Immortal Mortality: Erasmus, Terminus and the Two Missing Skulls

From the 1510s onwards, Desiderius Erasmus adopted the image of the Roman god Terminus, together with the motto “concedo nulli” (I yield to none) as his private emblem, which became part of his consciously shaped self-representation. According to Erasmus’ own explanation, Terminus served as a symbol of mortality, but since he was a master of ambiguity, it could also have symbolised immortality for him. The article aims to unravel Erasmus’ true relationship to this particular emblem, which ironically seems to have endured even beyond his death. In order to uncover this, it will build on selected texts from Erasmus’ oeuvre, several of his personal belongings, as well as the well known engravings of him made by Dürer and Holbein.