Some Thoughts on the Sphinx’s Symbolism
Cristóbal MACÍAS VILLALOBOS
Original title: Algunas consideraciones sobre el simbolismo de la Esfinge
Published in Emotions in the Ancient and Medieval Mediterranean World
Keywords: Femme Fatale, Oedipus, Riddle of the Sphinx, Sphinx, Symbolism.
The Greek Sphinx, probably of Egyptian origin, was known in Antiquity not only as a funeral spirit and guardian of tombs, but especially as that creature who dares to ask Oedipus a question about the nature of human identity. This dialectic encounter between hero and beast has been interpreted in many different ways, giving rise to a rich symbolic tradition that extends almost to the present day. This paper presents some key moments of this tradition in both literature and art.
The sacred and the profane in the Three Wise Kings. From the Middle Ages to their origins
Irene ROMO PODERÓS
Original title: Lo sagrado y lo profano en los Reyes Magos. De la Edad Media a los orígenes
Published in
Keywords: Magi, Middle Ages, Representation, Symbolism.
In the countries of Christian tradition as well as in many others to different degrees the story of the “Three Wise Men” of the East is known who, according to the Christian version, gave their offerings to the “King of Kings” on his birth. However, beyond the myth, who were the so called Magi who according to one legend left behind trails of aromatic herbs in their wake? Are they based on real figures? Is their symbolic origin to be found in the sacred or in the profane? The purpose of this article is to explore the idea of the Three Magician of the East and to try to clarify its historical, legendary, secular and religious aspects. It will also try to show its role as a religious tool used to condition secular thought in medieval Europe. In this way, it will try to analyze how the figure of the Magi constitutes an artistic and literary symbol used for the propagation of Christianity in Medieval Europe, an example of the sacred versus secular dichotomy so characteristic of that continent. To do this, it will explore a variety of different aspects of the culture in the medieval period, as it is in this moment that the representation of the Magi as they are known today is definitively fixed in human memory.
