زن و اژدها در هنر پیشامدرن

The motif of the woman and the dragon has been prevalent in Western art since antiquity, yet has hitherto remained understudied, and artworks featuring this motif in Western Mediterranean cultures have been examined primarily in relation to the topos of the male dragon-slayer. This book analyzes artistic images of women and dragons over an extensive period, from Classical Greece and Rome (with forays to Egypt and Mesopotamia) to the early modern period in Western Europe. The unique methodology employed in the study of this motif reveals its sacred core, as well as its relationship to rituals of fertility and oracular knowledge, to the liminal realm between life and death, and to the symbolism of Great Mother goddesses. At the same time, the images explored throughout expose stereotypes and biases against women in unusual positions of power, which were embedded in the motif and persisted in Western European art. Cover 1 Table Of Contents 6 Acknowledgments 8 Introduction 10 Aims of the Book 11 Outline 12 Methodology 15 State of the Arts and Theoretical Background 18 Key concepts 21 1. The Dragon 24 2. The Cave and the Womb: The Myth of Cadmus and the Myth of Apollo and Python 48 Cadmos – Following the Cow to the Cave 49 Apollo and Python and/or Delphyne – The Oracle and the Dragon 72 Python and Drakōn – The Dragon is the Goddess and the Cave 87 3. Eligible Wives and Monstrous Women: Andromeda and Medusa 90 The Eligible Wife: Andromeda and Perseus 92 Medusa – The Dangerous Woman 110 The Permitted Versus the Forbidden Woman 123 4. Medea – The Holy Woman and the Witch 128 The Myth of Medea 130 The Healer and the Witch: Medea in Iolcus 140 Feeding the Dragon: Medea in Colchis 145 Serpents in the Soul: Medea in Corinth 159 Sin and Repentance: Representations of Medea on Sarcophagi 177 The Analogy between Women and Dragons 184 5. Eve and Lilith — Christianizing the Great Goddess and the Dragon 194 Eve – Christianizing the Great Goddess and the Dragon 195 Lilith – The She-Demon of Childbirth 210 6. Saint Margaret – Taming the Dragon 228 The legenda 230 The Iconography of Saint Margaret from the Tenth to Fifteenth Century 236 The Dissonance between Literary and Visual Sources 262 The Role of Saint Margaret in Childbirth Rituals 265 Conclusion 274 Bibliography 282 Primary Sources 282 Secondary Sources 290 Catalogues, Dictionaries, and Encyclopedias 324 Electronic Sources 325 Index 328