La clava d’oro di Ercole
In the ancient world, Hercules was considered the guardian of homes, warriors, shepherds, merchants, trades, sources, and, in particular, of healthy waters. This paper will focus on his role of guardian of health, sexuality and female fertility by focussing on the custom of wearing jewellery in form...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | Italian |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Salvatore Sciascia EDITO R. E.
2016
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| In: |
Mythos
Year: 2016, Volume: 10, Pages: 173-191 |
| Further subjects: | B
Clava
B Ercole B Jewellery B Gioielli B Amulet B Amuleto B Club B Fecundity B Fertilità B Hercules |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (kostenfrei) Volltext (kostenfrei) |
| Summary: | In the ancient world, Hercules was considered the guardian of homes, warriors, shepherds, merchants, trades, sources, and, in particular, of healthy waters. This paper will focus on his role of guardian of health, sexuality and female fertility by focussing on the custom of wearing jewellery in form of Hercules’ club. The club is one of his most important attributes and its use as jewel was especially popular starting from the Hellenistic period. These pendants and earrings were amulets: mainly made of gold, sometimes with engraved helpful and encouraging inscriptions; they have been found either isolated or in graves, or as part of treasures, and their owners were women and children. When the club is represented, on some magical gems, along with an image of the womb, it was meant to control it, to keep out dangers, and to soothe its eventual pains. Nel mondo antico Ercole era ritenuto il protettore delle abitazioni, dei guerrieri, dei pastori, dei mercanti e dei commerci, delle sorgenti e in particolare delle acque ritenute salutari. In questa sede ci si soffermerà invece sul suo ruolo di protettore della salute, della sessualità e della fecondità femminile, collegandolo all’uso, particolarmente diffuso tra epoca ellenistica e quarto secolo, di gioielli a forma di clava, uno dei suoi attributi più significativi. Questi pendenti e orecchini, realizzati prevalentemente in oro, su cui sono talvolta presenti iscrizioni augurali e rinvenuti isolatamente, in tombe o come parte di tesori, erano dunque degli amuleti, i cui proprietari erano donne e bambini. Infatti se rappresentata assieme all’utero su alcune gemme magiche, la clava aveva il compito di controllarlo, di allontanare i pericoli e placare i dolori ad esso collegati. |
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| ISSN: | 2037-7746 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Università degli studi di Palermo. Dipartimento culture e società, Mythos
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.4000/mythos.496 |