My paper titled "The
myth of Medusa: Benvenuto Cellini and the “Loggia dei Lanzi” in
Florence" has been accepted today for publication. It will appear in a book titled “The Cnidaria, past, present and future. The world
of Medusa and her sisters”, published by Springer and edited by Stefano Goffredo and Zvy Dubinsky.
My contribution to this book is about the mythological Medusa, even though the book is mainly dedicated to the biology of the creatures named 'Cnidaria', best known in everyday life as "Medusas" (even though not all Cnidaria are Medusas). In any case, they are the kind of creatures you don't want to meet when you swim in the sea, but which have become very common, unfortunately for us.
Although Medusas, intended as Cnidaria, are rather nasty creatures; that is not the same for the mythological Medusa. She was not a monster, it was just bad press and propaganda that transformed her into a monster. It could happen in ancient times just as it happens today. And the fascinating thing about Cellini's representation of Medusa is that he understood exactly this: that she was not a monster and he refused to represent her as a monster.
About this paper, I must confess that I hated myself several times for having accepted to write it. With the zillion things I have to do, I couldn't figure out how I could find the time to write a complete academic paper on Cellini and his work, with references, figures, and all the rest; while at the same time maintaining some remnants of mental sanity. In the end, however, I made it and it is a remarkable satisfaction to see it "in press."
About the myth of Perseus and Medusa, I wrote some posts in this blog. Here is a list:
Cellini's Medusa (an early version of the paper I am describing here)
The head of Medusa (just a spectacular photo of the head of Cellini's Medusa)
David and Medusa (about a weird image of Medusa by Guy and Rodd)
The Art of Femicide (some reflections on the bad habit of beheading women that some males seemed to cultivate in ancient as well as in modern times)
And if you would like to have a preprint of the paper I am describing here, just drop me a note at ugo.bard(littlemedusa)unifi.it
My contribution to this book is about the mythological Medusa, even though the book is mainly dedicated to the biology of the creatures named 'Cnidaria', best known in everyday life as "Medusas" (even though not all Cnidaria are Medusas). In any case, they are the kind of creatures you don't want to meet when you swim in the sea, but which have become very common, unfortunately for us.
Although Medusas, intended as Cnidaria, are rather nasty creatures; that is not the same for the mythological Medusa. She was not a monster, it was just bad press and propaganda that transformed her into a monster. It could happen in ancient times just as it happens today. And the fascinating thing about Cellini's representation of Medusa is that he understood exactly this: that she was not a monster and he refused to represent her as a monster.
About this paper, I must confess that I hated myself several times for having accepted to write it. With the zillion things I have to do, I couldn't figure out how I could find the time to write a complete academic paper on Cellini and his work, with references, figures, and all the rest; while at the same time maintaining some remnants of mental sanity. In the end, however, I made it and it is a remarkable satisfaction to see it "in press."
About the myth of Perseus and Medusa, I wrote some posts in this blog. Here is a list:
Cellini's Medusa (an early version of the paper I am describing here)
The head of Medusa (just a spectacular photo of the head of Cellini's Medusa)
David and Medusa (about a weird image of Medusa by Guy and Rodd)
The Art of Femicide (some reflections on the bad habit of beheading women that some males seemed to cultivate in ancient as well as in modern times)
And if you would like to have a preprint of the paper I am describing here, just drop me a note at ugo.bard(littlemedusa)unifi.it
