Search engine for discovering works of Art, research articles, and books related to Art and Culture
Javascript must be enabled to continue!
The Serpent Column and the talismanic ecologies of Byzantine Constantinople
View through CrossRef
This study examines how the Serpent Column in Constantinople came to be recognized as a talisman against snakes and snakebites in the 1390s. It first gives a working definition of what a talisman was in Byzantium. It shows that, despite the co-existence of different ideas of what talismans were, they share the basic principle that the talisman acts within a broader network of non-human forces and entities. Second, it shows how contemporaries used this understanding of talismans when they began to recognize the Serpent Column as a talisman.
Title: The Serpent Column and the talismanic ecologies of Byzantine Constantinople
Description:
This study examines how the Serpent Column in Constantinople came to be recognized as a talisman against snakes and snakebites in the 1390s.
It first gives a working definition of what a talisman was in Byzantium.
It shows that, despite the co-existence of different ideas of what talismans were, they share the basic principle that the talisman acts within a broader network of non-human forces and entities.
Second, it shows how contemporaries used this understanding of talismans when they began to recognize the Serpent Column as a talisman.
Related Results
Physician and miracle worker. The cult of Saint Sampson the Xenodochos and his images in eastern Orthodox medieval painting
Physician and miracle worker. The cult of Saint Sampson the Xenodochos and his images in eastern Orthodox medieval painting
Saint Sampson, whose feast is celebrated on June 27, was depicted among holy
physicians. However, his images were not frequent. He was usually
accompanied with Saint Mokios (...
Redemption for the Serpent: The Reception History of Serpent Material from the Physiologus in the Greek, Latin, and Syriac Traditions
Redemption for the Serpent: The Reception History of Serpent Material from the Physiologus in the Greek, Latin, and Syriac Traditions
Abstract
The Physiologus is a patristic text containing allegorical interpretations of animals. This article examines the Greek, Latin, and Syriac reception history of the serpent...
The strange case of the three-column screenplay format in 1950s Czechoslovakia
The strange case of the three-column screenplay format in 1950s Czechoslovakia
In the nationalized Czechoslovak film industry, between 1952 and 1956, eight very rare three-column screenplays appeared. The historical evidence of this different screenplay forma...
Gurdjieff in Constantinople
Gurdjieff in Constantinople
Abstract
George Gurdjieff (1866–1949) and his students’ stay in Constantinople in 1920–1921 remains a blank spot in the movement’s history. Very few records relating to this pe...
The Serpent and H PAXIA in Gregory of Nyssa
The Serpent and H PAXIA in Gregory of Nyssa
Of all the ways in which the serpent has been employed in literature for moral purposes one of the most striking is found in two passages of Gregory of Nyssa in which the serpent a...
Constantinople as 'New Rome'
Constantinople as 'New Rome'
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:DocumentProperties> <o:Revision>0</o:Revision> <o:TotalTime>0</o:TotalTime> <o:Pages>1</o:Pages> &...
A Factory of Magnificence: Themistius, Thucydides, and Constantinople
A Factory of Magnificence: Themistius, Thucydides, and Constantinople
In Themistius’orations there are many clear and direct references to the Greek literature of the 5th and 4th centuries BCE. However, there are also more subtle references to these ...
Serpent in the Night Sky; Amigo’s Blue Guitar; Tessera 11 (Winter/Hiver 1991) “Performance/Transformance”
Serpent in the Night Sky; Amigo’s Blue Guitar; Tessera 11 (Winter/Hiver 1991) “Performance/Transformance”
Among other things, Warren’s and MacLeod’s plays enact the shifting complexities of brother/sister relationships. In Warren’s play, Serpent in the Night Sky, Duff and his sister St...