Orazio Olivieri, The Owl and the Moon , Batesville, Mori Editore, 2004
The Statue Stele of the Val di Magra are, almost two centuries, always in the spotlight and the subject of continuing interest, by both insiders and by outsiders. Each new discovery is seen as an event and, as such, receives a good advertising media, which increasingly feeds the curiosity of the crowds and, occasionally, even some scholars!
We say so because, in fact, it is the part of professionals that is a disconcerting silence that has lasted for some years and, in addition to fanciful speculations popular that you can count on several particular blogs and websites, there seems to be a total stagnation in the interpretation of the meaning of the stone statues. The last really significant contribution, in fact, dates back to 1990 when it was published an interesting summary in two volumes of Romulus Formentini, which exposes you some of his theories, the result of years of research in this field, who were literally colophony for the cautious and uncertain academic landscape of the time. The result was indeed that, despite formal presentations at the European level, the Formentini received only a weak solidarity by a professor from Eastern Europe, with whom he had collaborated. For the rest, only silence and fear that this silence would last forever.
Fortunately, however, Mori Aulla publisher has published an original study by Orazio Olivieri, entitled The Owl and the Moon, in which the author presents his own interpretation to the phenomenon of stone statues, including them as a must in the wide panorama of European statuary and votive finding meaningful connections that strengthen his argument.
With great humility and with a capacity of narrative, the author takes us through the Old Europe, through the cults incredibly similar to each other in a primitive owl-goddess, which later give rise to well over Notes Mediterranean deities such as Athena / Minerva, Tanit, Astarte, Ishtar / Innanna. The competent and attractive full-page illustrations by Maria Pia Binazzi allow us to see, to touch with hand the similarities and differences between the European stone statues, a journey lasting more than three millennia, whose guidelines are always the owl and the moon.
The owl and the moon, linked together by a magical link as well as natural (and, at times, because natural magic), are symbols that are even dark hints on the statues stele, in the case stylized face said just "a flirt" stele of group A and in the crescent shape of the stele group B, those commonly called "policeman's hat."
may therefore be that an ancient cult the owl and the moon has arrived in Lunigiana, after crossing the Mediterranean and have fascinated many people? Orazio Olivieri does not claim to be certain that, to date, no one could give, but is content to propose a hypothesis, now well aware of the impossibility to prove it though, not for this, not sure of his goodness. Olivieri's interpretation, in fact, it seems plausible and charming, importantly, seems to fit nicely with the hypothesis, albeit different, now that the Formentini formulated twenty years ago. Perhaps, as they say, the truth lies somewhere in between.
We say so because, in fact, it is the part of professionals that is a disconcerting silence that has lasted for some years and, in addition to fanciful speculations popular that you can count on several particular blogs and websites, there seems to be a total stagnation in the interpretation of the meaning of the stone statues. The last really significant contribution, in fact, dates back to 1990 when it was published an interesting summary in two volumes of Romulus Formentini, which exposes you some of his theories, the result of years of research in this field, who were literally colophony for the cautious and uncertain academic landscape of the time. The result was indeed that, despite formal presentations at the European level, the Formentini received only a weak solidarity by a professor from Eastern Europe, with whom he had collaborated. For the rest, only silence and fear that this silence would last forever.
Fortunately, however, Mori Aulla publisher has published an original study by Orazio Olivieri, entitled The Owl and the Moon, in which the author presents his own interpretation to the phenomenon of stone statues, including them as a must in the wide panorama of European statuary and votive finding meaningful connections that strengthen his argument.
With great humility and with a capacity of narrative, the author takes us through the Old Europe, through the cults incredibly similar to each other in a primitive owl-goddess, which later give rise to well over Notes Mediterranean deities such as Athena / Minerva, Tanit, Astarte, Ishtar / Innanna. The competent and attractive full-page illustrations by Maria Pia Binazzi allow us to see, to touch with hand the similarities and differences between the European stone statues, a journey lasting more than three millennia, whose guidelines are always the owl and the moon.
The owl and the moon, linked together by a magical link as well as natural (and, at times, because natural magic), are symbols that are even dark hints on the statues stele, in the case stylized face said just "a flirt" stele of group A and in the crescent shape of the stele group B, those commonly called "policeman's hat."
may therefore be that an ancient cult the owl and the moon has arrived in Lunigiana, after crossing the Mediterranean and have fascinated many people? Orazio Olivieri does not claim to be certain that, to date, no one could give, but is content to propose a hypothesis, now well aware of the impossibility to prove it though, not for this, not sure of his goodness. Olivieri's interpretation, in fact, it seems plausible and charming, importantly, seems to fit nicely with the hypothesis, albeit different, now that the Formentini formulated twenty years ago. Perhaps, as they say, the truth lies somewhere in between.
0 comments:
Post a Comment