hiderto]

Manet (...) made copies of 16th- and 17th-century art in order to master its strategies and roamed Paris, which was in a state of rapid change, probing the city's subtlest secrets. He became a flâneur - that new type of man about town later so profoundly analysed by Walter Benjamin. The flâneur accepts the workings of chance. Himself moving in his own irregular way, he is the observer of a world in constant flux. He is attentive but remains uninvolved at heart. He is unprejudiced and does not leap to judgemental conclusions.

In "Impressionist Art 1860-1920", ed. Ingo F. Walther, Taschen Bibliotheca Universalis, pp. 40-41

[lamilanomagazine]

«FREEDOM - OLTRE IL CONFINE» lunedì 20 marzo su Italia 1

«FREEDOM - OLTRE IL CONFINE» lunedì 20 marzo su Italia 1. Lunedì 20 marzo, in prima serata, su Italia 1, «Freedom» torna a proporre reportage inediti e di grande impatto visivo, spesso realizzati grazie a permessi speciali o tra cunicoli oscuri e perigliosi. Al centro della sesta puntata: in Egitto, per raccontare la storia dell’antica Biblioteca di Alessandria ed entrare nella nuova Bibliotheca Alexandrina; in Emilia Romagna, vicino Parma, per parlare di fantasmi nel Castello di Bardi; in Piemonte, a Vicoforte, vicino a Cuneo, per salire sopra la cupola ellittica più grande del mondo, nel Santuario Regina Montis Regalis; in Sardegna, a Palau, per vedere la Roccia dell’Orso e chiedersi se esistano pietre e luoghi con capacità curative; in Lombardia, al Museo della Scienza e della Tecnologia di Milano, per scoprire un pezzo di Luna. Il team di Freedom si sposta quindi in Egitto, per raccontare la storia della Grande Biblioteca di Alessandria, un vero e proprio faro di cultura dell’antichità, nato dall’incontro tra la filosofia greca e la millenaria civiltà egizia. Un luogo incredibile, dove hanno avuto modo di studiare e confrontarsi alcune delle più grandi menti del passato. Giacobbo entra anche nella nuova Bibliotheca Alexandrina, per mostrarne lo spazio di lettura più ampio al mondo, e scende nei cunicoli sotterranei del vecchio Serapeo, unica parte dell’antica biblioteca non andata distrutta. L’Italia è la patria dell’arte e la nostra storia è quanto mai ricca e importante. Ma non tutti sanno che nel Paese, tra i tanti primati c’è anche quello della cupola ellittica più grande del mondo: si trova in Piemonte, nella provincia di Cuneo. Il gruppo di Freedom raggiunge Vicoforte per documentare lo straordinario Santuario Regina Montis Regalis, sormontato da una cupola gigantesca, che non vanta solo il primato di cupola ellittica più grande del mondo, ma ha anche quello dell’affresco a tema unico più grande del mondo. Giacobbo sale e percorre tutta la struttura della cupola, fino ad arrivare a 60 metri di altezza, per mostrarne i particolari da molto vicino. A seguire, Giacobbo raggiunge la provincia di Parma per entrare all’interno del Castello di Bardi, che si dice essere infestato da misteriose presenze. Pare che Moroello e Soleste, due innamorati che trovarono una morte tragica, siano rimasti indissolubilmente legati a questo luogo. A tutt’oggi, testimoni e immagini particolari, tra cui la nota foto del cavaliere termico, non hanno trovato spiegazioni scientifiche. In Sardegna, indagherà su uno dei misteri più affascinanti: la Terra è in grado di produrre energie curative per l’uomo? È possibile che, sul nostro Pianeta, esistano luoghi energicamente positivi e altri negativi? Possibile che sia tutta una questione di sintonizzazione? La squadra di Freedom, partendo dall’incredibile Roccia dell’Orso di Palau, inizia un suggestivo viaggio attraverso i territori sardi, per scoprire luoghi nei quali si dice esistano pietre curative. Infine, Freedom torna a Milano, all’interno delle stanze del Museo di Scienza e Tecnologia Leonardo Da Vinci, per proseguirne il racconto: questa settimana porta il pubblico nello spazio, alla scoperta di telescopi d’altri tempi, rarissime tute spaziali e oggetti unici, come un preziosissimo frammento di Luna, dal valore inestimabile.  ... #notizie #news #breakingnews #cronaca #politica #eventi #sport #moda Read the full article

[aboutanancientenquiry]

“From Homer to Ferdowsi”

“Video—CHS Open House: “From Homer to Ferdowsi,” with Olga M. Davidson 

  We were delighted to welcome Olga M. Davidson for a CHS Open House discussion when she talked about why she began studying Homeric epic but went on study the Shāhnāma of Ferdowsi.

About her book Poet and Hero in the Persian Book of Kings:

Olga M. Davidson argues that….whenever the Shāhnāma was performed by the poet or by later practitioners of his poetry, the performer could interact with his grand characters by re-engaging with their stories, as if for the first time. After documenting the oral poetic performance traditions underlying the text of the Shāhnāma in all its variations, Davidson argues that the heroic tradition of this epic is deeply ancient, stemming from Indo-European poetic traditions. A primary example is the great warrior Rostam, who upholds Iranian kingship while at the same time posing a threat to kings who prove unworthy of the crown. (About Poet and Hero in the Persian Book of Kings)

You can watch the recording of the event below or via the Center for Hellenic Studies YouTube channel.

Members can start and continue the discussion in this forum thread

Translations of the Shāhnāma

Dick Davis (translator) Shahnameh: The Persian Book of Kings

Jerome W. Clinton (translator): In the Dragon’s Claws: The Story of Rostam and Esfandiyar from the Persian Book of Kings

Publications

Olga M. Davidson: Poet and Hero in the Persian Book of Kings

Olga M. Davidson: Comparative Literature and Classical Persian Poetics

Olga M. Davidson: ‘Women’s Lamentations and the ethics of war in ancient Greece and medieval Persia‘ in Donum natalicium digitaliter confectum Gregorio Nagy septuagenario a discipulis collegis familiaribus oblatum: A virtual birthday gift presented to Gregory Nagy on turning seventy by his students, colleagues, and friends (available for free on the CHS website)

Olga M. Davidson and Marianna Shreve  Simpson (editors): Ferdowsi’s Shāhnāma: Millennial Perspectives

H.E. Chehabi and Grace Neville (editors): Erin and Iran: Cultural Encounters between the Irish and the Iranians ...

Websites

Ilex Foundation

Mizan

Olga M. Davidson

Olga M. Davidson earned her Ph.D. in 1983 from Princeton University in Near Eastern Studies. She is on the faculty of the Institute for the Study of Muslim Societies and Civilizations, Boston University, where she has served as Research Fellow since 2009. From 1992 to 1997, she was Chair of the Concentration in Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies at Brandeis University. Since 1999, she has been Chair of the Board, Ilex Foundation. She is the author of Poet and Hero in the Persian Book of Kings (Cornell University Press: Ithaca, 1994; 2nd ed. Mazda Press: Los Angeles, CA, 2006; 3rd ed. distributed by Harvard University Press, 2013) and Comparative Literature and Classical Persian Poetry, Bibliotheca Iranica: Intellectual Traditions Series (Mazda Press: Los Angeles, CA, 2000; 2nd ed. distributed by Harvard University Press, 2013), both of which have been translated into Persian and distributed in Iran. Her articles include “The Haft Khwân Tradition as an Intertextual Phenomenon in Ferdowsi’s Shâhnâma.” In Honor of Richard N. Frye: Aspects of Iranian Culture (ed. C. A. Bromberg, Bernard Goldman, P.O. Skjærvø, A. S. Shahbazi), Bulletin of the Asia Institute 4 (1990) 209–215; “The Text of Ferdowsi’s Shâhnâma and the Burden of the Past.” Journal of the American Oriental Society 118 (1998) 63–68, and “The Burden of Mortality: Alexander and the Dead in Persian Epic and Beyond,” Epic and History (David Konstan and Kurt Raaflaub, eds., Wiley-Blackwell, Malden / Oxford 2010) 212–222.”

Source: https://kosmossociety.chs.harvard.edu/chs-open-house-from-homer-to-ferdowsi-with-olga-m-davidson/

[jeannereames]

Hi i have a follow up question to your latest ask. I tried looking through your asks if you had answered something similar but only found a post about your book which is also good but not exactly what i was looking for haha. Anyway, so I was wondering what sources we have showing or referencing the historical alexanders relationship to achilles? And maybe his mothers too. Is it just in later authors works? Is it based on lost sources from alexanders time? Are there coins or anything? Thanks (:

TL;DR version: we don’t have anything from Alexander’s own day that firmly connects him to Achilles. His coins all show Herakles, and then later himself “Heraklized.”

IF the armor in Tomb II at Vergina is his (e.g., it’s his half-brother Arrhidaios in there, not Philip II), then we may have an artistic reference on the magnificent shield recovered and reconstructed via archaeological magic. The shield’s central boss shows Achilles killing Penthesileia. Is that the “Shield of Achilles” Alexander supposedly picked up at Troy, and then carried in battle like a standard? Maybe. But, either way, it’s a reference to Achilles.

Otherwise, Achilles just doesn’t show up in Macedonian artwork. As he was supposedly from Epiros next door west, that may not be a big surprise, whereas Herakles (who’s all over the place) was believed to be the ancestor of the Argead clan. Alexander’s claim to Achilles came through Mommy, Olympias.

So virtually ALL our references to Alex and Achilles are from literary sources. And those are also ALL later. Which brings us to our source problem….

—————————————

The sources for Alexander are a regular Gordion Knot. We’re gonna get into the weeds here. Stay with me. And you may want to bookmark this for yourself if you need a handy (if saucy) later reference on the Alexander sources.

I’m not sure how much the asker already knows, but let me lay out some basics for everyone, including common terminology. You can probably suss out a lot from context, but just to be clear:

“Primary” evidence means documents and materials from the time period under consideration, and “secondary” evidence means modern authors assembling/editing and writing about those sources. When we look at the ancient world, primary evidence refers to documents (writings, including inscriptions), artwork (vases, sculptures, mosaics, etc.), and material evidence (e.g., “stuff” unearthed by archaeologists).

Obviously, only a fraction of what once existed has survived. Sometimes we know of writings that are no longer “extant.” Extant means a document we still have, or at least have most of. We hear about a lot more via “testamonia” and “fragmenta.” Testamonia are mention of a document (or author) found in another document. And fragmenta are pieces of a lost work (typically) embedded as quotes in somebody else’s work. Unfortunately, ancient authors don’t always admit where they get their information. “Citing” wasn’t a thing, back then.

Now, that out of the way, let’s take a look at Alexander sources in particular.

We have 5 extant histories/biographies for Alexander, more than virtually any other ancient figure. That’s great!

Problem. Not a single one was written by anyone who knew him, saw him, or even lived when he did. Two of them aren’t even in Greek; they’re in Latin. I’ve listed them below from earliest to latest, with approximate dates, and a bit of info about the author. (While I prefer Greek transliterations, I’m using the most common spelling of the names for familiarity.)

Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica, specifically books 16 (Philip), 17 (Alexander), 18-20 (Successors). As “world histories,” they do talk about events in other places, including Syracuse, Athens, Sparta, and Rome. As his name suggests, Diodorus was from Sicily, and died c. 30 BCE, just as the Roman Republic was morphing into Empire. We have only books 1-5 and 11-20 of a total of 40. Books 18-20 are incomplete (fragments).

THIS IS OUR EARLIEST EXTANT SOURCE: a guy who lived in the first century BCE and was born almost 300 years after Philip of Macedon.

Let that sink in a moment.

Curtius Rufus, Historiae Alexandri Magni, is the better known of our two Latin histories. The author is a mystery, which complicates dating it. He lived under the empire, while the Parthians existed. A consul suffectus in late 43 CE (Claudius) has been proposed as him, but speculation abounds he might have used a nom de plume—not unlike a fanfiction author. 😊 The best study of Curtius’s work is by Elizabeth Baynam. He probably belongs to the first century, just a little earlier than Plutarch, and his work bears all the hallmarks of the Latin Silver Age.

Plutarch of Chaironeia wrote a lot, including his collection, Lives of Famous Greeks and Romans, which includes Alexander (as well as some Successors) + a massive number of essays collected under the general title Moralia. These include The Fortune of Alexander the Great, and Sayings of Kings and Commanders. Plutarch was a Dionysian priest from central Greece (Boeotia) who lived in the late first century CE, and died c. 120…that’s when HADRIAN was emperor. He belongs to a group of writers typically called the Second Sophistic.

Arrian of Nicomedia, The Anabasis and Indica, written in two different dialects of Greek (Attic and Ionic); he also wrote some philosophic stuff. We know a decent amount about him. He was an Asian Greek from modern Bithynia (the home province of Hadrian’s boyfriend Antinoos), a military man, a senator, a friend of Hadrian, a consul suffectus, and later, an archon of Athens, but most famously, governor (legate) of Cappadocia under Hadrian. He died in Athens c. 160 CE. He liked to call himself the New Xenophon and naming his work on Alexander the Anabasis (after Xenophon’s famous history) is pointed. Although Greek, he was strongly Romanized.

Justin, wrote an epitome of Pompeius Trogus’s expansive Liber Historiarum Philippicarum, which was a history of the Macedonian kingdom, written when Augustus was Empror. An “epitome” is a digest, or shortened version. Trogus’s work was 44 books. Justin’s is much, much smaller, but it’s not a true digest in that he collected what he considered the more interesting titbits rather than trying to summarize the whole thing. We do not know when he lived, precisely, and dates have been thrown out from shortly after Pompeius Trogus all the way to 390 CE! His Latin matches the second century or perhaps early third. This one doesn’t have a Loeb edition, so get the translation by John Yardley with Waldemar Heckel’s commentary on Justin.

In addition, information and stories about Alexander can be found scattered in other ancient sources, notably:

Athenaeus of Naucratus (Greece), Supper Party (Deipnosophistae), which is a weird collection of stories about famous people and food, told at a fictional dinner banguet. It’s long, and fairly entertaining reading, if you’re interested in Greek (and Roman) dining customs. Athenaeus lived in the late 2nd/early 3rd century CE, so he’s even later than most of our historians. Athenaeus used a lot of now-missing sources.

Polyaenus, Strategems. Military handbook from another late author—2nd century CE—but he’s of special interest as he’s Macedonian, our sole extant ancient source from a Macedonian, but keep in mind 500+ years passed between Alexander’s day and his. The Strategems is broken down by leader, which include Archelaus, Philip, and Alexander, plus some of the Successors, too. Until recently, there wasn’t a really good translation (the last was done in the 1800s), but it was finally updated by Krentz and Wheeler for Ares Press.

In addition, he’s mentioned in passing by sources from Strabo to Pliny the Elder to Aelian.

This gives you a good idea of what we do have, and the nature of our problem. It may also help explain what I (or other historians) mean when we talk about the danger of “Romanizing,” even with Greek authors. By the time any of them were writing, even Diodorus, Rome dominated the Mediterranean, and most of them really knew only the imperial period.

Besides the obvious problem of the distance in time, some also had axes to grind. Plutarch is probably the most obvious, as he admits he’s not writing history, but this new thing (he invented) called “Lives” (e.g., biography). More to the point, he’s writing moral tales. Ergo, his bio of Alex is really a long discourse in the old saw, “Absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Likewise, Curtius had a lesson about the evils of Roman imperial debauchery, especially as influenced by Eastern Ways pulling good men away from Roman discipline and clemency.

So what about our now-missing historians who were used by the guys above, and lived closer to ATG’s time? Some of the more important include:

The Ephemerides, or Royal Journal: a daily account of the king’s activities similar to other Ancient Near Eastern traditions, kept by Eumenes, Alexander’s personal secretary. You’ll see them referred to chiefly when talking about Alexander’s last days, as they (supposedly) give an account of his deterioration and death. But they may (and probably were) “doctored” later. Ed Anson has an article about them: important reading.

Callisthenes, Aristotle’s nephew, the official Royal Historian…at least until he got himself in trouble with the Page’s Conspiracy and ATG had him executed (or caged, accounts differ). His history was noted even in antiquity for being flowery and effusive, despite his personal claims to be a philosopher and pretense of austerity. If Alexander wanted a Homer, it wasn’t Callisthenes. Among his failings, he attempted to write about ATG’s battles…badly (so Polybius). Still, this was the official record up till Baktria, used by all the historians still extant. Don’t confuse it with Pseudo-Callisthenes which is the chief source of the Alexander Romance.

Marsyas: Macedonian literati who went to school with the prince, and not only wrote about his childhood (his Education of Alexander was modeled on Xenophon’s Education of Cyrus) and career, but also wrote a work about Macedonian customs that I’d simply LOVE to have. If I could ask for one work from antiquity to be discovered tomorrow, that would be it.

Ptolemy I, of Egypt: Alexander’s general, the guy who stole his body and stole Egypt too in the Successor wars that followed. He was one of Arrian’s main sources when writing his histories. Despite Arrian’s declaration that Ptolemy could be trusted because it would be bad for a king to lie, we can’t trust him. Among other things, he set out to smear the name of his Successor-era rival Perdikkas, and also, apparently, made himself sound more important than he really was. 😉

Nearchus of Crete/Amphipolis, Alexander’s chief admiral and a player in the later Successor wars, wrote an account of his naval trip from India, et al., used chiefly by Arrian.

Aristobulus of Cassandreia: Arrian’s other chief source, he was an engineer, architect, and friend of the king; his main problem seems to have been a tendency to whitewash or explain away critiques of Alexander. It’s Aristobulus who claims ATG didn’t drink heavily, just sat long over his wine for the conversation (uh…I’m sure Kleitos agrees with that). It’s also from him that we get the alternative story that Alexander didn’t cut the Gordion Knot, just pulled the pin out of the yoke and untied it from inside (he didn’t cheat!). Hmmm.

Chares of Mytilene, Alexander’s chamberlain, wrote a 10-book history of Alexander that focused largely on his personal affairs. Boy, wouldn’t that be a fun read? Arrian uses him sometimes, as does Plutarch, et al. Chares is one of the chief sources on the Proskenysis Affair.

Cleitarchus, History of Alexander. Probably the best-known ancient “pop history” of Alexander, but given the ancient equivalent of 2-stars even by historians of his time. His father was a historian too, but apparently, he got more ambition than ability, and was accused of flat making up shit. He lived at Ptolemy’s court later, we think, and a recent fragment tells us he was a tutor. His date is in dispute as late 4th or middle 3rd, and he probably never actually met Alexander. Kleitarchos’s account was used heavily by Plutarch, Curtius, Diodorus, and Pompeius Trogus (Justin’s source). Even Arrian uses him occasionally.

Onesicritus, a Cynic philosopher who studied under Diogenes and later traveled with Alexander. Despite that, his reputation for honesty was even worse than Kleitarchos; Lysimakhos famously called him out publicly, and Strabo considered him a joke. It’s from Onesicritus we hear about Alexander’s sexual servicing of the Amazon Queen to give her a daughter (that’s what Lysimakhos made fun of him for: “Where was I when that happened?”).

These are the main ancient sources you’ll see mentioned, although parts of Alexander’s life are covered in smaller essays, e.g., On the Death (and Funeral) of Alexander and Hephaistion by Euphippus, which is unashamedly hostile to both men. All our fragments from Euphippos come from Athenaeus’s Supper Party, mentioned above.

We also have the Alexander Romance, but that’s a whole ‘nother kettle of fish and not my bailiwick. I refer folks to the work by Richard Stoneman.

There you go! Your handy-dandy potted summary of the ancient authors. To learn more about them, please see Lionel Pearson’s The Lost Historians of Alexander the Great, Scholar’s Press, 1983. There have been articles and material about them in other commentaries and sources, but Pearson remains useful, if somewhat dated, simply for collecting it all in one place, including mention of some minor sources I didn’t cover here.

Finally, I’m including a flowchart I’ve made for my ATG class that lists all the known sources (including several not discussed above); it is copyrighted to me, but may be used for educational purposes. Yes, yes, it really is as crazy as this chart makes it look. And keep in mind, some dependencies are speculative rather than internally confirmed. E.g., as I mentioned earlier, not all ancient sources say what/who they consulted because, againg, citing wasn’t a thing, back then.

[diceriadelluntore]

Lottatori

(in foto, Lottatori di Pancrazio, statua romana del I secolo d.C, Galleria degli Uffizi, Firenze)

Cruciverba di ieri. Definizione: antica lotta greca. 9 lettere. Una “z” alla terzultima casella accende un ricordo mentale: il pancrazio.

E subito se ne accende un’altra: proprio mettendo a posto la libreria in questi giorni di quarantena, è uscito fuori un piccolo volume sull’antica Kroton, patria di leggendari atleti. Nell’omaggio a chi sta lottando, anche perchè si iniziano a vedere primi segnali incoraggianti, è una bella storia da raccontare.

Pancrazio deriva dal greco pankrátion, composto da πᾶς pâs (in combinazione πᾶν pân) ‘tutto’ e κράτος krátos ‘potere, forza’, ed ha significato etimologico di “onnipotente”; definiva una pratica di lotta sportiva molto amata e diffusa presso gli antichi. Fu disciplina olimpica dal 648 a.C. quindi spesso si riferisce ad essa come un agone atletico; agone designa una manifestazione pubblica di gare e giochi atletici in onore di divinità o quantomeno di carattere religioso i cui vincitori avevano premi e onori, che si chiamavano Athlon, da cui le parole atleta e atletica.

La disciplina consisteva in una lotta cruenta basata sulla forza pura il cui scopo era di sottomettere l’avversario usando qualsiasi tecnica della lotta a mani nude tranne i colpi agli occhi e ai genitali (azioni per le quali l’arbitro era autorizzato a frustare chi le avesse commesse, i greci combattevano nudi, i romani che odiavano quest’uso introdussero dei piccoli gonnellini di pelle detti Zoma). Gli incontri avvenivano in una specie di arena coperta di sabbia, all’aperto (detta Skamma) e spesso sotto il sole cocente: per proteggersi dal sole e dalle abrasioni per il contatto gli atleti utilizzavano una speciale lozione a base di olio di oliva e altri unguenti profumati, detta Gloios: ogni atleta aveva uno strumento, simile ad un falcetto arrotondato senza filo tagliente che utilizzava per toglierlo dopo ogni combattimento, lo strigile.  Non esistevano limiti temporali, nè di categorie di peso (si combatteva contro avversari per estrazione). La vittoria veniva sancita dalla resa di uno degli avversari, che poteva dichiarare la sconfitta con un gesto delle mani: in casi particolari uno degli atleti poteva rifiutarsi di combattere per manifesta inferiorità, senza sporcarsi di sabbia (si parla di vittoria per Akoniti, e di una famosa di questo tipo ne scriverò tra poco).

Che c’entra Kroton, l’antica Crotone? C’entra eccome, per molti motivi. Innanzitutto, come ho accennato nella storia delle dodici fatiche di Eracle, una delle leggende sulla nascita della città ne fa del grande eroe il fondatore: il pancrazio era proprio una disciplina che faceva della forza atletica il massimo aspetto. Poi, l’antica Kroton fu la capitale del pitagorismo: Pitagora e i suoi discepoli furono, tra le altre cose, anche attenti studiosi delle pratiche ginniche, di quelle dietetiche e amavano gli agoni, tanto che il Gymnasion di Kroton (Gymnasion deriva da Gymnos, nudo, proprio perchè si combatteva nudi) fu la fucina di grandissimi campioni, tanto che Strabone, storico e geografo greco, nel suo Gheographiká dice: l’ultimo dei crotoniati, il primo dei greci, per dire di quanto fossero favolosi gli atleti della colonia della Magna Grecia. Alcuni nomi erano così famosi che in una meravigliosa opera del periodo “tardo”, La Periegesi della Grecia di Pausania il Periegeta (una sorta di guida, in 10 volumi, delle tradizioni storiche e culturali della penisola ellenica), ve ne sono riportati alcuni: Astilo, grandissimo corridore; Filippo detto il Bello, sia atleta che condottiero, Iscomaco, superbo corridore; Eratostene, colui che vinse la gara di stadion (una corsa in rettilineo di circa 200 metri) in una finale di 7 crotonesi, da cui si dice Strabone fece derivare il proverbio.

Il più grande atleta crotoniate fu però il leggendario Milone: dalla forza immensa (capace di tenere sulle spalle un vitello di quattro anni), e dall’immenso appetito (si racconta che in un giorno mangiò un vitello intero arrosto, nell’antichità l’appetito era sinonimo di forza) era specialista però di un altro tipo di lotta, l’orthopale (=lotta a corpo ritto, in cui gli atleti si servivano di colpi particolarmente spettacolari e vigeva la regola della vittoria dopo tre atterramenti). A lui è legato il più famoso esempio di Akoniti, con co-protagonista un altro atleta crotonese, Timosteo: cresciuto nel mito e anche con gli insegnamenti del grande Milone, arrivato in finale contro il suo maestro, Timosteo non volle combattere: per l’unica volta nella storia dei Giochi Antichi, non si conobbe il nome del solo vincitore, ma anche del secondo. Milone fu inoltre grande condottiero e guidò l’esercito crotoniano alla conquista della vicina Sibari (nel 510 a.C.).

Il più famoso pancraziaste fu invece un altro atleta leggendario, Polidamante di Scotussa. Dalla forza sovrumana, alto oltre due metri, vinse il pancrazio della 93.ma Olimpiade (408 a.C.): la sua fama era che la sua forza rivaleggiasse con quella di Eracle, tanto che Dario II, imperatore di Persia, lo invitò nel suo Regno per delle gare. Polidamante richiese solo un cachet (Pausania sostiene immenso, Diodoro Siculo, che ne parla nella Bibliotheca Historica, dice “un carro di tetradracme”) e nella città di Susa si narra che combatté, in serie, contro i tre migliori Immortali dell’Esercito Persiano, uccidendone due e facendo scappare dalla paura il terzo.

Nei giorni di grande tensione emotiva di questo periodo pandemico, c’era un meme che metteva in contrapposizione lo stipendio di un medico e quello di Messi o Cristiano Ronaldo: come si può evincere dalle storie che ho brevemente raccontato non è cambiato poi molto da 2500 anni a questa parte, se sono chiari i ritrovamenti di culto quasi divino (anfore, scritti, vasi) ai grandi atleti dell’Antichità, a cui furono dedicati persino statue e piccoli templi. 

Che cosa sarebbe il mondo se non ci fosse la lotta? Un orrendo e solitario luogo di morte

Eraclito

[lostprofile]

AN INCOMPLETE HISTORY OF MEDIEVAL ART LV

THE PARIS PSALTER

The fluent classicism of the illuminations of the Paris Psalter (Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale de France ms. grec 139) convinced 19th-century scholars to date the manuscript to the 6th century. In the 20th century, Kurt Weitzman and Hugo Buchthal contested the late antique date, and conclusively demonstrated that the manuscript was a mid-10th century work of the Macedonian Renaissance. While the later date is irrefutable, the question of whether the manuscript is the product of a self-consciously orchestrated revival of late antique culture, or evidence of the persistence of what Ernst Kitzinger called “perennial Hellenism” well into the Middle Ages, remains unanswered.

The Paris Psalter comprises the 150 psalms of David and the Canticles of the Old Testament. These texts are accompanied by an exhaustive marginal gloss, drawn from the Greek patristic authors. As the length of the commentary allows for only a few lines of scripture per page, the manuscript runs into 449 folios. The same hand that copied the psalter’s text has been detected in 5 other mid-10th century manuscripts, all of which were probably produced in the same Constantinopolitan scriptorium. In the 1950s, Jean Porcher identified the hands of 6 different artists in the 14 full-page illuminations, with the lead artist (Hand A) responsible for 4 of them.

The earliest indirect documentation of the manuscript takes the form of copies of several of the miniatures that appear in late 13th-century manuscripts. These copies suggest that the manuscript was available for copying imperial library after the expulsion of the Latin usurpers, and highly regarded for either is style or its associations with the golden age of Byzantine power and prestige. The first written documentation appears in the manuscript. A colophon of 1558 on folio 1r states that the book was formerly in the library of Jean Hurault de Boistaillé, the French ambassador to Constantinople, whi purchased the book from the Sultan Suleiman I for 100 crowns (Ex bibliotheca Jo. Huralti Boistallerii. Habui ex Constantinopoli pretio coronatorum 100). The library of the Hurault family was acquired for the Bibliothèque du Roi in 1622, which became the core collection of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France.

Illuminated psalters served as private prayer books for high ranking lay people and the size of the Paris Psalter alone indicates a patron with vast financial resources. The iconography of the miniatures further confirms this. The text of the psalter is preceded by 7 full-page illuminations and an eighth marking the begunning of the penitential psalms depict key scenes from the life of King David. The subjests chosen allude to David's authorship of the psalms, but focus on his deeds as the divinely-ordained king. This emphasis on biblical kingship, along with the studied classicism of the miniatures, point to the emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus (905 - 959) as the patron of the manuscript.

Whether the psalter was intended for Constantine VII’s personal use, or ordered as a gift for his son and successor, Romanos II, its depictions of David’s deeds would have been interpreted as examples of a sanctified ruler’s moral conduct, on which the book’s royal owner could model his own.

Constantive VII was a scholar emperor with a profound interest in Byzantium's classical past. His own voluminous writings on imperial administration, court ceremonial, and his historical writings draw heavily on ancient authors. An accomplished painter himself, the emperor probably closely guided the work of the illuminators. Constantine VII would have been familiar with earlier imperial commissions like the group of 7th-century silver plates depicting scenes from the life of David. The purely classical idiom of works such as the plates clearly served as models for the images of the Paris Psalter. Although certain awkward passages in the miniatures reveal the limitations of the artists’ knowledge of antique style, it has been demonstrated that the illuminators almost certainly derived the atmospheric qualities and convincingly-modeled figures from late antique models, including mural paintings of the types found in Herculaneum.

References

Hugo Buchthal, The Miniatures of the Paris Psalter : A Study in Middle Byzantine Painting, Studies of the Warburg Institute, Vol. 2 (London: Warburg Institute, 1968).

Ernst Kitzinger, Byzantine Art in the Making (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1977).

Jean Porcher, Byzance et la France médiévale (Paris: Editions Bibliothèque Nationale, 1958).

Kurt Weitzmann, Studies in Classical and Byzantine Manuscript Illumination, ed. Herbert L. Kessler (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1971.

[fondazioneterradotranto]

Nuovo post su https://is.gd/Utihiz

Quando l'Amazzonia era vicina a noi, ma c'è speranza ...

di Armando Polito

Vicina a noi Salentini, intendo dire, e andrò a dimostrarlo. Prima, però, vale riassumere ciò che di essa a tutti, o quasi, è noto. Che sia il polmone della terra attaccato da quel virus nefasto che è per il pianeta l’uomo  è un concetto da tutti accettato finché non si decide seriamente di porvi rimedio …, che il toponimo trae origine dall’idronimo Rio de Amaxones, nome dato al fiume dall’esploratore spagnolo Francisco de Orellana quando lo scoprì nel 1540, è nozione da tempo consegnata alla storia. Lo spagnolo doveva essere digiuno di mitologia, altrimenti non avrebbe messo in campo le Amazzoni (in greco Ἀμαζόνες (leggi Amazònes1) a lui evocate  dagli scontri avuti, secondo quanto riferì al ritorno in patria, con tribù locali di donne guerriere. Altrettanto noto è che l’etimo più ricorrente per  Ἀμαζόνες è da α- con valore privativo e μαζός (leggi mazòs), che significa mammella, in linea con le antiche testimonianze letterarie2  secondo le quali donne della zona del Mar Nero si mutilavano della mammella destra per tendere meglio l’arco,  ma in contraddizione costante con tutte le rappresentazioni artistiche dove il seno (e in particolare il destro) appare ben integro e fiorente.

Dettaglio di un rilievo con scena di combattimento tra un greco ed un’amazzone su un sarcofago da Tessalonica risalente circa al 180 d. C.

Per questo quell’α- secondo altri non avrebbe un valore privativo ma esattamente opposto, cioè intensivo, per cui  Ἀμαζόνες significherebbe donne dal seno fiorente.

Lo spagnolo aveva fatto corrispondere al salto all’indietro nel tempo un salto in avanti nello spazio, nel senso che, partendo da un etnico che aveva avuto il suo habitat originario nella regione del fiume Termodonte sulla costa meridionale del Mar Nero era andato a finire nell’America del sud con un idronimo che alla fine avrebbe dato al toponimo che designa il vastissimo territorio circostante, l’Amazzonia appunto.

Io col toponimo mi accingo a fare esattamente l’opposto. Ἀμαζονία (leggi Amazonìa) è il titolo di una delle opere attribuite ad Omero dalla Suda o Suida, una sorta di enciclopedia in greco del X secolo. Alla voce Ὅμηρος (leggi Òmeros) si legge: … Ἀναφέρεται δὲ εἰς αὐτὸν καὶ ἄλλα τινὰ ποιήματα· Ἀμαζονία, Ἰλιὰς μικρὰ … (Gli sono attribuiti anche alcuni altri poemi: Amazzonia, Piccola Iliade …).

Come nome di donna compare in un epicedio (epigramma funerario) di anonimo dell’Antologia Palatina (raccolta di epigrammi risalente al X secolo). È il n. 667 del libro VII: Τίπτε μάτην γοόωντες ἐμῷ παραμίμνετε τύμβῳ;/Οὐδὲν ἔχω θρήνων ἄξιον ἐν φθιμένοις./Λῆγε γόων καὶ παῦε, πόσις, καὶ παῖδες ἐμεῖο/χαίρετε, καὶ μνήμην σώζετ᾿ Ἀμαζονίης. (Perché gemendo invano state davanti alla mia tomba? Tra i morti non ho nulla degno di gemiti. Cessa e cessa di gemere, o marito, e state bene, figli miei,  e conservate il ricordo di Amazzonia)

Diodoro Siculo (I secolo a. C.), Bibliotheca Historica

II, 3 Τοῖς δ’ ἀνδράσι προσνεῖμαι τὰς ταλασιουργίας καὶ τὰς τῶν γυναικῶν κατ’οἴκους ἐργασίας. Νόμους τε καταδεῖξαι, δι’ὧν τὰς μὲν γυναῖκας ἐπὶ τοὺς πολεμικοὺς ἀγῶνας προάγειν, τοῖς δ’ἀνδράσι ταπείνωσιν καὶ δουλείαν περιάπτειν. Τῶν δὲ γεννωμένων τοὺς μὲν ἄρρενας ἐπήρουν τά τε σκέλη καὶ τοὺς βραχίονας, ἀχρήστους κατασκευάζοντες πρὸς τὰς πολεμικὰς χρείας, τῶν δὲ θηλυτερῶν τὸν δεξιὸν μαστὸν ἐπέκαον, ἵνα μὴ κατὰ τὰς ἀκμὰς τῶν σωμάτων ἐπαιρόμενος ἐνοχλῇ· ἀφ’ ἧς αἰτίας συμβῆναι τὸ ἔθνος τῶν Ἀμαζόνων ταύτης τυχεῖν τῆς προσηγορίας.(Agli uomini [la regina delle Amazzoni] assegnava la filatura della lana e gli altri lavori domestici delle donne. Essa stabiliva leggi in base alle quali guidava le donne alla guerra e destinava gli uomini ad uno stato umile ed alla schiavitù. Dei figli ai maschi mutilavano gambe e braccia rendendoli inadatti alle necessità della guerra, bruciavano la mammella destra delle donne affinché non fosse d’impaccio durante gli sforzi del corpo)

III, 53: Φασὶ γὰρ ὑπάρξαι τῆς Λιβύης ἐν τοῖς πρὸς ἑσπέραν μέρεσιν ἐπὶ τοῖς πέρασι τῆς οἰκουμένης ἔθνος γυναικοκρατούμενον καὶ βίον ἐζηλωκὸς οὐχ ὅμοιον τῷ παρ᾽ἡμῖν. Ταῖς μὲν γὰρ γυναιξὶν ἔθος εἶναι διαπονεῖν τὰ κατὰ πόλεμον, καὶ χρόνους ὡρισμένους ὀφείλειν στρατεύεσθαι, διατηρουμένης τῆς παρθενίας· διελθόντων δὲ τῶν ἐτῶν τῶν τῆς στρατείας προσιέναι μὲν τοῖς ἀνδράσι παιδοποιίας ἕνεκα, τὰς δ᾽ἀρχὰς καὶ τὰ κοινὰ διοικεῖν ταύτας ἅπαντα. Τοὺς δ᾽ἄνδρας ὁμοίως ταῖς παρ᾽ἡμῖν γαμεταῖς τὸν κατοικίδιον ἔχειν βίον, ὑπηρετοῦντας τοῖς ὑπὸ τῶν συνοικουσῶν προσταττομένοις· μὴ μετέχειν δ᾽αὐτοὺς μήτε στρατείας μήτ᾽ ἀρχῆς μήτ᾽ ἄλλης τινὸς ἐν τοῖς κοινοῖς παρρησίας, ἐξ ἧς ἔμελλον φρονηματισθέντες ἐπιθήσεσθαι ταῖς γυναιξί. Κατὰ δὲ τὰς γενέσεις τῶν τέκνων τὰ μὲν βρέφη παραδίδοσθαι τοῖς ἀνδράσι, καὶ τούτους διατρέφειν αὐτὰ γάλακτι καὶ ἄλλοις τισὶν ἑψήμασιν οἰκείως ταῖς τῶν νηπίων ἡλικίαις· εἰ δὲ τύχοι θῆλυ γεννηθέν, ἐπικάεσθαι αὐτοῦ τοὺς μαστούς, ἵνα μὴ μετεωρίζωνται κατὰ τοὺς τῆς ἀκμῆς χρόνους· ἐμπόδιον γὰρ οὐ τὸ τυχὸν εἶναι δοκεῖν πρὸς τὰς στρατείας τοὺς ἐξέχοντας τοῦ σώματος μαστούς· διὸ καὶ τούτων αὐτὰς ἀπεστερημένας ὑπὸ τῶν Ἑλλήνων Ἀμαζόνας προσαγορεύεσθαι. (Dicono che nelle parti occidentali della Libia ai confini della terra comanda un popolo governato da donne e che conduceva una vita diversa dalla nostra. Infatti per le donne era costume occuparsi della guerra e per un tempo stabilito dovevano combattere mantenendo la verginità. Trascorsi gli anni del servizio militare si univano agli uomini per procreare ed esercitavano il potere e tutti gli affari pubblici. Gli uomini trascorrevano la vita in casa, come presso di noi le mogli, obbedendo agli ordini delle consorti. Non partecipavano al servizio militare né al potere né ad alcun’altra facoltà nelle cose pubbliche, da cui prendendo coscienza potessero opporsi alle donne. Alla nascita dei figli affidavano i piccoli agli uomini e questi li nutrivano con il latte e con gli altri alimenti come conveniva all’età dei bambini)

Quinto Curzio Rufo (incerta l’epoca in cui sarebbe vissuto, ma compresa tra il I e il IV secolo d. C.), Historiae Alexandri Magni Macedonis, VI, 5: Erat, ut supra dictum est, Hyrcaniae finitima gens Amazonum, circa Thermodonta amnem Themiscyrae incolentium campos. Reginam habebant Thalestrin, omnibus inter Caucasum montem et Phasin amnem imperitantem. Haec cupidine visendi regis accensa finibus regni sui excessit et, cum haud procul abesset, praemisit indicantes, venisse reginam adeundi eius cognoscendique avidam. Protinus facta potestas est veniendi. Ceteris iussis subsistere, trecentis feminarum comitata processit atque, ut primum rex in conspectu fuit, equo ipsa desiluit duas lanceas dextera praeferens. Vestis non tota Amazonum corpori obducitur: nam laeva pars ad pectus est nuda, cetera deinde velantur. Nec tamen sinus vestis, quem nodo colligunt, infra genua descendit. Altera papilla intacta servatur, qua muliebris sexus liberos alant: aduritur dextera, ut arcus facilius intendant et tela vibrent. (C’era, come sopra s’è detto, il popolo confinante delle Amazzoni che abitavano i campi intorno al fiume Termodonte. Avevano come regina Talestri che dominava su tutte le terre tra il monte Caucaso e il fiume Fasi. Questa, presa dal desiderio di vedere il re, uscì dai confini del suo regno e quando non fu molto distante mandò avanti alcuni ad avvertire che la regina era venuta desiderosa di conoscerlo. Subito le fu concessa la facoltà di venire, Comandato agli altri di star fermi, venne avanti accompagnata da trecento donne e, non appena fu al cospetto del re, saltò giù dal cavallo tendendo con la destra due lance. Non tutta la veste cinge il corpo delle Amazzoni: infatti la parte sinistra è scoperta fino al petto, le restanti parti sono coperte. Tuttavia l’orlo della veste, che stringono con un nodo, non arriva alle ginocchia. Un seno è conservato intatto per allattare i figli di sesso femminile. La destra viene bruciata perché più agevolmente tendano l’arco e scaglino le frecce)

Stefano Bizantino (probabilmente VI secolo d. C.), Ἐθνικά (leggi Ethnicà), alla voce  Ἀμαζόνες (leggi Amazònes): ἔθνος γυναικεῖον πρὸς τῷ Θερμωδόντι, ὠϛ  Ἔφορος, ἅς νῦν Σαυροματίδας καλοῦσι. φασὶ δὲ περὶ αὐτῶν ὅτι τῇ φύσει τῶν ἀνδρῶν διαφέροιεν, αἰτιώμενοι τοῦ τόπου τὴν κρᾶσιν, ὡς γεννᾶν εἰωθότος τὰ θήλεα σώματα ἰσχυρότερα καὶ μείζω τῶν ἀρσενικῶν. Ἐγὼ δὲ φυσικὸν νομίζω τὰ κοινὰ πάντων πάθη, ὥστ’ ἄλογος ἡ αἰτία. Πιθανωτέρα δ’ ἥν φασιν οἱ πλησιόχωροι. Οἱ γὰρ Σαυρομάται ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἐπὶ τὴν Εὐρώπην στρατεύσαντες καὶ πάντες διαφθαρέντες, τὰς γυναῖκας οὔσας μόνας …. καὶ αὐξησάντων τῶν ἀρρένων, στασιάσαι πρὸς τὰς γυναῖκας, ὑπερεχουσῶν δὲ τῶν γυναικῶν καταφυγεῖν τοὺς ἄρρενας εἰς δασύν τινα τόπον καὶ ἀπολέσθαι. Φοβηθεῖσαι δὲ μή πως ἀπὸ τῶν νεωτέρων τιμωρία τις γένηται, δόγμα ἐποίησαν ὥστε τὰ μέλη συντρῖψαι καὶ χωλοὺς πάντας ποιῆσαι. Ἐκαλοῦντο δὲ καὶ Σαυροπατίδες παρὰ τὸ σαύρας πατεῖν καὶ ἐσθίειν, ἢ [Σαυροματίδες] διὰ τὸ ἐν τῇ Σαυροματικῇ Σκυθίᾳ οἰκεῖν. Ἔστι καὶ Ἀμαζονία πόλις Μεσσαπίας. Λέγεται καὶ Ἀμαζών ἀρσενικῶς. Λέγεται καὶ Ἀμαζόνιον τὸ οὐδέτερον διὰ τοῦ ι καὶ Ἀμαζονίδης. (popolo di donne presso il Termodonte, come dice Eforo, che ora chiamano Sarmati. Dicono che per natura differiscono dagli uomini adducendo a causa il clima del posto, come se fosse abituato a generare i corpi femminili  più forti e validi di quelli maschili. Io invece ritengo cosa naturale le caratteristiche comuni di tutti, sicché  la causa addotta è assurda. Ritengo più verosimile quella che adducono i vicini. Infatti dicono che i Sarmati da principio avendo combattuto contro l’Europa ed essendo morti tutti, le donne che erano sole …. ed essendosi gli uomini moltiplicati entrarono in competizione con le donne, poi, però, essendo più numerose le donne, gli uomini fuggirono in un luogo boscoso e morirono. Esse, temendo che ci fosse una qualche vendetta da parte dei più giovani, stabilirono il principio per cui le loro membra dovevano essere compresse e che tutti fossero resi storpi. Erano chiamate anche Sauropatidi per il fatto che mangiavano e si nutrivano di lucertole o [Sauromatidi] per il fatto che abitavano nella Scizia sarmatica. C’è anche Amazzonia città della Messapia. Si dice anche Amazzòne al maschile3 . Si dice anche Amazzonio neutro con (aggiunta di) i e Amazzonide.

Dove fosse con precisione l’Amazzonia messapica o con quale centro antico o attuale possa identificarsi io non lo e non so nemmeno se qualcuno si sia mai posto il problema. L’unica speranza è che qualcosa possa venire dagli organizzatori della prossima Notte della taranta che, apprendo, hanno l’intenzione di portare sul palco gli Indios dell’Amazzonia … (https://www.virgilio.it/italia/lecce/ultima-ora/notte_taranta_2020_con_indios_amazzonia-59744853.html). A quando gli Esquimesi?

_____________

1 In latino, con retrazione dell’accento,  Amàzones (per via di o greco che è breve), da cui la voce italiana.

2 In Περί ἀέρων, ὑδάτων, τόπων (Arie, acque, luoghi), attribuito ad Ippocrate (V-IV secolo a. C.), 17:  Ἐν δὲ τῇ Εὐρώπῃ ἐστὶν ἔθνος Σκυθικὸν, ὃ περὶ τὴν λίμνην οἰκέει τὴν Μαιῶτιν, διαφέρον τῶν ἐθνέων τῶν ἄλλων, Σαυρομάται καλεῦνται. Τουτέων αἱ γυναῖκες ἱππάζονταί τε καὶ τοξεύουσι, καὶ ἀκοντίζουσιν ἀπὸ τῶν ἵππων, καὶ μάχονται τοῖσι πολεμίοισιν, ἕως ἂν παρθένοι ἔωσιν. Οὐκ ἀποπαρθενεύονται δὲ μέχρις ἂν τῶν πολεμίων τρεῖς ἀποκτείνωσι, καὶ οὐ πρότερον ξυνοικέουσιν ἤπερ τὰ ἱερὰ θύουσαι τὰ ἐν νόμῳ. Ἣ δ’ ἂν ἄνδρα ἑωυτῇ ἄρηται, παύεται ἱππαζομένη, ἕως ἂν μὴ ἀνάγκη καταλάβῃ παγκοίνου στρατείης. Τὸν δεξιὸν δὲ μαζὸν οὐκ ἔχουσιν. Παιδίοισι γὰρ ἐοῦσιν ἔτι νηπίοισιν αἱ μητέρες χαλκεῖον τετεχνημένον ἐπ’ αὐτέῳ τουτέῳ διάπυρον ποιέουσαι, πρὸς τὸν μαζὸν τιθέασι τὸν δεξιὸν, καὶ ἐπικαίεται, ὥστε τὴν αὔξησιν φθείρεσθαι, ἐς δὲ τὸν δεξιὸν ὦμον καὶ βραχίονα πᾶσαν τὴν ἰσχὺν καὶ τὸ πλῆθος ἐκδιδόναι. (In Europa c’è il popolo degli Sciti che vive intorno alla Palude Meotica, differente dagli altri popoli e col nome di Sauromati. Le loro donne vanno a cavallo, tirano con l’arco e dal cavallo lanciano il giavellotto finché sono ragazze. Non perdono la verginità fino a quando non abbiano ucciso tre nemici e non possono convivere prima di aver compiuto i sacrifici previsti dal loro costume. Quella che prende un uomo per sé cessa di andare a cavallo finché non c’è la necessità di un servizio militare comune a tutti. Non hanno la mammella destra. Ad esse quando sono ancora bambine le madri pongono sul seno destro un arnese infuocato fatto di bronzo e il seno viene bruciato così da impedirne la crescita, per dare alla spalla e al braccio destro tutta la forza e l’estensione)

3 Da non confondere (perché tramandato con l’iniziale maiuscola, ma i manoscritti dettano legge fino ad un certo punto sulla distinzione rispetto alle minuscole) con il comune ἀμαζών (leggi amazòn), che significa alla lettera privo di pagnotta e per traslato uomo povero, avendo tutt’altra etimologia :da α– privativo+μάζα (leggi maza)=focaccia d’orzo.

[upennmanuscripts]

A Leopard that Changes its Spots: A Hand-Decorated Incunable from the Library of Jean Chardalle

Fifty-two discoveries from the BiblioPhilly project, No. 28/52

Saint Augustine, De civitate Dei (City of God), University of Pennsylvania, Inc A-1232 Folio, fol. 13r

This week’s BiblioPhilly manuscript “discovery” is a bit of a misnomer on all three counts, as it A) amplifies an observation previously made by another scholar, B) relates to an item held at the University of Pennsylvania–an institution not officially included in the Bibliotheca Philadelphiensis grant–and C) concerns an early printed book, rather than a manuscript! Nevertheless, it is worth including in the blog since A) the discovery was enabled by an innovative online project, B) the item will be included in next year’s post-BiblioPhilly exhibition at Penn, and C) the incunable in question was decorated by hand with high quality initials and bar borders.

So, we are still dealing with an illuminated book, even though it is printed. Though it may seem counter-intuitive, the advent of the printing press did not diminish the demand for skilled illuminators. In fact, there was an explosion of available work, as innumerable inset spaces left for initials in printed works still had to be completed by hand. The book we are looking at today is an example of the involvement of traditional illuminators with the new technology, a phenomenon well studied by Lilian Armstrong and others. It is a copy of Saint Augustine’s City of God from 1470, the third edition of the work to be printed in Italy, by the German printers Conradus Sweynheym and Arnoldus Pannartz (a fourth had been produced by Johann Mentelin, the first printer to settle in Strasbourg, in 1468). These two business partners were the first to establish a press outside of German-speaking lands, at the Benedictine abbey of Subiaco in 1464/65. By 1467, they had moved in search of greater economic opportunities to Rome, where our volume was printed. Adapting to their trans-alpine audience, Sweynheym and Pannartz abandoned the Gothic typeface used in Northern Europe, developing a semi-Roman font at Subiaco and finally a fully Roman version upon their move to the Papal city (you can see that this is the typeface they used here).

Inc A-1232 Folio, fol. 13r (detail of illuminated initial G)

Unusually, and perhaps uniquely, this incunable’s secondary decoration was added not in Italy but in France. The bar borders and illuminated initials in deep blue and reddish-mauve are all typical of northern French illumination of the 1470s. The single historiated initial G on the first page of the prologue depicts the mitred Saint Augustine blessing the kneeling Marcellinus of Carthage, his friend and the dedicatee of the City of God, who is shown holding a heart in his hands indicative of their bond. In style, the two figures are reminiscent of miniatures produced in Paris by the workshop of François Le Barbier, a prolific artist (previously known as “Maître François”) responsible for illuminating a large number of Books of Hours and theological manuscripts in a somewhat rote style.1 Le Barbier and his associates illuminated three much more elaborate French translations of the City of God: one for the lieutenant general of Paris, Charles de Gaucourt (Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS fr. 18–19); one for the king’s secretary, Mathieu Beauvarlet (Paris, Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève, MS 246); and one for the recalcitrant Duke of Nemours, Jacques d’Armagnac (vol. 1: The Hague, Museum Meermanno, 10 A 11; vol. 2: Nantes, Bibliothèque municipale, Ms. 181).

In the lower margin of the prologue page, a rectangular strip of paper has been excised and replaced with a patch bearing an armorial escutcheon surrounded by a green wreath. The arms appear to show a Lion’s golden face against a blue background. This would seem to be a potentially popular choice for a coat-of-arms, but a head-on lion’s head is almost unheard of in European heraldry, and my first instinct was that this was a fictitious emblem, added to enhance the appearance or price of the book at a later date.

Inc A-1232 Folio, fol. 13r (detail of coat-of-arms)

However, I noticed that the book’s heraldry had previously been discussed on the web as part of the Provenance Online Project. This is a lightweight crowdsourced initiative started at the University of Pennsylvania whereby simple, cellphone photos of unknown annotations, bookstamps, bookplates and other heraldic identifiers are shared online via Flickr, a free photo posting utility. Users around the world are then encouraged to identify the owners. Luckily, the arms in our book were identified by none other than Martin Davies, former curator of incunabula at the British Library and a leading authority on early printing.

As Davies pointed out in a reply to the POP posting, the arms display the face of a leopard, not a lion! They are, in heraldic terms: azure, a leopard’s face or (in French: d’azur à la tête de léopard d’or). This unique animal iconography belongs to Jean Chardalle of Marville, (Johannes Chardallus in Latin) who served as Canon of the Cathedral of Metz from 1475 to 1502. Described as a “noble seigneur d’Église, homme sage docte et scientifique personne” by the contemporary chronicler Philippe de Vigneulles, Chardalle was a prolific book collector, and around thirty-five incunables and fifteen manuscripts have been identified as belonging to him by Pierre-Édouard Wagner.2 This copy of the City of God represents a new addition to this impressive tally, and is all the more important owing to the devastating loss of nearly half of the Municipal Library of Metz’s manuscript and incunable holdings during the Second World War, incuding many books that had belonged to Chardalle. This is indeed a case where prior dispersal has led to survival.

Among the incunables Chardalle owned, most are Italian and bear Italian decoration. Chardalle presumably purchased these on ecclesiastical trips to Rome. The style of the roundel in the City of God is also Italian, contrasting with the Parisian initials. It closely resembles the heraldic devices on other books he brought back from Italy, for example two separate texts by Juan de Torquemada, a Commentum in psalmos David (Verdun, Bibliothèque municipale, MS 84), and a De potestate Ecclesia (Metz, Bibliothèque municipale, MS 104). The evidence from our book suggests that Chardalle purchased extra versions of his coat-of-arms while abroad for insertion into his books.

   Juan de Torquemada, Commentum in psalmos David, Verdun, Bibliothèque municipale, MS 84 (image tweeted by Michaël George) and Juan de Torquemada, De potestate Ecclesia, Metz, Bibliothèque municipale, MS 104, fol. 1r (image from Pierre-Édouard Wagner in Pierre Louis, ed., Épreuves du temps, 200 ans de la bibliothèque de Metz, 1804–2004 (Metz: Bibliothèques-Médiathèques de la Ville de Metz, 2004), 126.

Though most versions of his coat of arms show five thistles issuing from the Leopard’s mouth (the word for thistle in French is chardon, a play on his surname), here this feature is absent. The same is true of the arms in a fine manuscript copy of Augustine’s works (comprising the Meditationes, Manuale, Enchiridion, and De fide, but not the De civitate dei) from the Cathedral Treasury of Metz, where it accompanies a striking image of Chardalle in prayer before the Crucifixion (Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS lat. 9545, fol. 1r).

Saint Augustine, Meditationes, Manuale, Enchiridion, and De fide, Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS lat. 9545, fol. 1r (with detail of coat-of-arms)

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[startingzout]

blog 1

As I sit and stare at my desk, I take form its inspiration for my first blog post. The first thing to catch my eye is a postcard of Kurt Schwitters performing the ‘Ursonate’ in London 1944, a sound poem. Not very current I think at, but relevant none the less... In the back of my mind, as time goes on he’s always there . Every time I see ‘found’ work I think Schwitters, pieces gathered fragment to make a whole. I think before I continue this is a metaphor for my starting this blog, this course, my life as a week rolls into the next, I am a whole made up of bits of experiences. At times it’s noisy!

My wish is that this course leads me to feel more whole, active, valid. I could be ‘an entire worked on piece, to show.’ For those who haven’t come across Schwitters, he was a canon in collage art. Born in Germany in 1887, he was prolific after the first world war He used 3d objects such as machinery he may have come across while working as a technical draughtsman in the ironworks such as Cogs, wheels chains. He would overpaint these to make a composition, the most famous of which named MERZ 29A. He created Merz Magazine  and other groupings under the Merz name, the word meaning ‘the summarisation of all conceivable materials for artistic purposes , and technically the – on principle- equal valuation of the individual materials. (Elger et al.,

Modern Art

.p288) This period of artists was known as DADAISTS, I remind myself that their conscience was born out of the political post-war trauma . I think about the continuing wars in the world today, perhaps a Schwitter’s onomatopoeic drill of sounds could relate to the shock of today. He thrashed art into a more garbled state to reflect the nonsensical war time. Artists need to abandon typical techniques reflect that life wasn’t typical. I’m caused to think about the ‘playroom’ or the session with a client. As therapists we must imagine nothing, so the client can bring anything into the room ,so  that nothing is ‘typical’ and anything is possible. This will be a challenge of course, to leave our  sense of the ‘norm’ and judgements aside. But it is ascribed to us in our role. I’ve looked at this in my previous work with children, and in my current work now , I reflect on the work of Carl Rogers, the ground-breaking humanist counsellor’s core conditions: congruence, empathy and unconditional  positive regard. Being in the here and now with the client will allow us to focus on what is in front of us without preconceptions. These are powerful tools for artists, for where we are today in parallel to the Dadaists, the unknown is an anxious place.   At this time, we are facing a devastation politically in Britain, with families divided and politicians being bizarre. Dadaists couldn’t change politics, end war, chase people into revolution, so they created a way of smashing structures in art and language. We have a vote, which wither way will crush the spirit of this country. Dada makes me think of the XR movement of today, non -violent, confused and scared.  Thousands of people in peaceful protest about the climate and inaction. People, who are anyone dancing, standing, gluing themselves to the floor, being counted. It’s what we can do as a race, stand together as one voice. Today’s rebel rousing XR spirit of the people, who have organised a nationwide art group to create the spirit of activism through art.  

This group could  provide a place to put those anxieties to use, in a creative way. Art therapy, we could say. How does Schwitters inform my art? At present I’m not making any, but it’s my go to. I’m handling a little creativity now, thankfully my job makes me. The last piece of considered work I did was for my wedding anniversary in September 2019.I chose a combination of cowgirls and mgm classic movie pictures to cut and stick onto a poster in a collage style. What came of it were various versions of exhilaration, dread, hysteria and joy. I combined it with images of the place we got married, ‘the Tunnel of Love at’ the Little White Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas.  It was a humorous, honest piece. Long Relationships are not icing, and love hearts and sweet pink poems, they are a bit of that and a lot of other wrangling’s. Such is the this, the that, the uncontrollable, the flash, the caught in the corner of your eye. It’s the gathering of the hum. To me Schwitters informs my practise today, and the spirit of finding your own language is not derelict. The medium is the message . The following are extracts of this collage.

Elger, Dietmar, Christopher Cordy, Laszlo Taschen, and Hans Werner Holzwarth, eds. Modern Art. Bibliotheca Universalis. Köln: Taschen, 2016

Elger, Dietmar, Christopher Cordy, Laszlo Taschen, and Hans Werner Holzwarth, eds. Modern Art. Bibliotheca Universalis. Köln: Taschen, 2016

[crystaloccult]

Hekate Resources

Note: I pulled this list from here. It is not my own but thought Tumblr would find it useful.

________________________________________________________________

I've had this for some time and though it might be useful to others who are sworn to Hekate or at least interested in her. I have purposely omitted some items due to language usage or audience focus, aimed at 3 - 10 years of age type thing. It's a large list and reflects my own biases and interests regarding the subject of reference material for Hekate / Hecate. ..............................

Books, Articles and Various for Hekate / Hecate reference

Section 1: Books

01.  Hekate Soteira: A Study of Hekate's Roles in the Chaldean Oracles and Related Literature (American Classical Studies, No by Sarah Iles Johnston, 1990, 200 pages. PB, ISBN 1555404278 // ISBN 155540426X 02. Restless Dead: Encounters between the Living and the Dead in Ancient Greece by Sarah Iles Johnston, 2013-PB, 352 Pages, ISBN 0520280180 // ISBN 0520217071 03. Mantike: Studies in Ancient Divination (Religions in the Graeco-Roman World) by Sarah Iles Johnston, 2005, 322 pages, ISBN 9004144978  04. The Goddess Hekate by Stephen Ronan, 1992, 166 pgs, ISBN 0948366214 05. Hekate in Ancient Greek Religion by Ilmo Robert Von Rudloff, 1999, 176 pages, ISBN is 978-0-9696066-8-0 / 9780969606680 06. Hekate Liminal Rites: A Study of the rituals, magic and symbols of the torch-bearing Triple Goddess of the Crossroads by Sorita d'Este,  2009, 194 pages, ISBN 1905297238 07. HEKATE: Keys to the Crossroads - A collection of personal essays, invocations, rituals, recipes and artwork from modern Witches, Priestesses and Priests ... Goddess of Witchcraft, Magick and Sorcery by Sorita d'Este, 2006, 156 pages, ISBN-13: 9781905297092 // ISBN: 1905297092 08. HEKATE Her Sacred Fires by Sorita d'Este, 2010, 308 pages, ISBN-13: 9781905297351 // ISBN: 1905297351 09. Artemis: Virgin Goddess of the Sun & Moon--A Comprehensive Guide to the Greek Goddess of the Hunt, Her Myths, Powers & M by Sorita d'Este, 2005, 156 pages, ISBN-13: 9781905297023 // ISBN: 1905297025 10. Thracian Magic: Past and Present by Georgi Mishev, 2012, 338 pages, ISBN 1905297483 11. Rotting Goddess: The Origins of the Witch in Classical Antiquity by Jacob Rabinowitz, 1998, 154 pages, ISBN 157027035X 12. Crossroads by Greg Crowfoot, 2005, 188 pages, ISBN 1593303025 13. Bearing Torches: A Devotional Anthology for Hekate by Bibliotheca Alexandrina, 2009, 200 pages, PB, ISBN 1449917046 14. The Cults of the Greek States, Volume II [Vol. 2] by Lewis Richard Farnell, CHAPTER XVI - HEKATE pp. 501-519, ISBN 1236589580, Online ISBN: 9780511710438, Paperback ISBN: 9781108015448 15. Sacred Places of Goddess: 108 Destinations by Karen Tate, 2006, ISBN-13: 978-1-888729-17-7 // ISBN-10: 1-888729-17-1 16. Hecate I: Death, Transition and Spiritual Mastery (2nd Edition) by Jade Sol Luna, 2009, 260 pages, ISBN 1442184515 - Hecate I: Death, Transition and Spiritual Mastery (1st edition) Paperback – October 31, 2008 by Jade Sol Luna (still being sold) 17. Hecate II: The Awakening of Hydra by Jade Sol Luna, 2009, 326 pages, ISBN 0615344755 18. Triple Hekate mainly on votive reliefs, coins, gems and amulets by Elpis Mitropoulou (Very rare have not found a copy yet printed 1978), Pyli Ed, 1978  19. Curse Tablets and Binding Spells from the Ancient World, by John G. Gager, Softcover, 1999, 296 pages, ISBN 0195134826 // ISBN 0195062264 20. A History of Discoveries at Halicarnassus, Cnidus and Branchidae, Volume 2, Part 2, Charles Thomas Newton and Richard Popplewell Pullan, CHAPTER XXIV pp. 554-572, Original Publication Year: 1863, Online ISBN:9780511910302, Paperback ISBN:9781108027274 About Lagina – Historical reference 21. The Temple of Hekate at Lagina, by Ahmet A. Tirpan – Zeliha Gider – Aytekin Buyukozer pg 181 – 202, Dipteros und Pseudodiptoros, BYZAS, Veroffenllichungen des Deutschen Archologischen Institits Istanbul, ISBN 978-605-5607-74-6 (English) 22. Labraunda and Karia, Proceedings of the International Symposium Commemorating Sixty Years of Swedish Archaeological Work in Labraunda, The Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities Stockholm, November 20-21, 2008, ISSN 0346-6442 // ISBN 978-91-554-7997-8 - The Archaic architectural terracottas from Euromos and some cult signs by Suat Ateşlier, Pg 279 - 290  23. A N O D O S, Studies of the Ancient World, 6-7/2006-2007, CULT AND SANCTUARY THROUGH THE AGES, (From the Bronze Age to the Late Antiquity),  - DAŞBACAK, Coşkun: Hecate Cult in Anatolia: Rituals and Dedications in Lagina pg 143-148;  - SÖğÜT, Bilal: Naiskoi From the Sacred Precinct of Lagina Hekate: Augustus and Sarapis, PG 421-432 24. The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation, Including the Demotic Spells, edited by Hans Dieter Betz, 1997, 406 pages, University of Chicago Press, ISBN 0-226-04444-0 25. RITUAL TEXTS FOR THE AFTERLIFE, Orpheus and the Bacchic Gold Tablets Fritz Graf and Sarah Iles Johnston, 2013, 296 pages 26. ANCIENT GREEK CULTS, A guide by Jennifer Larson, 2007, 320 pages, ISBN-13: 978-0415491020 ISBN-10: 0415491029   27. Magika Hiera, Ancient Greek Magic and Religion, Edited by Christopher A. Faraone & Dirk Obbink, Oxford University Press, 1997, 312 pages, ISBN 0-19-504450-9 / ISBN 0-19-511140-0 28. From Artemis to Diana: The Goddess of Man and Beast, 12 Acta Hyperborea 2009, Museum Tusculanum Press, University of Copenhagen, 2009, 585 pages 29. Magic, Witchcraft, and Ghosts in the Greek and Roman Worlds by Daniel Ogden, Oxford University Press, 2002 ISBN 0-19-513575-X; ISBN 0-19-515123-2 30. CHALDÆAN ORACLES, Translated and Commented by G. R. S. Mead (1908) version uses Hecat where later re-releases indicate Hecate. 31. Women’s Religions in the Greco-Roman World: A Sourcebook, ROSS SHEPARD KRAEMER, Editor, Oxford University press, 2004, ISBN 0-19-517065-2 (cloth); 0-19-514278-0 (pbk.) 32. Greek Religion by Walter Burker, – July 26, 1985, 512 pages 33. Various catalogs and Literature about Coin Collecting & Numismatics. A great deal of info and depictions of Hecate / Hekate on coins, tokens, can be discovered in the literature. These are just a few of the many journals, books, reports that are available. Requires a bit of determination on the part of the researcher to identify and discover how the coins reflect religion, economics, culture, geographical, etc influences. An underutilized source of information on many gods / goddesses.   - A Catalog of Greek Coins in the British Musuem, 28 Volumes - ERIC - The Encyclopedia of Roman Imperial Coins – 2005 by Rasiel Suarez - COINAGE AND IDENTITY IN THE ROMAN PROVINCES, Edited by Christopher Howgego, Volker Heuchert, Andrew Burnett, Oxford University Press, 2005

Section 1a: Books more LHP in focus 

01. Queen of Hell by Mark Alan Smith, 2010,  02. The Red King (Trident of Witchcraft) by Mark Alan Smith, 2011,  03. MAGICK OF THE ANCIENT GODS, Chthonic Paganism & the Left Hand Path by Michael W. Ford, 2009, 254 pages, ISBN 978-0-578-02732-6 04. Book of the Witch Moon: Chaos, Vampiric & Luciferian Sorcery, The Choronzon Edition by Michael W. Ford, 2006, 456 pages, Hecate Queen of Witches, pg 98 - 107 05. HECATE'S WOMB (And other essays) by Jason Perdue, 2004, 146 pages

Section 1b: Have heard both good and bad reviews of these books

01. The Witches' Craft: The Roots of Witchcraft & Magical Transformation by Raven Grimassi, 2002, 282 pgs 02. The New Book of Goddesses & Heroines by Patricia Monaghan, 3rd edition, 1997, 384 pgs 03. Hecate - The Witches' Goddess – November 4, 2011 by Gary R. Varner, PB, 120 pages (more bad than good reviews on this one) 04. The Temple of Hekate - Exploring the Goddess Hekate through Ritual, Meditation And Divination by Tara Sanchez, 2011, 192 pgs, ISBN 1905297491 (Myself I’d not recommend it) 05. Goddess Connections Workbook Hekate [Kindle Edition] by Tara Reynolds, 17 pages

Section 1c: Books questionable history and / or heavily MMC influenced (Not ones I’d recommend)

01. Mysteries of the Dark Moon: The Healing Power of the Dark Goddess Paperback – May 22, 1992, 304 pages, by Demetra George 02. Hecate: Queen of the Witches or Wise Crone? (Celebrate the Divine Feminine; Reclaim Your Power with Ancient Goddess Wisdom) by Joy Reichard, Chapter 13, 2011 03. Queen of the Night: Rediscovering the Celtic Moon Goddess by Sharynne MacLeod Nic Mhacha, 2005, Forth Lunation (chapter 4) 04. Goddess Enchantment, Magic and Spells Volume 2: Goddesses Love, Abundance and Transformation by Carrie Kirkpatrick, 2011, Chapter 4, pg 68-77 05. Lost Goddesses of Early Greece: A Collection of Pre-Hellenic Myths Paperback, by Charlene Spretnak – August 3, 1992, 144 pages (This book has been compared to Robert Graves THE WHITE GODDESS in the author’s ability to suggest opinion as historical fact) Feminist seem to endorse it while historical based opinions find it to questionable. 06. Hecate (Monsters of Mythology) Library Binding, by Bernard Evslin – September, 1988, 87 pages (Most reviews and such suggest incorrect info and best to just toss it, part of his Monsters of series of books) Could not bring myself to read it entirely. Publishing date of 1988 suggests part of the issue’s presented, theories which are no longer endorsed or supported.

Section 2: Historical / Archaic / Modern Plays & Poetry

01. The Homeric Hymns (HYMN TO DEMETER) by Homer 01a The Homeric Hymn to Demeter: Translation, Commentary, and Interpretive Essays by Helene P. Foley, 1993, 320 pages. 02. The Argonautica by Apollonius of Rhodes 03. Medea by Euripides 03a Medea: Essays on Medea in Myth, Literature, Philosophy, and Art Paperback, by James J. Clauss (Editor), Sarah Iles Johnston (Editor)– January 12, 1997, 376 pages, ISBN-13: 978-0691043760 ISBN-10: 0691043760 04. Hesiod: Volume I, Theogony. Works and Days. Testimonia (Loeb Classical Library No. 57N) by Hesiod (Author), Glenn W. Most (Translator) – 2007, 308 pages,  05. The Orphic Hymm to Hekate 06. IDYLL 2: THE SPELL by THEOCRITUS 07. Ovid – The Metamorphoses - book vii & The Epistles of Ovid 08. John Keats – To Homer & On the Sea 09. William Shakespeare’s Plays - A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act 5, Scene 1 - King Henry VI. Part I., Act 3 Scene 2 - Hamlet, Act III, Scene 2 - Macbeth, Act II, scene 1 - King Lear, Act 1, Scene 1  10. Pausanias' Description of Greece II.30.2 11. The Comedies of Plutus by Aristophanes 12. The Aeneid by Virgil, Robert Fitzgerald translation 13. Hymm to Minerva by Proclus – Eleusinian and Bacchic Mysteries by Thomas Taylor, 1891, Pgs 225 – 227.

Section 2a: Historical / Archaic / Modern Plays & Poetry more LHP

01. Aleister Crowley Invocation of Hecate 02. Invocation of Hecate , Queen of All Witchcraft

Section 3: Academic research articles

01. A Group of Marble Statuettes in the Ödemiş Museum” – Part of The Stone Artifacts of the Ödemiş Museum 02. Structure, Sculpture and Scholarship Understanding the Sanctuary of Hekate at Lagina, Amanda Elaine Herring, University of California (L.A.), 2011 03. Apollo, Ennodia, and fourth-century Thessaly by C.D. Graninger, Kernos 22 (2009), Varia 04. Karian, Greek or Roman? The layered identities of Stratonikeia at the sanctuary of Hekate at Lagina by Christina Williamson 05. SANCTUARIES AS TURNING POINTS IN TERRITORIAL FORMATION. LAGINA, PANAMARA AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF STRATONIKEIA by Christina Williamson 06. City and Sanctuary in Hellenistic Asia Minor. Sacred and Ideological Landscapes by Christina Williamson 07. Hekate: Bringer of Light by Shelly M. Nixon, California Institute of Integral Studies. 08. Hekate with Apollo and Artemis on a Gem from the Southern Black Sea Region by MANOLIS MANOLEDAKIS 09. HEKATE: HER ROLE AND CHARACTER IN GREEK LITERATURE FROM BEFORE THE FIFTH CENTURY B.C. by CAROL M. MOONEY, B.A., McMaster University February, 1971 10. PLATO’S X & HEKATE’S CROSSROADS, ASTRONOMICAL LINKS TO THE MYSTERIES OF ELEUSIS by George Latura, Independent Researcher, Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry, Vol. XX, No X, pp.xx-xx 11. Medea, Cytissorus, Hekate, they all came from Aea. Historical and Cultic Evidence from Hellas in the Golden Fleece Myths, Debbie Turkilsen and Joost Blasweiler, Publisher: Arnhem (NL) Bronze Age, ISBN/EAN: 978-90-820497-1-8 2014 Arnhem –Sydney 12. The Hecate of the Theogony, Jenny Strauss Clay, 1984, Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies 25: 27-38 13. A Portrait of Hekate by Patricia A. Marquardt, in the American Journal of Philology, Volume 102 14. DOG SACRIFICE IN ANCIENT AND MODERN GREECE: FROM THE SACRIFICE RITUAL TO DOG TORTURE (KYNOMARTYRION) by Manolis G. Sergis

Section 4: JSTOR articles

01. Diana Nemorensis by Andrew Alföldi, American Journal of Archaeology Vol. 64, No. 2 (Apr., 1960), pp. 137-144, Published by: Archaeological Institute of America, Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/502539 02. Hecate: A Transfunctional Goddess in the Theogony By Deborah Boedeker Transactions of the American Philological Association (1974-) Vol. 113, (1983), pp. 79-93 Published by: American Philological Association, Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/284004 03. Hecate: Greek or “Anatolian”? by William Berg, Numen Vol. 21, Fasc. 2 (Aug., 1974), pp. 128-140 Published by: BRILL Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3269561 04. The Running Maiden from Eleusis and the Early Classical Image of Hekate, Author(s): Charles M. Edwards Source: American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 90, No. 3 (Jul., 1986), pp. 307-318 Published by: Archaeological Institute of America Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/505689 05. Empousa, Dionysus and the Mysteries: Aristophanes, Frogs 285ff Author(s): Christopher G. Brown Reviewed work(s): Source: The Classical Quarterly, New Series, Vol. 41, No. 1 (1991), pp. 41-50 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Classical Association Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/639022 06. Crossroads, Author(s): S. I. Johnston Reviewed work(s): Source: Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik, Bd. 88 (1991), pp. 217-224 Published by: Dr. Rudolf Habelt GmbH, Bonn (Germany) Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20187554  07. The Chthonic Gods of Greek Religion Author(s): Arthur Fairbanks, Source: The American Journal of Philology,Vol. 21, No. 3 (1900), pp. 241-259 Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/287716 08. A Portrait of Hecate by Patricia A. Marquardt, The American Journal of Philology, Vol. 102, No. 3 (Autumn, 1981), pp. 243-260, Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/294128 09. The House-Door in Greek and Roman Religion and Folk-Lore Author(s): M. B. Ogle Source: The American Journal of Philology,Vol. 32, No. 3 (1911), pp. 251-271 Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/288616 

[lamilanomagazine]

Bologna, al MAMbo “Viola! Pablo Echaurren e gli indiani metropolitani” l’esposizione a cura di Sara De Chiara

Bologna, al MAMbo “Viola! Pablo Echaurren e gli indiani metropolitani” l’esposizione a cura di Sara De Chiara.   La programmazione della Project Room del MAMbo – Museo d’Arte Moderna di Bologna conferma la propria vocazione alla ricostruzione, al racconto e alla valorizzazione delle esperienze artistiche del territorio bolognese ed emiliano-romagnolo con Viola! Pablo Echaurren e gli indiani metropolitani, il nuovo progetto espositivo a cura di Sara De Chiara, che inaugura il 27 gennaio 2023 alle h 18 in occasione di ART CITY Bologna, il calendario istituzionale di mostre, eventi e iniziative speciali promosso da Comune di Bologna e BolognaFiere in occasione di Arte Fiera. L’esposizione, che rimane aperta al pubblico dal 28 gennaio al 14 maggio 2023, viene presentata in anteprima alla stampa giovedì 26 gennaio alle h 11. La mostra offre l’occasione di approfondire per la prima volta il rapporto di Pablo Echaurren (Roma, 1951) con il contesto bolognese, attraverso una selezione di opere realizzate tra il 1977 e il 1978, di pagine di Lotta Continua, di collage, fanzine e illustrazioni ispirate agli avvenimenti e alla poetica del Settantasette. Il percorso espositivo include un gruppo di “quadratini”, realizzati nella prima metà degli anni Settanta, la cui produzione è stata abbandonata proprio dopo gli avvenimenti di quell’anno così cruciale per Bologna. Oltre a questi, esulano dal biennio ’77-78 alcuni assemblage raccolti all’interno di scatole, appartenenti a una produzione recente (2020-22), incentrata sulle scoperte scientifiche legate all’uomo di Neanderthal, ma che tornano anche a riflettere sull’esperienza degli anni Settanta (quasi un passaggio di testimone tra indiani metropolitani e neanderthaliani metropolitani). Tutti i lavori proposti provengono dall’archivio dell’artista a Roma e alcuni sono esposti per la prima volta. Viola! Pablo Echaurren e gli indiani metropolitani si realizza con il sostegno del Trust per l'Arte Contemporanea e in collaborazione con Fondazione Echaurren Salaris, Bibliotheca Hertziana - Istituto Max Planck per la storia dell’arte e Ab Rogers Design. museibologna Instagram @bolognamusei... #notizie #news #breakingnews #cronaca #politica #eventi #sport #moda Read the full article

[pittrarebooks]

Jacopo Sannazaro’s The Piscatory Eclogues and Aldus Manutius

The Special Collections Department is featuring articles written by our student staff in conjunction with our current exhibit, The Compleat Angler:  And Other Meditations on the Art and Philosophy of Fishing, 15th Century to the Present, which is currently located in Hillman Library, Third Floor, Room 363, Special Collections Department, University of Pittsburgh.

Fig. 1. Frontispiece portrait of Jacopo Sannazaro and Title Page. From: Sannazaro, Jacopo. 1570. Iacobi Sannazarii Opera Omnia. Latine Scripta. Venetiis: Ex Bibliotheca Aldina.

One of the earliest published pieces of literature on the topic of fishing is Jacopo Sannazaro’s work The Piscatory Eclogues.  This text set the stage for many later books on fishing, such as Izaak Walton’s Compleat Angler, bringing the life of fishermen into the forefront of scholarly discussion.  In writing the eclogues, Sannazaro transformed a traditional literary genre, the pastoral eclogue, into a new form that focused on fishermen living near bodies of water instead of the shepherds in the rural settings of the pastoral.

The pastoral eclogue is a type of literature that has been around since Theocritus’ Idylls, which was published before 250 B.C.  Around that time, Virgil also wrote his own Eclogues in the same style.  While the technique fell out of popularity after that, it resurfaced during the Italian Renaissance (“Aldus Manutius” 2016).  The pastoral eclogue is unique from other literary genres in that it incorporates monologue, dialogue, narrative action, and more, all within the same composition.  Additionally, it makes extensive use of allusion to convey meaning (Kennedy 1983). These qualities allow writers a freedom that cannot be found in other literary styles.

Fig. 2. Svedomsky, Pavel. 1892. Naples. Oil on canvas. Private Collection. Available from: The Athenaeum

Because of these features, Sannazaro was drawn to the eclogue.  It is clear that he was directly influenced by Virgil, as The Piscatory Eclogues are parallel in style and structure to Virgil’s (Hankins 2009).  However, Sannazaro felt that fishing would make better subject matter than shepherding, and he changed the traditional aspects of the form to reflect that. Pastoral eclogues are typically set in a land called “Arcadia,” which is an idyllic wilderness setting, distantly influenced by Italian landscape.  To make his narratives more relatable to contemporary Italian readers, Sannazaro chose to use real places as the background of his eclogues, setting The Piscatory Eclogues in actual towns along the shoreline of Naples, Italy (Hankins 2009).  Another decision Sannazaro made was to publish the verses in Latin.  Though he wrote other works in the vernacular Italian, he used Latin for his eclogues to create a bridge between classical literature and contemporary Italy (Kennedy 1983).  These literary choices were successful in attracting readers, and when The Piscatory Eclogues were published in Naples in 1526, they were well received throughout all of Italy.  They even made their way into other parts of Europe, becoming popular in countries like Germany and Portugal (Mustard 1914).

The University of Pittsburgh’s library system has several editions of this text, including English translations and versions published within the past century. The most important edition, which was published in 1570 by Aldus Manutius in Venice, can be found in Archives & Special Collections at Hillman Library. Our copy was donated by William M. Darlington, and he noted in an inscription in the front of the book that it is “One of the Earliest books on the Art of Angling Printed by Aldus.”  While the age of the volume is noteworthy on its own, the fact that Aldus Manutius published it is even more significant.

Fig. 3. Portrait of Aldus Manutius.  From: Grendler, Paul F. 1995. Books and Schools in the Italian Renaissance. Aldershot, Hampshire, Great Britain: Variorum.

Aldus Manutius, one of the most famous printers ever, worked in Italy during the Renaissance, printing books for Italian readers.  He began his career as a Humanist teacher, focusing on Latin classics, though he was also familiar with ancient Greek texts.  When he was forty, he decided that it was more important to live honestly rather than to endlessly search for truth.   He formed a partnership with two wealthy Venetians and opened his own printing company, the Aldine Press.  In choosing what to publish, he concentrated on appealing to Humanists.  Humanists preferred to study ancient volumes in their original language and context without contemporary commentary added by translators.  Because he spoke Greek, Manutius was able to publish texts from writers like Aristotle in their original language, a phenomenon that was previously unheard of. Manutius attained great success with this approach, and he continued to revolutionize the publishing industry with his versions of Latin classics.  He printed them on smaller paper without additional comments.  Additionally, he created the Aldine Italic and Roman type fonts. With these changes, he was able to produce small octavo-sized books that people could easily carry with them (Grendler 1995).  

 Fig. 4 and 5. New Aldine type fonts.  From: Sannazaro, Jacopo. 1570. Iacobi Sannazarii Opera Omnia. Latine Scripta. Venetiis: Ex Bibliotheca Aldina.

All publishers of the time had their own characteristic devices that were printed in their books to establish their authority.  Manutius created the Aldine Dolphin and Anchor Device, which features an anchor with a dolphin wrapped around it.  The motto he chose for this device was “Festina lente,” which means “make haste slowly” (Englade).  The image fits this motto well, as the dolphin is a fast animal, made slower by the anchor it holds onto.  All of the works published by the Aldine Press contained this device.  It can be seen on both the title page and the tail-piece device of the 1570 edition of Iacobi Sannazarii Opera Omnia. Latine Scripta, which includes The Piscatory Eclogues.  Even after the dissolution of the Aldine Press, the device has remained connected to printing.  Other famous publishers over time, including William Pickering in London and Doubleday in the United States, have appropriated the device to use in their own books.

Fig. 6. Aldine Dolphin and Anchor Device.  From: Sannazaro, Jacopo. 1570. Iacobi Sannazarii Opera Omnia. Latine Scripta. Venetiis: Ex Bibliotheca Aldina.

Throughout Manutius’ career, he chose the books he published carefully, only printing what he thought would be profitable.  In addition to Greek and Latin classics, he also published contemporary texts, both in Latin and Italian. The books he chose usually sold well, and he was able to turn the company over to his brother-in-law, son, and grandson before his death in 1515.  They continued to operate successfully, but without Aldus’ charm, they eventually lost collaborators and closed the press in 1598 (Grendler 1995).  Despite this, the Aldine Press continues to be seen as an important influence in the history of book printing.  Manutius’ choices regarding language, book size, and font revolutionized the publishing world, paving the way for books to become more affordable and accessible to the general public.  

The 1570 copy of The Piscatory Eclogues held in Archives & Special Collections is representative of a typical Aldine book.  Though it was printed after Aldus’ death, it retains the characteristics that made him famous.  For example, it is small in size and printed in Italic and Roman fonts.  People who bought it would have been able to carry it around with them, enjoying Sannazaro’s fishing poems in the same Italy where they were set.

-Cassie Frank, graduate student employee

Works Cited

“Aldus Manutius.” 2016. Encyclopedia Brittanica. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Aldus-Manutius.

Englade, Emilio. Accessed August 31, 2017. “Dolphin-and-Anchor device of Aldine Press, ca. 1500.” Harry Ransom Center: The University of Texas at Austin. http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/exhibitions/permanent/windows/southeast/aldine_press.html.

Grendler, Paul F. 1995. Books and Schools in the Italian Renaissance. Aldershot, Hampshire, Great Britain: Variorum.

Hankins, James, ed. 2009. Sannazaro: Latin Poetry. Translated by Michael C. J. Putnam. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.

Kennedy, William J. 1983. Jacopo Sannazaro and the Uses of Pastoral. Hanover and London: University Press of New England.

Mustard, Wilfred P., ed. 1914. The Piscatory Eclogues of Jacopo Sannazaro. Baltimore: The John Hopkins Press.

Sannazaro, Jacopo. 1570. Iacobi Sannazarii Opera Omnia. Latine Scripta. Venetiis: Ex Bibliotheca Aldina.

Svedomsky, Pavel. 1892. Naples. Oil on canvas. Private Collection. Available from: The Athenaeum, http://www.the-athenaeum.org/art/full.php?ID=217351# (accessed September 14, 2017).

[jamesgraybooksellerworld]

The reason for publishing a short catalogue is to facilitate easier and cheaper shipping so that I can ship anyone who asks for one will get one quickly.

If you usually get my catalogues one will be on the way, If you would like one please e-mail or text me.   I hope you enjoy it.

James

      1) 269J Thomas Aquinas 1225-1274

Summa theologiae: Pars prima. Ed: Franciscus de Neritono, Petrus Cantianus, and Joannes Franciscus.

Venice: [Nicolaus Jenson] 1477. $ 18,000

Folio. Full contemporary calf over wooden boards, rubricated through- out. This is the second edition of the ‘pars prima”, the first was 1473. The Summa was written 1265–1274 and also known as the Summa Theologica or simply the Summa) is the best-known work of Thomas Aquinas. Goff T198; HC 1442*; Mich 118; Pell 1038; CIBN T-170; Zehnacker 2241; Castan(Besançon) 95; Polain(B) 4759; IGI 9573; IBP 5300; Sajó-Soltész 3263; IDL 4392; IBE 5623; IJL2 354; SI 3796; Coll(U) 1431; Madsen 4397; Voull(Trier) 1820; Voull(B) 3669; Ohly-Sack 2743; Sack(Freiburg) 3444; Borm 2610; Bod-inc T-167; Sheppard 3283; Pr 4103; BMC V 177; BSB-Ink T-273; GW M46455 2) 353J Sammelband Of Aristotle commentaries. 1499-1509

1)Petri Tatereti in Summulas Petri Hyspani                                                                    2)Necnon Methaphisice Aristotelis magistri Petri Tatareti exposition                                                              3)Petri Tatereti super textu logices Aristotelis

1) [Lyons] : Claudii Davost al’s de troys,1509                                                                                       2) Lyons Claudij Davost 1509.                                                                                                                 3) Lyons; Davost or Wolf about 1499/1500.                       $15,000

  Many woodcut illustrations. This is a rare incunabula (and post) editions of the commentary on Aristotle’s Logic by Petrus Tartaretus, follower of Duns Scotus and rector of theUniversity of Paris in 1490. 1) Panzer, VII,; p. 292, no. 141 Not in Adams or the BM STC, French Books.. 2) USTC no.: 155038 Panzer, VII,; p. 292, no. 140 LIBRARY COPIES: Universitat de Barcelona , Det Kongelige Bibliotek, Oxford (UK), Wadham College Library : Not in Adams or the BM STC, French Books.. 3) Goff T43 = T40; R 758; Pell Ms 10941; IGI V p.153; IBE Post-incunables 249; Sajó-Soltész p.952; Olivar 391; Sack(Freiburg) 3337a; Walsh 3835a; ISTC it00043000 United States 3 copies Harvard, Johns Hopkins, Smithsonian . 3) 284J Aristotle and Gualtherus Burlaeus. (Walter Burley)

Expositio Gualteri Burlei super decem Libros Ethicorum Aristotelis the Nicomachean Ethics

Venice: Andreas Torresanus, 1500                           $10,500

Folio, Half calf over wooden boards. Second edition after that of 1481. There are two printed editions of this work, the one offered here is the second, the first is also quite rare-Goff B 1300, (3 copies)

Goff; B-1301; BM 15th cent. V, 576 (IB. 24667); GW; 5779; ; Hain-Copinger; *4144; Harman; 191; ISTC (online); ib01301000; Proctor; 5269; Pellechet; 3080 4) 198G Bernardus Basinus

De magicis artibus et magorum maleficiis

Paris : Antoine Caillaut, 1491-1492? ) $ 19,000

Quarto. Older limp vellum. Capitals supplied in Red and Blue .This treatise on magical practices was based on a speech Basin delivered in Paris before an assembly of cardinals in 1482.

Not in Goff: Dated by CIBN; Pell (Lyon) 40; Bod-inc B-132; Sheppard 6190; Pr 7967; BSB-Ink B-233; GW 3720; CIBN B-182; Aquilon 89; Parguez 146.

  5) 144J A. M. T. Severinus Boethius

De disciplina scholarium (Comm: pseudo- Thomas Aquinas) [Bound with] Boetius de consolatione philosophie necnon de disciplina scholariu[m] cum creme[n]to [sic] sancti Thome De

consolatione philosophiae (with commentary ascribed in the text to Thomas Aquinas).

Lyon: Jean Du Pré, 1491/92 $ 7,000

Small Folio (second part lacking two leaves a1 title and a2 introduction) full vellum. A very rare impression

Goff B796 (one copy Harvard) ; Pell 2531; CIBN B-581; Frasson-Cochet 59; Parguez 232; IBE 1118; IGI 1835; IBPort 383; Mendes 278; Walsh 3779; GW 4554

  6) 756G Diodorus

Bibliothecae historicae libri VI [a Poggio Florentino in latinum traductus]

[Paris] : [Denis Roce] Venundantur in vico sancti Iacobi sub signo diui Martini. (1505-08) $2,800

Approximate date of publication from Moreau, B. Inventaire chronologique des éditions parisiennes v. 1, p. 274

Octavo 19th century calf rebacked. Diodorus Siculus is the author of the ‘Bibliotheke’ or ‘Library,’ a universal history from mythological times to 60 B.C. Only fifteen of the original forty books survive fully (books one through five; eleven through twenty); the others are preserved in fragments.

Goff D215? ; Moreau I 274: 63; Renouard, Imprimeurs III 128 and I, 1508, 63; Renouard, 1005 (mark of D. Roce) Pell 4264; BMC(Fr) p.135 7) 312J. Domenico Cavalca. (1270?-1342)

Pungi language.

[Baptista de Tortis]: Venexia, Adi .viiii. de Octubrio. 1494 $17,000

Quarto Large woodcut depicting the crucifixion on the frontispiece, Rare first Venetian edition with the l woodblock published here for the first time. initial “A” in gold, blue, red and green, a colorful coat of arms.

Goff C342; H(Add)C 4776a; R 116; Pell 3448; CIBN C-195; IGI 2637; Essling 750; Sander 1853; Pr 4649; BMC V 328; GW 6413 One copy in Goff. Huntington Library.

Queried Location: New York NY, Manhattan College: sold Christie’s (NY) 1 June 1991 lot 41 (current whereabouts unknown) 8) 945G Eusebius of Caesarea c. 260-c. 340

Eusebius Pa[m]phili de eua[n]gelica preparac[i]o[n]e ex greco in latinu[m] translatus Incipit feliciter.

[ Cologne, Ulrich Zel, not after 1473] $18,000

Folio 152 of 152 leave. One of the earliest editions most likely the Second, (editio princeps: Venice 1470) New quarter calf over original wooden boards. Capitals supplied in Red and Blue. The Preparation is an introduction to Christianity for pagans, in which the author attempts to prove the excellence of Christianity over pagan religion and philosophy.

Goff E119; BMC I 194 : (United States of America: Boston Public Library Indiana Univ., The Lilly Library (- 2 ff.)YUL); 9) 307J Eusebius of Caesarea

Eusebii Caesariensis episcopi chronicon id est temporum breuiarium incipit foeliciter: quem Hieronymus praesbiter diuino eius ingenio Latinum facere curauit: et vsque in Valente[m] Cesarem Romano adiecit eloquio. Que[m] et Prosper deinde Matheus Palmerius … subsequuntur.

Venetijs : Erhardus Ratdolt 1483. $11,500.

Quarto. Old vellum. Printed in red and black, woodcut initials, a nice copy. In this book is the first printed reference to Gutenberg with a date. (1440) “The chronological tables cover the period from the Assyrian Kings to the year 1481. Edited and corrected by S.L. Tritter.”[L•S•O] Goff; E-117; BM 15th cent.,; V, p. 287-288 (IA. 20527).; GW; 9433 Goff; E-117; Hain-Copinger; 6717*; GW; 9433; BM 15th cent.,; V, p. 287 (IA.1755); Pellechet; 4634; Illustrated ISTC (CD-ROM, 2nd ed.); ie00117000; Thacher; 287. Redgrave, Ratdolt 36. IBE 2338

10) 319J Macer Floridus ( ascribed to) Odo of Meudon, Otto of Morimont )

Macri philosophi De uirtutibus herbarum et qualitatibus speciebus nouiter inuentus ac impressus.

Venetiis : Venetu[m] de Vitalibus.,1508. $6,000

Quarto full early vellum with guide letters, painted initials, antique hand glosses and some underlining, at the end of the volume a manuscript index of the plants described in the text. Some wormholes that in some cases affects the print in only a minor way. “The author of these Latin verses which describe the virtue of 80 herbs, took the name Floridus, not to be confused with Aemilius Macer” [L•S•O]

Proctor-Isaac; 12750; NLM: WZ 240: BM/STC Italian, p. 401; Brunet III, 1270; Hunt 22: Pritzel (2nd ed.); 571 The Medieval Herbal

  11) 313J (pseudo Gregory I, Pope, approximately 540-604).

Expositio Beati Gregorij Pape super Cantica canticorum :cantica Gregori[i] sermone breui manifestat, dulcius vt castis auribus illa sonent.

Paris: Bertholdi Rembolt et Ioha[n]nis VVaterloes, 1508.    $3,800

Octavo. Full vellum. The “expositio super Cantica Canticorum” is certainly a spurious work. A distinctive early-medieval reading of the Song of Songs would grow out of this Gregorian conception of pastoral care, encouraged by the lack of one complete, authoritative patristic commentary on the Song of Songs and the concerns of the exegetes themselves.

Adams; G-1181; Moreau,; I, p. 320, 84; Rosenthal, B.M. Printed books with manuscript annotations,; 59 12) The first medieval theologian to develop a systematic treatise on free will, the virtues, and the natural law.

245J Guillermus Altissodorensis, or William of Auxerre,

Summa aurea in quattuor libros sententiarum : a subtilissimo doctore Magistro Guillermo altissiodore[n]si edita. quam nuper amendis q[uam]plurimis doctissimus sacre theologie professor magister Guillermus de quercu diligenti admodum castigatione emendauit ac tabulam huic pernecessariam edidit.

Parisiis: Pigoucheti 3 Apr. 1500. $27,000

Folio, First edition. Large woodcut device on title, bound in a beautiful Contemporary Flemish blind stamped calf over wooden boards,

Goff G718; BMC VIII, 122 ; GW 11861; Proctor 8206 ; Polain 1787 ; Bod-inc G-295; Sheppard 6326; Pr 8206; Us copies: Astrik L. Gabriel, Notre Dame IN, Boston Public, Bryn Mawr, Columbia, Huntington, Univ.of Chicago, Univ. of Wisconsin 13) 317J Guilelmus Parisiensis.

Postilla Guillermi in Euangelia et Epistolas de tempore de sanctis et pro de functis [sic] p[er] cursum anni : vnacu[m] biblie [et] marginalib[us] apositis co[n]cordantijs castigatissimo studio emendate.

NL/NP (Straßburg: Wilhelm Schaffner 1504/07. ?) $7,900                                                      (“Mora” dated 1497 on leaf lxxxixb.)

Quarto Two works bound as one in a newer vellum binding. “More than one hundred editions of the Postilla super epistolas et evangelia by Guillermus Parisiensis were printed during the fifteenth century. Surely this esteemed compilation must be regarded as one of the earliest ‘best sellers’, for how else can one explain why the text was not only frequently reprinted but was reissued time and time again by the same printer” F.W. Goff

GW dates about 1504-07 from the types. BMC(Ger) dated about 1510. Goff G 670; ca 1500 Assigned to Basel in Goff (“The Postilla of Guillermus Parisiensis,” Gutenberg-Jahrbuch 1959, p. 73) [Goff (P)#35.: ISTC ig00670000. Listing Bryn Mawr & Library Co of Philadelphia ; HC 8241*; VD16 E4379; Schr 4166;; IGI III p. 73; Sajó-Soltész p. 485; Voull(Bonn) 504; Pad-Ink 314; Kind(Göttingen) 2206a; BMC(Ger) p.117; BSB-Ink H-186; GW X Sp.504f. H 8241;. BSB-Ink H-186. Pell 5647. Schreiber 4166. BOD-Ink H-186.

14) 172J Heures [Vellum Printed Book of Hours (Use of Rome) In Latin and French]

Ces presentes heures a lusaige de Ro[m]me ont este faictes pour Simon Vostre Libraire domourant a Paris a la rue neuue nostre dame a le enseigne sainct Jehan l’evangeliste.

Paris [Philippe Pigouchet per] Simon Vostre, 16 Sept 1500. $21,000 Quarto full 18th century chagrin. Printed on Vellum wide margins Capitals supplied in Gold, Red and Blue The “Sensuiuent les sept pseaulmes en françoys lacking (the second A 1-8 lacking “not surprisingly other copies are lacking the final ‘A’ quire). The present Horæ is illustrated with 22 full-page engravings in the text and numerous and smaller cuts, metal cut historiated and ornamental borders on every page, many with criblé grounds, depicting biblical scenes, the Virtues, the stag hunt, apple harvest and memento mori vignettes depicting including Pigouchet’s Dance of Death series (Claudin II, 53-53) Goff H412; C 3106; Bohatta, H. Livres d’Heures;(1924) 730 = 705; Lacombe 109; Pell Ms 5892 (5878); Castan(Besançon) 554; Adams H1007; GW 13263. Listed copies: Cambridge UL, Oxford Bodley, Quebec Laval UL (vell), Besançon BM, Paris BN NO copies in the US

15) 300J Johannes Sacro Bosco.

Figura sphere cu[m] glosis Georgii de Mo[n]teferrato artiu[m] [et] medici[n]e doctoris : gradiam [et] gloriam dabit dominus.

Venice [Jacobus Pentius, de Leuco] for Georgius de Monteferrato 1500, die 28 ianuarii. $11,000 Quarto, Later vellum. This is an illustrated incunable printed by Jacobus Pentius, de Leuce who started printing in 1495, his press was chiefly active after the turn of the century. Goff J421; Klebs, A.C. Incunabula scientifica et medica,; entry 874.30; BMC V 566; HCR 14126; Essling 264; Sander 6668; Pell Ms 6718 (6683); Hillard 1153; Péligry 480; IGI 5353; Hubay(Augsburg) 1247; Pr 5705; GW M14661

16) 310. J Johannes de Sacro Bosco & ed. Francesco Capuano Di Manfredonia .

Sphera mundi nouit[er] recognita : cu[m] co[m]me[n]tarijs [et] authorib[us] in hoc volumine co[n]te[n]tis vz Capuano, Giovanni Battista Cichi Eschulani cum textu. Ioannis Baptiste Capuani. Jacobi Fabri Stapulensis. Theodosii de spheris cum textu. Michaelis Scoti questiones. Petri de Aliaco cardinalis q[uaesti]ones. Roberti Linconiensis Compendium. Theodosij iterum de spheris cum textu. Tractatus de sphera solida. Theorice planetarum conclusiones cum expositione. Campani Tractatus de sphera. Eiusdem tractatus de computo maiori. Joannis de monte regio in cremone[n]sem disputatio. Theorice textus cu[m] Joa[n]nis Baptiste Capuani exp[ositi]one. Ptolomeus De speculis. Theorica planetarum Joannis Cremonensis, plurimum faciens ad disputationem ioannis de monte regio, qua[m] in aliis hactenus i[m]pressis non reperies.

Venetijs: Luce antonij de giu[n]ta …,1518. $7,000

Folio. Original vellum. Resonances between Capuano’s commentary and Copernicus’s DE revolutionibus, I, 5-11, suggest the hypothesis that Copernicus is answering Capuano, whose work was owned by Joachim Rheticus, if not Copernicus himself.”1 The authors who Capuano choses gives us a good picture of the state of teaching Astronom in the late 15th century.” Shank (2009)

Houzeau / Lancaster I, 1642. EDIT 16 CNCE 29259. STC 597. Essling 1975. – Not in Adams.

17) 314-J. Leo I Magnus. Pope & Jacobus Lefèvre d’Étaples.

Leonis pape: hoc est pontificis maximi & sanctissimi Epistolae catholicae & sanctae eruditio[n]is plenissim[a]e

[Paris] :Iodoco Badio Ascensio. 1511. $3,400

Folio (Missing fol. CII [N3]) Bound in modern vellum.

Pope Leo I focused his pontificate on four main areas. He continuously worked to oppose and root out numerous heresies which were threatening the Western Church. Among them were Pelagianism, which involved denying Original Sin and failing to understand the necessity of God’s grace for salvation. This Roman aristocrat was the 1st pope who was given the epithet “the Great” and besides Gregorius I (540-604), the most important pope of Christian antiquity.

BM STC French,; 1470-1600, S. 262; Moreau II,; 146; Renouard, Imprimeurs & libraires parisiens du XVIe siècle,; Bade-168

18) 957G Richard Mediavilla [Middleton], d. 1302/3

Commentum super quartem Sententarium.

Venice: Christophorus Arnoldus, [circa 1476-7] $22,000

Folio {320 leaves complete} Second edition. This copy is rubricated throughout with nicely complicated red initials. Bound in modern calf over wooden boards.

Goff M-424; BMC V 206; HCR 10985; BSB-Ink R-169.050; GW M22505 : ISTC im00422800 shows two US copies: St Louis Univ., Pius XII Memorial Library (-) & YUL – i.e. both defective. UCLA, Has a complete copy listed in their catalogue. 19) 303J Nicolaus de Orbellis Eximii doctoris magistri Nicolai de Orbellis sup[er] se[n]te[n]tias co[m]pe[n]diu[m] Se[n]te[n]tias Compendiu[m] p[er]utile :elega[n]tiora doctoris subtilis dicta summatim co[m]plectens quod dudu[m] multis viciatu erroribus: castigatissime fuit recognitu: ac noue impressioni in: elegantiora doctoris subtilis dicta summatim complectens: quod dudu[m] multis viciatum erroribus: castigatissime fuit recognitu[m]: ac nove impressioni in Parisii commendatum. Paris In vniuersitate parisia : Impressioni datus, studio et opera Johanis Barbier impressoris, expe[n]sis vero Johannis Petit, undated ca 1500. $3,500 Octavo .Original blind stamped calf -rebacked. Lacking final leaf. This is a commentary on John Duns Scotus’ commentary on Peter Lombard’s ‘Sententiæ’. Adams, O251;

20) 316J Nicolaus de Orbellis.

Eximii Doctoris Magistri Nicolai de Orbellis super Sententias compendiu[m] p[er]utile : elega[n]tiora doctoris subtilis dicta summatim co[m]plectens, quod dudu[m] multis viciatu[m] erroribus : castigatissime fuit recognitu[m], ac noue impressioni in Hagenarv co[m]mendatum.

(Hagenaw, impressum opera industrij Henrici Gran expensis Iohannis Rynman de Oringaw, 1503). $1,100

Quarto Lacks 11 leaves. Nicolas de Orbellis’ commentary on John Duns Scotus’ commentary on Peter Lombard’s Sententiae./ Imprint from colophon./. Bound in flexible contemporary parchment. Adams; O249; Panzer VII, 68, 15; VD16- J 549 ; Adams O-249, CGBNP 127-561, NO 0110834, VD16 J-549; Benzing, J. Bib. Haguenovienne,; p. 11, no. 25

21) 277J Paulus Orosius

Historiae adversus paganos, edited by Aeneas Vulpes.

[Vicenza]: Hermannus Liechtenstein, [c.1475]. $ 15,000 No signatures: 100 leaves unnumbered. In this copy there is a large opening initial in green, red, blue, and yellow, with floral extensions in the margin, other initials in red, some in blue, initial spaces, most with guide letters, rubricated. Full modern vellum. The Second edition of Orosius’s universal history, written to counter the prevailing belief among non-Christians that disasters which had befallen civilisation were the result of the pagan gods, angry with worshippers turning to Christianity.

Goff O-97; H *12099; GW M28420; BMC VII 1035; Bod-inc O-027; BSB-Ink O-82; ISTC io00097000; Goff O-97

22). 305J Pelbartus de Themeswar

Sermones Pomerii fratris Pelbarti de Themeswar diui ordinis sancti Francisci de Sanctis: Jncipiunt feliciter.

Hagenau : Heinrich Gran, for Johannes Rynman, 30 September, 1501.

[imp[re]ssi … p[er] industriu[m] Henricu[m] Gran i[n] imp[eri]ali oppido Hagenaw: expe[n]sis ac su[m]ptib[us] p[ro]uidi Joha[n]nis Rynman Finiu[n]t feliciter: Anno …millesimoq[ui]nge[n]tesimoprimo. vltimo die Septe[m]bris] $22,000

Folio Original binding calf over wooden boards. (Extensive provenience is available) As early as the 15th century, Haguenau became the second home, after Strasbourg, to distribute the printing press in Alsace. It was introduced in 1489 by Henri Gran.

Not in Goff, ISTC No.ip00252500; Hain 12557*; VD16 P1165; NO copies in the US 23) 238J Peregrinus of Opole ,) Jacobus de Voragine , Nicolaus de Dinkelsbuel Peregrinus: Sermones de tempore et de sanctis. Add: Jacobus de Voragine: Quadragesimale. Nicolaus de Dinkelsbuel: Concordantia in passionem dominicam

Est autem huius operis ordo talis. Primo ponuntur sermones d[omi]nicales de tempore per anni circulu[m]. Secundo de sanctis, Tercio q[ua]dragesimale Jacobi de Foragine, Q[ua]rto concordantia quatuor euangelista[rum] in passiiones d[omi]nicam a magistro Nicolao Dinckelspubell collectam.” At end of leaf m8: “Sermones Peregrini de tempore finiunt.

[Ulm: Johann Zainer, not after 1479] (A copy now in Munich BSB has an ownership inscription dated 1479) $14,000

Folio Original calf over wooden boards. Only two North American copies, both defective. Harvard University (- ff 189-278) Bryn Mawr College, (ff 239-278) Goff P267; HC 12581*; C 4407; IGI 7404; IBP 4241; Madsen 3083; Voull(B) 2629,5; Hubay(Augsburg) 1582; Hubay(Eichstätt) 794; Borm 2059; Walsh 909; Rhodes(Oxford Colleges) 1340; BMC II 529; BSB-Ink P-183; GW M30917 – Wegener, Zainer 9 – BSB-Ink P-183 – Proctor 2542 ISTC ip00267000 24) 145J Paulus Pergulensis

Logica magistri Pauli Pergulensis.

Venice: Johannes Emericus, de Spira, 1495/96. $12,500

Quarto. 10 x 8 ½ inches. a-e8, f44 of 44 leaves (complete) Signature of Thomas Stewart, Knight of St. John of Jerusalem, dated Rome 1837 on title. Bound in early 19th-century quarter sheep; light damp staining in lower margins throughout, title and last page soiled.

Goff P195; H 12626; R 1314; Sander 5476; IBE 4363; IGI 7322; IBPort 1357; Horch(Rio) Suppl 13; Mendes 957; GW M30234US Copies (Princeton Univ (2) and The Newberry Library) Not in Copinger or British museum Catalogue of books printed in the XVth century. 25) 318J

Stella clericorum cuilibet clerico summe necessaria

[Leipzig] : [Conrad Kachelofen], before 1492. $4500

Quarto Bound in modern boards. Initals supplied in read and internal capitals stroked. This copy is lacking the final leaf comprising the poem” Aspice presentis”

“One of the forgotten works of the Middle Ages is the Stella clericorum, Though short, often derivative in content, and generally rather unassuming, the Stella clericorum was nonetheless one of the most popular traetises of the later Middle Ages. Stella clericorum communicates, in simplistic form and for the use of lower clergy, many of the grand ecclesiological and ritual accom- plishments of the twelfth century. Its principal themes are the dignity of the priesthood and the importance of the Eucharist.”. (CAROL NEEL, Colorado College 1997)

Goff S 775. ISTC is00774800/ (listing Huntington & Newberry only )IBP 5110. H 15065; BSB-Ink S-578; IG 2522;H 15065*; IBP 5109; Sajó-Soltész 3142; Coll(S) 999; Voull(Bonn) 1091; Günt(L) 1348; Hubay(Würzburg) 1954; Ohly-Sack 2590; Borm 2522; [The copy in München BSB has an owner’s inscription with the date 1492] 26) 35J Nicolaus Tygrinus or Tegrinus or Tegrini

Lucensium Oratio Luculentissima Pont. Maximo Alexandro Sexto per Nicolaum Tygrinu[m] Lucensem Vtriusq[ue] Iuris.

[Rome], [Andreas Freitag ],15 October 1492 $5,900

Quarto, First edition, Modern roan boards. Oration such as this are usually rare and short this one is both it is a tribute from the City of Lucca to the election of Pope Alexander VI.

CF Bühler, The Earliest Editions of the “”Oratio”” (1492) by Nicolaus Tygrinus (in: Gutenberg JB 1975, pp. 97-99)” Goff T563; HC 15751*; Pell Ms 10972; CIBN T-51; Nice 209; IGI 9670; IBE 5542; BMC IV 137; 27) 246J Gerardus de Zutphania

[ De spiritualibus ascensionibus.] Tractatus de spiritualibus ascensionibus Add: David de Augusta: De exterioris et interioris hominis compositione Lib. II, 1 (De quatuor in quibus incipientes deo servire debent esse cauti)

[Basel : Amerbach and Petri de Langendorff, not after 1489]. $6,000

Octavo 67 of 68 leaves. Lacking a1 title. Rubricated in red, initials painted in red, blue and green. Contemporary binding in full calf, with blind tooling, spine slightly rubbed Final leaf blank. “the most fertile and the most successful writer the Brothers [of the Common Life] ever produced.” “Zerbolt outlines how one can redeem the soul from its fallen state, moving to higher and higher levels through “self -knowledge, repentance, combat of sin, mortification, the practice of humility and obedience.” (Post “The Modern Devotion”)

Goff,; G177;ISTC,; ig00177000; Oates,; 2803; Bod-inc,; G-081; Pr,; 7638; BMC,; III:752; BSB-Ink,; G-127; GW,; 10689

James Gray Booksellers LLC                                                                                                                    C. 617-678-4515 Jamesgray2@me.com No.1

My first ‘Short title catalogue’ (No1) The reason for publishing a short catalogue is to facilitate easier and cheaper shipping so that I can ship anyone who asks for one will get one quickly.