Evil Spirits and the Symbolic Physiognomy of the Devil
in the Holy Scriptures, in Dante, in Botticelli’s Drawings, in medieval Bestiaries and Bas-reliefs from Ascoli and the Marche
Contents
- Meanings of monstra
- The Serpent-Demon (the Leviathan)
• The Asp and the Adder
• The throng of serpents in the seventh Bolgia
- Questions and doubts
- The devil
• The “black devil”
• The “black Cherubim”
- The mermaid
- The seducer
Here, I broke with my previous subject-matter. I introduced a new method that tries to combine scientific accuracy and some elements, so to speak, of spectacle: explanations alternated with slide shows, and recitations in which the actress Barbara Capponi provided a second voice. There are two reasons for using this method of exposition: it avoids boring the audience with long speeches by a single voice, and it underlines the encyclopaedic complexity of the subject.
Istituto Superiore di Studi Mediovali, “Cecco d’Ascoli”, Ascoli Piceno, 1999.
• Download pdf
