Homo signorum
The pictorial representation of zodiacal melothesia is referred to as homo signorum ( German : zodiac sign man ) , i.e. H. that central concept of premodern, astrology- based medicine ( iatromathematics ), which assigned the twelve signs of the zodiac and their influence to the regions of the human body . The display is usually one-half of a medical illustration set consisting of two separate parts , which is completed by a picture of a bloodletting male.
Because of its paramount importance in medical practice between the 13th and 18th centuries, images of Homo signorum can be found in innumerable handwritten and printed sources from medieval and early modern Europe.
Origins
The theoretical basis for the zodiac man is the medieval concept of the connection between micro- and macrocosm, based on ancient roots. The human being as a microcosm ( mundus minor "small world") and thus also his physical processes correspond to the events in the macrocosm , ie. H. especially the processes that take place in the supralunar spheres. This is the basic paradigm of astrology based on magical thinking, the anthropocentric aspects of which are particularly strongly manifested in Homo signorum .
The teaching that the signs of the zodiac dominate different parts of the human anatomy probably goes back to the collection of writings of the (pseudo-) Nechepso-Petosiris . In the 1st century AD, the Roman writer Manilius introduced the zodiacal melothesy in the Astronomicon (book 2, main part XI) briefly, but already as a fully developed system. As a result, the concept gained considerable influence in astrological medicine. Even the rejection of the Catholic Church, which at the Provincial Council of Braga rejected the Melothesia thesis as incompatible with Christian doctrine, could not stop its triumphant advance in the Middle Ages. Especially through the translation of Syntaxis mathematica , the main work of the ancient scholar Ptolemy , in the Almagest (before 1200) by Gerhard von Cremona , this idea spread from the High Middle Ages.
Medical importance
Images of Homo signorum were used primarily as an aid to bloodletting. According to iatromathematical notions, opening a vein to drain blood on a part of the body ruled by the “ruling” zodiac sign was strictly forbidden. It was calculated that the almost inevitable consequence of breaking this rule would be death or insanity.
iconography
Types and structure
The iconography of Homo signorum can be divided into four different types. They differ depending on the type of association of the body parts of the depicted human body with the zodiac sign:
- The signs of the zodiac are positioned directly on or on the body.
- The signs of the zodiac are shown outside the actual figure and are connected to the associated parts of the body with the help of lines.
- Another variant has additional lettering on the side, which can also completely replace the signs of the zodiac in the sense of the two aforementioned types.
- Finally, the zodiac man can also stand in the center of concentric circles, which form a section of the spherical model, mostly formed from the rings of the seven planetary and fixed star heavens, whereby the zodiac signs are usually assigned to the associated body regions with reference lines.
The following table shows the relationship of the signs of the zodiac to the body parts; H. the zodiacal melothesia , represents:
| Zodiac signs | Body region | (includes) |
|---|---|---|
| Aries | head | (Eyes, nose, ears, mouth, etc.) |
| bull | neck | (Throat) |
| Twins | Shoulders, armpits, arms | (Hands, fingers) |
| cancer | Chest area | (Spleen, lungs, ribs) |
| lion | Abdominal area | (Heart, back, sides) |
| Virgin | Bowels of the abdomen | |
| Libra | Navel, loin, buttocks | (Kidneys) |
| Scorpio | Pubic region | (Uterus) |
| Sagittarius | Hips, thighs | |
| Capricorn | knee | (Kneecaps) |
| Aquarius | Calves, shins | |
| fishes | Feet | (Toes, soles, heels) |
The posture of Homo signorum largely corresponds to that in the widespread representations of the microcosm, so that not only a content-related dependence, but also a formal relationship can be assumed. The symbolic meaning of the man of the zodiac sign as a visualization of the connection between macro and microcosm should have been associated with illustration for a long time.
History of illustration
It is not known whether ancient images of the zodiac man existed. The illustration found a kind of forerunner in the Aratea manuscripts of the Middle Ages, such as those from Leiden . These show, among other things, the constellation Cepheus , in which a connection between stars and the frontal body of a person was explicitly shown. This means that these images can be seen as the forerunners of the microcosm iconography. The famous microcosm representations themselves, such as those of the famous illuminated Liber divinorum manuscripts by Hildegard von Bingen , can also be regarded as predecessors of Homo signorum .
Like the Homo signorum, the pictorial type of the bloodletting male comes from the 13th century. The calendarium of the later rector of the Paris University , Petrus de Dacia , contains the oldest known male zodiac sign. His powerful calendar - computus combination has been handed down in several texts. Three manuscripts of the Calendarium contain an illustration of the homo signorum and the bloodletting man, which established a certain tradition of these illustrations in the calendar literature.
Both images soon appear mainly in medical manuscripts. Their similar function and shape mean that they were brought into a fixed sequence in the second half of the 14th century. Sometimes they were put together into a single illustration. Aderlassmännchen and Homo signorum soon face each other more and more often in the manuscripts on two pages or form the front and back of a sheet. This often remains the case even if the explanations of the two figures are given in completely different places.
literature
- Harry Bober: The zodiacal miniature of the Très Riches Heures of the Duke of Berry - its source and meaning. In: Journal of Warburg and Courtauld Institutes. 11 (1948), pp. 1-34. [Repr. Vaduz 1965]
- Ruth Finckh: Minor Mundus Homo: Studies on the microcosm idea in medieval literature. Dissertation . (= Palaestra. 306). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1999, ISBN 3-525-20579-1 .
- Wolfgang Hübner: Body and Cosmos. Investigations into the iconography of zodiacal melothesia. (= Gratia. 49). Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2013.
- Marian Kurdziałek: Man as an image of the cosmos. In: Albert Zimmermann (ed.): The concept of representation in the Middle Ages: representation, symbol, sign, image. (= Miscellanea Mediaevalia. 8). de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1971, ISBN 3-11-003751-3 .
- K. Marcelis: De afbeelding van de aderlaat- en de zodiakman in astrological-medical manuscripts van de 13de en 14de eeuw. (= Negotiating van de Koninklijke Academie voor Wetenschappen, Letteren en Schone Kunsten van België; Class of Fine Arts. 43). Palais der Academien, Brussels 1986.
Web links
- "Zodiac Man" in a virtual exhibition of the Bibliothèque nationale de France (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ See Johannes Mayer, Gundolf Keil: Zodiac Signs. In: ²VL , Volume 9, Col. 924.
- ↑ Cf. Otto Holl: Zodiakos. In: LCI. Volume 4, Col. 574.
- ^ Paul Kunitzsch: Almagest . In: Lexicon of the Middle Ages (LexMA). Volume 8, LexMA-Verlag, Munich 1997, ISBN 3-89659-908-9 , column 444 f.