Article ID: CBB270297435

L'ombra della iena. Un animale magico nella cultura filosofica del Rinascimento (2004)

unapi

The alimentary habits of the hyena (eating corpses) and the sexual nature ascribed to this animal since Antiquity (hermaphrodism) were essential as to its negative connotations during the Middle Ages. The hyena was used in the condemnation of sodomy, it represented Satan or the Jews, or else it was used as a symbol of capital vices and sins. During the Renaissance, the concept of hyena assumes new meanings, for instance as a negative symbol of pernicious flattery in Bruno's Cantus circaeus. Moreover, ancient views on its presumed magical powers, not completely unknown during the Middle Ages, became quite influential. Especially in Ficino, the hyena's capacity for putting spells on dogs with its shadow became an argument for assigning a real nature to the umbra, seen as a distinct level on the scale of being and knowledge. This type of referring to the hyena in ontological and epistemological contexts was resumed by Bruno, who in De monade appears to intertwine it with his polemics against Christianity.

...More
Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB270297435/

Similar Citations

Article Lorenzo Bianchi; (2011)
Rorario tra Naudé e Bayle (/isis/citation/CBB157477355/)

Book Granada, Miguel A.; (2001)
Cosmología, teología y religión en la obra y en el proceso de Giordano Bruno (/isis/citation/CBB000101281/)

Article Mariafranca Spallanzani; (2011)
Descartes e il 'paradosso' degli animali-macchina (/isis/citation/CBB729063793/)

Article Stefano Gensini; (2015)
Cureau de la Chambre sulla conoscenza e il linguaggio degli animali (/isis/citation/CBB741633575/)

Book Fudge, Erica; (2004)
Renaissance Beasts: Of Animals, Humans, and Other Wonderful Creatures (/isis/citation/CBB000550061/)

Article Ornella Pompeo Faracovi; (2014)
Occasioni mancate: un dibattito su magia, ermetismo e rivoluzione scientifica (/isis/citation/CBB891457864/)

Article Angelika Bönker-Vallon; (2012)
Mathematisches Denken bei Giordano Bruno: Wege der Interpretation (/isis/citation/CBB458478124/)

Article Hoare, Philip; (2013)
Cetology: How Science Inspired Moby-Dick (/isis/citation/CBB001320419/)

Chapter Silvia Fazzo; (2012)
Nicolas le Péripatéticien, dit le Damascène: notes pour une étude (/isis/citation/CBB502087285/)

Article Charles Burnett; (2018)
Natural Death and the Alleviation of Old Age in the Middle Ages (/isis/citation/CBB019798186/)

Thesis Visoni-Alonzo, Gilmar E.; (2000)
Lyrical dialectic as historiographical discourse in the Italian dialogues of Giordano Bruno (/isis/citation/CBB001560960/)

Article Pietro Daniel Omodeo; (2008)
La Stravagantographia di un 'filosofo stravagante' (/isis/citation/CBB293553910/)

Article Giannis Stamatellos; (2018)
Plotinus’ Concept of Matter in Giordano Bruno’s De La Causa, Principio Et Uno (/isis/citation/CBB654220199/)

Book Bruno, Giordano; (1999)
Des fureurs héroïques (/isis/citation/CBB000111416/)

Book Asúa, Miguel de; French, Roger; (2005)
A New World of Animals: Early Modern Europeans on the Creatures of Iberian America (/isis/citation/CBB000501530/)

Authors & Contributors
Gensini, Stefano
Letizia Barozzi
Stamatellos, Giannis
Visoni-Alonzo, Gilmar E.
Spallanzani, Mariafranca
Pompeo Faracovi, Ornella
Concepts
Philosophy
Natural philosophy
Zoology
Animal behavior
Animals
Religion
Time Periods
Renaissance
16th century
17th century
Medieval
Early modern
Ancient
Places
Italy
Europe
Mediterranean region
France
Turin (Italy)
Spain
Comments

Be the first to comment!

{{ comment.created_by.username }} on {{ comment.created_on | date:'medium' }}

Log in or register to comment