[First posted in AWOL 29 October 2013, updated 8 June 2024]
Mirabilia: Revista Eletrônica da Antiguidade e Idade Média / Eletronic Journal of Antiquity and Middle Ages
ISSN 1676-5818
The word Mirabilia in latin is a neutral plural adjective which means "admirable things" or "wonders" and comes from the verb mirare, to regard, look at. Therefore, this name evokes the admirable aspects of the ancient and the medieval times.
The Journal Mirablia is an on line publication which provides articles, documents and academic reviews produced by scholars of Ancient and Medieval History from all over the world interested in increase and debate their interests.
This publication is connected to the deeper concept of Cultural History, which is expressed in the relationship between History and the other fields of knowledge and centers its studies in the literaires, religious, philosophycal and artistical aspects of those areas and their relationship in time and space.
The Journal Mirabilia intends not only to unite the studies of different branches in human sciences, but also to link the areas of Ancient and Medieval History in Brazil. The reason of this ambition is a simple one: the Brazilian scholars and students have a great difficulty to access the sources and the recent publications, an habitual problem to the countries of the Third World. Therefore, by approaching the two areas and providing them with opportunity of reaching the research findings in Brazil and abroad, We intend to strenghten the Brazilian studies of Ancient and Medieval History, proportioning to a greater number of people the acess to the result of the researches currently developed.
Games from Antiquity to Baroque
Ricardo da COSTA; Nicolás MARTÍNEZ SÁEZ
Original title: Juegos desde la Antigüedad al Barroco
Special Issue
Forgotten games: lost forever or still salvageable?
Ulrich SCHÄDLER
Original title: Juegos olvidados: ¿perdidos para siempre o aun salvables?
Keywords: Ancient Archaeology, Board games, Rules.
In this article we propose to reflect on the reconstruction of the rules of ancient board games. Is it possible to know the original rules? What can we do to reconstruct them? The research project Locus ludi deals with modules of game rules that, in theory, can be combined in any way. In this way, it is possible to test the functionality of game rule variants or reconstruction proposals, and even to create family trees.
Astragalomanteion, Sortes Sanctorum, Sortes Monacenses: stratification of gaming practices and cultural traditions from Early Antiquity to the Middle Ages
Marco TIBALDINI
Keywords: Ancient divinatio, Astragalomanteia, Astragals, Casting lots, Dice, Homeromanteia, Knucklebones, Lots, Medieval divination, Oracle, Sortes Monacenses, Sortes Sanctorum.
This paper analyses the complex relation between board games and divination, and the role those randomizing elements like dice and knucklebones played in it. It presents several literary quotations that show how the tradition of casting lots to take important decisions was diffused. It includes pieces of Sumerian and Akkadian, Hebrew, Greek and Latin literature referred to lots, and especially those related to the use of knucklebones and dice. It also outlines the stratification of divinatory practices based on gaming tools since the antiquity to the late Middle Age. It analyses the Astragalomanteia and Homeromanteia, and their points of contact with the Sortes Sanctorum and the Sortes Monacenses.
Alexander Neckam (1157-1217): On dice players. Study and translation
Nicolás MARTÍNEZ SÁEZ; Lucía GARCÍA ALMEIDA
Original title: Alejandro Neckam (1157-1217): Sobre los jugadores de dados. Estudio y traducción
Keywords: Alexander Neckam, Christianity, De naturis rerum, Dice games, Games of chance.
In the first centuries of Christianity, theologians and philosophers viewed with suspicion and contempt both games in general, because they were considered pagan superstitions, and board games in particular, which, associated with gambling, made any Christian lose his head. Aleae or games of chance, where dice were used, were forbidden, and condemned by numerous councils and moral treatises. In this sense, at the end of the 12th century, the English philosopher Alexander Neckam, as a continuator of an antiludic Christian tradition, included in a chapter of his encyclopedia De naturis rerum a section dedicated to dice players where he explains their negative consequences: robbery, fights, economic ruin, and blasphemy. This paper presents, together with an introductory study, the only translation in Spanish, as far as we know, of chapter 183 of book II of De naturis rerum.
Flavors of Celebration: Food and Public Festivities in Al-Andalus
Mourad EL FAHLI
Original title: Sabores de Celebración: Alimentación y Festividades Públicas en Al-Andalus
Keywords: Al-Andalus, Culinary Traditions, Cultural Elements, Entertainment, Festive Celebrations, Religious Diversity.
This scholarly investigation intricately navigates the captivating juncture where festive celebrations intersect with culinary traditions within the historical context of Al-Andalus, offering nuanced insights into their pivotal function as forms of public entertainment. By immersing into historical archives, literary compositions, and culinary manuscripts, this scholarly inquiry unveils the multifaceted interplay of Islamic, Christian, and Jewish influences, culminating in a vibrant and culturally intricate culinary panorama. The analytical exploration delves into iconic celebrations such as ʿĪd al-Fitr and ʿĪd al-Adḥā, where Islamic practices seamlessly intertwined with the fabric of Arabic culinary heritage. Similarly, festivities such as al-ʿAnṣara and Nawrūz, which emanated from Christian and Jewish traditions, eloquently demonstrated the harmonious convergence of diverse cultural facets. Manifested through opulent arrays of tantalizing gastronomic offerings, these celebratory banquets embodied notions of opulence, camaraderie, and collective elation. The Andalusi disposition, oscillating between restrained modesty and opulent abundance, contributed an additional stratum of intricacy. In its essence, the cultural synthesis discernible within Al-Andalus vividly underscores how the amalgamation of multifarious culinary traditions served as a bridge between communities, facilitating the commemoration of unity during an embrace of religious diversity.
Tracing the Origins of Checkmate Patterns and Paths in Alfonso X’s Libro de los juegos
Sonja MUSSER GOLLADAY
Keywords: Alfonso X the Wise, Checkmate Pattern, Chess, Libro de los juegos, Libro del acedrex, Retrograde Problem Analysis, Shatranj.
The present study interrogates Alfonso X’s bibliographic sources through his chess problems’ checkmates and move patterns.
A kind of joy: the Wise King games
Braulio VÁZQUEZ CAMPOS
Original title: Manera de alegría: los juegos del Rey Sabio
Keywords: Alfonso X the Wise, Astrology, Astronomy, Backgammon, Chess, Dice, Game, Middle Ages, Philosophy, Political thought, Worldview.
The «Book of Games» is one of the most luxurious works to have emerged from the scriptorium in the service of King Alfonso X the Wise, but it is also one of the most content rich. It constitutes the foremost evidence of the board games played in the Castilian court in the 13th century, especially chess, backgammon, and dice. Its pages not only encompass explanations of the mechanics and strategy of these recreational activities, but also display an entire world view through allegories, metaphors, philosophical discussions, and political interpretations. This paper endeavours to dissect each of these aspects.
Army, game, and social order: an approach to the cosmic metaphor of the justification of war in De bello by Juan de Legnano
Emiliano ALDEGANI; Lucía GARCÍA ALMEIDA
Original title: Ejército, juego y orden social: una aproximación a la metáfora cósmica de la justificación de la guerra en De bello de Juan de Legnano
Keywords: Game, Huizinga, Legnano, Middle Ages, War.
The aim of this paper is to point out the articulation between the celestial order and the military order expressed in the work of the medieval jurist John of Legnano (14th century) in the Tractatus de Bello, de Represaliis et de duello. In the introduction to his book, he states that ‘human war’ reflects war in the divine order, which leads the author to justify the military conflicts present in his time as coming from God, a hypothesis that he supports based on the testimonies offered by the Gospels. Thus, in the first chapter, he divides war into Spiritual, celestial, or human warfare and Corporal, universal or warfare. In addition, some central ideas of the medievalist Johan Huizinga, in his work Homo ludens, on the sacred meaning of victory in the context of medieval military confrontations, which is deeply related to the meaning of victory in the game, will be recovered. Based on this key reading, the aim is to contextualise Legnano's conception within the framework of the canonical understandings of the foundations of war conflicts that prevailed in the late medieval period.
Faces in Pieces
David PARLETT
Keywords: Abstractionism and representationalism, Ancient and medieval board games, Board and card games, Early card games, Perceptions of play, Properties of a game, Race games, Traditional and proprietary games, War games.
The perception of game pieces and boards as actors and theatres of play is a natural human propensity and has been expressed in many ways throughout the history of games. This paper explores some of the ways, with particular reference to chess and card games, that enable us to appreciate how people of the Past drew on themselves and their surroundings to breathe life into otherwise abstract procedures of formal games.
The imaginary of the Christian Beyond in a Board Game: a playful tool for Teaching Medieval History
Adriana ZIERER; Solange Pereira OLIVEIRA
Original title: O imaginário do Além Cristão num jogo de tabuleiro: uma ferramenta lúdica para o Ensino de História Medieval
Keywords: Beyond Medieval, Board Game, History Teaching, Medieval Imaginary.
This article addresses the theme of the imaginary of the Christian Beyond in an authorial game, in board mode, as a playful tool for teaching-learning in Medieval History. With this teaching resource, which has great potential for teaching, we intend to establish a mobilization of playful knowledge about the possibilities of approaches to Christian religiosity in the medieval historical context. We will share the methodological process of creating and receiving the practice of playing in different learning spaces, because of the experiences of applicability of this game, which aims to help teachers and students who do not have the technique of developing analog games in the medieval period and in others. different historical temporalities.
Game, war and law in Tommaso Azzi’s De ludo scacchorum in legale methodo tractatus (1583)
Giuliano MARCHETTO
Original title: Gioco, guerra e diritto nel De ludo scacchorum in legali methodo tractatus (1583) di Tommaso Azzi
Keywords: Diritto, Gioco, Guerra, Ordine civiltà, Umanesimo giuridico.
Il De ludo scacchorum in legali methodo tractatus (1583) del giurista Tommaso Azzi non è realmente un trattato sul gioco degli scacchi, ma un’opera che affronta varie questioni giuridiche. Tra i temi ricorrenti del De ludo troviamo il tema della guerra. La tesi di questo saggio è mostrare come la stretta connessione tra guerra, gioco degli scacchi e diritto stabilita da Azzi sia funzionale all’affermazione di una idea di guerra giusta ricalcata sul gioco. Tale guerra deve quindi possedere le caratteristiche proprie del gioco: regole severe, uno spazio limitato e ordinato in cui svolgersi, una posizione di uguaglianza tra le parti. Il trattato si inserisce così all’interno di una tradizione che, sottolineando le similitudini tra guerra e gioco, rappresenta la guerra come un fenomeno regolato, all’interno di un percorso di “civilizzazione”.
Playing “Pythagoras” in Padua and Florence: a Sixteenth-Century Rithmomachia manuscript at the University of Pennsylvania
Ann E. MOYER
Keywords: Florence, History of Education, History of Mathematics, Padua, Pythagoreanism, Rithmomachia, Universities.
A manuscript in the Lawrence J. Schoenberg Collection at the University of Pennsylvania Libraries (UPenn LJS 232) contains a manual for the medieval game rithmomachia by Carlo di Ruberto Strozzi, preceded by a brief treatise on proportion by Benedetto Varchi, both in vernacular; they were inspired by the Latin publication of Jacques Lefèvre d’Etaples. An examination of the treatise and the circle of learned Florentines involved in its production offer an example both of the ways that the game spread in European university cultures, and the limits of interest in the Boethian mathematics of proportion that the game was intended to exercise.
Play, bullfight and society in the mausoleum of Augustus (Rome): 16th-18th centuries
José Antonio GONZÁLEZ ALCANTUD
Original title: Juego, toros y sociedad en el mausoleo de Augusto (Roma): siglos XVI-XVIII
Keywords: 17th century, Bullfighting, Games, Giostra, Mausoleum of Augustus.
The Mausoleum of Augustus in Rome was a funerary and sacred space, which in the Middle Ages evolved into a defensive space, and in the Modern Age into a place that hosted games and shows, particularly bullfighting and chivalry (giostra). It reached its zenith at the end of the 18th century. However, its archaeological component, however, prevented the "naturalization" of game and place, as in some Roman amphitheatres in southern France, or as a spectacle, as in the case of the opera in the arena of Verona. Today, nothing reminds us of its popular past as an amphitheatre in Corea, home of Roman amusements.
The Way to Heaven: religious instruction in the seventeenth century through Jesuit board games
Adrian SEVILLE
Keywords: 17th century, Art History, Board game history, Emblematics, France, Jesuits, Missionaries in Canada, Missionaries in Turkey, Religious instruction.
During the 17th century, French Jesuits adapted the well-known jeu de l’oie (Game of the Goose) for the purposes of religious instruction in their foreign Missions. These games consisted of a series of religious emblems arranged to form a spiral track, the movement of tokens along this being determined by chance, subject to particular rules. The earliest of these games, the Jeu du Point au Point, is analysed in detail, giving historical background and explanation of the emblems and their significance. Two similar Jesuit games are surveyed and compared with other religious games of the period. It is evident that the visual image played a commanding role in Jesuit education.
Articles
The discussion on the origin of evil in Pseudo-Dionysius Areopagite’s De divini nominibus and its dependence on Proclus’ De malorum subsistentia
Matteo RASCHIETTI
Original title: A discussão sobre a origem do mal no De divini nominibus do Pseudo-Dionísio Areopagita e sua dependência do De malorum subsistentia de Proclo
Keywords: Neoplatonism, Origin of Evil, Parhypostasis, Proclus, Pseudo-Dionysius Areopagite.
There are strong similarities between chapter IV of Pseudo-Dionysius Areopagita’s De divini nominibus and Proclus’ De malorum subsistentia, as pointed out by the research of Hugo Koch and Joseph Stiglmayr at the end of the 19th century, revealing a dependence of the former on the latter. The purpose of this article is to analyze this relationship of dependence and its consequences in the history of the interpretation of pseudodionysian works.
Aspects in Boethius (480-524) and his use of topical arguments and hypothetical syllogisms
Luana Talita da CRUZ
Original title: Aspectos lógicos em Boécio (480-524) e seu uso de argumentos tópicos e silogismos hipotéticos
Keywords: Boethius, Hypothetical Syllogisms, Medieval Logic, Topical Arguments.
This paper intends to draw attention to logical aspects to be found in Boethius’s works. Our intention is to highlight a connection between topical arguments and hypothetical syllogisms as well as the way Boethius uses a logical approach as the foundation of his philosophical arguments in treatises other than his commentaries on specific logical theories.
The mulier of Saint Isidore of Seville and the Fathers of the Church. Aristolelian configurations
Pedro Carlos Louzada FONSECA
Original title: A mulier de Santo Isidoro de Sevilha e os Padres da Igreja. Configurações aristotélicas
Keywords: Aristotle, Fathers of the Church, Middle Ages, Theology and Religious Doctrine.
This article examines the presence of postulates of Ancient Science presented by Aristotle about the anatomy and physiology of the parents in the generation of animals in his book Generatione animalium [Generation of animals], which starts from the biology of the genders to reach ideological values about the male and the female. female, Widespread in the Middle Ages, the teachings of Aristotle influenced the thought and religious literature of the period of the so-called Fathers of the Church. Through comparison, the article traces of this Aristotelian theme in Saint Isidore of Seville, Saint Anselm, and Saint Thomas Aquinas with the critical purpose of concluding that the theology and morals of religious doctrine were in many respects debtors of the classical legacy of Greek Antiquity, very well represented by the well-known Stagirite.
The traces of Blessed Ramon Llull in Sermo IV and Sermo CXCIII of Cardinal Nicholas of Cusa
Manuel ORTUÑO ARREGUI
Original title: Las huellas del beato Ramon Llull en el Sermo IV y Sermo CXCIII del cardenal Nicolás de Cusa
Keywords: Faith and Reason, Nicholas of Cusa, Ramon Llull, Sermons.
The aim of this paper has been to present some features of the relationship between Faith and Reason based on the interest of Nicholas of Cusa (1401-1464) in the work of Ramon Llull (1232-1316). Specifically, we have focused on two of his sermons: Sermo IV: “Fides autem catholica”, and Sermo X: “Beati mundo corde”, which represent an indisputable example of the lulian traces in the conception of the relationship between Faith and Reason in the work of the Cusan. In his analysis we discover the use of two foundations: on the one hand, the quotation of Isaiah 7, 9 to reaffirm the idea that faith is the beginning of science; and on the other hand, the use of the analogy of water and oil, which was already recognized in patristic authors, and which was generalized by St. Augustine. Augustine. In short, we can see an evolution of his thought from his youth (Sermo IV) to his maturity (Sermo X), which undoubtedly leads to the confirmation of Nicholas of Cusa's adherence to the model of lulian thought in the dialogue Faith and Reason.
At the Dawn of Modernity. Music and Painting in the time of Afonso V (1396-1458), the Magnanimous
Ricardo da COSTA; Alexandre Emerick NEVES; Antonio Celso RIBEIRO
Original title: Na Alvorada da Modernidade. Música e Pintura no tempo de Afonso V (1396-1458), o Magnânimo
Keywords: Afonso the Magnanimous, Crown of Aragon, Hispano-Flemish Art, Renaissance Music.
Estudo da música renascentista e da pintura hispano-flamenga da corte napolitana da Coroa de Aragão durante o reinado de Afonso V, o Magnânimo (1396-1458) à época do Poemário (Dictats) de Ausiàs March (c.1397-1459).
The play of divine beauty: Bronzino’s decoration of the Chapel of Eleonora in the Palazzo Vecchio (1541-1543)
Thainan Noronha de ANDRADE
Keywords: Agnolo Bronzino, Chapel of Eleonora, Neoplatonism.
Starting in 1540, Cosimo I de' Medici (1519-1574) commissioned a series of structural and decorative reforms in the old seat of the Republic of Florence, the Palazzo della Signoria, transforming it into the official residence of his principato. One of the first artistic commissions ordered by the duke was the chapel dedicated to his wife, Eleonora de Toledo (1522-1562), decorated in fresco by Agnolo Bronzino (1503-1572) between 1541 and 1543. This chapel stands out as one of the earliest and most significant examples of the Florentine aesthetic language from the mid-16th century. Resulted from a series of artistic and theoretical developments that took place in the first half of the century, it is characterized by highly symbolic expressiveness whose content manifests in a polysemic manner, simultaneously incorporating various levels of meaning, including political, religious, and philosophical elements. In this sense, the present study analyzes the respective pictorial cycle considering the Neoplatonic aesthetic speculations circulating within Italian and Florentine culture, influencing contemporary conceptions of the nature of artistic beauty and its appreciation, linking this process to a broader attitude that characterized Medici patronage.
Imaginari: the absent present in the Baroque
Waldir BARRETO; Thais CAREZZATO
Original title: Imaginari: a presença ausente no Barroco
Keywords: Absence, Baroque, Imagination, Presence.
This essay presents an introductory and speculative approach to the paradigmatic change that occurred between the 16th and 17th centuries in the artistic treatment of the idea of “presence in absence”. Based on some comparative categories by Heinrich Wölfflin and semiotics by Charles Peirce, taken as merely functional tools and not directive concepts, it proposes the Baroque as the starting point of a historical process of relativization, opening and expansion of the space constituting a work of art.
Iconographic analysis of the Façade of the Temple of San Pablo, in Yuriria, Guanajuato
Carmen Fabiola MORENO VIDAL
Original title: Análisis iconográfico de la Portada del Templo de San Pablo, en Yuriria, Guanajuato
Keywords: Apollo, Augustinians, Caliculus, Candelieri, Façade, Hades, Heracles canephores, Yuriria.
The plateresque doorway of the temple of San Pablo in Yuriria, incorporates elements of the classical world with a clear Christological allusion where the representation of Apollo is a prefiguration of Christ and Hades of death through sin, which are in permanent struggle and for this reason they are represented as archers facing each other, sirens are evil beings who tempt with their songs and canephores are carriers of divine grace through the abundance of fruits of the earth and food dishes. The program of the theological discourse is organized in eminently didactic terms where the abundance of nutritious food for man can only be given through divine mercy. The novelty of this Façade is the profuse decoration with caliculus, these are present in all the bodies and in an infinity of compositions, in addition to incorporating in the auction the holy founder of the Augustinian order, of gigantic dimensions, making this one of the most notable convent Façade of the 16th century in Mexico.
Can a Christian agree with the “modern values” of Modernity about abortion and homosexuality?
Eirini ARTEMI
Keywords: Abortion, Church Fathers, Homosexuality, Orthodoxy, Sodomy.
Today, many people insist that their body belongs to them and they are free to use it as they want. Some argue that homosexuality and abortion are morally reprehensible and other try to embody in a law their moral or immoral convictions. Christianity refuses sodomy and abortion. God forbids the killing of innocent human beings because we are made in his image. Moreover, according to the doctrine of the Orthodox Church, fetus is a perfect human being since its conception. As for homosexuality, God created Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve, or Eve and Mary. Of course, a very small percentage of homosexuals indicate a genetic basis for their homoerotic sexual orientation. Is homosexuality accepted by Christianity in this case? What do the Church Fathers believe about that? People who support abortions argue that it is up to the woman to decide whether it is right for her to have an abortion because it is her body. Some Christians believe that a woman has a right to a safe abortion, and that it shows compassion if the law allows this. Here is the mistake, our body does not belong to us, it is a creature of God, and we should pray for the miracle in any case. We are the directors of our body, not the masters. Roman Catholics and Orthodox Christian believe that abortion is morally wrong because of their belief that human life begins at conception. They may make an exception if an abortion is essential to save the life of the mother (the 'principle of double effect'), assuming all efforts have been made to save the fetus. So, the sin of wilfully aborting a child, except in those very rare situations where it may be necessary to save the life of the mother, is a sinful act, totally contrary to the will of God. Additionally, the homosexuality is condemned in the Bible and by Church Fathers. Is there a common place between traditional and modern values? How can religious people face these new “values”?
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