Giacobbe Giusti, Petrarch

 

Giacobbe Giusti, Petrarch

 

Giacobbe Giusti, Petrarch

Petrarch’s Virgil (title page) (c. 1336) Illuminated manuscript by Simone Martini, 29 x 20 cm Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Milan.

Giacobbe Giusti, Petrarch

The Triumph of Death, or The 3 Fates. Flemish tapestry (probably Brussels, ca. 1510–1520). Victoria and Albert Museum, London. The three Fates, Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos, who spin, draw out and cut the thread of life, represent Death in this tapestry, as they triumph over the fallen body of Chastity. This is the third subject in Petrarch’s poem « The Great Triumphs ». First, Love triumphs; then Love is overcome by Chastity, Chastity by Death, Death by Fame, Fame by Time and Time by Eternity

 

Giacobbe Giusti, Petrarch

Laura de Noves

Giacobbe Giusti, Petrarch

Petrarch’s Arquà house near Padua where he retired to spend his last years

Giacobbe Giusti, Petrarch

Santa Maria della Pieve in Arezzo

 

Giacobbe Giusti, Petrarch

La Casa del Petrarca (birthplace) at Vicolo dell’Orto, 28 in Arezzo

Giacobbe Giusti, Petrarch

Dante Alighieri, detail from a Luca Signorelli fresco in the chapel of San Brizio, Duomo, Orvieto.

Francesco Petrarca Giacobbe Giusti, Petrarch
Petrarch portrait by Altichiero
Born	July 20, 1304 Arezzo, Italy
Died	July 19, 1374 (aged 69) Arquà, Italy
Occupation	Scholar, poet
Nationality	Italian
Period	Early Renaissance
Literary movement	Renaissance humanism
Children	Giovanni (1337–1361) Francesca (born in 1343)
Relatives	Eletta Canigiani (mother) Ser Petracco (father)

Santa Maria della Pieve in Arezzo

La Casa del Petrarca (birthplace) at Vicolo dell’Orto, 28 in Arezzo

Francesco Petrarca(Italian: [franˈtʃesko peˈtrarka]; July 20, 1304 – July 18/19, 1374), commonly anglicized as Petrarch (/ˈpiːtrɑːrk, ˈpɛ-/), was a scholar and poet of Renaissance Italy who was one of the earliest humanists. His rediscovery of Cicero‘s letters is often credited with initiating the 14th-century Renaissance. Petrarch is often considered the founder of Humanism.^[1] In the 16th century, Pietro Bembo created the model for the modern Italian language based on Petrarch’s works, as well as those of Giovanni Boccaccio, and, to a lesser extent, Dante Alighieri.^[2]Petrarch would be later endorsed as a model for Italian style by the Accademia della Crusca.

Petrarch’s sonnets were admired and imitated throughout Europe during the Renaissance and became a model for lyrical poetry. He is also known for being the first to develop the concept of the « Dark Ages. »^[3]

Biography

Youth and early career

Petrarch was born in the Tuscan city of Arezzo in 1304. He was the son of Ser Petracco and his wife Eletta Canigiani. His given name was Francesco Petracco. The name was Latinized to Petrarca. Petrarch’s younger brother was born in Incisa in Val d’Arno in 1307. Dante was a friend of his father.^[4]

Petrarch spent his early childhood in the village of Incisa, near Florence. He spent much of his early life at Avignon and nearby Carpentras, where his family moved to follow Pope Clement V who moved there in 1309 to begin the Avignon Papacy. He studied law at the University of Montpellier (1316–20) and Bologna (1320–23) with a lifelong friend and schoolmate called Guido Sette. Because his father was in the profession of law, he insisted that Petrarch and his brother study law also. Petrarch however, was primarily interested in writing and Latin literature and considered these seven years wasted. Additionally, he proclaimed that through legal manipulation his guardians robbed him of his small property inheritance in Florence, which only reinforced his dislike for the legal system. He protested, « I couldn’t face making a merchandise of my mind, » as he viewed the legal system as the art of selling justice.^[4]

Petrarch was a prolific letter writer and counted Boccaccio among his notable friends to whom he wrote often. After the death of their parents, Petrarch and his brother Gherardo went back to Avignon in 1326, where he worked in numerous clerical offices. This work gave him much time to devote to his writing. With his first large-scale work, Africa, an epic in Latin about the great Roman general Scipio Africanus, Petrarch emerged as a European celebrity. On April 8, 1341, he became the second ^[5] poet laureate since antiquity and was crowned by Roman Senatori Giordano Orsini and Orso dell’Anguillara on the holy grounds of Rome’s Capitol.^[6][7][8]

He traveled widely in Europe, served as an ambassador, and has been called « the first tourist« ^[9] because he traveled just for pleasure,^[10] and the reason he climbed Mont Ventoux.^[11] During his travels, he collected crumbling Latin manuscripts and was a prime mover in the recovery of knowledge from writers of Rome and Greece. He encouraged and advised Leontius Pilatus‘s translation of Homerfrom a manuscript purchased by Boccaccio, although he was severely critical of the result. Petrarch had acquired a copy, which he did not entrust to Leontius,^[12] but he knew no Greek; Homer, Petrarch said, « was dumb to him, while he was deaf to Homer ».^[13] In 1345 he personally discovered a collection of Cicero‘s letters not previously known to have existed, the collection Epistulae ad Atticum, in the Chapter Library (Biblioteca Capitolare) of Verona Cathedral.^[14]

Disdaining what he believed to be the ignorance of the centuries preceding the era in which he lived, Petrarch is credited or charged with creating the concept of a historical « Dark Ages« .^[3]

Mount Ventoux

 Ascent of Mont Ventoux

Summit of Mont Ventoux

Petrarch recounts that on April 26, 1336, with his brother and two servants, he climbed to the top of Mont Ventoux (1,912 meters (6,273 ft), a feat which he undertook for recreation rather than necessity.^[15] The exploit is described in a celebrated letter addressed to his friend and confessor, the monk Dionigi di Borgo San Sepolcro, composed some time after the fact. In it, Petrarch claimed to have been inspired by Philip V of Macedon‘s ascent of Mount Haemo and that an aged peasant had told him that nobody had ascended Ventoux before or after himself, 50 years before, and warned him against attempting to do so. The nineteenth-century Swiss historian Jacob Burckhardt noted that Jean Buridan had climbed the same mountain a few years before, and ascents accomplished during the Middle Ages have been recorded, including that of Anno II, Archbishop of Cologne.^[16][17]

Scholars^[18] note that Petrarch’s letter^[19][20] to Dionigi displays a strikingly « modern » attitude of aesthetic gratification in the grandeur of the scenery and is still often cited in books and journals devoted to the sport of mountaineering. In Petrarch, this attitude is coupled with an aspiration for a virtuous Christian life, and on reaching the summit, he took from his pocket a volume by his beloved mentor, Saint Augustine, that he always carried with him.^[21]

For pleasure alone he climbed Mont Ventoux, which rises to more than six thousand feet, beyond Vaucluse. It was no great feat, of course; but he was the first recorded Alpinist of modern times, the first to climb a mountain merely for the delight of looking from its top. (Or almost the first; for in a high pasture he met an old shepherd, who said that fifty years before he had attained the summit, and had got nothing from it save toil and repentance and torn clothing.) Petrarch was dazed and stirred by the view of the Alps, the mountains around Lyons, the Rhone, the Bay of Marseilles. He took Augustine‘s Confessions from his pocket and reflected that his climb was merely an allegory of aspiration toward a better life.^[22]

As the book fell open, Petrarch’s eyes were immediately drawn to the following words:

And men go about to wonder at the heights of the mountains, and the mighty waves of the sea, and the wide sweep of rivers, and the circuit of the ocean, and the revolution of the stars, but themselves they consider not.^[19]

Petrarch’s response was to turn from the outer world of nature to the inner world of « soul »:

I closed the book, angry with myself that I should still be admiring earthly things who might long ago have learned from even the pagan philosophers that nothing is wonderful but the soul, which, when great itself, finds nothing great outside itself. Then, in truth, I was satisfied that I had seen enough of the mountain; I turned my inward eye upon myself, and from that time not a syllable fell from my lips until we reached the bottom again. […] [W]e look about us for what is to be found only within. […] How many times, think you, did I turn back that day, to glance at the summit of the mountain which seemed scarcely a cubit high compared with the range of human contemplation […]^[19]

James Hillman argues that this rediscovery of the inner world is the real significance of the Ventoux event.^[23] The Renaissance begins not with the ascent of Mont Ventoux but with the subsequent descent—the « return […] to the valley of soul », as Hillman puts it. Arguing against such a singular and hyperbolic periodization, Paul James suggests a different reading:

In the alternative argument that I want to make, these emotional responses, marked by the changing senses of space and time in Petrarch’s writing, suggest a person caught in unsettled tension between two different but contemporaneous ontological formations: the traditional and the modern.^[24]

Later years

Petrarch spent the later part of his life journeying through northern Italy as an international scholar and poet-diplomat. His career in the Churchdid not allow him to marry, but he is believed to have fathered two children by a woman or women unknown to posterity. A son, Giovanni, was born in 1337, and a daughter, Francesca, was born in 1343. Both he later legitimized.^[25]

Petrarch’s Arquà house near Padua where he retired to spend his last years

Giovanni died of the plague in 1361. In the same year Petrarch was named canon in Monselice near Padua. Francesca married Francescuolo da Brossano (who was later named executor of Petrarch’s will) that same year. In 1362, shortly after the birth of a daughter, Eletta (the same name as Petrarch’s mother), they joined Petrarch in Venice to flee the plague then ravaging parts of Europe. A second grandchild, Francesco, was born in 1366, but died before his second birthday. Francesca and her family lived with Petrarch in Venice for five years from 1362 to 1367 at Palazzo Molina; although Petrarch continued to travel in those years. Between 1361 and 1369 the younger Boccaccio paid the older Petrarch two visits. The first was in Venice, the second was in Padua.

About 1368 Petrarch and his daughter Francesca (with her family) moved to the small town of Arquà in the Euganean Hills near Padua, where he passed his remaining years in religious contemplation. He died in his house in Arquà early on July 20, 1374 – his seventieth birthday. The house hosts now a permanent exhibition of Petrarchian works and curiosities; among others you find the famous tomb of Petrarch’s beloved cat who was embalmed. On the marble slab there is a Latin inscription written by Antonio Quarenghi:

Etruscus gemino vates ardebat amore:
Maximus ignis ego; Laura secundus erat.
Quid rides? divinæ illam si gratia formæ,
Me dignam eximio fecit amante fides.
Si numeros geniumque sacris dedit illa libellis
Causa ego ne sævis muribus esca forent.
Arcebam sacro vivens a limine mures,
Ne domini exitio scripta diserta forent;
Incutio trepidis eadem defuncta pavorem,
Et viget exanimi in corpore prisca fides.^[26]

Petrarch’s will (dated April 4, 1370) leaves 50 florins to Boccaccio « to buy a warm winter dressing gown »; various legacies (a horse, a silver cup, a lute, a Madonna) to his brother and his friends; his house in Vaucluse to its caretaker; for his soul, and for the poor; and the bulk of his estate to his son-in-law, Francescuolo da Brossano, who is to give half of it to « the person to whom, as he knows, I wish it to go »; presumably his daughter, Francesca, Brossano’s wife. The will mentions neither the property in Arquà nor his library; Petrarch’s libraryof notable manuscripts was already promised to Venice, in exchange for the Palazzo Molina. This arrangement was probably cancelled when he moved to Padua, the enemy of Venice, in 1368. The library was seized by the lords of Padua, and his books and manuscripts are now widely scattered over Europe.^[27] Nevertheless, the Biblioteca Marciana traditionally claimed this bequest as its founding, although it was in fact founded by Cardinal Bessarion in 1468.^[28]

Works

Original lyrics by Petrarch, found in 1985 in Erfurt

Petrarch’s Virgil (title page)(c. 1336)
Illuminated manuscript by Simone Martini, 29 x 20 cm Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Milan.

The Triumph of Death, or The 3 Fates. Flemish tapestry (probably Brussels, ca. 1510–1520). Victoria and Albert Museum, London. The three Fates, Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos, who spin, draw out and cut the thread of life, represent Death in this tapestry, as they triumph over the fallen body of Chastity. This is the third subject in Petrarch’s poem « The Great Triumphs ». First, Love triumphs; then Love is overcome by Chastity, Chastity by Death, Death by Fame, Fame by Time and Time by Eternity

Petrarch is best known for his Italian poetry, notably the Canzoniere(« Songbook ») and the Trionfi(« Triumphs »). However, Petrarch was an enthusiastic Latin scholar and did most of his writing in this language. His Latin writings include scholarly works, introspective essays, letters, and more poetry. Among them are Secretum Meum (« My Secret Book »), an intensely personal, guilt-ridden imaginary dialogue with Augustine of Hippo; De Viris Illustribus (« On Famous Men »), a series of moral biographies; Rerum Memorandarum Libri, an incomplete treatise on the cardinal virtues; De Otio Religiosorum(« On Religious Leisure »)^[29] and De Vita Solitaria (« On the Solitary Life »), which praise the contemplative life; De Remediis Utriusque Fortunae(« Remedies for Fortune Fair and Foul »), a self-help book which remained popular for hundreds of years; Itinerarium (« Petrarch’s Guide to the Holy Land »); invectives against opponents such as doctors, scholastics, and the French; the Carmen Bucolicum, a collection of 12 pastoral poems; and the unfinished epic Africa. He translated seven psalms, a collection known as the Penitential Psalms.^[30]

Petrarch revived the work and letters of the ancient Roman Senator Marcus Tullius Cicero

Petrarch also published many volumes of his letters, including a few written to his long-dead friends from history such as Cicero and Virgil. Cicero, Virgil, and Seneca were his literary models. Most of his Latin writings are difficult to find today, but several of his works are available in English translations. Several of his Latin works are scheduled to appear in the Harvard University Press series I Tatti.^[31] It is difficult to assign any precise dates to his writings because he tended to revise them throughout his life.

Petrarch collected his letters into two major sets of books called Epistolae familiares (« Letters on Familiar Matters« ) and Seniles(« Letters of Old Age« ), both of which are available in English translation.^[32] The plan for his letters was suggested to him by knowledge of Cicero‘s letters. These were published « without names » to protect the recipients, all of whom had close relationships to Petrarch. The recipients of these letters included Philippe de Cabassoles, bishop of Cavaillon; Ildebrandino Conti, bishop of Padua; Cola di Rienzo, tribune of Rome; Francesco Nelli, priest of the Prior of the Church of the Holy Apostles in Florence; and Niccolò di Capoccia, a cardinal and priest of Saint Vitalis. His « Letter to Posterity » (the last letter in Seniles)^[33] gives an autobiography and a synopsis of his philosophy in life. It was originally written in Latin and was completed in 1371 or 1372 – the first such autobiography in a thousand years (since Saint Augustine).^[34][35]

While Petrarch’s poetry was set to music frequently after his death, especially by Italian madrigal composers of the Renaissance in the 16th century, only one musical setting composed during Petrarch’s lifetime survives. This is Non al suo amante by Jacopo da Bologna, written around 1350.

Laura and poetry

On April 6, 1327,^[36] after Petrarch gave up his vocation as a priest, the sight of a woman called « Laura » in the church of Sainte-Claire d’Avignon awoke in him a lasting passion, celebrated in the Rime sparse (« Scattered rhymes »). Later, Renaissance poets who copied Petrarch’s style named this collection of 366 poems Il Canzoniere(« Song Book »).^[37] Laura may have been Laura de Noves, the wife of Count Hugues de Sade (an ancestor of the Marquis de Sade). There is little definite information in Petrarch’s work concerning Laura, except that she is lovely to look at, fair-haired, with a modest, dignified bearing. Laura and Petrarch had little or no personal contact. According to his « Secretum », she refused him because she was already married. He channeled his feelings into love poems that were exclamatory rather than persuasive, and wrote prose that showed his contempt for men who pursue women. Upon her death in 1348, the poet found that his grief was as difficult to live with as was his former despair. Later in his « Letter to Posterity », Petrarch wrote: « In my younger days I struggled constantly with an overwhelming but pure love affair – my only one, and I would have struggled with it longer had not premature death, bitter but salutary for me, extinguished the cooling flames. I certainly wish I could say that I have always been entirely free from desires of the flesh, but I would be lying if I did ».

Laura de Noves

While it is possible she was an idealized or pseudonymous character – particularly since the name « Laura » has a linguistic connection to the poetic « laurels » Petrarch coveted – Petrarch himself always denied it. His frequent use of l’aura is also remarkable: for example, the line « Erano i capei d’oro a l’aura sparsi » may both mean « her hair was all over Laura’s body », and « the wind (« l’aura ») blew through her hair ». There is psychological realism in the description of Laura, although Petrarch draws heavily on conventionalised descriptions of love and lovers from troubadoursongs and other literature of courtly love. Her presence causes him unspeakable joy, but his unrequited love creates unendurable desires, inner conflicts between the ardent lover and the mystic Christian, making it impossible to reconcile the two. Petrarch’s quest for love leads to hopelessness and irreconcilable anguish, as he expresses in the series of paradoxes in Rima 134 « Pace non trovo, et non ò da far guerra;/e temo, et spero; et ardo, et son un ghiaccio »: « I find no peace, and yet I make no war:/and fear, and hope: and burn, and I am ice ».^[38]

Laura is unreachable – the few physical descriptions of her are vague, almost impalpable as the love he pines for, and such is perhaps the power of his verse, which lives off the melodies it evokes against the fading, diaphanous image that is no more consistent than a ghost. Francesco De Sanctis remarks much the same thing in his Storia della letteratura italiana, and contemporary critics agree on the powerful music of his verse. Perhaps the poet was inspired by a famous singer he met in Veneto around the 1350s.^[39] Gianfranco Contini, in a famous essay on Petrarch’s language (« Preliminari sulla lingua del Petrarca ». Petrarca, Canzoniere. Turin, Einaudi, 1964) has spoken of linguistic indeterminacy – Petrarch never rises above the « bel pié » (her lovely foot): Laura is too holy to be painted; she is an awe-inspiring goddess. Sensuality and passion are suggested rather by the rhythm and music that shape the vague contours of the lady. In addition, some today consider Laura to be a representation of an « ideal Renaissance woman », based on her nature and definitive characteristics.

Sonnet 227

Original Italian[40]

English translation by A. S. Kline[41]

Aura che quelle chiome bionde et crespe cercondi et movi, et se’ mossa da loro, soavemente, et spargi quel dolce oro, et poi ’l raccogli, e ’n bei nodi il rincrespe, tu stai nelli occhi ond’amorose vespe mi pungon sí, che ’nfin qua il sento et ploro, et vacillando cerco il mio tesoro, come animal che spesso adombre e ’ncespe: ch’or me ’l par ritrovar, et or m’accorgo ch’i’ ne son lunge, or mi sollievo or caggio, ch’or quel ch’i’ bramo, or quel ch’è vero scorgo. Aër felice, col bel vivo raggio rimanti; et tu corrente et chiaro gorgo, ché non poss’io cangiar teco vïaggio?

Breeze, blowing that blonde curling hair, stirring it, and being softly stirred in turn, scattering that sweet gold about, then gathering it, in a lovely knot of curls again, you linger around bright eyes whose loving sting pierces me so, till I feel it and weep, and I wander searching for my treasure, like a creature that often shies and kicks: now I seem to find her, now I realise she’s far away, now I’m comforted, now despair, now longing for her, now truly seeing her. Happy air, remain here with your living rays: and you, clear running stream, why can’t I exchange my path for yours?

Dante

Dante Alighieri, detail from a Luca Signorelli fresco in the chapel of San Brizio, Duomo, Orvieto.

Petrarch is a world apart from Dante and his Divina Commedia. In spite of the metaphysical subject, the Commedia is deeply rooted in the cultural and social milieu of turn-of-the-century Florence: Dante’s rise to power (1300) and exile (1302), his political passions call for a « violent » use of language, where he uses all the registers, from low and trivial to sublime and philosophical. Petrarch confessed to Boccaccio that he had never read the Commedia, remarks Contini, wondering whether this was true or Petrarch wanted to distance himself from Dante. Dante’s language evolves as he grows old, from the courtly love of his early stilnovisticRime and Vita nuova to the Convivio and Divina Commedia, where Beatrice is sanctified as the goddess of philosophy – the philosophy announced by the Donna Gentile at the death of Beatrice.^[42]

In contrast, Petrarch’s thought and style are relatively uniform throughout his life – he spent much of it revising the songs and sonnets of the Canzoniere rather than moving to new subjects or poetry. Here, poetry alone provides a consolation for personal grief, much less philosophy or politics (as in Dante), for Petrarch fights within himself (sensuality versus mysticism, profane versus Christianliterature), not against anything outside of himself. The strong moral and political convictions which had inspired Dante belong to the Middle Ages and the libertarian spirit of the commune; Petrarch’s moral dilemmas, his refusal to take a stand in politics, his reclusive life point to a different direction, or time. The free commune, the place that had made Dante an eminent politician and scholar, was being dismantled: the signoria was taking its place. Humanism and its spirit of empirical inquiry, however, were making progress – but the papacy (especially after Avignon) and the empire (Henry VII, the last hope of the white Guelphs, died near Siena in 1313) had lost much of their original prestige.^[43]

Petrarch polished and perfected the sonnet form inherited from Giacomo da Lentini and which Dante widely used in his Vita nuova to popularise the new courtly love of the Dolce Stil Novo. The tercet benefits from Dante’s terza rima (compare the Divina Commedia), the quatrains prefer the ABBA-ABBA to the ABAB-ABAB scheme of the Sicilians. The imperfect rhymes of u with closed o and i with closed e(inherited from Guittone’s mistaken rendering of Sicilian verse) are excluded, but the rhyme of open and closed o is kept. Finally, Petrarch’s enjambment creates longer semantic units by connecting one line to the following. The vast majority (317) of Petrarch’s 366 poems collected in the Canzoniere (dedicated to Laura) were sonnets, and the Petrarchan sonnet still bears his name.^[44]

Philosophy

Petrarch

Statue of Petrarch on the Uffizi Palace, in Florence

Petrarch is traditionally called the father of Humanism and considered by many to be the « father of the Renaissance. »^[45] In his work Secretum meum he points out that secular achievements did not necessarily preclude an authentic relationship with God. Petrarch argued instead that God had given humans their vast intellectual and creative potential to be used to their fullest.^[46] He inspired humanist philosophy which led to the intellectual flowering of the Renaissance. He believed in the immense moral and practical value of the study of ancient history and literature – that is, the study of human thought and action. Petrarch was a devout Catholic and did not see a conflict between realizing humanity’s potential and having religious faith.

A highly introspective man, he shaped the nascent humanist movement a great deal because many of the internal conflicts and musings expressed in his writings were seized upon by Renaissance humanist philosophers and argued continually for the next 200 years. For example, Petrarch struggled with the proper relation between the active and contemplative life, and tended to emphasize the importance of solitude and study. In a clear disagreement with Dante, in 1346 Petrarch argued in his De vita solitaria that Pope Celestine V‘s refusal of the papacy in 1294 was as a virtuous example of solitary life.^[47] Later the politician and thinker Leonardo Bruni (1370-1444) argued for the active life, or « civic humanism« . As a result, a number of political, military, and religious leaders during the Renaissance were inculcated with the notion that their pursuit of personal fulfillment should be grounded in classicalexample and philosophical contemplation.^[48]

Legacy

Petrarch’s tomb at Arquà Petrarca

Petrarch’s influence is evident in the works of Serafino Ciminelli from Aquila (1466-1500) and in the works of Marin Držić (1508-1567) from Dubrovnik.^[49]

The Romantic composer Franz Liszt set three of Petrarch’s Sonnets (47, 104, and 123) to music for voice, Tre sonetti del Petrarca, which he later would transcribe for solo piano for inclusion in the suite Années de Pèlerinage. Liszt also set a poem by Victor Hugo,  » O quand je dors » in which Petrarch and Laura are invoked as the epitome of erotic love.

While in Avignon in 1991, Modernist composer Elliott Carter completed his solo flute piece Scrivo in Vento which is in part inspired by and structured by Petrarch’s Sonnet 212, Beato in sogno.^[50] It was premiered on Petrarch’s 687th birthday.^[51]

In November 2003, it was announced that pathological anatomistswould be exhuming Petrarch’s body from his casket in Arquà Petrarca, in order to verify 19th-century reports that he had stood 1.83 meters (about six feet), which would have been tall for his period. The team from the University of Padua also hoped to reconstruct his cranium in order to generate a computerized image of his features to coincide with his 700th birthday. The tomb had been opened previously in 1873 by Professor Giovanni Canestrini, also of Padua University. When the tomb was opened, the skull was discovered in fragments and a DNAtest revealed that the skull was not Petrarch’s,^[52] prompting calls for the return of Petrarch’s skull.

The researchers are fairly certain that the body in the tomb is Petrarch’s due to the fact that the skeleton bears evidence of injuries mentioned by Petrarch in his writings, including a kick from a donkeywhen he was 42.^[53]

Works in English translation

• Francesco Petrarch, Letters on Familiar Matters (Rerum familiarium libri),translated by Aldo S. Bernardo (New York: Italica Press, 2005). Volume 1, Books 1-8; Volume 2, Books 9-16; Volume 3, Books 17-24.
• Francesco Petrarch, Letters of Old Age (Rerum senilium libri), translated by Aldo S. Bernardo, Saul Levin & Reta A. Bernardo (New York: Italica Press, 2005). Volume 1, Books 1-9; Volume 2, Books 10-18.
• Francesco Petrarch, My Secret Book, (Secretum), translated by Nicholas Mann. Harvard University Press.
• Francesco Petrarch, On Religious Leisure (De otio religioso), edited & translated by Susan S. Schearer, introduction by Ronald G. Witt (New York: Italica Press, 2002).
• Francesco Petrarch, The Revolution of Cola di Rienzo, translated from Latin and edited by Mario E. Cosenza; 3rd, revised, edition by Ronald G. Musto (New York; Italica Press, 1996).
• Francesco Petrarch, Selected Letters, vol. 1 and 2, translated by Elaine Fantham. Harvard University Press.

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Notes

1. ^ This designation appears, for instance, in a recent review of Carol Quillen’s Rereading the Renaissance.
2. ^ In the Prose della volgar lingua, Bembo proposes Petrarch and Boccaccio as models of Italian style, while expressing reservations about emulating Dante’s usage.
3. ^ Jump up to:^a b Renaissance or Prenaissance, Journal of the History of Ideas, Vol. 4, No. 1. (Jan. 1943), pp. 69–74; Theodore E. Mommsen, « Petrarch’s Conception of the ‘Dark Ages' » Speculum 17.2 (April 1942: 226–242); JSTOR link to a collection of several letters in the same issue.
4. ^ Jump up to:^a b J.H. Plumb, The Italian Renaissance, 1961; Chapter XI by Morris Bishop « Petrarch », pp. 161–175; New York, American Heritage Publishing, ISBN 0-618-12738-0
5. ^ after « Albertino Mussato » who was the first to be so crowned according to Robert Weiss, The Renaissance Discovery of Classical Antiquity (Oxford, 1973)
6. ^ Plumb, p. 164
7. ^ Pietrangeli (1981), p. 32
8. ^ Kirkham, Victoria (2009). Petrarch: A Critical Guide to the Complete Works. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. p. 9. ISBN 9780226437439.
9. ^ NSA Family Encyclopedia, Petrarch, Francesco, Volume 11, page 240, Standard Education Corp. 1992
10. ^ Bishop, Morris Petrarch and his World, p. 92; Indiana University Press 1963, ISBN 0-8046-1730-9
11. ^ Plumb, J.H. (1965). Renaissance Profiles (PDF). Harper & Row. p. 4. ISBN 9780061311628.
12. ^ Vittore Branca, Boccaccio; The Man and His Works, tr. Richard Monges, p.113–118
13. ^ Ep. Fam. 18.2 §9
14. ^ « History – Biblioteca Capitolare Verona ».
15. ^ Nicolson, Marjorie Hope; Mountain Gloom and Mountain Glory: The Development of the Aesthetics of the Infinite (1997), p. 49; ISBN 0-295-97577-6
16. ^ Burckhardt, Jacob. The Civilisation of the Period of the Renaissance in Italy (1860). Translated by S. G. C. Middlemore. Swan Sonnenschein (1904), pp. 301–302.
17. ^ Lynn Thorndike, Renaissance or Prenaissance, Journal of the History of Ideas, Vol. 4, No. 1. (Jan. 1943), pp. 69–74. JSTOR link to a collection of several letters in the same issue.
18. ^ Such as J. H. Plumb, in his book The Italian Renaissance,
19. ^ Jump up to:^a b c Familiares 4.1 translated by Morris Bishop, quoted in Plumb.
20. ^ Asher, Lyell (1993). « Petrarch at the Peak of Fame ». PMLA. 108 (5): 1050–1063. JSTOR 462985.
21. ^ McLaughlin, Edward Tompkins; Studies in Medieval Life and Literature, p. 6, New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1894
22. ^ Plumb, J. H. (1961). The Horizon Book of the Renaissance. New York: American Heritage. p. 26.
23. ^ Hillman, James (1977). Revisioning Psychology. Harper & Row. p. 197. ISBN 978-0-06-090563-7.
24. ^ James, Paul (Spring 2014). « Emotional Ambivalence across Times and Spaces: Mapping Petrarch’s Intersecting Worlds ». Exemplaria. 26 (1): 82. Retrieved 4 August 2015.
25. ^ Plumb, p. 165
26. ^ The last lay of Petrarch’s cat, Notes and Queries, Vol. V, Number 121, February 21, 1852, Author: Various, Editor: George Bell
27. ^ Bishop, pp. 360, 366. Francesca and the quotes from there;^{[clarification needed]} Bishop adds that the dressing-gown was a piece of tact: « fifty florins would have bought twenty dressing-gowns ».
28. ^  Tedder, Henry Richard; Brown, James Duff (1911). « Libraries § Italy.« . In Chisholm, Hugh. Encyclopædia Britannica. 16 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 573.
29. ^ Francesco Petrarch, On Religious Leisure (De otio religioso),edited & translated by Susan S. Schearer, introduction by Ronald G. Witt (New York: Italica Press, 2002).
30. ^ Sturm-Maddox, Sara (2010). Petrarch’s Laurels. Pennsylvania State UP. p. 153. ISBN 9780271040745.
31. ^ « I Tatti Renaissance Library/Forthcoming and Published Volumes ». Hup.harvard.edu. Retrieved July 31, 2009.
32. ^ Letters on Familiar Matters (Rerum familiarium libri), translated by Aldo S. Bernardo, 3 vols.’ and Letters of Old Age (Rerum senilium libri), translated by Aldo S. Bernardo, Saul Levin & Reta A. Bernardo, 2 vols.
33. ^ Petrarch’s Letter to Posterity (1909 English translation, with notes, by James Harvey Robinson)
34. ^ Wilkins Ernest H (1964). « On the Evolution of Petrarch’s Letter to Posterity ». Speculum. 39 (2): 304–308. doi:10.2307/2852733. JSTOR 2852733.
35. ^ Plumb, p. 173
36. ^ April 6, 1327 is often thought to be Good Friday based on poems 3 and 211 of Petrarch’s Il Canzoniere, but in fact that date fell on Monday in 1327. The apparent explanation is that Petrarch was not referring to the variable date of Good Friday but to the date fixed by the death of Christ in absolute time, which at the time was thought to be April 6 (Mark Musa, Petrarch’s Canzoniere, Indiana University Press, 1996, p. 522).
37. ^ Petrarch (2004-03-04). « Petrarch ». Petrarch. Retrieved 2017-08-23.
38. ^ « Petrarch (1304–1374) – The Complete Canzoniere: 123-183 ». http://www.poetryintranslation.com.
39. ^ Anna Chiappinelli, « La Dolce Musica Nova di Francesco Landini » Sidereus Nuncius, 2007, pp. 55-91 [1] Archived February 2, 2011, at the Wayback Machine.
40. ^http://it.wikisource.org/wiki/Canzoniere_%28Rerum_vulgarium_fragmenta%29/Aura_che_quelle_chiome_bionde_et_crespe^{[full citation needed]}
41. ^http://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Italian/PetrarchCanzoniere184-244.htm#_Toc11161988^{[full citation needed]}
42. ^ « Archived copy » (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on November 12, 2013. Retrieved December 28, 2013.
43. ^ « The Oregon Petrarch Open Book – « Petrarch is again in sight« « . petrarch.uoregon.edu.
44. ^ « Movements : Poetry through the Ages ». http://www.webexhibits.org.
45. ^ See for example Rudolf Pfeiffer, History of Classical Scholarship 1300-1850, Oxford University Press, 1976, p. 1; Gilbert Highet, The Classical Tradition, Oxford University Press, 1949, p. 81-88.
46. ^ Famous First Facts International, H. W. Wilson Company, New York 2000, ISBN 0-8242-0958-3, page 303, item 4567.
47. ^ Petrarca, Francesco (1879). De vita Solitaria (in Italian). Bologna: Gaetano Romagnoli.
48. ^ « Skuola.net, Il Rinascimento » (in Italian). Skuola.net. Retrieved 11 September 2015.
49. ^ Encyclopedia of the Renaissance: Class-Furió Ceriol, Volume 2, page 106, Paul F. Grendler, Renaissance Society of America, Scribner’s published in association with the Renaissance Society of America, 1999. ISBN 978-0-684-80509-2
50. ^ Mailman, Joshua B. (2009). « An Imagined Drama of Competitive Opposition in Carter’s Scrivo in Vento, with Notes on Narrative, Symmetry, Quantitative Flux and Heraclitus ». Music Analysis. 28 (2–3): 373–422. doi:10.1111/j.1468-2249.2011.00295.x.
51. ^ Spencer, Patricia (2008) « Regarding Scrivo in Vento: A Conversation with Elliott Carter » Flutest Quarterly summer.
52. ^ Caramelli D, Lalueza-Fox C, Capelli C, et al. (November 2007). « Genetic analysis of the skeletal remains attributed to Francesco Petrarch ». Forensic Sci. Int. 173 (1): 36–40. doi:10.1016/j.forsciint.2007.01.020. PMID 17320326.
53. ^ « UPF.edu » (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on March 6, 2009. Retrieved March 1, 2009.

References

• Bartlett, Kenneth R. (1992). The Civilization of the Italian Renaissance; a Source Book. Lexington: D.C. Heath and Company. ISBN 0-669-20900-7
• Bishop, Morris (1961). « Petrarch. » In J. H. Plumb (Ed.), Renaissance Profiles, pp. 1–17. New York: Harper & Row. ISBN 0-06-131162-6 .
• Hanawalt, A. Barbara. The Middle Ages:An Illustrated History pp. 131–132 Oxford University Press New York 1998
• James, Paul (2014). « Emotional Ambivalence across Times and Spaces: Mapping Petrarch’s Intersecting Worlds ». Exemplaria. 26 (1): 81–104. doi:10.1179/1041257313z.00000000044.
• Kallendorf, Craig. « The Historical Petrarch, » The American Historical Review, Vol 101, No. 1 (Feb. 1996): 130-141.

Further reading

• Bernardo, Aldo (1983). « Petrarch. » In Dictionary of the Middle Ages, volume 9.
• Celenza, Christopher S. (2017). Petrarch: Everywhere a Wanderer. London: Reaktion. ISBN 9781780238388
• Hennigfeld, Ursula (2008). Der ruinierte Körper. Petrarkistische Sonette in transkultureller Perspektive. Würzburg, Königshausen & Neumann, 2008, ISBN 978-3-8260-3768-9.
• Hollway-Calthrop, Henry. (1907). Petrarch: His Life and Times, Methuen. From Google Books.
• Kohl, Benjamin G. (1978). « Francesco Petrarch: Introduction; How a Ruler Ought to Govern His State, » in The Earthly Republic: Italian Humanists on Government and Society, ed. Benjamin G. Kohl and Ronald G. Witt, 25-78. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 0-8122-1097-2
• Mailman, Joshua B. (2009) « Imagined Drama of Competitive Opposition in Carter’s Scrivo in Vento (with Notes on Narrative, Symmetry, Quantitative Flux and Heraclitus) » Music Analysisv.28, 2-3.
• Nauert, Charles G. (2006). Humanism and the Culture of Renaissance Europe: Second Edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-54781-4
• Rawski, Conrad H. (1991). Petrarch’s Remedies for Fortune Fair and Foul A Modern English Translation of De remediis utriusque Fortune, with a Commentary. ISBN 0-253-34849-8
• Robinson, James Harvey (1898). Petrarch, the First Modern Scholar and Man of Letters Harvard University
• Kirkham, Victoria and Armando Maggi. (2009). Petrarch: A Critical Guide to the Complete Works. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-43741-5.
• A. Lee, Petrarch and St. Augustine: Classical Scholarship, Christian Theology and the Origins of the Renaissance in Italy, Brill, Leiden, 2012, ISBN 9789004224032
• N. Mann, Petrarca [Ediz. orig. Oxford University Press (1984)] – Ediz. ital. a cura di G. Alessio e L. Carlo Rossi – Premessa di G. Velli, LED Edizioni Universitarie, Milano, 1993, ISBN 88-7916-021-4
• Il «Canzoniere» di Francesco Petrarca. La Critica Contemporanea, G. Barbarisi e C. Berra (edd.), LED Edizioni Universitarie, Milano, 1992, ISBN 88-7916-005-2
• G. Baldassari, Unum in locum. Strategie macrotestuali nel Petrarca politico, LED Edizioni Universitarie, Milano, 2006, ISBN 88-7916-309-4
• Francesco Petrarca, Rerum vulgarium Fragmenta. Edizione critica di Giuseppe Savoca, Olschki, Firenze, 2008, ISBN 978-88-222-5744-4
• Plumb, J. H., The Italian Renaissance, Houghton Mifflin, 2001, ISBN 0-618-12738-0
• Giuseppe Savoca, Il Canzonieredi Petrarca. Tra codicologia ed ecdotica, Olschki, Firenze, 2008, ISBN 978-88-222-5805-2
• Roberta Antognini, Il progetto autobiografico delle « Familiares » di Petrarca, LED Edizioni Universitarie, Milano, 2008, ISBN 978-88-7916-396-5.
• Paul Geyer und Kerstin Thorwarth (hg), Petrarca und die Herausbildung des modernen Subjekts (Göttingen, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2009) (Gründungsmythen Europas in Literatur, Musik und Kunst, 2).

Petrarchat Wikipedia’s sister projects

• Media from Wikimedia Commons
• Quotations from Wikiquote
• Texts from Wikisource

• Petrarch and his Cat Muse
• Canzoniere (different edition) and other works
• Petrarch from the Catholic Encyclopedia
• Excerpts from his works and letters
• Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch) (1304-1374)
• Works by Francesco Petrarca at Project Gutenberg
• Works by or about Francesco Petrarca at Internet Archive
• Works by or about Petrarch at Internet Archive
• Works by Petrarch at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks) 
• Timeline of life of Petrarch
• Poems From The Canzoniere, translated by Tony Kline.
• Francesco Petrarch at The Online Library of Liberty
• De remediis utriusque fortunae, Cremonae, B. de Misintis ac Caesaris Parmensis, 1492. (Vicifons)
• Free scores of works by Petrarch in the Choral Public Domain Library(ChoralWiki)
• Petrarch and Laura Multi-lingual site including translated works in the public domain and biography, pictures, music.
• Petrarch – the poet who lost his head April 2004 article in The Guardianregarding the exhumation of Petrarch’s remains
• Oregon Petrarch Open Book – A working database-driven hypertext in and around Francis Petrarch’s Rerum Vulgarium Fragmenta (Canzoniere)
• Historia Griseldis From the Rare Book and Special Collections Division at the Library of Congress
• Francesco Petrarch, De viris illustribus, digitized French codex, at Somni

hide v t e Petrarch
Works	Poetry Canzoniere (Rerum vulgarium fragmenta) Africa Trionfi Bucolicum carmen Treatises De viris illustribus De remediis utriusque fortunae De vita solitaria De otio religiosorum Rerum memorandarum libri Epistles Familiares « Ascent of Mont Ventoux«  Liber sine nomine Seniles Letter to Posterity Others Secretum Itinerarium syriacum
Related people	Philippe de Cabassoles Laura de Noves Ser Petracco Stefano Colonna Dionigi di Borgo San Sepolcro Francescuolo da Brossano Giovanni Boccaccio Dante Alighieri Robert, King of Naples Francesco Nelli Simone Martini Giovanni Colonna Lodewijk Heyligen
Miscellaneous	Petrarch’s library Petrarchan sonnet Petrarch’s and Shakespeare’s sonnets Arquà Petrarca Influence of Italian humanism on Chaucer Palazzo Molina Petrarca-Preis award

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petrarch

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Giacobbe Giusti, Biblical Magi

Giacobbe Giusti, Biblical Magi

I Re Magi in viaggio scolpiti nella facciata del Duomo di Fidenza; sopra al bassorilievoi tre nomi: Caspar, Baltasar e Melchior.

Giacobbe Giusti, Biblical Magi

Adoration of the Magi, tondo by Fra Angelico and Filippo Lippi, c. 1450 (NGA, Washington)

L’Adorazione dei Magi del Beato Angelico e di Filippo Lippi

 

Giacobbe Giusti, Biblical Magi

The three Magi before Herod, France, early 15th century. Stained glass: colored glass

 

Giacobbe Giusti, Biblical Magi

Syracuse – Tomb of Adelfia – IV c AC –Museo Paolo Orsi

Giacobbe Giusti, Biblical Magi

The Three Wise Kings, Catalan Atlas, 1375, fol. V: « This province is called Tarshish, from which came the Three Wise Kings, and they came to Bethlehem in Judaea with their gifts and worshipped Jesus Christ, and they are entombed in the city of Cologne two days journey from Bruges. »

 

Giacobbe Giusti, Biblical Magi

The Three Magi, Byzantine mosaic c. 565, Basilica of Sant’Apollinare Nuovo, Ravenna, Italy (restored during the 18th century). As here Byzantine art usually depicts the Magi in Persian clothing which includes breeches, capes, and Phrygian caps.

 

Giacobbe Giusti, Biblical Magi

One of the earliest known depictions from a third-century sarcophagus (Vatican Museums). The clothing of the Magi here is typical of Parthian nobles.

 Giacobbe Giusti, Biblical Magi

The Three Magi, Byzantine mosaic c. 565, Basilica of Sant’Apollinare Nuovo, Ravenna, Italy (restored during the 18th century). As here Byzantine art usually depicts the Magi in Persian clothing which includes breeches, capes, and Phrygian caps.

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The biblical Magi^[a](/ˈmædʒaɪ/^[1] or /ˈmeɪdʒaɪ/; singular: magus), also referred to as the (Three) Wise Men or (Three) Kings, were, in the Gospel of Matthew and Christian tradition, a group of distinguished foreigners who visited Jesus after his birth, bearing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. They are regular figures in traditional accounts of the nativitycelebrations of Christmas and are an important part of Christian tradition.

The Gospel of Matthew is the only one of the four canonical gospelsthat mentions the Magi. Matthew reports that they came « from the east » to worship the « king of the Jews ».^[2]The gospel never actually mentions the number of Magi, but most western Christian denominations have traditionally assumed them to have been three in number, based on the statement that they brought three gifts.^[3] In Eastern Christianity, especially the Syriac churches, the Magi often number twelve.^[4] Their identification as kings in later Christian writings is probably linked to Psalms 72:11, « May all kings fall down before him ».^[5][6]

Biblical account

Traditional nativity scenes depict three « Wise Men » visiting the infant Jesus on the night of his birth, in a manger accompanied by the shepherds and angels, but this should be understood as an artistic convention allowing the two separate scenes of the Adoration of the Shepherds on the birth night and the later Adoration of the Magito be combined for convenience.^[7] The single biblical account in Matthew simply presents an event at an unspecified point after Christ’s birth in which an unnumbered party of unnamed « wise men » (« μάγοι ») visits him in a house (« οἰκίαν »),^[8] not a stable, with only « his mother » mentioned as present. The New Revised Standard Version of Matthew 2:1–12 describes the visit of the Magi in this manner:

In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, « Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage. » When King Herod heard this, he was frightened and all Jerusalem with him; and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. They told him, « In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet: ‘And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who is to shepherd my people Israel.' » Then Herod secretly called for the wise men and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, « Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage. » When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another path.

The text specifies no interval between the birth and the visit, and artistic depictions and the closeness of the traditional dates of December 25 and January 6 encourage the popular assumption that the visit took place the same winter as the birth, but later traditions varied, with the visit taken as occurring up to two winters later. This maximum interval explained Herod’s command at Matthew 2:16–18 that the Massacre of the Innocents included boys up to two years old. More recent commentators, not tied to the traditional feast days, may suggest a variety of intervals.^[9]

The wise men are mentioned twice shortly thereafter in verse 16, in reference to their avoidance of Herod after seeing Jesus, and what Herod had learned from their earlier meeting. The star which they followed has traditionally become known as the Star of Bethlehem.

Description

The Magi are popularly referred to as wise men and kings. The word magi is the plural of Latinmagus, borrowed from Greek μάγος magos,^[10] as used in the original Greek text of the Gospel of Matthew (« μάγοι »). Greek magos itself is derived from Old Persianmaguŝ from the Avestanmagâunô, i.e., the religious caste into which Zoroaster was born (see Yasna 33.7: « ýâ sruyê parê magâunô » = « so I can be heard beyond Magi »). The term refers to the Persian priestly caste of Zoroastrianism.^[11] As part of their religion, these priests paid particular attention to the stars and gained an international reputation for astrology, which was at that time highly regarded as a science. Their religious practices and use of astrology caused derivatives of the term Magi to be applied to the occult in general and led to the English term magic, although Zoroastrianism was in fact strongly opposed to sorcery. The King James Version translates the term as wise men; the same translation is applied to the wise men led by Daniel of earlier Hebrew Scriptures (Daniel 2:48). The same word is given as sorcerer and sorcery when describing « Elymas the sorcerer » in Acts 13:6–11, and Simon Magus, considered a heretic by the early Church, in Acts 8:9–13. Several translations refer to the men outright as astrologers at Matthew Chapter 2, including New English Bible (1961); Phillips New Testament in Modern English(J.B.Phillips, 1972); Twentieth Century New Testament (1904 revised edition); Amplified Bible (1958-New Testament); An American Translation (1935, Goodspeed); and The Living Bible (K. Taylor, 1962-New Testament).

Although the Magi are commonly referred to as « kings, » there is nothing in the account from the Gospel of Matthew that implies that they were rulers of any kind. The identification of the Magi as kings is linked to Old Testament prophecies that describe the Messiah being worshipped by kings in Isaiah 60:3, Psalm 68:29, and Psalm 72:10, which reads, « Yea, all kings shall fall down before him: all nations serve him. »^[12][13][14] Early readers reinterpreted Matthew in light of these prophecies and elevated the Magi to kings. By AD 500 all commentators adopted the prevalent tradition that the three were kings.^[15] Later Christian interpretation stressed the Adorations of the Magi and shepherds as the first recognition by the people of the earth of Christ as the Redeemer, but the reformer John Calvin was vehemently opposed to referring to the Magi as kings. He once wrote: « But the most ridiculous contrivance of the Papists on this subject is, that those men were kings… Beyond all doubt, they have been stupefied by a righteous judgment of God, that all might laugh at [their] gross ignorance. »^[16][17]

Names

Giacobbe Giusti, Biblical Magi

Herrad of Landsberg: The three Magi (named as Patisar, Caspar and Melchior), illustration from the Hortus deliciarum (12th century)

The New Testament does not give the names of the Magi. However, traditions and legends identify a variety of different names for them.^[18] In the Western Christian church, they have been all regarded as saints and are commonly known as:

• Melchior (/ˈmɛlkiˌɔːr/;^[19] also Melichior^[20]), a Persian scholar;
• Caspar (/ˈkæspər/ or /ˈkæspɑːr/;^[21] also Gaspar, Jaspar, Jaspas, Gathaspa,^[20][22]and other variations);
• Balthazar (/ˈbælθəˌzɑːr/ or /bælˈθæzər/;^[23] also Balthasar, Balthassar, and Bithisarea^[20]), a Babylonian scholar.

Encyclopædia Britannica^[24] states: « according to Western church tradition, Balthasar is often represented as a king of Arabia, Melchior as a king of Persia, and Gaspar as a king of India. » These names apparently derive from a Greek manuscript probably composed in Alexandria around 500, and which has been translated into Latin with the title Excerpta Latina Barbari.^[20] Another Greek document from the 8th century, of presumed Irish origin and translated into Latin with the title Collectanea et Flores, continues the tradition of three kings and their names and gives additional details.^[25][26]

Caspar by Jan van Bijlert. Oil on panel. Circa 1640-50

One candidate for the origin of the name Caspar appears in the Acts of Thomas as Gondophares (21 – c. AD 47), i.e., Gudapharasa (from which « Caspar » might derive as corruption of « Gaspar »). This Gondophares declared independence from the Arsacids to become the first Indo-Parthian king, and he was allegedly visited by Thomas the Apostle. According to Ernst Herzfeld, his name is perpetuated in the name of the Afghan city Kandahar, which he is said to have founded under the name Gundopharron.^[27]

In contrast, many Syrian Christians name the Magi Larvandad, Gushnasaph, and Hormisdas.^[28] These names have a far greater likelihood of being originally Persian, though that does not guarantee their authenticity.

In the Eastern churches, Ethiopian Christianity, for instance, has Hor, Karsudan, and Basanater, while the Armenian Catholics have Kagpha, Badadakharida and Badadilma.^[29][30] Many Chinese Christians believe that one of the magi came from China.^[31]

Country of origin and journey

The phrase from the east (ἀπὸ ἀνατολῶν), more literally from the rising [of the sun], is the only information Matthew provides about the region from which they came. The Parthian Empire, centered in Persia, occupied virtually all of the land east of Judea and Syria (except for the deserts of Arabia to the southeast). Though the empire was tolerant of other religions, its dominant religion was Zoroastrianism, with its priestly magos class.^[32]

Although Matthew’s account does not explicitly cite the motivation for their journey (other than seeing the star in the east, which they took to be the star of the King of the Jews), the Syriac Infancy Gospel provides some clarity by stating explicitly in the third chapter that they were pursuing a prophecy from their prophet, Zoradascht (Zoroaster).^[33]

There is an Armenian tradition identifying the « Magi of Bethlehem » as Balthasar of Arabia, Melchior of Persia, and Gaspar of India.^[34] Historian John of Hildesheimrelates a tradition in the ancient silk road city of Taxila (near Islamabad in Pakistan) that one of the Magi passed through the city on the way to Bethlehem.^[35]

James Tissot: The Magi Journeying (c. 1890), Brooklyn Museum, New York City

Sebastian Brock, a historian of Christianity, has said: « It was no doubt among converts from Zoroastrianism that… certain legends were developed around the Magi of the Gospels ».^[36][37] And Anders Hultgård concluded that the Gospel story of the Magi was influenced by an Iranian legend concerning magi and a star, which was connected with Persian beliefs in the rise of a star predicting the birth of a ruler and with myths describing the manifestation of a divine figure in fire and light.^[38]

A model for the homage of the Magi might have been provided, it has been suggested, by the journey to Rome of King Tiridates I of Armenia, with his magi, to pay homage to the Emperor Nero, which took place in 66 AD, a few years before the date assigned to the composition of the Gospel of Matthew.^[39][40]

There was a tradition that the Central Asian Naimans and their Christian relatives, the Keraites, were descended from the Biblical Magi.^[41] This heritage passed to the Mongol dynasty of Genghis Khan when Sorghaghtani, niece of the Keraite ruler Toghrul, married Tolui, the youngest son of Genghis, and became the mother of Möngke Khan and his younger brother and successor, Kublai Khan. Toghrul became identified with the legendary Central Asian Christian king, Prester John, whose Mongol descendants were sought as allies against the Muslims by contemporary European monarchs and popes.^[42]Sempad the Constable, elder brother of King Hetoum I of Cilician Armenia, visited the Mongol court in Karakorum in 1247–1250 and in 1254. He wrote a letter to Henry I King of Cyprus and Queen Stephanie (Sempad’s sister) from Samarkand in 1243, in which he said: “Tanchat [Tangut, or Western Xia], which is the land from whence came the Three Kings to Bethlehem to worship the Lord Jesus which was born. And know that the power of Christ has been, and is, so great, that the people of that land are Christians; and the whole land of Chata [Khitai, or Kara-Khitai] believes those Three Kings. I have myself been in their churches and have seen pictures of Jesus Christ and the Three Kings, one offering gold, the second frankincense, and the third myrrh. And it is through those Three Kings that they believe in Christ, and that the Chan and his people have now become Christians”.^[43] The legendary Christian ruler of Central Asia, Prester John was reportedly a descendant of one of the Magi.^[44]

« Long before the time of Christ, India had trade relations with Palestine; much of the commerce between the Orient and the Mediterranean civilizations (including Egypt, Greece, and Rome) passed through Jerusalem », so it is very likely that Wise Men could have been « great sages of India », as Paramahansa Yogananda wrote in his “The Second Coming of Christ – The Resurrection of the Christ Within You” (2004, pp. 56–59).

Gestures of respect

 

Adorazione dei Magi by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, c. 1655 (Toledo Museum of Art, Ohio

The Magi are described as « falling down », « kneeling » or « bowing » in the worship of Jesus.^[45] This gesture, together with Luke’s birth narrative, had an important effect on Christian religious practices. They were indicative of great respect, and typically used when venerating a king. While prostration is now rarely practised in the West it is still relatively common in the Eastern Churches, especially during Lent. Kneeling has remained an important element of Christian worship to this day.

Traditional identities and symbolism

Apart from their names, the three Magi developed distinct characteristics in Christian tradition, so that between them they represented the three ages of (adult) man, three geographical and cultural areas, and sometimes other things. In the normal Western account, reflected in art by the 14th century (for example in the Arena Chapel by Giotto in 1305) Caspar is old, normally with a white beard, and gives the gold; he is « King of Tarsus, land of merchants » on the Mediterranean coast of modern Turkey, and is first in line to kneel to Christ. Melchior is middle-aged, giving frankincense from his native Arabia, and Balthazar is a young man, very often and increasingly black-skinned, with myrrh from Saba (modern south Yemen). Their ages were often given as 60, 40 and 20 respectively, and their geographical origins were rather variable, with Balthazar increasingly coming from Ethiopia or other parts of Africa, and being represented accordingly.^[46] Balthazar’s blackness has been the subject of considerable recent scholarly attention; in art it is found mostly in northern Europe, beginning from the 12th century, and becoming very common in the north by the 15th.^[47]

The three gifts of the magi, left to right: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

Gifts

Three gifts are explicitly identified in Matthew: gold, frankincense, and myrrh, in Koine Greek: chrysós(χρυσός), líbanos (λίβανος) and smýrna (σμύρνα). Many different theories of the meaning and symbolism of the gifts have been brought forward. While gold is fairly obviously explained, frankincense, and particularly myrrh, are much more obscure. See the previous section for who gave which.

One of the earliest known depictions from a third-century sarcophagus (Vatican Museums). The clothing of the Magi here is typical of Parthian nobles.

The theories generally break down into two groups:

1. All three gifts are ordinary offerings and gifts given to a king. Myrrh being commonly used as an anointing oil, frankincense as a perfume, and gold as a valuable.
2. The three gifts had a spiritual meaning: gold as a symbol of kingship on earth, frankincense (an incense) as a symbol of deity, and myrrh (an embalming oil) as a symbol of death.

   • This dates back to Origen in Contra Celsum: « gold, as to a king; myrrh, as to one who was mortal; and incense, as to a God. »^[48]
   • These interpretations are alluded to in the verses of the popular carol « We Three Kings » in which the magi describe their gifts. The last verse includes a summary of the interpretation: « Glorious now behold Him arise/King and God and sacrifice. »
   • Sometimes this is described more generally as gold symbolizing virtue, frankincense symbolizing prayer, and myrrh symbolizing suffering.

Myrrh was used as an embalming ointment and as a penitential incense in funerals and cremations until the 15th century. The « holy oil » traditionally used by the Eastern Orthodox Church for performing the sacraments of chrismation and unction is traditionally scented with myrrh, and receiving either of these sacraments is commonly referred to as « receiving the myrrh ». The picture of the Magi on the 7th century Franks Casket shows the third visitor – he who brings myrrh – with a valknutover his back, a pagan symbol referring to Death.^[49]

It has been suggested by scholars that the « gifts » were medicinal rather than precious material for tribute.^[50][51][52]

The Syrian King Seleucus II Callinicus is recorded to have offered gold, frankincense and myrrh (among other items) to Apollo in his temple at Miletus in 243 BC, and this may have been the precedent for the mention of these three gifts in Gospel of Matthew (2:11). It was these three gifts, it is thought, which were the chief cause for the number of the Magi becoming fixed eventually at three.^[53]

This episode can be linked to Isaiah 60 and to Psalm 72 which report gifts being given by kings, and this has played a central role in the perception of the Magi as kings, rather than as astronomer-priests. In a hymn of the late 4th-century hispanicpoet Prudentius, the three gifts have already gained their medieval interpretation as prophetic emblems of Jesus’ identity, familiar in the carol « We Three Kings » by John Henry Hopkins, Jr., 1857.

John Chrysostom suggested that the gifts were fit to be given not just to a king but to God, and contrasted them with the Jews’ traditional offerings of sheep and calves, and accordingly Chrysostom asserts that the Magi worshiped Jesus as God.

Adoración de los Reyes Magos by El Greco, 1568 (Museo Soumaya, Mexico City)

What subsequently happened to these gifts is never mentioned in the scripture, but several traditions have developed.^[54] One story has the gold being stolen by the two thieves who were later crucified alongside Jesus. Another tale has it being entrusted to and then misappropriated by Judas. One tradition suggests that Joseph and Mary used the gold to finance their travels when they fled Bethlehem after an angel had warned, in a dream, about King Herod’splan to kill Jesus. And another story proposes the theory that the myrrh given to them at Jesus’ birth was used to anoint Jesus’ body after his crucifixion.

There was a 15th-century golden case purportedly containing the Gift of the Magi housed in the Monastery of St. Paul of Mount Athos. It was donated to the monastery in the 15th century by Mara Branković, daughter of the King of SerbiaĐurađ Branković, wife to the OttomanSultanMurat II and godmother to Mehmet II the Conqueror (of Constantinople). After the Athens earthquake of September 9, 1999 they were temporarily displayed in Athens in order to strengthen faith and raise money for earthquake victims. The relics were displayed in Ukraine and Belarus in Christmas of 2014, and thus left Greece for the first time since the 15th century.^[55]

Martyrdom traditions

 

Giacobbe Giusti, Biblical Magi

The Three Wise Kings, Catalan Atlas, 1375, fol. V: « This province is called Tarshish, from which came the Three Wise Kings, and they came to Bethlehem in Judaea with their gifts and worshipped Jesus Christ, and they are entombed in the city of Cologne two days journey from Bruges. »

Christian Scriptures record nothing about the Biblical Magi after reporting their going back to their own country (Matthew 2:12 uses the feminine singular noun, χώραν, noting one country, territory or region of origin). Two separate traditions have surfaced claiming that they were so moved by their encounter with Jesus that they either became Christians on their own or were quick to convert fully upon later encountering an Apostle of Jesus. The traditions claim that they were so strong in their beliefs that they willingly embraced martyrdom.

Chronicon of Dexter

One tradition gained popularity in Spain during the 17th century; it was found in a work called the Chronicon of Dexter. The work was ascribed to Flavius Lucius Dexterthe bishop of Barcelona, under Theodosius the Great. The tradition appears in the form of a simple martyrology reading, « In Arabia Felix, in the city of Sessania of the Adrumeti, the martyrdom of the holy kings, the three Magi, Gaspar, Balthassar, and Melchior who adored Christ. »^[56] First appearing in 1610, the Chronicon of Dexter was immensely popular along with the traditions it contained throughout the 17th century. Later, this was all brought into question when historians and the Catholic hierarchy in Rome declared the work a pious forgery.^[57]

Relics at Cologne

A competing tradition asserts that the Biblical Magi « were martyred for the faith, and that their bodies were first venerated at Constantinople; thence they were transferred to Milan in 344. It is certain that when Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor (Barbarossa) imposed his authority on Milan, the relics there were transferred to Cologne Cathedral, housed in the Shrine of the Three Kings, and are venerated there today. »^[56] The Milanese treated the fragments of masonry from their now-empty tomb as secondary relics and these were widely distributed around the region, including southern France, accounting for the frequency with which the Magi appear on chassereliquaries in Limoges enamel.^[58]

Tombs

There are several traditions on where the remains of the Magi are located, although none of the traditions is considered as an established fact or even as particularly likely by secular history. Marco Polo claimed that he was shown the three tombs of the Magi at Saveh south of Tehran in the 1270s:

In Persia is the city of Saba, from which the Three Magi set out and in this city they are buried, in three very large and beautiful monuments, side by side. And above them there is a square building, beautifully kept. The bodies are still entire, with hair and beard remaining.

— Marco Polo, Polo, Marco, The Book of the Million, book i.

Paul William Roberts provides some modern-day corroboration of this possibility in his book Journey of the Magi.^[59]

The Shrine of the Three Kings in Cologne Cathedral, Germany, c. 1200.

A Shrine of the Three Kings at Cologne Cathedral, according to tradition, contains the bones of the Three Wise Men. Reputedly they were first discovered by Saint Helena on her famous pilgrimage to Palestineand the Holy Lands. She took the remains to the church of Hagia Sophiain Constantinople; they were later moved to Milan (some sources say by the city’s bishop, Eustorgius I^[60]), before being sent to their current resting place by the Holy Roman EmperorFrederick I in 1164. The Milanese celebrate their part in the tradition by holding a medieval costume parade every 6 January.

A version of the detailed elaboration familiar to us is laid out by the 14th century cleric John of Hildesheim‘s Historia Trium Regum (« History of the Three Kings »). In accounting for the presence in Cologne of their mummified relics, he begins with the journey of Helena, mother of Constantine I to Jerusalem, where she recovered the True Cross and other relics:

Journey of the Magi (top) and Adoration of the Magi (side) on a Limogeschamplevéchasse, c. 1200 (Musée de Cluny, Paris)

Queen Helen… began to think greatly of the bodies of these three kings, and she arrayed herself, and accompanied by many attendants, went into the Land of Ind… after she had found the bodies of Melchior, Balthazar, and Gaspar, Queen Helen put them into one chest and ornamented it with great riches, and she brought them into Constantinople… and laid them in a church that is called Saint Sophia.

Religious significance

The visit of the Magi is commemorated in most Western Christian churches by the observance of Epiphany, 6 January, which also serves as the feast of the three as saints. The Eastern Orthodox celebrate the visit of the Magi on 25 December.

Qur’an omits Matthew’s episode of the Magi. However, the Persian Muslim encyclopaedist al-Tabari, writing in the 9th century, gives the familiar symbolism of the gifts of the Magi. Al-Tabari gave his source for the information to be the later 7th century Perso-Yemenite writer Wahb ibn Munabbih.^[61]

Traditions

See also: Mystery Play of the Three Magic Kings

Holidays celebrating the arrival of the Magi traditionally recognise a distinction between the date of their arrival and the date of Jesus’ birth. The account given in the Gospel of Matthew does not state that they were present on the night of the birth; in the Gospel of Luke, Joseph and Mary remain in Bethlehem until it is time for Jesus’ dedication, in Jerusalem, and then return to their home in Nazareth.

Spanish customs

The Three Wise Men receiving children at a shopping centre in Spain. Letters with gift requests are left in the letterbox on the left-hand side.

Western Christianity celebrates the Magi on the day of Epiphany, January 6, the day immediately following the twelve days of Christmas, particularly in the Spanish-speaking parts of the world. In these areas, the Three Kings (« los Reyes Magos de Oriente« , and « Los Tres Reyes Magos » or simply « Los Reyes Magos« ) receive letters from children and so bring them gifts on the night before Epiphany. In Spain, each one of the Magi is supposed to represent one different continent, Europe (Melchior), Asia (Caspar) and Africa (Balthasar). According to the tradition, the Magi come from the Orient on their camels to visit the houses of all the children, much like Sinterklaasand Santa Claus with his reindeer elsewhere, they visit everyone in one night. In some areas, children prepare a drink for each of the Magi. It is also traditional to prepare food and drink for the camels, because this is the only night of the year when they eat.

In Spain, Argentina, Mexico, Paraguay and Uruguay, there is a long tradition for having the children receive presents by the three « Reyes Magos » on the night of January 5 (Epiphany Eve) or morning of January 6. Almost every Spanish city or town organises cabalgatas in the evening, in which the kings and their servantsparade and throw sweets to the children (and parents) in attendance. The cavalcade of the three kings in Alcoy claims to be the oldest in the world, having started in 1886. The Mystery Play of the Three Magic Kings is also presented on Epiphany Eve. There is also a « Roscón » (Spain) or « Rosca de Reyes » (Mexico) as explained below.

In the Philippines, beliefs concerning the Three Kings (Filipino: Tatlóng Haring Mago, lit. « Three Magi Kings »; shortened to Tatlóng Harì or SpanishTres Reyes) follows Hispanic influence, with the Feast of the Epiphany considered by many Filipinos as the traditional end of their Christmas season. The tradition of the Three Kings’ cabalgada is today done only in some areas, such as the old city of Intramuros in Manila, and the island of Marinduque. Another dying custom is children leaving shoes out on Epiphany Eve, so that they may receive sweets and money from the Three Kings. With the arrival of American culture in the early 20th century, the Three Kings as gift-givers have been largely replaced in urban areas by Santa Claus, and they only survive in the greeting « Happy Three Kings! » and the surnameTatlóngharì. The Three Kings are especially revered in Gapan, Nueva Ecija, where they are enshrined as patron saints in the National Shrine of Virgen La Divina Pastora.^{[citation needed]}

In Paraguay, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, children cut grass or greenery on January 5 and put it in a box under their bed for the Kings’ camels. Children receive gifts on January 6, which is called Día de Reyes, and is traditionally the day in which the Magi arrived bearing gifts for the Christ child. Christmas starts in December and ends in January after Epiphany, although in Puerto Rico there are eight more days of celebration (las octavitas).

Campaign for a real black Balthazar in Spain

In 2009 a campaign started in Spain over the fact that Balthazar is commonly played by a white person in blackface.^[62][63]

Central Europe

Sternsinger in Vienna, Austria.

Sternsinger – Christmas carolers in Sanok, Poland.

A tradition in Poland and German-speaking Catholic areas is the writing of the three kings’ initials (C+M+B or C M B, or K+M+B in those areas where Caspar is spelled Kaspar) above the main door of Catholic homes in chalk. This is a new year’s blessing for the occupants and the initials also are believed to also stand for « Christus mansionem benedicat » (« May/Let Christ Bless This House »).^[64] Depending on the city or town, this will be happen sometime between Christmas and the Epiphany, with most municipalities celebrating closer to the Epiphany. Also in Catholic parts of the German-speaking world, these markings are made by the « Sternsinger » (literally, « star singers« ) – a group of children dressed up as the magi.^[65] The Sternsinger carry a star representing the one followed by the biblical magi and sing Christmas carols as they go door to door, such as « Stern über Bethlehem« . An adult chaperones the group but stays in the background of the performance. After singing, the children write the three kings’ initials on the door frame in exchange for charitable donations. Each year, German and Austrian dioceses pick one charity towards which all Sternsinger donations nationwide will be contributed.^{[citation needed]} Traditionally, one child in the Sternsinger group is said to represent Baltasar from Africa and so, that child typically wears blackfacemakeup.^[66][67][68] Many Germans do not consider this to be racist because it is not intended to be a negative portrayal of a black person, but rather, a « realistic » or « traditional » portrayal of one.^[69] The dialogue surrounding the politics of traditions involving blackface is not as developed as in Spain or the Netherlands.^{[citation needed]}In the past, photographs of German politicians together with children in blackface have caused a stir in English-language press.^[70][71] Moreover, Afro-Germans have written that this use of blackface is a missed opportunity to be truly inclusive of Afro-Germans in German-speaking communities and contribute to the equation of « blackness » with « foreignness » and « otherness » in German culture.^[72]

In 2010 the day of Epiphany, January 6, was made a holiday in Poland and thus a pre-war tradition was revived.^[73] Since 2011, celebrations with biblical costuming have taken place throughout the country. For example, in Warsaw there are processions from Plac Zamkowy down Krakowskie Przedmieście to Plac Piłsudskiego.^[74]

Roscón de Reyes

Main article: Roscón de Reyes

In Spain and in Portugal (where it is called Bolo-rei^[75]), the cake, which is ring-shaped, is most commonly bought, not baked, and it contains both a small figurine of one of the Magi (or another surprise depending on the region) and an actual dry broad bean. The one who gets the figurine is « crowned » (with a crown made of cardboard or paper), but whoever gets the bean has to pay the value of the cake to the person who originally bought it. In Mexico they also have the same ring-shaped cake Rosca de Reyes (Kings Bagel or Thread) with figurines inside it. Whoever gets a figurine is supposed to organize and be the host of the family celebration for the Candelaria feast on February 2.

In France and Belgium, a cake containing a small figure of the baby Jesus, known as the « broad bean », is shared within the family. Whoever gets the bean is crowned king for the remainder of the holiday and wears a cardboard crown purchased with the cake. A similar practice is common in many areas of Switzerland, but the figurine is a miniature king. The practice is known as tirer les Rois (Drawing the Kings). A queen is sometimes also chosen.

In New Orleans, Louisiana, parts of southern Texas, and surrounding regions, a similar ring-shaped cake known as a « King Cake » traditionally becomes available in bakeries from Epiphany to Mardi Gras. The baby Jesus figurine is inserted into the cake from underneath, and the person who gets the slice with the figurine is expected to buy or bake the next King Cake. There is wide variation among the types of pastry that may be called a King Cake, but most are a baked cinnamon-flavoured twisted dough with thin frosting and additional sugar on top in the traditional Mardi Gras colours of gold, green and purple. To prevent accidental injury or choking, the baby Jesus figurine is frequently not inserted into the cake at the bakery, but included in the packaging for optional use by the buyer to insert it themselves. Mardi Gras-style beads and doubloons may be included as well.

In art

Adoration of the Magi

Adoration of the Magi, tondo by Fra Angelico and Filippo Lippi, c. 1450 (NGA, Washington)

The Magi most frequently appear in European art in the Adoration of the Magi; less often in the Journey of the Magi has been a popular subject in art, and topos, and other scenes such as the Magi before Herod and the Dream of the Magi also appear in the Middle Ages. In Byzantine art they are depicted as Persians, wearing trousers and phrygian caps. Crowns appear from the 10th century. Despite being saints, they are very often shown without halos, perhaps to avoid distracting attention from either their crowns or the halos of the Holy Family. Sometimes only the lead king, kneeling to Christ, has a halo the two others lack, probably indicating that the two behind had not yet performed the act of worship that would ensure their status as saints. Medieval artists also allegorised the theme to represent the three ages of man. Beginning in the 12th century, and very often by the 15th, the Kings also represent the three parts of the known (pre-Columbian) world in Western art, especially in Northern Europe. Balthasar is thus represented as a young African or Moor and Caspar may be depicted with distinctly Oriental features.

An early Anglo-Saxon depiction survives on the Franks Casket (early 7th century, whalebone carving), the only Christian scene, which is combined with pagan and classical imagery. In its composition it follows the oriental style, which renders a courtly scene, with the Virgin and Christ facing the spectator, while the Magi devoutly approach from the (left) side. Even amongst non-Christians who had heard of the Christian story of the Magi, the motif was quite popular, since the Magi had endured a long journey and were generous. Instead of an angel, the picture places a swan-like bird, perhaps interpretable as the hero’s fylgja (a protecting spirit, and shapeshifter).

Austrian artist Gottfried Helnwein depicted a more controversial tableau in his painting, Epiphany I: Adoration of the Magi (1996). Intended to represent the « many connections between the Third Reich and the Christian churches in Austria and Germany »,^[76] Nazi officers in uniform stand around an Aryan Madonna. The Christtoddler who stands on Mary’s lap resembles Adolf Hitler.^[77]

More generally they appear in popular Nativity scenes and other Christmasdecorations that have their origins in the Neapolitan variety of the Italian presepio or Nativity crèche.

See also

• Christianity portal
• Christmas portal

Astronomy Christian views on astrology List of names for the biblical nameless

Mystery play Saint Caspar Saint Nicholas

Notes

1. Jump up^ Greek: μάγοι, magoi

References

1. Jump up^ Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary. Nashville, Tennessee: Holman Bible Publishers. 2003. p. 1066. ISBN 0-8054-2836-4.
2. Jump up^ Matthew 2:1-2
3. Jump up^ Geza Vermes, The Nativity: History and Legend, London, Penguin, 2006, p. 22
4. Jump up^ Metzger, 24 [80]
5. Jump up^ « Magi ». Encyclopædia Britannica.
6. Jump up^ s.v. magi. Oxford English Dictionary (Third ed.). April 1910.
7. Jump up^ Schiller, 114
8. Jump up^ « Matthew 2 ». Bible Gateway.
9. Jump up^ Schiller, I, 96; The New Testament by Bart D. Ehrman 1999 ISBN 0-19-512639-4 p. 109
10. Jump up^ Oxford English Dictionary, Third edition, April 2010, s.v. magus
11. Jump up^ Mary Boyce, A History of Zoroastrianism: The Early Period (Brill, 1989, 2nd ed.), vol. 1, pp. 10–11 online; Mary Boyce, Zoroastrians: their religious beliefs and practices(Routledge, 2001, 2nd ed.), p. 48 online; Linda Murray, The Oxford companion to Christian art and architecture (Oxford University Press, 1996), p. 293; Stephen Mitchell, A history of the later Roman Empire, AD 284–641: the transformation of the ancient world (Wiley–Blackwell, 2007), p. 387 online.
12. Jump up^ Psalm 72:11 (King James Version)
13. Jump up^ « Magi ». Encyclopædia Britannica.
14. Jump up^ s.v. magi. Oxford English Dictionary (Third ed.). April 1910.
15. Jump up^ Drum, Walter. « Magi. » The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 9. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 24 Dec. 2016.
16. Jump up^ Ashby, Chad. « Magi, Wise Men, or Kings? It’s Complicated. » Christianity Today, December 16, 2016.
17. Jump up^ Calvin, John. Calvin’s Commentaries, Vol. 31: Matthew, Mark and Luke, Part I, tr. by John King. Retrieved 2010-05-15. Quote from Commentary on Matthew 2:1–6
18. Jump up^ See Metzger, 23–29 for a lengthy account
19. Jump up^ « Melchior ». Collins Dictionary. n.d. Retrieved 25 September 2014.
20. ^ Jump up to:^a b c d Excerpta Latina Barbari, page 51B: « At that time in the reign of Augustus, on 1st January the Magi brought him gifts and worshipped him. The names of the Magi were Bithisarea, Melichior and Gathaspa. ».
21. Jump up^ « Caspar or Gaspar ». Collins Dictionary. n.d. Retrieved 25 September 2014.
22. Jump up^ Hugo Kehrer (1908), Vol. I, p. 70 Online version Kehrer’s commentary: « Die Form Jaspar stammt aus Frankreich. Sie findet sich im niederrheinisch-kölnischen Dialekt und im Englischen. Note: O. Baist page 455; J.P.Migne; Dictionnaire des apocryphes, Paris 1856, vol I, p. 1023. … So in La Vie de St. Gilles; Li Roumans de Berte: Melcior, Jaspar, Baltazar; Rymbybel des Jakob von Märlant: Balthasar, Melchyor, Jaspas; ein altenglisches Gedicht des dreizehnten oder vierzehnten Jahrhunderts (13th century!!) Note: C.Horstmann, Altenglische Legenden, Paderborn 1875, p. 95; … La Vie des trois Roys Jaspar Melchior et Balthasar, Paris 1498 »–>]
23. Jump up^ « Balthazar ». Collins Dictionary. n.d. Retrieved 25 September 2014.
24. Jump up^ « Magi (biblical figures) – Encyclopædia Britannica ». Britannica.com. Retrieved 2013-07-04.
25. Jump up^ Hugo Kehrer (1908), Die Heiligen Drei Könige in Literatur und Kunst (reprinted in 1976). Vol. I, p. 66. Online version. Quote from the Latin chronicle: primus fuisse dicitur Melchior, senex et canus, barba prolixa et capillis, tunica hyacinthina, sagoque mileno, et calceamentis hyacinthino et albo mixto opere, pro mitrario variae compositionis indutus: aurum obtulit regi Domino. (« the first [magus], named Melchior, was an old white-haired man, with a full beard and hair, […]: the king gave gold to our Lord. ») Secundum, nomine Caspar, juvenis imberbis, rubicundus, mylenica tunica, sago rubeo, calceamentis hyacinthinis vestitus: thure quasi Deo oblatione digna, Deum honorabat. (« The second, with name Caspar, a beardless boy, [… gave incense]. ») Tertius, fuscus, integre barbatus, Balthasar nomine, habens tunicam rubeam, albo vario, calceamentis inimicis amicus: per myrrham filium hominis moriturum professus est. (« The third one, dark-haired, with a full beard, named Balthasar, [… gave myrhh]. ») Omnia autem vestimenta eorum Syriaca sunt. (« The clothes of all [three] were Syrian-style. »)
26. Jump up^ Collectanea et Flores in Patrologia Latina. XCIV, page 541(D) Online version
27. Jump up^ Ernst Herzfeld, Archaeological History of Iran, London, Oxford University Press for the British Academy, 1935, p. 63.
28. Jump up^ Witold Witakowski, « The Magi in Syriac Tradition », in George A. Kiraz (ed.), Malphono w-Rabo d-Malphone: Studies in Honor of Sebastian P. Brock, Piscataway (NJ), Gorgias Press, 2008, pp. 809–844.
29. Jump up^ Acta Sanctorum, May, I, 1780.
30. Jump up^ Concerning The Magi And Their Names.
31. Jump up^ Hattaway, Paul; Brother Yun; Yongze, Peter Xu; and Wang, Enoch. Back to Jerusalem. (Authentic Publishing, 2003). retrieved May 2007
32. Jump up^ Axworthy, Michael (2008). A History of Iran. Basic Books. p. 31–43.
33. Jump up^ Hone, William (1890 (4th edit); 1820 (1st edition)). « The Apocryphal Books of the New Testament« . Archive.org. Gebbie & Co., Publishers, Philadelphia. See: Retrieved 26 January 2017.
34. Jump up^ Nersessian, Vrej (2001). The Bible in the Armenian Tradition. Getty. ISBN 978-0-89236-640-8.^{[page needed]}
35. Jump up^ Historia Trium Regum (History of the Three Kings) by John of Hildesheim (1364–1375)^[specify]
36. Jump up^ Brock, Sebastian (1982). « Christians in the Sasanian Empire: A Case of Divided Loyalties ». In Mews, Stuart. Religion and National Identity. Studies in Church History, 18. Oxford: Blackwell. pp. 1–19. ISBN 978-0-631-18060-9.
37. Jump up^ Ugo Monneret de Villard, Le Leggende orientali sui Magi evangelici, Citta del Vaticano, Biblioteca apostolica vaticana, 1952.^{[page needed]}
38. Jump up^ Hultgård, Anders (1998). « The Magi and the Star—the Persian Background in Texts and Iconography ». In Schalk, Peter; Stausberg, Michael. ‘Being Religious and Living through the Eyes’: Studies in Religious Iconography and Iconology: A Celebratory Publication in Honour of Professor Jan Bergman. Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis: Historia Religionum, 14. Uppsala, Almqvist & Wiksell International. pp. 215–25. ISBN 978-91-554-4199-9.
39. Jump up^ A. Dietrich, « Die Weisen aus dem Morgenlande », Zeitschrift für die Neutestamentliche Wissenschaft, Bd. III, 1902, p. 1 14; cited in J. Duchesne-Guillemin, « Die Drei Weisen aus dem Morgenlande und die Anbetung der Zeit », Antaios, Vol. VII, 1965, pp. 234–252, 245; cited in Mary Boyce and Frantz Genet, A History of Zoroastrianism, Leiden, Brill, 1991, p. 453, n. 449.
40. Jump up^ Herzfeld, Ernst (1935). Archaeological History of Iran. Schweich Lectures of the British Academy. London: Oxford University Press. pp. 65–6. OCLC 651983281.
41. Jump up^ In regno Tarsae sunt tres provinciae, quarum dominatores se reges faciunt appellari. Homines illius patriae nominant Iogour. Semper idola coluerunt, et adhuc colunt omnes, praeter decem cognationes illorum regum, qui per demonstrationum stellae venerunt adorare nativitatem in Bethlehem Judae. Et adhuc multi magni et nobiles inveniunt inter Tartaros de cognatione illa, qui tenent firmiter fidem Christi. (In the kingdom of Tarsis there are three provinces, whose rulers have called themselves kings. the men of that country are called Uighours. They always worshipped idols, and they all still worship them except for the ten families of those Kings who from the appearance of the Star came to adore the Nativity in Bethlehem of Judah. And there are still many of the great and noble of those families found among the Tartars who hold firmly to the faith of Christ): Wesley Roberton Long (ed.), La flor de las ystorias de Orient by Hethum prince of Khorghos, Chicago, The University of Chicago Press, 1934, pp. 53, 111, 115; cited in Ugo Monneret de Villard, Le Leggende orientali sui Magi evangelici, Citta del Vaticano, Biblioteca apostolica vaticana, 1952, p. 161. Hayton, Haithoni Armeni ordinis Praemonstratenis de Tartaris liber, Simon Grynaeus Johannes Huttichius, Novus orbis regionum ac insularum veteribus incognitarum, Basel, 1532, caput ii, De Regno Tarsae, p. 420 “The people of these countrees be named Iobgontans [Uighurs], and at all tymes they haue been idolaters, and so they contynue to this present day, save the nacion or kynred of those thre kynges which came to worshyp Our Lorde Ihesu Chryst at his natiuyte by demonstracyon of the sterre. And the linage of the same thre kynges be yet vnto this day great lordes about the lande of Tartary, which ferme and stedfastly beleue in the fayth of Christ”: Hetoum, A Lytell Cronycle: Richard Pynson’s Translation (c. 1520) of La Fleur des Histoires de la Terre d’Orient, edited by Glenn Burger, Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 1988, Of the realme of Tharsey, p. 8, lines 29–38.
42. Jump up^ Friedrich Zarncke, « Der Priester Johannes », Abhandlungen der philologisch-historischen Classe der Koeniglichen Sachsischen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften, Leipzig, Band VII, Heft 8, 1879, S.826–1028; Band I, Heft 8, 1883, S. 1–186), re-published in one volume by G. Olms, Hildesheim, 1980.
43. Jump up^ Letter of Sempad the Constable to the King and Queen of Cyprus, 1243, in Henry Yule, Cathay and the Way Thither, Oxford, Hakluyt society, 1866, Vol.I, pp.cxxvii, 262-3.
44. Jump up^ Fertur enim iste de antiqua progenie illorum, quorum in Evangelio mentio fit, esse Magorum, eisdemque, quibus et isti, gentibus imperans, tanta gloria et habundancia frui, ut non nisi sceptro smaragdino uti dicatur (It is reported that he is the descendant of those Magi of old who are mentioned in the Gospel, and to rule over the same nations as they did, enjoying such glory and prosperity that he uses no sceptre but one of emerald). Otto von Freising, Historia de Duabus Civitatibus, 1146, in Friedrich Zarncke, Der Priester Johannes, Leipzig, Hirzel, 1879 (repr. Georg Olms Verlag, Hildesheim and New York, 1980, p. 848; Adolf Hofmeister, Ottonis Episcopi Frisingensis Chronica; sive, Historia de Duabus Civitatibus, Hannover. 1912, p. 366.
45. Jump up^ « Matthew 2; – Passage Lookup – New International Version – UK ». BibleGateway.com. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
46. Jump up^ Penny, 401
47. Jump up^ Schiller, I, 113
48. Jump up^ Origen, Contra Celsum I.60.
49. Jump up^ « Franks Casket – F – panel (Front) – Pictures: The Magi ».
50. Jump up^ Page, Sophie, »Magic In Medieval Manuscripts« . University of Toronto Press, 2004. 64 pages. ISBN 0-8020-3797-6, p. 18.
51. Jump up^ Gustav-Adolf Schoener and Shane Denson [Translator], « Astrology: Between Religion and the Empirical« .
52. Jump up^ « Frankincense: festive pharmacognosy Archived 2007-06-15 at the Wayback Machine.« . Pharmaceutical journal. Vol 271, 2003. pharmj.com.
53. Jump up^ August Friedrich von Pauly et al., Realencyclopädie der Classischen Altertumswissenschaft, Vol. XVI, 1, Stuttgart, 1933, col.1145; Leonardo Olschki, « The Wise Men of the East in Oriental Traditions », Semitic and Oriental Studies, University of California Publications in Semitic Philology, Vol.11, 1951, pp. 375 395, p. 380, n. 46; cited in Mary Boyce and Frantz Genet, A History of Zoroastrianism, Leiden, Brill, 1991, p. 450, n. 438.
54. Jump up^ Lambert, John Chisholm, in James Hastings (ed.) A Dictionary of Christ and the Gospels. Page 100.
55. Jump up^ « Gifts of the Magi delivered to Minsk for worship ». ITAR-TASS. 17 January 2014. Retrieved 2014-01-17.
56. ^ Jump up to:^a b Andrew Edward Breen (February 1, 1908). A Harmonized Exposition of the Four Gospels, Volume 1. Rochester, New York.
57. Jump up^ R. R. Madden, M.D. (1864). « On certain Literary Frauds and Forgeries in Spain And Italy ». Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, Vol 8. Dublin.
58. Jump up^ Gauthier M-M. and François G., Émaux méridionaux: Catalogue international de l’oeuvre de Limoges – Tome I: Epoque romane, p. 11, Paris 1987
59. Jump up^ Journey of the Magi, Paul William Roberts, (2006) Tauris Parke Paperbacks, pgs 27-38
60. Jump up^ « Sant’ Eustorgio I di Milano ». Santiebeati.it. 2001-09-09. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
61. Jump up^ « We, three kings of Orient were ». Saudiaramcoworld.com. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
62. Jump up^ News about blackface Balthazars (in Spanish)
63. Jump up^ Vídeo demanding true black Baltazars (in Spanish)
64. Jump up^ « Christus Mansionem Benedicat « Catholic Sensibility ». Catholicsensibility.wordpress.com. 2006-01-05. Retrieved 2012-01-12.
65. Jump up^ « Duden | Sternsingen | Rechtschreibung, Bedeutung, Definition » (in German). Duden.de. 2012-10-30. Retrieved 2013-12-16.
66. Jump up^ Name bedeutet: Gott schütze sein Leben (babylon.-hebr.) (2007-03-25). « Balthasar – Ökumenisches Heiligenlexikon ». Heiligenlexikon.de. Retrieved 2013-12-16.
67. Jump up^ « Catholic Encyclopedia: Baltasar ». Newadvent.org. Retrieved 2013-12-16.
68. Jump up^ « Blackface! Around the World ». Black-face.com. Retrieved 2013-12-16.
69. Jump up^ User-Kommentar von Dieter Schmeer. « Und die Sternsinger? – Leser-Kommentar – FOCUS Online » (in German). Focus.de. Archived from the original on 2013-12-03. Retrieved 2013-12-16.
70. Jump up^ « German Chancellor Angela Merkel poses with children in blackface for Three King’s Day celebration ». NY Daily News. Retrieved 2013-12-16.
71. Jump up^ 04 Jan 2013 (2013-01-04). « Angela Merkel pictured with blacked-up children ». Telegraph. Retrieved 2013-12-16.
72. Jump up^ Ogdan Ücgür (2012-01-06). « Sternsinger: Schwarzes Gesicht und weisse Hände ». M-Media. Retrieved 2013-12-16.
73. Jump up^ Trzech Króli już świętem państwowym (Three Kings already a public holidayArchived 2016-11-21 at the Wayback Machine.
74. Jump up^ « Orszak Trzech Króli | Warszawa ». Orszak.org. 2013-01-01. Archived from the original on 2013-04-15. Retrieved 2013-07-04.
75. Jump up^ À mesa com o tradicional Bolo-rei – Uma instituição nacional Archived 2010-06-01 at the Wayback Machine. Matosinhos Hoje, 6 January 2010.
76. Jump up^ Baker, Kenneth (9 August 2004). « Dark and detached, the art of Gottfried Helnwein demands a response ». San Francisco Chronicle. accessed with EBSCOHost.
77. Jump up^ Denver Art Museum, Radar, Selections from the Collection of Vicki and Kent Logan, Gwen F. Chanzit, 2006 [1]

Bibliography

• Giffords, Gloria Fraser, Sanctuaries of Earth, Stone, and Light: The Churches of Northern New Spain, 1530–1821, 2007, University of Arizona Press, ISBN0816525897, 9780816525898, google books
• Metzger, Bruce, New Testament Studies: Philological, Versional, and Patristic, Volume 10, 1980, BRILL, ISBN9004061630, 9789004061637, google books
• Penny, Nicholas, National Gallery Catalogues (new series): The Sixteenth Century Italian Paintings, Volume II, Venice 1540–1600, 2008, National Gallery Publications Ltd, ISBN1857099133
• Schiller, Gertud, Iconography of Christian Art, Vol. I, 1971 (English trans from German), Lund Humphries, London, ISBN0853312702

Further reading

• Albright, W. F., and C. S. Mann. « Matthew. » The Anchor Bible Series. New York: Doubleday & Company, 1971.
• Becker, Alfred: Franks Casket. Zu den Bildern und Inschriften des Runenkästchens von Auzon (Regensburg, 1973) pp. 125–142, Ikonographie der Magierbilder, Inschriften.
• Benecke, P. V. M. (1900). « Magi ». In James Hastings. A Dictionary of the Bible. III. pp. 203–206.
• Brown, Raymond E.The Birth of the Messiah: A Commentary on the Infancy Narratives in Matthew and Luke. London: G. Chapman, 1977.
• Clarke, Howard W. The Gospel of Matthew and its Readers: A Historical Introduction to the First Gospel. Bloomington.
• Chrysostom, John. « Homilies on Matthew: Homily VI ». c. 4th century.
• France, R. T.The Gospel According to Matthew: An Introduction and Commentary. Leicester: Inter-Varsity, 1985.
• Gundry, Robert H.Matthew: A Commentary on his Literary and Theological Art.Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1982.
• Hill, David. The Gospel of Matthew. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1981
• Lambert, John Chisholm, A Dictionary of Christ and the Gospels. Page 97–101.
• Levine, Amy-Jill. « Matthew. » Women’s Bible Commentary. Carol A. Newsom and Sharon H. Ringe, eds. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1998.
• Molnar, Michael R., The Star of Bethlehem: The Legacy of the Magi. Rutgers University Press, 1999. 187 pages. ISBN0-8135-2701-5
• Powell, Mark Allan. « The Magi as Wise Men: Re-examining a Basic Supposition. » New Testament Studies. Vol. 46, 2000.
• Schweizer, Eduard. The Good News According to Matthew. Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1975.
• Trexler, Richard C. Journey of the Magi: Meanings in History of a Christian Story. Princeton University Press, 1997.
• Watson, Richard, A Biblical and Theological Dictionary, Page 608–611.
• Hegedus, Tim (2003). « The Magi and the Star in the Gospel of Matthew and Early Christian Tradition ». Laval théologique et philosophique. 59 (1): 81–95. doi:10.7202/000790ar.

• Mark Rose, « The Three Kings & the Star »: the Cologne reliquary and the BBC popular documentary
• Alfred Becker, Franks Casket
• Caroline Stone, « We Three Kings of Orient Were »
• MagiCatholic Encyclopedia
• « Procession of the Three Kings in Valencia »

 

https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magi_(Bibbia)

http://www.giacobbegiusti.com

Giacobbe Giusti, Néoplatonisme médicéen

 

Giacobbe Giusti, Néoplatonisme médicéen

Artiste	Sandro Botticelli
Date	vers 1475
Technique	Tempera sur bois
Dimensions (H × L)	111 × 134 cm
Mouvement	Première Renaissance
Localisation	Galerie des Offices, Florence(Italie)

Giacobbe Giusti, Néoplatonisme médicéen

Artiste	Sandro Botticelli
Date	vers 1482
Technique	Tempera sur bois
Dimensions (H × L)	70 × 103 cm
Mouvement	Première Renaissance
Localisation	National Gallery of Art, Washington (États-Unis)
Numéro d’inventaire

  Néoplatonisme.

Giacobbe Giusti, Néoplatonisme médicéen

Statue de Laurent de Médicis dit « Le Magnifique », situé dans le passage des Offices.

Le néoplatonisme médicéen est un mouvement philosophique et artistique local à la Toscane, qui regroupe penseurs d’une part, et artistes florentins d’autre part. Tous bénéficièrent, durant les Quattrocento et Cinquecento, de l’appui de la famille régnante des Médicis.

Les philosophes comme Marsile Ficin et Jean Pic de la Mirandole travaillent les concepts du beau et du sublime à partir des écrits grecs, et redécouvrent les ouvrages et la pensée de Platon, d’Aristote, de Plotin et plus généralement du legs gréco-romain, faisant évoluer les visions du monde issues de la chrétienté médiévale.

Les artistes illustrent, par leurs représentations, les travaux de l’école philosophique de la Nouvelle Académie des Arts de Florence.

Le néoplatonisme et l’art

 

Cette Adoration de la Vierge médicéenne regroupe tout le gotha de la cour des Médicis, réunie en dévotion pour marquer son ralliement rituel autant que l’affirmation de l’importance de cette cour de Florence sur les arts et les terres alentour. « Dieu est avec nous ! » disent par cette peinture les commanditaires de Botticelli : au centre Cosme, Pierre et Jean de Médicis. Pic de la Mirandole fait partie des spectateurs de la dévotion. Quant au peintre, son regard est ailleurs, il nous fait face tout à droite.

Le néoplatonisme a eu un retentissement non seulement sur la formation de la théologie chrétienne et l’évolution de la pensée médiévale, mais aussi, à la Renaissance, sur la formulation de l’esthétique et la pratique de l’art.

En 1434, Cosme de Médicis, négociant à la tête de la plus puissante famille de Florence à la Renaissance, accède au pouvoir. Il inaugure le mécénat et imprime un renouveau à l’art. Un de ses protégés, Marsile Ficin, entreprend sur son conseil de traduire et commenter les œuvres complètes de Platon et de Plotin, qui exerceront un impact considérable sur l’art de la Renaissance. Une Académie néoplatonicienneest fondée à Florence sur l’exemple de l’Académie de Platon, rassemblant de nombreux érudits de tous genres. Cette aura culturelle se poursuivra au-delà de cette période.

D’après Erwin Panofsky et André Chastel, la conception de l’art serait issue de l’influence néoplatonicienne et les artistes reproduiraient ces thèses. Une conception hiérarchique de l’Univers où le sensible symbolise l’intelligible, particulièrement disposée à insuffler un esprit créateur aux peintres.

Marsile Ficin, contre Thomas d’Aquin qui les séparait¹, reprend l’idée platonicienne² selon laquelle le Beau est identique à l’Idée suprême, au-delà de l’essence, Idée qui est aussi le Biendans d’autres dialogues³. Il fond dans la pensée platonicienne le dogme chrétien : la beauté des choses provient de la splendeur divine. De plus Ficin reconnaît une valeur d’enseignement non seulement aux écrits chrétiens, mais aussi aux mythes grecs rapportés par Pythagore ou Platon.

Selon Panofsky, cette philosophie qui abolit toute limite entre le sacré et le profane a tout particulièrement séduit les poètes et les artistes. Il décrit ainsi les références néoplatoniciennes présentes dans le Printemps et la Naissance de l’amour de Botticelli⁴.

L’Académie néoplatonicienne de Florence

L’Académie néoplatonicienne de Florence (en italien Accademia neoplatonica) est fondée en 1459 par Cosme de Médicis (Cosme l’Ancien, 1389-1464), et dirigée par Marsile Ficin (1433-1499). Cette Académie regroupe Marsile Ficin, , Jean Pic de la Mirandole (mai 1486), le Dr Fortuna, Ange Politien (1454-1494), Laurent le Magnifique (Laurent de Médicis, 1449-1492). En 1462, installé par Cosme de Médicis à Careggi, Marsile Ficin commence à traduire Platon avec l’aide d’une assemblée de savants, à laquelle il donne le nom d’Académie, en hommage à celle que Platon avait fondée en 387 av. J.-C. Il commente Le Banquet de Platon (De amore, 1469), écrit une Théologie platonicienne (1482), traduit en latin Platon (1484) et Plotin (1486), ainsi qu’Hermès Trismégiste. L’Académie disparut en 1521.

Le renouveau du platonisme qu’elle a engendré eut une influence sur la philosophe Tullia d’Aragon, auteur du dialogue De l’Infinité d’amour.

Les artistes médicéens

Cette section contient une ou plusieurs listes et gagnerait à être introduite par une partie rédigée et sourcée, de façon à bien resituer les différents items  (avril 2017).

• peintres

Andrea del Castagno

Andrea Mantegna

Antonio Pollaiuolo

Sandro Botticelli

Fra Angelico

Paolo Uccello

• sculpteurs

Benvenuto Cellini

Donatello

• maîtres d’ateliers, et leurs disciples

atelier de Luca della Robbia (1429, sculptureset céramiques)

atelier de Andrea del Verrocchio

apprentis: Le Pérugin ; Léonard de Vinci;

• artistes pluridisciplinaires

Michel-Ange

• hors catégorie

Léonard de Vinci : compte tenu de l’universalité de son œuvre et de ses démêlés avec les Médicis qui l’emmèneront à la Cour de François I^er, ne saurait s’inclure uniquement dans ce mouvement artistique.

Postérité

L’historien et essayiste Frédéric Ozanam rend hommage à Marsile Ficin et aux autres personnalités contemporaines de l’Italie, dans son Essai sur la philosophie de Dante, en ces termes :

« Le soleil italien ne cessa pas de luire sur des générations de philosophes, moralistes, jurisconsultes, publicistes, et de poètes qui se firent honneur de philosopher. C’est Marsile Ficin, confondant en son enthousiasme néo-platonique la science, l’art, et la vertu ; c’est Campanella, rêvant une cité idéale ; Machiavel, qu’il suffit de nommer⁵. »

Notes et références

1. ↑ Chez les scolastiques, les quatre transcendantaux ou idées les plus générales sont l’être (ens), le bon (bonum), l’un (unum), le vrai (verum). Thomas y ajoute le quelque chose (aliquid). On voit que le « beau » est absent de la liste des transcendantaux. L’idée du beau semble avoir été « oubliée » par les philosophes médiévaux, et donc redécouverte par les néoplatoniciens médicéens. Néanmoins, Umberto Eco (Le problème esthétique chez Thomas d’Aquin) et Jacques Maritain (L’intuition créatrice dans l’art et la poésie, p. 151, note 6) considèrent que le beau n’est pas absent de la pensée scolastique, mais qu’il n’est simplement pas nommé comme tel. Pour Maritain par exemple, le beau exprime l’éclat, le rayonnement des transcendantaux qui « brillent » tous ensemble, dans une acception à la fois métaphysique et esthétique du terme.
2. ↑ Platon, Le Banquet, 210 – 211.
3. ↑ Notamment dans Platon, République. La philosophe Hannah Arendt problématise le rapport entre le Beau et le Bien dans l’œuvre platonicienne dans la Crise de la culture, chapitre III : « Qu’est-ce que l’autorité », section 2.
4. ↑ Erwin Panofsky, « Rinaschimento dell’Antichità : le xv^e siècle », La Renaissance et ses avant-courriers dans l’art d’Occident, Champs, Flammarion.
5. ↑ Définitions lexicographiques [archive] et étymologiques [archive] de « Néo-platonique » du Trésor de la langue française informatisé, sur le site du Centre national de ressources textuelles et lexicales.

Bibliographie

• (en) Michael J. B. Allen, The Platonism of Marsilio Ficino, Berkeley, University of California Press, 1984.
• Daniel Beresniak, Les premiers Médicis et l’Académie Platonicienne de Florence, Detrad, 1994.
• André Chastel, Marsile Ficin et l’art (1954), Droz, 2000.
• André Chastel, Art et Humanisme à Florence au temps de Laurent le Magnifique, PUF, 1959.
• Caroline Combrone, « Les platoniciens de l’art à la Renaissance », Revue Philosophique de Louvain, vol. 97, n^o 2,‎ 1999, p. 268 à 288 (lire en ligne [archive]).
• (en) James Hankins, Plato in the Italian Renaissance, Leyde, Brill, 1990, 2 t.
• (de) Karl Sieveking, Geschichte der Platonischen Akademie zu Florenz, Göttingen, 1812.books.google.fr [archive]
• Louis Valcke, Pic de la Mirandole : Un itinéraire philosophique, Belles Lettres, « Le Miroir des Humanistes », 2005.
• Frances Yates, Les Académies en France au xvi^e siècle, trad., PUF, 1996, chap. I : « Académies italiennes et académies françaises ».

Articles connexes

• Civilisation gréco-romaine
• Corporations d’arts et métiers médiévales (Florence, Italie)
• Humanisme
• Maison de Médicis
• Néoplatonisme

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Giacobbe Giusti, Venus (mythology)

Giacobbe Giusti, Venus (mythology)

Detail: the face of Venus

Sandro Botticelli 

Giacobbe Giusti, Venus (mythology)

 

 

Sandro Botticelli: The Birth of Venus (c. 1486). Tempera on canvas. 172.5 cm × 278.9 cm (67.9 in × 109.6 in). Uffizi, Florence

Giacobbe Giusti, Venus (mythology)

Fresco from Pompei, Casa di Venus, 1st century AD. Dug out in 1960. It is supposed that this fresco could be the Roman copy of famous portrait of Campaspe, mistress of Alexander the Great

Giacobbe Giusti, Venus (mythology)

Bronze figurine of Venus, Lyon(Roman Lugdunum)

Giacobbe Giusti, Venus (mythology)

 

 

Venus Callipyge Giacobbe Giusti, Venus (mythology)
Artist	Anonymous
Year	1st or 2nd century BC[1]
Type	White marble
Location	National Archaeological Museum, Naples

 

Venus (/ˈviːnəs/, Classical Latin: /ˈwɛnʊs/) is the Roman goddess whose functions encompassed love, beauty, desire, sex, fertility, prosperity and victory. In Roman mythology, she was the mother of the Roman people through her son, Aeneas, who survived the fall of Troy and fled to Italy. Julius Caesar claimed her as his ancestor. Venus was central to many religious festivals, and was revered in Roman religion under numerous cult titles.

The Romans adapted the myths and iconography of her Greek counterpart Aphrodite for Roman artand Latin literature. In the later classical traditionof the West, Venus becomes one of the most widely referenced deities of Greco-Roman mythology as the embodiment of love and sexuality.

Name and attributes

Religion in ancient Rome Giacobbe Giusti, Venus (mythology)
Marcus Aurelius (head covered) sacrificing at the Temple of Jupiter
Practices and beliefs
libation sacrifice votum temples festivals ludi funerals Imperial cult mystery religions
Priesthoods
Pontifices Augures Vestales Flamines Fetiales Epulones Fratres Arvales
Deities
List of Roman deities Twelve major gods Capitoline Triad Aventine Triad underworld gods indigitamenta Deified emperors Divus Julius Divus Augustus
Related topics
Glossary of ancient Roman religion Roman mythology Ancient Greek religion Etruscan religion Gallo-Roman religion Interpretatio graeca Decline of Greco-Roman polytheism
v t e

Venus embodies sex, love, beauty, enticement, seduction, and persuasive female charm among the community of immortal gods; in Latin orthography, her name is indistinguishable from the Latin noun venus (« sexual love » and « sexual desire« ), from which it derives.^[1][2] It has connections to venerari (« to honour, to try to please ») and venia (« grace, favour ») through a possible common root in an Indo-European *wenes- or *u̯enis (« friend »). Their common Proto-Indo-European root is assumed as *wen- or *u̯en-« to strive for, wish for, desire, love »).^{[3][4][5][6][7]}

Giacobbe Giusti, Venus (mythology)

Bronze figurine of Venus, Lyon (Roman Lugdunum)

Venus has been described as perhaps « the most original creation of the Roman pantheon »,^[8] and « an ill-defined and assimilative » native goddess, combined « with a strange and exotic Aphrodite ».^[9] Her cults may represent the religiously legitimate charm and seduction of the divine by mortals, in contrast to the formal, contractual relations between most members of Rome’s official pantheon and the state, and the unofficial, illicit manipulation of divine forces through magic.^[10][11] The ambivalence of her persuasive functions has been perceived in the relationship of the root *venes- with Latin venenum (poison), in the sense of « a charm, magic philtre« .^[12]

In myth, Venus-Aphrodite was born of sea-foam. Roman theology presents Venus as the yielding, watery female principle, essential to the generation and balance of life. Her male counterparts in the Roman pantheon, Vulcan and Mars, are active and fiery. Venus absorbs and tempers the male essence, uniting the opposites of male and female in mutual affection. She is essentially assimilative and benign, and embraces several otherwise quite disparate functions. She can give military victory, sexual success, good fortune and prosperity. In one context, she is a goddess of prostitutes; in another, she turns the hearts of men and women from sexual vice to virtue.^[13]

Images of Venus have been found in domestic murals, mosaics and household shrines (lararia). Petronius, in his Satyricon, places an image of Venus among the Lares (household gods) of the freedman Trimalchio‘s lararium.^[14] Prospective brides offered Venus a gift « before the wedding »; the nature of the gift, and its timing, are unknown. Some Roman sources say that girls who come of age offer their toys to Venus; it is unclear where the offering is made, and others say this gift is to the Lares.^[15] In dice-games, a popular pastime among Romans of all classes, the luckiest, best possible roll was known as « Venus« .

Signs and symbols

Venus’ signs were for the most part the same as Aphrodite’s. They include roses, which were offered in Venus’ Porta Collina rites,^[16] and above all, myrtle (Latin murtos), which was cultivated for its white, sweetly scented flowers, aromatic, evergreen leaves and its various medical-magical properties. Venus’ statues, and her worshipers, wore myrtle crowns at her festivals.^[17] Before its adoption into Venus’ cults, myrtle was used in the purification rites of Cloacina, the Etruscan-Roman goddess of Rome’s main sewer; later, Cloacina’s association with Venus’ sacred plant made her Venus Cloacina. Likewise, Roman folk-etymology transformed the ancient, obscure goddess Murciainto « Venus of the Myrtles, whom we now call Murcia ».^[18]

Myrtle was thought a particularly potent aphrodisiac. The female pudendum, particularly the clitoris, was known as murtos (myrtle). As goddess of love and sex, Venus played an essential role at Roman prenuptial rites and wedding nights, so myrtle and roses were used in bridal bouquets. Marriage itself was not a seduction but a lawful condition, under Juno‘s authority; so myrtle was excluded from the bridal crown. Venus was also a patron of the ordinary, everyday wine drunk by most Roman men and women; the seductive powers of wine were well known. In the rites to Bona Dea, a goddess of female chastity,^[19] Venus, myrtle and anything male were not only excluded, but unmentionable. The rites allowed women to drink the strongest, sacrificial wine, otherwise reserved for the Roman gods and Roman men; the women euphemistically referred to it as « honey ». Under these special circumstances, they could get virtuously, religiously drunk on strong wine, safe from Venus’ temptations. Outside of this context, ordinary wine (that is, Venus’ wine) tinctured with myrtle oil was thought particularly suitable for women.^[20]

Roman generals given an ovation, a lesser form of Roman triumph, wore a myrtle crown, perhaps to purify themselves and their armies of blood-guilt. The ovation ceremony was assimilated to Venus Victrix (« Victorious Venus »), who was held to have granted and purified its relatively « easy » victory.^[21][22]

Cult history and temples

The first known temple to Venus was vowed to Venus Obsequens (« Indulgent Venus »^[23]) by Q. Fabius Gurges in the heat of a battle against the Samnites. It was dedicated in 295 BC, at a site near the Aventine Hill, and was supposedly funded by fines imposed on Roman women for sexual misdemeanours. Its rites and character were probably influenced by or based on Greek Aphrodite‘s cults, which were already diffused in various forms throughout Italian Magna Graeca. Its dedication date connects Venus Obsequens to the Vinalia rustica festival.^[24][25]

Giacobbe Giusti, Venus (mythology)

Remains of the Temple of Venus Genetrix in the Forum of Caesar, Rome.

In 217 BC, in the early stages of the Second Punic War with Carthage, Rome suffered a disastrous defeat at the battle of Lake Trasimene. The Sibylline oracle suggested that if the Venus Erycina (« Venus of Eryx« ), patron goddess of Carthage’s Sicillian allies, could be persuaded to change her allegiance, Carthage might be defeated. Rome laid siege to Eryx, offered its goddess a magnificent temple as reward for her defection, captured her image and brought it to Rome. It was installed in a temple on the Capitoline Hill, as one of Rome’s twelve Dii consentes. Shorn of her more overtly Carthaginian characteristics,^[26] this « foreign Venus » became Rome’s Venus Genetrix (« Venus the Mother »),^[27][27][28] As far as the Romans were concerned, this was the homecoming of an ancestral goddess to her people. Roman tradition made Venus the mother and protector of the Trojan prince Aeneas, ancestor of the Roman people. Soon after, Rome’s defeat of Carthage confirmed Venus’s goodwill to Rome, her links to its mythical Trojan past, and her support of its political and military hegemony.^[29]

The Capitoline cult to Venus seems to have been reserved to higher status Romans. A separate cult to Venus Erycina as a fertility deity,^[30] was established in 181 BC, in a traditionally plebeian district just outside Rome’s sacred boundary, near the Colline Gate. The temple, cult and goddess probably retained much of the original’s character and rites.^[30][31][31] Likewise, a shrine to Venus Verticordia (« Venus the changer of hearts »), established in 114 BC but with links to an ancient cult of Venus-Fortuna, was « bound to the peculiar milieu of the Aventine and the Circus Maximus » – a strongly plebeian context for Venus’s cult, in contrast to her aristocratic cultivation as a Stoicand Epicurian « all-goddess ».^[32]

Towards the end of the Roman Republic, some leading Romans laid personal claims to Venus’ favour. The general and dictator Sulla adopted Felix (« Lucky ») as a surname, acknowledging his debt to heaven-sent good fortune and his particular debt to Venus Felix, for his extraordinarily fortunate political and military career.^[33] His protégé Pompey competed for Venus’ support, dedicating (in 55 BC) a large temple to Venus Victrix as part of his lavishly appointed new theatre, and celebrating his triumph of 54 BC with coins that showed her crowned with triumphal laurels.^[34]

Pompey’s erstwhile friend, ally, and later opponent Julius Caesar went still further. He claimed the favours of Venus Victrix in his military success and Venus Genetrix as a personal, divine ancestress – apparently a long-standing family tradition among the Julii. When Caesar was assassinated, his heir, Augustus, adopted both claims as evidence of his inherent fitness for office, and divine approval of his rule.^[35]Augustus’ new temple to Mars Ultor, divine father of Rome’s legendary founder Romulus, would have underlined the point, with the image of avenging Mars « almost certainly » accompanied by that of his divine consort Venus, and possibly a statue of the deceased and deified Caesar.^[36]

Vitruvius recommends that any new temple to Venus be sited according to rules laid down by the Etruscan haruspices, and built « near to the gate » of the city, where it would be less likely to contaminate « the matrons and youth with the influence of lust ». He finds the Corinthian style, slender, elegant, enriched with ornamental leaves and surmounted by volutes, appropriate to Venus’ character and disposition.^[37] Vitruvius recommends the widest possible spacing between the temple columns, producing a light and airy space, and he offers Venus’s temple in Caesar’s forum as an example of how not to do it; the densely spaced, thickset columns darken the interior, hide the temple doors and crowd the walkways, so that matrons who wish to honour the goddess must enter her temple in single file, rather than arm-in arm.^[38]

In 135 AD the Emperor Hadrian inaugurated a temple to Venus and Roma Aeterna (Eternal Rome) on Rome’s Velian Hill, underlining the Imperial unity of Rome and its provinces, and making Venus the protective genetrix of the entire Roman state, its people and fortunes. It was the largest temple in Ancient Rome.^[39]

Festivals

Roman festivals

Giacobbe Giusti, Venus (mythology)

Fresco with a seated Venus, restored as a personification of Rome in the so-called ”Dea Barberini” (“Barberini goddess”); Roman artwork, dated first half of the 4th century AD, from a room near the Baptistery of San Giovanni in Laterano

Venus was offered official (state-sponsored) cult in certain festivals of the Roman calendar. Her sacred month was April (Latin Mensis Aprilis) which Roman etymologists understood to derive from aperire, « to open, » with reference to the springtime blossoming of trees and flowers.^[40]

Veneralia (April 1) was held in honour of Venus Verticordia (« Venus the Changer of Hearts »), and Fortuna Virilis (Virile or strong Good Fortune), whose cult was probably by far the older of the two. Venus Verticordia was invented in 220 BC, in response to advice from a Sibylline oracle during Rome’s Punic Wars,^[41] when a series of prodigieswas taken to signify divine displeasure at sexual offenses among Romans of every category and class, including several men and three Vestal Virgins.^[42] Her statue was dedicated by a young woman, chosen as the most pudica (sexually pure) in Rome by a committee of Roman matrons. At first, this statue was probably housed in the temple of Fortuna Virilis, perhaps as divine reinforcement against the perceived moral and religious failings of its cult. In 114 BC Venus Verticordia was given her own temple.^[43] She was meant to persuade Romans of both sexes and every class, whether married or unmarried, to cherish the traditional sexual proprieties and morality known to please the gods and benefit the State. During her rites, her image was taken from her temple to the men’s baths, where it was undressed and washed in warm water by her female attendants, then garlanded with myrtle. Women and men asked Venus Verticordia’s help in affairs of the heart, sex, betrothal and marriage. For Ovid, Venus’s acceptance of the epithet and its attendant responsibilities represented a change of heart in the goddess herself.^[44]

Vinalia urbana (April 23), a wine festival shared by Venus and Jupiter, king of the gods. Venus was patron of « profane » wine, for everyday human use. Jupiter was patron of the strongest, purest, sacrificial grade wine, and controlled the weather on which the autumn grape-harvest would depend. At this festival, men and women alike drank the new vintage of ordinary, non-sacral wine in honour of Venus, whose powers had provided humankind with this gift. Upper-class women gathered at Venus’s Capitoline temple, where a libation of the previous year’s vintage, sacred to Jupiter, was poured into a nearby ditch.^[45]Common girls (vulgares puellae) and prostitutes gathered at Venus’ temple just outside the Colline gate, where they offered her myrtle, mint, and rushes concealed in rose-bunches and asked her for « beauty and popular favour », and to be made « charming and witty ».^[46]

Vinalia Rustica (August 19), originally a rustic Latin festival of wine, vegetable growth and fertility. This was almost certainly Venus’ oldest festival and was associated with her earliest known form, Venus Obsequens. Kitchen gardens and market-gardens, and presumably vineyards were dedicated to her.^[47] Roman opinions differed on whose festival it was. Varro insists that the day was sacred to Jupiter, whose control of the weather governed the ripening of the grapes; but the sacrificial victim, a female lamb (agna), may be evidence that it once belonged to Venus alone.^[48][49]

A festival of Venus Genetrix (September 26) was held under state auspices from 46 BC at her Temple in the Forum of Caesar, in fulfillment of a vow by Julius Caesar, who claimed her personal favour as his divine patron, and ancestral goddess of the Julian clan. Caesar dedicated the temple during his unprecedented and extraordinarily lavish quadruple triumph. At the same time, he was pontifex maximus and Rome’s senior magistrate; the festival is thought to mark the unprecedented promotion of a personal, family cult to one of the Roman state. Caesar’s heir, Augustus, made much of these personal and family associations with Venus as an Imperial deity.^[50] The festival’s rites are not known.

Epithets

Giacobbe Giusti, Venus (mythology)

Imperial image of Venus suggesting influence from Syria or Palestine, or from the cult of Isis^[51]

Like other major Roman deities, Venus was given a number of epithets that referred to her different cult aspects, roles, and her functional similarities to other deities. Her « original powers seem to have been extended largely by the fondness of the Romans for folk-etymology, and by the prevalence of the religious idea nomen-omenwhich sanctioned any identifications made in this way. »^[52]

Venus Acidalia, in Virgil‘s Aeneid (1.715-722, as mater acidalia). Servius speculates this as reference to a « Fountain of Acidalia » (fons acidalia) where the Graces (Venus’ daughters) were said to bathe; but he also connects it to the Greek word for « arrow », whence « love’s arrows » and love’s « cares and pangs ». Ovid uses acidaliaonly in the latter sense. It is likely a literary conceit, not a cultic epithet.^[53]

Venus Caelestis (Celestial or Heavenly Venus), used from the 2nd century AD for Venus as an aspect of a syncretised supreme goddess. Venus Caelestis is the earliest known Roman recipient of a taurobolium (a form of bull sacrifice), performed at her shrine in Pozzuoli on 5 October 134. This form of the goddess, and the taurobolium, are associated with the « Syrian Goddess », understood as a late equivalent to Astarte, or the Roman Magna Mater, the latter being another supposedly Trojan « Mother of the Romans »^[54]

Venus Calva (« Venus the bald one »), a legendary form of Venus, attested only by post-Classical Roman writings which offer several traditions to explain this appearance and epithet. In one, it commemorates the virtuous offer by Roman matrons of their own hair to make bowstrings during a siege of Rome. In another, king Ancus Marcius‘ wife and other Roman women lost their hair during an epidemic; in hope of its restoration, unafflicted women sacrificed their own hair to Venus.^[55]

Venus Cloacina (« Venus the Purifier »); a fusion of Venus with the Etruscan water goddess Cloacina, who had an ancient shrine above the outfall of the Cloaca Maxima, originally a stream, later covered over to function as Rome’s main sewer. The shrine contained a statue of Venus, whose rites were probably meant to purify the culvert’s polluted waters and noxious airs.^[56] Pliny the Elder, remarking Venus as a goddess of union and reconciliation, identifies the shrine with a legendary episode in Rome’s earliest history, when the warring Romans and Sabines, carrying branches of myrtle, met there to make peace.^[57]

Venus Erycina (« Venus of Eryx« ), captured from Sicily and worshiped in Romanised form by the elite, and respectable matrons, at a temple on the Capitoline Hill. A later temple, outside the Porta Collina and Rome’s sacred boundary, may have preserved some Erycinian features of her cult. It was considered suitable for « common girls » and prostitutes.^[58][59]

Giacobbe Giusti, Venus (mythology)

Venus being seduced by Mars, fresco from Pompeii, 1st century AD

Venus Frutishonoured by all the Latins with a federal cult at the temple named Frutinal in Lavinium.^[60] Inscriptions found at Lavinium attest the presence of federal cults, without giving precise details.^[61]

Venus Felix (« Lucky Venus »), probably a traditional epithet, later adopted by the dictator Sulla. It was Venus’s cult title at Hadrian‘s temple to Venus Felix et Roma Aeterna on the Via Sacra. This epithet is also used for a specific sculpture at the Vatican Museums.

Venus Genetrix (« Venus the Mother »), as a goddess of motherhood and domesticity, with a festival on September 26, a personal ancestress of the Julian lineage and, more broadly, the divine ancestress of the Roman people. Julius Caesardedicated a Temple of Venus Genetrix in 46 BC. This name has attached to an iconological type of statue of Aphrodite/Venus.

Venus Heliopolitana (« Venus of Heliopolis Syriaca« ), worshipped at Baalbek. A form of Ashtart who formed a third of the Heliopolitan Triad, in which she was the consort of Jupiter(Baʿal) and mother of Mercury(Adon).^{[citation needed]}

Venus Kallipygos (« Venus with the beautiful buttocks »), worshiped at Syracuse.

Venus Libertina (« Venus the Freedwoman« ), probably arising through the semantic similarity and cultural inks between libertina (as « a free woman ») and lubentina (possibly meaning « pleasurable » or « passionate »). Further titles or variants acquired by Venus through the same process, or through orthographic variance, include Libentia, Lubentina, and Lubentini. Venus Libitina links Venus to a patron-goddess of funerals and undertakers, Libitina; a temple was dedicated to Venus Libitina in Libitina’s grove on the Esquiline Hill, « hardly later than 300 BC. »^[62]

Julius Caesar, with Venus holding Victoria on reverse, from February or March 44 BC

Crispina, wife of Commodus, with enthroned Venus Felix holding Victory on reverse

Venus Murcia(« Venus of the Myrtle »), merging Venus with the little-known deity Murcia (or Murcus, or Murtia). Murcia was associated with Rome’s Mons Murcia (the Aventine’s lesser height), and had a shrine in the Circus Maximus. Some sources associate her with the myrtle-tree. Christian writers described her as a goddess of sloth and laziness.^[63]

Venus Obsequens (« Indulgent Venus »^[23]), Venus’ first attested Roman epithet. It was used in the dedication of her first Roman temple, on August 19 in 295 BC during the Third Samnite War by Quintus Fabius Maximus Gurges. It was sited somewhere near the Aventine Hill and Circus Maximus, and played a central role in the Vinalia Rustica. It was supposedly funded by fines imposed on women found guilty of adultery.^[64]

Venus Physica: Venus as a universal, natural creative force that informs the physical world. She is addressed as « Alma Venus » (« Mother Venus ») by Lucretius in the introductory lines of his vivid, poetic exposition of Epicurean physics and philosophy, De Rerum Natura. She seems to have been a favourite of Lucretius’ patron, Memmius.^[65] Pompeii’s protective goddess was Venus Physica Pompeiana, who had a distinctive, local form as a goddess of the sea, and trade. When Sulla captured Pompeii from the Samnites, he resettled it with his veterans and renamed it for his own family and divine protector Venus, as Colonia Veneria Cornelia (for Sulla’s claims of Venus’ favour, see Venus Felix above).^[66]

Venus Urania (« Heavenly Venus »), used as the title of a book by Basilius von Ramdohr, a relief by Pompeo Marchesi, and a painting by Christian Griepenkerl. (cf. Aphrodite Urania.)

Venus Verticordia (« Venus the Changer of Hearts »). See Veneralia in this article and main article, Veneralia.

Venus Victrix (« Venus the Victorious »), a Romanised aspect of the armed Aphrodite that Greeks had inherited from the East, where the goddess Ishtar « remained a goddess of war, and Venus could bring victory to a Sulla or a Caesar. »^[67] Pompey, Sulla’s protégé, vied with his patron and with Caesar for public recognition as her protégé. In 55 BC he dedicated a temple to her at the top of his theater in the Campus Martius. She had a shrine on the Capitoline Hill, and festivals on August 12 and October 9. A sacrifice was annually dedicated to her on the latter date. In neo-classical art, her epithet as Victrix is often used in the sense of ‘Venus Victorious over men’s hearts’ or in the context of the Judgement of Paris (e.g. Canova‘s Venus Victrix, a half-nude reclining portrait of Pauline Bonaparte).

Mythology and literature

Giacobbe Giusti, Venus (mythology)

A Venus-Aphrodite velificansholding an infant, probably Aeneas,^[68]as Anchises and Luna–Selene look on (Roman-era relief from Aphrodisias)

Aphrodite

Giacobbe Giusti, Venus (mythology)

Venus and Mars, with Cupid attending, in a wall painting from Pompeii

As with most major gods and goddesses in Roman mythology, the literary concept of Venus is mantled in whole-cloth borrowings from the literary Greek mythology of her counterpart, Aphrodite. In some Latin mythology Cupid was the son of Venus and Mars, the god of war. At other times, or in parallel myths and theologies, Venus was understood to be the consort of Vulcan. Virgil, in compliment to his patron Augustus and the gens Julia, embellished an existing connection between Venus, whom Julius Caesar had adopted as his protectress, and Aeneas. Vergil’s Aeneas is guided to Latium by Venus in her heavenly form, the morning star, shining brightly before him in the daylight sky; much later, she lifts Caesar’s soul to heaven.^[69] In Ovid‘s Fasti Venus came to Rome because she « preferred to be worshipped in the city of her own offspring ».^[70] In Vergil’s poetic account of Octavian‘s victory at the sea-battle of Actium, the future emperor is allied with Venus, Neptune and Minerva. Octavian’s opponents, Antony, Cleopatraand the Egyptians, assisted by bizarre and unhelpful Egyptian deities such as « barking » Anubis, lose the battle.^[71]

In the interpretatio romana of the Germanic pantheon during the early centuries AD, Venus became identified with the Germanic goddess Frijjo, giving rise to the loan translation « Friday » for dies Veneris.

Classical art

Giacobbe Giusti, Venus (mythology)

Venus riding a quadriga of elephants, fresco from Pompeii, 1st century AD

Giacobbe Giusti, Venus (mythology)

Statue of nude Venus of the Capitoline type, Roman, 2nd century AD, from Campo Iemini, housed in the British Museum

Roman and Hellenistic art produced many variations on the goddess, often based on the Praxitlean type Aphrodite of Cnidus. Many female nudes from this period of sculpture whose subjects are unknown are in modern art history conventionally called ‘Venus’es, even if they originally may have portrayed a mortal woman rather than operated as a cult statue of the goddess.

Examples include:

• Venus de Milo (130 BC)
• Venus de’ Medici
• Capitoline Venus
• Esquiline Venus
• Venus Felix
• Venus of Arles
• Venus Anadyomene (also here)
• Venus, Pan and Eros
• Venus Genetrix
• Venus of Capua
• Venus Kallipygos
• Venus Pudica

Medieval art

Giacobbe Giusti, Venus (mythology)

Medieval representation of Venus, sitting on a rainbow, with her devotees who offer their hearts to her, 15th century.

Venus, setting fire to the castle where the Rose is imprisoned, in the medieval French romance Roman de la Rose. In this story Venus is portrayed as the mother of Cupid

Art in the classical tradition

Venus became a popular subject of painting and sculpture during the Renaissance period in Europe. As a « classical » figure for whom nuditywas her natural state, it was socially acceptable to depict her unclothed. As the goddess of sexuality, a degree of erotic beauty in her presentation was justified, which appealed to many artists and their patrons. Over time, venus came to refer to any artistic depiction in post-classical art of a nude woman, even when there was no indication that the subject was the goddess.

Giacobbe Giusti, Venus (mythology)

The Birth of Venus, by Sandro Botticelli c. 1485–1486.

Giacobbe Giusti, Venus (mythology)

Venus, Mars, and Vulcan, by Tintoretto

• The Birth of Venus (Botticelli) (c. 1485)
• Sleeping Venus (c. 1501)
• Venus of Urbino (1538)
• Venus with a Mirror (c. 1555)
• Rokeby Venus
• Olympia (1863)
• The Birth of Venus (Cabanel) (1863)
• The Birth of Venus (Bouguereau) (1879)
• Venus of Cherchell, Gsell museum in Algeria
• Venus Victrix, and Venus Italica by Antonio Canova

In the field of prehistoric art, since the discovery in 1908 of the so-called « Venus of Willendorf » small Neolithic sculptures of rounded female forms have been conventionally referred to as Venus figurines. Although the name of the actual deity is not known, the knowing contrast between the obese and fertile cult figures and the classical conception of Venus has raised resistance to the terminology.

Gallery

• 

  Venus Anadyomene (ca. 1525) by Titian

• 

  Venus with a Mirror (ca. 1555) by Titian

• 

  Venus by Frans Floris, Hallwyl Museum

• 

  Venus looking in the mirror, with Cupid attending, painting ca. 1650 – 1700, by Peter Paul Rubens

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  Mars Being Disarmed by Venus (1822–25) by Jacques-Louis David

• 

  Birth of Venus (1863) by Alexandre Cabanel

• 

  Tannhäuser in the Venusberg (1901) by John Collier

• 

  Russian Venus (1926) by Boris Kustodiev

Medieval and modern music

In Wagner‘s opera Tannhäuser, which draws on the medieval German legend of the knight and poet Tannhäuser, Venus lives beneath the Venusberg mountain. Tannhäuser breaks his knightly vows by spending a year there with Venus, under her enchantment. When he emerges, he has to seek penance for his sins.

The Dutch band Shocking Blue had a number one hit on the Billboard Top Ten in 1970 with the song titled « Venus« , which was also a hit when covered by Bananarama in 1986. The song « Venus » by the band Television from the 1978 album Marquee Moon references the Venus de Milo. There is also a song named « Venus » written, produced and sung by Lady Gaga, as well as a song named « Birth of Venus Illegitima » by the Swedish symphonic metal Therion, on the album Vovin, and the song « Venus as a Boy » by the Icelandic artist Björk. Another reference to Venus is from Billy Idol’s album « Cyberpunk » , in track # 16 titled « Venus ».

• Aphroditus
• Hermaphroditus
• Love goddess
• Lucifer
• Hottentot Venus
• Sailor Venus (Fictional Character based on myth from series Sailor Moon)
• The Golden Bough (myth of Aeneas, son of Venus)
• Venus (planet)
• Venus symbol

References

1. Jump up^ Charlton T. Lewis, Charles Short, A Latin Dictionary, 1879, « Venus », (B, Transf., at perseus.org.
2. Jump up^ Walde & Hofmann, Lateinisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed. 1938, vol. 2, p. 752-753.
3. Jump up^ J. Pokorny, Indo-European Etymological Dictionary, p. 1146-1146.
4. Jump up^ « The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000 ». Retrieved 2016-11-13.
5. Jump up^ Etymonline link (Harper).
6. Jump up^ See also William W.Skeat Etymological Dictionary of the English Language New York, 2011 (first ed. 1882) s. v. venerable, venereal, venial.
7. Jump up^ Mallory, J. P., and Adams, D. Q. (Editors), Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture, Taylor & Francis, 1997, p. 158. ISBN 1-884964-98-2
8. Jump up^ Schilling, R., p. 146.
9. Jump up^ Eden, p. 458ff. Eden is discussing possible associations between the Venus of Eryx and the brassica species Eruca sativa (known in Europe as Rocket), which the Romans considered an aphrodisiac.
10. Jump up^ R. Schilling La religion romaine de Venus depuis les origines jusqu’au temps d’ AugusteParis, 1954, pp. 13–64
11. Jump up^ R. Schilling « La relation Venus venia », Latomus, 21, 1962, pp. 3–7
12. Jump up^ Linked through an adjectival form *venes-no-: William W. Skeat ibid. s.v. « venom »
13. Jump up^ Staples, Ariadne, From Good Goddess to vestal virgins: sex and category in Roman religion, Routledge, 1998, pp. 12, 15-16, 24 – 26, 149 – 150: Varro‘s theology identifies Venus with water as an aspect of the female principle. To generate life, the watery matrix of the womb requires the virile warmth of fire. To sustain life, water and fire must be balanced; excess of either one, or their mutual antagonism, are unproductive or destructive.
14. Jump up^ Kaufmann-Heinimann, in Rüpke (ed), 197–8.
15. Jump up^ Hersch, Karen K., The Roman Wedding: Ritual and Meaning in Antiquity, Cambridge University Press, 2010, pp. 66 – 67.
16. Jump up^ Eden, P.T., Venus and the Cabbage, Hermes, 91, (1963), p. 456, citing Ovid, Fasti 4, 869-870 cf. I35-I38; Ovid describes the rites observed in the early Imperial era, when the temple environs were part of the Gardens of Sallust.
17. Jump up^ Versnel, H. S., Inconsistencies in Greek and Roman Religion, Vol. 2, Transition and reversal in myth and ritual, Brill, 1994, p. 262 [1]
18. Jump up^ Eden, pp. 457 – 8, citing Pliny the Elder, Natural History, Book 15, 119 – 121. Murcia had a shrine at the Circus Maximus.
19. Jump up^ « Bona Dea » means « The Good Goddess ». She was also a « Women’s goddess ».
20. Jump up^ Versnel, H. S., Inconsistencies in Greek and Roman Religion, Vol. 2, Transition and reversal in myth and ritual, Brill, 1994, p. 262; see also Versnel, H.S., « The Festival for Bona Dea and the Thesmophoria », Greece & Rome, Second Series, 39, 1, (Apr., 1992), p. 44, citing Plutarch, Quaestiones Romanae, 20. For the total exclusion of myrtle (and therefore Venus) at Bona Dea’s rites, see Bona Dea article.
21. Jump up^ In the Triumph, the general was drawn in a four-horse chariot before his troops. He wore Jupiter’s laurel crown, and was applauded as Jupiter’s embodiment for the day – or a king, by any other name. See Mary Beard, The Roman Triumph, The Belknap Press, 2007.
22. Jump up^ Brouwer, Henrik H. J., Bona Dea, The Sources and a Description of the Cult, Études préliminaires aux religions orientales dans l’Empire romain, 110, Brill, 1989: citing Pliny the Elder, Natural History, Book 23, 152 – 158, and Book 15, 125.
23. ^ Jump up to:^a b « The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and Rome », v. 1, p. 167
24. Jump up^ Eden, P.T., « Venus and the Cabbage » Hermes, 91, (1963) p. 456.
25. Jump up^ Schilling, R. La Religion romaine de Venus, BEFAR, Paris, 1954, p.87, suggests that Venus began as an abstraction of personal qualities, later assuming Aphrodite’s attributes.
26. Jump up^ Her Sicillian form probably combined elements of Aphrodite and a more warlike Carthaginian-Phoenician Astarte
27. ^ Jump up to:^a b Beard et al, Vol 1., pp. 80, 83: see also Livy Ab Urbe Condita 23.31.
28. Jump up^ Orlin, Eric (2007), in Rüpke, J, ed. A Companion to Roman Religion, Blackwell publishing, p. 62.
29. Jump up^ Venus’ links with Troy can be traced to the epic, mythic history of the Trojan War, and the Judgement of Paris, in which the Trojan prince Paris chose Aphrodite over Hera and Athena, setting off a train of events that led to war between the Greeks and Trojans, and eventually to Troy’s destruction. In Rome’s foundation myth, Venus was the divine mother of the Trojan prince Aeneas, and thus a divine ancestor of the Roman people as a whole. Mary Beard, The Roman Triumph, The Belknap Press, 2007, p. 23. The Punic Wars saw many similar introductions of foreign cult, including the Phrygian cult to Magna Mater, who also had mythical links to Troy. See also Beard et al., Vol. 1, p. 80.
30. ^ Jump up to:^a b Lipka, Michael, Roman Gods: A Conceptual Approach, Brill, 2009, pp. 72-73: Lipka gives a foundation date of 181 BC for Venus’ Colline temple.
31. ^ Jump up to:^a b Orlin, Eric M., « Foreign Cults in Republican Rome: Rethinking the Pomerial Rule », Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome, Vol. 47 (2002), pp. 4, 8, 14.
32. Jump up^ Mario Torelli, Typology and Structure of Roman Historical Reliefs, University of Michigan Press, 1992, pp. 8 – 9: the aristocratic ideology of an increasingly Hellenised Venus is « summarized by the famous invocation to Venus Physica in Lucretius‘ poem. »
33. Jump up^ Plutarch’s original Greek translates this adopted surname, Felix, as Epaphroditus (Aphrodite’s beloved); see Plutarch, Sulla 19.9.
34. Jump up^ Beard, 2007, pp. 22 – 23.
35. Jump up^ Orlin, in Rüpke (ed), pp. 67 – 69: « At the battle of Pharsalus, Caesar also vowed a temple, in best republican fashion, to Venus Victrix, almost as if he were summoning Pompey’s protectress to his side in the manner of an evocatio. Three years after Pompey’s defeat at the battle of Actium, Caesar dedicated his new Roman Forum, complete with a temple to his ancestor Venus Genetrix, « apparently in fulfillment of the vow ». The goddess helped provide a divine aura for her descendant, preparing the way for Caesar’s own cult as a divus and the formal institution of the Roman Imperial cult.
36. Jump up^ Beard et al., Vol 1, pp. 199 – 200.
37. Jump up^ Immediately after these remarks, Vitruvius prescribes the best positioning for temples to Venus’ two divine consorts, Vulcan and Mars. Vulcan’s should be outside the city, to reduce the dangers of fire, which is his element; Mars’ too should be outside the city, so that « no armed frays may disturb the peace of the citizens, and that this divinity may, moreover, be ready to preserve them from their enemies and the perils of war. » Book 1, 7,1.
38. Jump up^ The widely spaced, open style preferred by Vitruvius is eustylos. The densely pillared style he criticises is pycnostylos. Book 3, 1, 5.
39. Jump up^ See James Grout, Encyclopedia Romana, « Temple of Venus and Rome, » online. See also Beard et al., Vol. 1, pp. 257 – 8, 260.
40. Jump up^ The origin is unknown, but it might derive from Apru, an Etruscan form of Greek Aphrodite’s name.[2]
41. Jump up^ Either the Sibylline Books (Valerius Maximus, 8. 15. 12) or the Cumaean Sibyl (Ovid, Fasti, 4. 155 – 62).
42. Jump up^ See Staples, Ariadne, From Good Goddess to vestal virgins: sex and category in Roman religion, Routledge, 1998, pp. 105 – 9.
43. Jump up^ Carter, Jesse Benedict, « The Cognomina of the Goddess ‘Fortuna,' » Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association, Vol. 31, 1900, p. 66. [3]
44. Jump up^ Langlands, p. 59, citing Ovid, Fasti, 4. 155 – 62. Romans considered personal ethics or mentality to be functions of the heart.
45. Jump up^ Olivier de Cazanove, « Jupiter, Liber et le vin latin », Revue de l’histoire des religions, 1988, Vol. 205, Issue 205-3, pp. 245-265 persee
46. Jump up^ Staples, p. 122, citing Ovid, Fasti, 4,863 – 872.
47. Jump up^ Vegetable-growers may have been involved in the dedications as a corporate guild: see Eden, P.T., « Venus and the Cabbage » Hermes, 91, (1963) p. 451.
48. Jump up^ For associations of kind between Roman deities and their sacrificial victims, see Victima.
49. Jump up^ Lipka, Michael, Roman Gods: A Conceptual Approach, Brill, 2009, p. 42; citing Varro, Lingua Latina, 6. 16; Varro’s explicit denial that the festival belongs to Venus implies his awareness of opposite scholarly and commonplace opinion. Lipka offers this apparent contradiction as an example of two Roman cults that offer « complementary functional foci ».
50. Jump up^ Sulla may have set some form of precedent, but there is no evidence that he built her a Temple. Caesar’s associations with Venus as both a personal and state goddess may also have been propagated in the Roman provinces. See James Rives, « Venus Genetrix outside Rome », Phoenix, Vol. 48, No. 4 (Winter, 1994), pp. 294-306.
51. Jump up^ Description from Walters Art Museum
52. Jump up^ See Eden, p. 457. For further exposition of nomen-omen (or nomen est omen) see Del Bello, Davide, Forgotten paths: etymology and the allegorical mindset, The Catholic University of America Press, 2007, p.52 ff. [4]
53. Jump up^ O’Hara, J ames J., « The Significance of Vergil’s Acidalia Mater, and Venus Erycina in Catullus and Ovid », Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, Vol. 93, 1990, pp. 335-342
54. Jump up^ Turcan, p. 141 – 143.
55. Jump up^ R. Schilling La religion romaine de Venus depuis les origines jusqu’au temps d’AugustParis, 1954, pp. 83–89: « L’origine probable du cult de Venus ». Ashby (1929) finds the existence of a temple to Venus Calva « very doubtful »; see Samuel Ball Platner (completed and revised by Thomas Ashby), A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome, London, Oxford University Press, 1929, p551.[5]
56. Jump up^ Eden, p. 457, citing Pliny the Elder, Natural History, Book 15, 119 – 121.
57. Jump up^ Pliny the Elder, Natural History, 15, 119, cited in Wagenvoort, p. 180.
58. Jump up^ Beard et al., Vol 1., pp. 80, 83: see also Livy Ab Urbe Condita 23.31.
59. Jump up^ Thomas A. J. McGinn, Prostitution, Sexuality, and the Law in Ancient Rome, Oxford University Press, 1998, p.25.
60. Jump up^ Paulus-Festus s. v. p. 80 L: Frutinal templum Veneris Fruti. Strabo V 3, 5: « At the midway between Ostia and Antium lies Lavinium that has a sanctuary of Aphrodite common to all Latin nations, but which is under the care of the Ardeans, who have entrusted the task to intendents ».
61. Jump up^ CIL X 797: « Sp. Turrianus Proculus Gellianus… pater patratus…Lavinium sacrorum principiorum p(opuli) R(omani) Quirt(ium) nominisque Latini qui apud Laurentis coluntur« . Cited in B. Liou-Gilles « Naissance de la ligue latine. Mythe et culte de fondation » in Revue belge de philologie et d’histoire 74 1996 1 p.85.
62. Jump up^ See Eden, p. 457. Varro rationalises the connections as « lubendo libido, libidinosus ac Venus Libentina et Libitina » (Lingua Latina, 6, 47).
63. Jump up^ Augustine, De civitate Dei, IV. 16; Arnobius, Adversus Nationes, IV. 9. 16; Murcus in Livy, Ab Urbe Condita, 1, 33, 5 – cf murcidus = « slothful ».
64. Jump up^ Staples, Ariadne, From Good Goddess to vestal virgins: sex and category in Roman religion, Routledge, 1998, p. 89.
65. Jump up^ Elisabeth Asmis, « Lucretius’ Venus and Stoic Zeus », Hermes, 110, (1982), p. 458 ff.
66. Jump up^ A. Lill, « Myths of Pompeii: reality and legacy », Baltic Journal of Art History, 2011, p. 141, online (accessed 19 August 2013)
67. Jump up^ Thus Walter Burkert, in Homo Necans (1972) 1983:80, noting C. Koch on « Venus Victrix » in Realencyclopädie der klassischen Altertumswissenschaft, 8 A860-64.
68. Jump up^ Sometimes interpreted as Eros-Cupid, as a symbol of the sexual union between the goddess and Anchises, but perhaps alluding also to the scene in the Aeneid when Dido holds Cupid disguised as Ascanius in her lap as she falls in love with Aeneas.
69. Jump up^ Venus as a guide and protector of Aeneas and his descendants is frequent motif in the Aeneid. See discussion throughout M. F. Williams, The Sidus Iulium, the divinity of men, and the Golden Age in Virgil‟ s Aeneid, Leeds International Classical Studies, 2003 « Archived copy »(PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-06-11. Retrieved 2014-03-23.
70. Jump up^ Orlin, Eric M., « Foreign Cults in Republican Rome: Rethinking the Pomerial Rule », Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome, Vol. 47 (2002) University of Michigan Press, p. 4, note 14, citing Ovid, Fasti, 4.876.
71. Jump up^ Vergil, Aeneid, 8.696-700.

Sources

• Beard, M., Price, S., North, J., Religions of Rome: Volume 1, a History, illustrated,Cambridge University Press, 1998.
• Champeaux, J. (1987). Fortuna. Recherches sur le culte de la Fortuna à Rome et dans le monde romain des origines à la mort de César. II. Les Transformations de Fortuna sous le République. Rome: Ecole Française de Rome, pp. 378–395.
• Eden, P.T., « Venus and the Cabbage, » Hermes, 91, (1963), pp. 448–459.
• Hammond, N.G.L. and Scullard, H.H. (eds.) (1970). The Oxford Classical Dictionary. Oxford: Oxford University Press. (p. 113)
• Langlands, Rebecca (2006). Sexual Morality in Ancient Rome. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-85943-1. [6]
• Lloyd-Morgan, G. (1986). « Roman Venus: public worship and private rites. » In M. Henig and A. King (eds.), Pagan Gods and Shrines of the Roman Empire (pp. 179–188). Oxford: Oxford Committee for Archaeology Monograph 8.
• Nash, E. (1962). Pictorial Dictionary of Ancient Rome Volume 1. London: A. Zwemmer Ltd. (pp. 272–263, 424)
• Richardson, L. (1992). A New Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome. Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press. (pp. 92, 165–167, 408–409, 411) ISBN 0-8018-4300-6
• Room, A. (1983). Room’s Classical Dictionary. London and Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul. (pp. 319–322)
• Rüpke, Jörg (Editor), A Companion to Roman Religion, Wiley-Blackwell, 2007. ISBN 978-1-4051-2943-5
• Schilling, R. (1982) (2nd ed.). La Religion Romaine de Vénus depuis les origines jusqu’au temps d’Auguste. Paris: Editions E. de Boccard.
• Schilling, R., in Bonnefoy, Y., and Doniger, W. (Editors), Roman and European Mythologies, (English translation), University of Chicago Press, 1991. pp. 146. [7]
• Scullard, H.H. (1981). Festivals and Ceremonies of the Roman Republic. London: Thames and Hudson. (pp. 97, 107)
• Simon, E. (1990). Die Götter der Römer. Munich: Hirmer Verlag. (pp. 213–228).
• Staples, Ariadne (1998). From Good Goddess to Vestal Virgins: Sex and Category in Roman Religion. London: Routledge. ISBN 0415132339.
• Turcan, Robert (2001). The Cults of the Roman Empire. Blackwell. ISBN 0631200460.
• Wagenvoort, Hendrik, « The Origins of the goddess Venus » (first published as « De deae Veneris origine », Mnemnosyne, Series IV, 17, 1964, pp. 47 – 77) in Pietas: selected studies in Roman religion, Brill, 1980.
• Weinstock, S. (1971). Divus Julius. Oxford; Clarendon Press. (pp. 80–90)
• Gerd Scherm, Brigitte Tast Astarte und Venus. Eine foto-lyrische Annäherung (1996), ISBN 3-88842-603-0

•  Venus (dea)

: Venus (mythology)

• Britannica Online Encyclopedia
• The Roman goddess Venus – highlights at The British Museum
• Warburg Institute Iconographic Database (ca 2,300 images of Venus)
• ‘Venus Chiding Cupid for Learning to Cast Accounts’ by Sir Joshua Reynolds at the Lady Lever Art Gallery

[hide] v t e Ancient Roman religion and mythology
Deities	Apollo Bellona Bona Dea Castor and Pollux Ceres Cupid Diana Dīs Pater Egeria Fauna Faunus Flora Genius Hercules Janus Juno Jupiter Lares Liber Libertas Lucina Mars Mercury Minerva Orcus Neptune Penates Pluto Pomona Priapus Proserpina Quirinus Saturn Silvanus Sol Venus Vesta Vulcan Abstract deities Abundantia Aequitas Concordia Fides Fortuna Pietas Roma Salus Securitas Spes Victoria Terra
Legendary figures	Aeneas Rhea Silvia Romulus and Remus Numa Pompilius Tullus Hostilius Servius Tullius Ancus Marcius Lucius Tarquinius Priscus Lucius Tarquinius Superbus
Texts	Virgil Aeneid Ovid Metamorphoses Fasti Propertius Apuleius The Golden Ass Varro
Concepts and practices	Religion in ancient Rome Festivals Interpretatio graeca Imperial cult Temples
See also	Glossary of ancient Roman religion Greek mythology Myth and ritual Classical mythology Conversion to Christianity Decline of Greco-Roman polytheism

Authority control	WorldCat Identities VIAF: 30332680 LCCN: no2014047547 GND: 11876800X SUDOC: 027548708 BNF: cb11956554n (data) NDL: 00956904

Categories:

• Venus (mythology)
• Love and lust goddesses
• Fertility goddesses
• Roman goddesses
• Deities in the Aeneid
• Sexuality in ancient Rome
• Mother goddesses

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus_(mythology)

http://www.giacobbegiusti.com

 

Giacobbe Giusti, Stèle de victoire du roi Naram-Sin

Giacobbe Giusti, Stèle de victoire du roi Naram-Sin

Artist Unknown Description Victory stele of Naram-Sin [1] Limestone Brought back from Sippar to Susa as war prize in the 12th century BC Dimensions 2 m high, 1.05 wide Current location (Inventory)Louvre Museum   Native name Musée du Louvre Location Paris

Giacobbe Giusti, Stèle de victoire du roi Naram-Sin

Giacobbe Giusti, Stèle de victoire du roi Naram-Sin

Stèle de victoire du roi Naram-Sin

Artiste	Inconnu
Date	vers 2254-2213 av. J.-C.
Type	Calcaire
Technique	Sculpture, bas-relief
Dimensions (H × L)	200 × 105 cm
Localisation	Musée du Louvre, département des Antiquités Orientales du Louvre, Paris (France)
Numéro d’inventaire	Sb 41

La stèle de victoire du roi Naram-Sin est une stèleaujourd’hui parcellaire édifiée en l’honneur de la victoire de Naram-Sin, roi de l’empire d’Akkad, sur un peuple rebelle du Zagros, les Lullubis. Elle est aujourd’hui conservée au département des Antiquités Orientales du musée du Louvre.

Contexte historique

Durant le règne de Naram-Sin, le peuple des Lullubis, habitant dans le Zagros, se rebelle. Après avoir maté la révolte, le roi akkadien fait ériger cette stèle en son honneur à Sippar. Celle-ci fut enlevée au xii^e siècle av. J.-C. par le roi médio-élamite Shutruk-Nahhunte pour être transportée à Suse. Il y fait graver une inscription en élamite comme sur toutes les œuvres qu’il rapporta de ses expéditions, au niveau de la montagne figurée sur la stèle. Celle-ci fut retrouvée le 6 avril 1898 par l’archéologue Jacques de Morgan sur le tell de l’acropole de Suse.

Description

La stèle de victoire de Naram-Sin constitue un jalon majeur dans la sculpture de cette époque. En effet, il s’agit de la première stèle connue réalisée en bas-relief à s’affranchir de la notion de registre. Ainsi, l’histoire n’est plus racontée scène par scène, mais d’un seul tenant, rassemblant dans la même représentation l’arrivée des troupes akkadiennes, la bataille, la défaite des Lullubis et le triomphe de Naram-Sin. Qui plus est, cette stèle est la première à mettre le roi au même niveau que le dieu. Ainsi, Naram-Sin est représenté en taille héroïque et porte un casque orné de cornes, symbole de divinité au Proche-Orient ancien.

La stèle, aujourd’hui fragmentaire, devait à l’origine être de forme longiligne et son sommet arrondi. Au sommet de la stèle, des astres (sept supposés lorsque la stèle était complète), allégories des dieux veillant sur Akkad. Représenté en taille héroïque surplombant la bataille, Naram-Sin se distingue des soldats par sa coiffe divine, un casque à une paire de corne. Il porte un arc ainsi qu’une lance et est vêtu d’un pagne court adapté au combat. Le roi est ici clairement un guerrier. Il ne fait pas que commander au combat, il participe à la bataille. Naram-Sin se trouve au sommet d’une montagne (le Zagros) sur laquelle se déroule la bataille. Sur le flanc gauche, les Akkadiens, à droite les Lullubis. Les Akkadiens sont représentés tous identiques, marchant d’un pas déterminé vers l’ennemi, tandis que ces derniers sont en pleine débandade. Certains Lullubis supplient le roi de les épargner tandis que d’autres fuient ou tombent sous les coups des Akkadiens. L’un d’entre eux chute d’ailleurs de la montagne, créant une ligne verticale séparant les vainqueurs des vaincus. Un autre s’écroule face à Naram-Sin après avoir reçu de sa main une lance dans la gorge.

La scène est d’une violence évidente, caractéristique de l’art akkadien où les peuples vaincus sont représentés enchainés nus, si ce n’est exécutés. On note également la présence de décor (un arbre, la montagne) sur la stèle, ce qui est également inédit.

Notes et références

1. ↑ Notice n^o 11955 [archive], base Atlas, musée du Louvre

Annexes

Sur les autres projets Wikimedia :

• Stèle de victoire du roi Naram-Sin, sur Wikimedia Commons

Liens externes

• Noticen^o 11955 [archive], base Atlas, musée du Louvre
• « Descriptions sur le site du Musée de Louvre » [archive] (consulté le 19 août 2012)

Bibliographie

 : document utilisé comme source pour la rédaction de cet article.

• Agnès Benoit, Art et archéologie : Les civilisations du Proche-Orient Ancien, Paris, Réunion des Musées Nationaux, École du Louvre, coll. « Manuels de l’École du Louvre », 2007, p. 260-261
• Pierre Amiet, L’art d’Agadé au musée du Louvre, Paris, Éditions des Musées nationaux, 1976, p. 29-32
• (en) Irene Winter, On Art in the Ancient Near East : Volume II From the Third Millennium B.C.E., Leyde et Boston, Brill, coll. « Culture and history of the ancient Near East », 2010, p. 85-149

 Giacobbe Giusti, Stèle de victoire du roi Naram-Sin

The Victory Stele of Naram Sin

The Victory Stele of Naram-Sin is a stele that dates to approximately 2254-2218 BC, in the time of the Akkadian Empire. The reliefmeasures six feet in height and was carved in pink limestone. It depicts the King Naram-Sin of Akkad leading the Akkadian army to victory over the mountain people, the Lullubi. It shows a narrative of the King crossing the steep slopes into enemy territory; on the left are the ordered imperial forces keeping in rank while marching over the disordered defenders that lay broken and defeated. Naram-Sin in shown as by far the most important figure; he is shown towering over his enemy and troops and all eyes gaze up toward him. The weak and chaotic opposing forces are shown being thrown from atop the mountainside, impaled by spears, fleeing and begging Naram-Sin for mercy as well as being trampled underfoot by Naram-Sin himself. This is supposed to convey their uncivilized and barbaric nature making the conquest justified.^[1]

The stele is unique in two regards. Most conquest depictions are shown horizontally, with the King being at the top-center. This stele depicts the victory in a diagonal fashion with the King still being at the top-center but where everyone else can look up to him. The second unique aspect of the piece is that Naram-Sin is shown wearing a bull-horned helmet or shown as the face of lion. Helmets of this type at the time when this stele was commissioned were only worn by the Gods. This stele is in essence telling the viewer that Naram-Sin is a victorious conqueror as a result of his divine status. But it also shows Naram-Sin gazing up toward two stars. Showing that although Naram-Sin is a god, a feat that was up to this point only achieved by deceased kings, he is still not the most powerful of gods.

Rediscovery

The stele was found at the Iranian site of Susa. It was taken out of Mesopotamia by the Elamite King Shutruk-Nakhunte in the 12th century BC. Shutruk-Nakhunte was a descendant of the Lullubi people, whose defeat the stele commemorated. He also claimed to carry the stele there himself. The already ancient inscription was kept, indicating respect for Naram-Sin’s victory. He did, however, add an inscription declaring his own glory and tells how the stele was carried out of the city after the pillage of the city Sippar.^[2] The stele now resides inside of the Louvre in Paris.

Giacobbe Giusti, Stèle de victoire du roi Naram-Sin

Narrative

Naram-Sin is shown in hierarchic scale as a god-like figure on the stele, he is looked up to by all others shown. He is supported by his ordered troops and feared by his defeated enemies. His face is that of lion or bull, signifying his powers. He is also depicted by showing no mercy to his enemy. One of the defeated people pleas for their lives on the top right as they run from Naram-Sin. This is for good reason because he is shown stepping on the dead body of one of the Lullubi people after kicking another off the side of the mountain. He has stabbed another in the neck with a spear and is holding an arrow to perhaps impale the next. The Lullubi people are shown in stark contrast to the Akkadian soldiers they are shown as a disorganized chaotic mess of individuals being trampled underfoot by the very organized Akkadians.^[3]

The Lullubi grovel before the conqueror who has destroyed them and will show no mercy. This was created to justify the conquest of the people of that region. They were seen as uncivilized and barbaric and the much stronger Akkadians deserve to rule over them. It is also there to strike fear into the hearts of any rebels that wish to challenge the rule of the King. This shows his lack of mercy and that any resistance is futile. But more is told about Naram-Sin through this stele. When a figure is shown wearing a horned helmet in Akkad at the time they would commonly considered a god. Here Naram-Sin is wearing just such a helmet and shows the viewer that Naram-Sin is in fact a god-king. Now future generations would commonly associate Naram-Sin as a possessor of great hubris but that didn’t stop him telling everyone he was a god throughout his life. And this stele is by far the most famous image of him.^[4][5]

The low depth, typical of similar reliefs, is unusual in the diagonal composition (compare the scenes on the Standard of Ur). This was perhaps to create a more interesting composition or to perhaps allow everyone depicted in the scene to look up to Naram-Sin. Naram’s horned helmet and much larger size show him as powerful and godly. Perhaps given his divine and godly power, the sun could have been the god to give him his power.

The text under the sun was written in Akkadian cuneiform and depicts the rise of the Akkadians over the Lullubians. Naram-Sin leading his army into destroying the last of the Lullubians shows just how powerful the Akkadians and Naram-Sin truly are and they are not a group to reckon. Naram-Sin thought of himself as godly, which explains his depiction as very god-like.^[6]

Notes

1. Jump up^ « Archived copy ». Archived from the original on June 10, 2013. Retrieved May 16,2013.
2. Jump up^ « Victory Stele of Naram-Sin ». http://www.mtholyoke.edu. Retrieved 20 July 2017.
3. Jump up^ « The Victory Stele of Naram-Sin – Art Time Traveling! ». sommerville88.wordpress.com. Retrieved 20 July 2017.
4. Jump up^ « Naram-Sin ». Ancient History Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2015-11-16.
5. Jump up^ « Victory Stele of Naram-Sin | Louvre Museum | Paris ». http://www.louvre.fr. Retrieved 2015-11-16.
6. Jump up^ Westenholz, Joan Goodnick. Legends of the Kings of Akkade.

References

• Pierre Amiet, L’art d’Agadé au musée du Louvre, Paris, Éditions des Musées nationaux, 1976, p. 29-32
• Pierre Amiet: Altakkadische Flachbildkunst, in Propyläen Kunstgeschichte XVIII, p. 196–197 Taf. 104.
• Agnès Benoit: Agnès Benoit, Art et archéologie : Les civilisations du Proche-Orient Ancien, Paris, Réunion des Musées Nationaux, École du Louvre, coll. Manuels de l’École du Louvre, 2007, p. 260-261
• Irene Winter, On Art in the Ancient Near East : Volume II From the Third Millennium B.C.E.,Leyden & Boston, Brill, coll. Culture and history of the ancient Near East, 2010, p. 85-149

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victory_Stele_of_Naram-Sin

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