A Polemical Iconography: the Magi from Orient
Patricia Grau-Dieckmann
Original title: Una Iconografía polémica: los Magos de Oriente
Published in Expressing the Divine: Language, Art and Mysticism
Keywords: Art, Epiphany, Iconography, Magic, Three Wise Men, Worship.
"… there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem" briefly informs Mathews Gospel about these illustrious visitors that - following a star - arrive from the east to worship Baby Jesus. He further tells that they fell on their knees and "presented him with gifts - gold, incense and myrrh". Later apocryphal tales and popular narratives beautify and adorn the legends about these mysterious characters. Very early does art reflect the iconography of the worship of the magi, known as "Epiphany". This scene will mutate through time and will develop into the sumptuous representation of the royal characters that became the Three Wise Men. Early Christian art may offer a key to the understanding of whom they were, what were they looking for and what were the reasons that justify the importance of the scene of the Epiphany within the frame of this new religion - Christianism - that tried to expand among the gentiles.
Religious formulae with prophylactic purposes within the Andalusi context
Alejandro RAMOS RODRÍGUEZ
Original title: Fórmulas religiosas con finalidad profiláctica en el contexto andalusí
Published in
Keywords: Epigraphy, Islam, Magic, Religion, Talisman.
This article presents a group of metal artifacts, which are usually classified as talismans. In these artifacts we can read epigraphic engraved legends that are related to Koran and other Islamic religious formula. This fact displays the close relationship existing between magic and religion as parts of a cosmology concerning the belief in a supernatural world. This relationship is avoided or denied by the Orthodox Establishment, although it is spread among Al-Andalus population.
The Magical Knowledge of Medea
Maria Regina Candido
Original title: O Saber mágico de Medéia
Published in Mirabilia 1
Keywords: Greek, Greek woman, Magic, Medea, Myth, Tragedy.
The Medea is one the most remarkable and important imaginative works in all western literature. Medea is presented, initially as victim, but she is able to strike and pursue her revenge on a heroic homeric way.
