The elephant is one of the animals that particularly struck the medieval imagination. This is certainly due to the many legends and historical tales that mention it. Think of those of Pyrrhus or the even more famous onesRead More
The lamb, together with the sheep and the ram, is one of the main symbols of Christian art and was already extremely widespread in the early days of Christianity when, in times of persecution, the first Christians preferredRead More
Numbers play a fundamental role in the Bible and, in particular, in the book of Revelation, the text that most influenced medieval art. The Fathers of the Church, especially Origen and St Augustine, dealt with it extensively, asRead More
In the Christian imagination, hell is seen as a place of torment, an underground world of eternal fire, of punishment for the wicked and so on. But why is it so similar to the hell as depicted byRead More
The snake and the dragon is a very complex figure also from a symbolic point of view. For this reason, here we will address some aspects without claiming to cover the entire topic. Let’s start by saying thatRead More
The lion is not only one of the most constant presences in Romanesque iconography, but it is certainly one of the most complex and difficult to interpret. Its nature is not only ambivalent but sometimes even appears contrasting.Read More
This article is a first step in following Satan’s trail, and draws mainly on the Old Testament to discover that, when all is said and done, YHWH, the God of the Jews, and Satan have much more inRead More
The being that is half human and half fish is a very common type of depiction in other areas too, but in Europe no other monstrous being can boast such a complex transformation, both physically and symbolically. EvenRead More
One God, infinite God, omnipotent God… This is what we have always been taught. A principle that, in fact, is a dogma of faith. So everything is fine and dandy? In reality it’s not so simple, especially whenRead More
