Diabolic Possession

Demons are mentioned in a number of texts that have survived in the library of the Qumran community. Some of these texts are narrative works while others belong to the genre of wisdom literature. There are also texts that were written for practical purposes. This article provides a short outline of the theme of demonology in Qumran literature, presenting the phenomenon of belief in demons in the written tradition, its background, the question of the influence of Babylonian culture, the attitude toward demons and magical methods, and the formation of a new method of dealing with the demonic part of the world mirrored in various Qumran texts.

Una investigación interdisciplinar sobre el diablo, la posesión diabólica y el exorcismo, realizada por un grupo de investigación de la Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana de Medellín, Colombia.

Bajo la dirección de Carlos Arboleda, este grupo contribuye a clarificar los conceptos sobre el demonio, el diablo, la posesión, el exorcismo.

This paper deals with some questions concerning the iconography, iconology and date of execution of the famous mosaic pavement from Sheikh Zoueide in Sinai, now exibited in the Ismailiya Museum. The author analyses both the mythological mosaic with the representation of various subjects, like Dionysiac procession, Nilotic theme, Hippolytos and Phaedra, and another geometric mosaic. The iconological study of all symbolic elements sheds light on the mentality of Nestor who lived in this house and of other inhabitants of the city.  The author sees the great influence of Egypt probably of Alexandria, in the mosaic's style. He also discusses stylistic problems and suggests a date of its execution in the first half of the 5th century.
On the iconological study of the mosaic see also: M.T. Olszewski, Mauvais œil et protection contre l'envie dans la mosaïque de Cheikh Zouède au Sinaï (IV-Ve siècle), published in: Paunier, D., Schmidt, Ch (ed. by), la Mosaïque gréco-romaine VIII. Actes du  VIIIe Colloque international de la mosaïque antique et médiévale, Lausanne 1997 (2001), pp. 276-301.
M.T.Olszewski, Two Late Antique synonymous mosaics from Sheikh Zuweid (Egypt) and Vinon (France) (translated) / Deux  mosaïques  synonimiques  de l’antiquité tardive: Cheikh  Zouède  (Egypte)  et  Vinon  (France) / Dwie późnoantyczne mozaiki synonimiczne z Szeikh Zued (Egipt) i Vinon (Francja) - (in Polish), Światowit IV-A, 2002, pp. 99-105.

In the late thirteenth century, Ida of Louvain scandalized her community. The daughter of a prosperous wine merchant, Ida already had refused marriage and become a recluse in a small cell within her parents' home. One day, however, it seemed that she went mad. Casting aside even the simple clothes she now wore, Ida wrapped herself in a dirty rag and draped a mat over her shoulders for warmth. Aggressively seeking out the most crowded plazas and market places, she preened and "strutted about if mad or a fool, offering a monstrous spectacle of herself to the people." 2 Townspeople murmured that Ida was in a frenzy, out of her mind; eventually she was tied up to prevent her from harming herself or others.

Creencias y supersticiones en el mundo clásico y medieval: XIV Jornadas de Estudios Clásicos de Castilla y León, León, 2000, ISBN 84-7719-818-7, págs. 111-130 MALDICIONES ERÓTICAS Y OTROS ENCANTAMIENTOS AMOROSOS. LA "MALDICIÓN DEL AMOR" AMOR LÓPEZ JIMENO Universidad de Valladolid "¿No sabes cuán poderosa es la diosa Afrodita? Ella es la que siembra y otorga el amor, del que descendemos todos cuantos vivimos sobre la faz de la tierra" (Nodriza de Fedra. Eurípides, Hipólito 450) AMOR LÓPEZ JIMENO Creencias y supersticiones en el mundo clásico y medieval: XIV Jornadas de Estudios Clásicos de Castilla y León, León, 2000, ISBN 84-7719-818-7, págs. 111-130

The mosaic from Sheikh Zuweid on the western coast of North Sinai, discovered in 1913, as well as the mosaic brought to light in 1919 at Vinon near Aix-en-Provence in southern France had to wait until the end of the 20th century for scholarly studies to focus again on their iconography, but also their iconological program. It is the reading of this program that one can truly call sensational. The mosaic from Sinai consists of three panels: Hippolytus and Phaedra, a Dionysian cortege and an inscription surrounded with motifs referring to the fauna and flora of a Nilotic landscape as well as to iconography of the seasons of Spring and Fall. The mosaic from Vinon also consists of three pictures: Dionysus offering Ikarios the grapevine, the Three Graces and a panel depicting a voracious goat defiling the gift of Dionysus. Inscriptions accompany both the mosaics, in Latin at Sheikh Zued and in Greek at Vinon.
Numerous apotropaic symbols and inscriptions are known, but never before has a mythological picture been interpreted as apotropaic. The latest research has shown that the owners of the respective estates had chosen mythological themes in order to protect them and their property from the Evil Eye and Hatred. Dionysian motifs are associated with the putative function of the rooms, where banquets with music and dancing must have been held, and wine must have flowed in abundance. The allusion to the abundance of the Nile was meant to ensure the prosperity and wealth of the house, in similarity to the Dionysian motifs as a matter of fact. Dionysus, Heracles and Venus were patrons of the houses. The interpretation of the two mosaics takes advantage of studies in the field of the history of mentality of the communities standing on the threshold of post-classical times. At the same time, it constitutes a huge step forward in the understanding of this category of finds. The two mosaics confirm what Artemidoros of Daldis (2nd century AD) had to say about the status of pictures: that they could be synonymous in meaning (see: M.T. Olszewski, Le statut de l'image selon Artémidore et l'art romain, in: Morlier, H. ed., IXe Colloque international pour l'étude de la mosaïque antique et médiévale, Roma 5.11.2001-10.11.2001, Collection de l'Ecole Française de Rome 352/2, Rome 2005, pp. 859-880).
See also: M.T. Olszewski, La mosaïque de style naïf de Cheikh Zouède au Sinaï, Archeologia (Warsaw) 53, 2002, pp. 45–61, pls III+VI; M.T. Olszewski, Mauvais œil et protection contre l'envie dans la mosaïque de Cheikh Zouède au Sinaï (IV-Ve siècle), in: Paunier, D., Schmidt, Ch (ed. by), la Mosaïque gréco-romaine VIII. Actes du  VIIIe Colloque international de la mosaïque antique et médiévale, Lausanne 1997 (2001), pp. 276-301.

La célèbre mosaïque de Cheikh Zouède, situé au nord-ouest du Sinaï, ainsi que celle de Vinon dans la Gaule Narbonaise ont été découvertes dans les années dix du XXe siècle. Depuis leurs mises à jour jusqu’à la fin du siècle dernier, elles devaient attendre deux réexamens scientifiques qui ont apportés une analyse iconographique plus complète ainsi que deux nouvelles lectures iconologiques que l’on peut sans doute considerer comme sensationelles !
La mosaïque de Cheikh Zouède est composée de trois tableaux superposés. Deux panneaux représentent des scenes mythologiques: procession dionysiaque et Hippolyte et Phèdre. La troisième image comporte une inscription de bienvenue bordée au-dessus et au-dessous d’animaux et de plantes; une allusion aux scènes nilotiques et à la symbolique printanière et automnale.
La mosaïque de Vinon est également composée de trois tableaux qui sont cependant juxtaposés. Ils représentent, au centre, les trois Grâces et deux scènes à caractère dionysiaques. Celle de gauche représente le don de la vigne (grappes de raisins) par Dionysos à Icarios et celle de droite, le sacrilège de la vigne par un bouc. Les deux mosaïques sont accompagnées par des inscriptions en grec et latin. Elles sont datées à la première moitié du Ve siècle.
On connais plusieurs inscriptions, images et symboles de caractère apothropaïque. C’est pourtant la première fois que des images mythologiques ont dévoilées aux chercheurs leurs sens prophylactique et apotropaïque. Les propriétaires de ces deux résidences ornées de belles mosaïques ont choisis ces thèmes mythologiques pour protéger et écarter le Mauvais Œil et l’Envie. Les sujets dionysiaques dans les salles à manger évoquent probablement des fêtes joyeuses arrosées de vin où la danse et la musique constituaient des éléments essentiels. Par contre, l’abondance nilotique évoquait sans doute le bonheur et l’opulence des dons de la Nature sur les tables de la maison; cette signification concernait certainement aussi les scènes dionysiaques. Les maisons ont été protégées par Dionysos, Héraclès et Vénus.
Pour interpréter ces deux œuvres, les auteurs ont utilisé des recherches sur “l’histoire de la mentalité” des sociétés administrées par les Romains. La lecture de ces deux mosaïques confirme ce que l’on vient de découvrir en étudiant le célèbre texte d’Artémidore de Daldis (IIe siècle) sur les images synonimiques (cf. M.T. Olszewski, Le statut de l'image selon Artémidore et l'art romain, in: Morlier, H. ed., IXe Colloque international pour l'étude de la mosaïque antique et médiévale, Roma 5.11.2001-10.11.2001, Collection de l'Ecole Française de Rome 352/2, Rome 2005, pp. 859-880).
Voir M.T. Olszewski, La mosaïque de style naïf de Cheikh Zouède au Sinaï, Archeologia (Warsaw) 53, 2002, pp. 45–61, pls III+VI; M.T. Olszewski, Mauvais œil et protection contre l'envie dans la mosaïque de Cheikh Zouède au Sinaï (IV-Ve siècle), in: Paunier, D., Schmidt, Ch (ed. by), la Mosaïque gréco-romaine VIII. Actes du  VIIIe Colloque international de la mosaïque antique et médiévale, Lausanne 1997 (2001), pp. 276-301.

Il libro contiene un’approfondita analisi della pratica dell’esorcismo e del trattamento della possessione diabolica nell’antichità cristiana. Vengono riprodotte, criticamente esaminate, tradotte e commentate tutte le occorrenze scritte esistenti – più di duecento, in sette lingue – in cui compare qualche menzione o anche solo qualche allusione al tema. La provenienza dei testi è varia: autori cristiani, autori pagani che descrivono gli usi dei cristiani, scritti giudeocristiani, gnostici, apocrifi, ordinamenti ecclesiastici, etc. L’arco cronologico preso in considerazione va dall’inizio del II secolo (Elcasaiti) alla metà del III (Cornelio di Roma). La parte analitica è preceduta da un’antologia dei testi antecedenti giudaici (Antico Testamento, Qumran e Giuseppe Flavio) e protocristiani (Nuovo Testamento), e delle testimonianze pagane coeve (Luciano di Samosata e Filostrato). Una lunga introduzione indaga in generale sui presupposti teologici dell’esorcismo, sui modelli biblici, sulle sue implicazioni apologetiche e propagandistiche, sulla sua funzione nell’ambito del conflitto interreligioso, sulla terminologia adoperata, sui formulari e le pratiche attestate, sulle caratteristiche, prerogative e qualità morali dell’esorcista, sul progressivo stabilirsi dell’esorcistato come ordine sacro e sull’istituzione del rito dell’esorcismo dei catecumeni. La bibliografia scientifica utilizzata supera i 1000 titoli. Al termine del libro è a disposizione un riassunto in lingua inglese.

In 2010 and 2011, female students at my field site in southern Trinidad experienced ‘mass possessions’ that closed down the secondary school. While Pentecostal-charismatic Christians figured African traditions (particularly ‘Obeah’) as atavisms that caused the events, observers also blamed the ‘possessions’ on salient markers of a twenty-first-century modernity – particularly the Internet, ‘science’, citizen insecurity, and illicit transnational networks. I argue that this seeming temporal disjuncture in causal narratives points towards some common problems with sovereignty that have marked representations of both African religions of ‘possession’ and (neo)Liberal politics. African spirit manifestation religions have often been characterised by the trope of slavery, as a relation of non-sovereign possession between spirit and human, while Liberal politics (or born-again Christianity) have ostensibly promoted a contrasting ideal of self-determination and national (or spiritual) sovereignty. While these seemingly opposed representations show how ‘spirit possession’ has shaped modern ideals of sovereignty through a racialised ‘labour of the negative’, I examine how practitioners of an African religion at my field site questioned these terms of (dis)possession at the school. These practitioners’ conceptions of ‘catching power’ suggest alternatives to both political models of sovereign ‘possession’ and anthropological models of ‘spirit possession’. I close by arguing that African religious practices of ‘catching power’ can provide a critical alternative to these racialised and gendered dynamics of ‘possession’, modifying the conceptual and geographic province of Foucault’s critique of Western political theories of sovereignty.

Qualche decennio fa, proporre una riflessione sui rapporti tra medicina e religione cattolica dal Medioevo al contemporaneo sotto il segno di una dinamica tra collaborazione, competizione e conflitto non sarebbe stato così ovvio di quanto non lo renda oggi la profonda ristrutturazione dei campi storiografici in questione e, almeno per ciò che riguarda la storia della medicina, la revisione degli assiomi sui quali si fondava in quanto disciplina accademica.

1 -« Le langage du diable chez les possédé(e)s, 1599-1660 », littératures classiques, n° spécial sur « les langages au XVIIe siècle », n° 50, printemps 2004, pp. 289-299 Le langage du diable chez les possédé(e)s : 1599-1660 Le diable parle. De deux manières dans le cadre de la possession : d'une part, il est le maître d'un langage corporel, en déformant le corps possédé, en lui faisant prendre des postures étranges et en le marquant de signes diaboliques -c'est son langage le plus spectaculaire -d'autre part, il possède un langage verbal, qui passe en général par la bouche ou l'esprit de l'être possédé. L'irrationnel, le surnaturel se donnent alors à travers un logos. C'est un langage toujours compréhensible, et pas ineffable 1 . Le diable parlerait-il plus clair que Dieu ? Quand le diable parle, qui parle et comment " ça " parle ? Dans le cadre verbal, le seul qui nous intéresse ici, nous pouvons discerner deux registres de paroles diaboliques entre la fin du XVe siècle et le milieu du XVIIe siècle, liés à l'évolution de l'imaginaire diabolique de la sorcellerie vers la possession. Dans la sorcellerie, le langage décrit est généralement celui de la sorcière plutôt que celui du diable, langage assimilé à des charmes ou des " carmes ", c'est-à-dire un langage de type poétique (inspiré, et placé en général sous le signe de la " manie ") où le son prime sur le sens. Ce langage reste en grande partie incompréhensible à celui qui le met en scène. Les élucubrations sorcières hésitent entre le vers et le cri, entre le plus élaboré et le plus sauvage du langage, c'est-à-dire entre une double dénaturation, sur le modèle démonique païen et sur le modèle animal non articulé. Langage inhumain 2 .

Este artigo ensaia, de maneira introdutória, uma abordagem histórica para a recente notoriedade das possessões demoníacas e da prática dos exorcismos no catolicismo contemporâneo. Diversamente do que o racionalismo mais ingênuo poderia acreditar, muitas pessoas se sentem possuídas pelo demônio, e buscam nos exorcismos um remédio para suas aflições. Meu objetivo é traçar em linhas gerais o inesperado florescimento destas práticas.

ABSTRACT: This paper essays, in an introductory way, an historical approach for the recent notoriety of demonic possessions and the practice of exorcisms on contemporary Catholicism. Differently from what the most ingenuous racionalism could believe, a lot of people feel themselves possessed by demons, and search in the exorcisms a heal for them afflictions. My purpose is to trace in general lines the unexpected flourishering of those practices.

Against the background of the concept of "European possession" proposed by Cristiano Grottanelli (†2010) as a byproduct of the debate concerning Carlo Ginzburg's work, the Author conducts a close analysis of Giovanni Pizza's recent book La vergine e il ragno: etnografia della possessione europea, Lanciano 2012. The Author argues that the limitations of the ethnography of "European possession" as experienced by Pizza in his fieldwork in Campania (Italy) on the theme of the "uterus-spider" do not constitute a solid basis for the phenomenon to enter the phenomenology of possession as elaborated in the fields of Folklore, Anthropology and the History of Religions.

This paper will analyze the third installment of Dabbe series that ignited the whole jinn-possession concept, Dabbe: A Case of Jinn (originally known as Dabbe: Bir Cin Vakası), which is a both horror and terror film as it features horrifying visuals and also invokes the feeling of dread with bizarre demonstrations of the human condition and its exploitation title, through the perspectives of Sigmund Freud, Barbara Creed, and Julia Kristeva, and, emphasize the similarities between Dabbe and the American horror classic that influenced Dabbe series, The Exorcist.

O. Las tablillas mágicas conocidas habitualmente como defixiones son textos de carácter mágico, cuyo soporte es siempre el plomo -por lo general láminas, pero a veces también mufiequitas-y cuyo contenido es siempre la maldición. Obedecen al deseo de perjudicar y causar males diversos a un enemigo, enclavándose, por tanto, en el contexto de la magia negra. Frente a los famosos papiros mágicos, que recogen a modo de manual recetas variadas para todo tipo de encantamientos y conjuros, las defixiones son la prueba fehaciente del ejercicio de dichas recomendaciones teóricas, en concreto de las que se refieren a las prácticas maléficas. Tenemos testimonios de defixiones en todo el ámbito griego desde el S VI a.c. (SGD 194, 95, 96, 103, Selinunte), hasta el 111 P.C., época en que se recopilaron los papiros.

This special issue brings together two seemingly opposed concepts—spirit possession and sovereignty--to ask how possessing spirits, selves, and lands can alter political practice in contemporary worlds.  The introduction focuses on the problems of agency raised by the anthropological category of spirit possession and its dynamic of possessor and possessed, arguing that such a dynamic risks misrepresenting the mundane ways that persons live with other-than-human powers that inhabit selves and places.  Focusing on sustained practices of living with other than human powers rather than ritual episodes of “spirit possession” yields a more unsettled form of sovereignty than either Western political theory or "spirit possession" has often depicted.  By looking at this unsettled sovereignty of possession, the contributors to this volume examine the problems with territorial dominion and self-government in contexts ranging from Tibetan Buddhist “self-possession” and Indo-Surinamese Hindu national belonging to the territorial sovereignty of Andean mountain-beings and the possessing forces of the Internet in Trinidad.

Resumo: Neste artigo objetivamos analisar de que maneira o Ritual Romano de Exorcismos (1952) foi representado no filme O Exorcista (1973), isto é, como o cinema se apropria das diretrizes oficiais da Igreja católica na década de 1970. Como fundamento teórico, utilizamos os conceitos de apropriação e representação, elaborados por Roger Chartier (1990, 2002). Nossas reflexões serão elaboradas por meio da pesquisa descritiva, tendo como foco principal o exorcismo de Reagan MacNeil (Linda Blair), realizado pelos padres jesuítas Lankester Merrin (Max von Sydow) e Damien Karras (Jason Miller). Acreditamos, em função da popularização dos filmes norte-americanos representando rituais católicos de exorcismo, como o supracitado filme, que a principal imagem que o Ocidente do século XX construiu sobre o que vem a ser um exorcista, ficou a cargo da figura do padre. Palavras-chave: Filme de terror, história das religiões, exorcismos. The representation of the Roman Ritual of Exorcism in The Exorcist (1973) Abstract: In this article we aim to analyze how the Roman Ritual of Exorcism (1952) was represented in the film The Exorcist (1973), in other words, as the cinematography appropriates the official guidelines of the Catholic Church in the 1970s. As a theoretical framework, we used the concepts of appropriation and representation, prepared by Roger Chartier (1990, 2002). Our reflections will be developed through descriptive research, focusing mainly on the exorcism of Reagan MacNeil (Linda Blair), conducted by the Jesuit priests Lankester Merrin (Max von Sydow) and Damien Karras (Jason Miller). We believe, depending on the popularity of American films representing Catholic rituals of exorcism, as the above film, that the main image that the West Twentieth Century built on what turns out to be an exorcista, was borne by the figure of the priest.

Although a familiar feature of South Asian religious practice, possession has been marginalized in the writings of both the elite representatives of South Asian religions and, until recently, those who have studied them. Missionaries often paid more attention to popular religious practice than other early European observers, but missionary sources, especially the earlier sources, remain little-studied. This paper is based on reports of possession in Jesuit missionary sources written from South India in the early eighteenth century. It examines the use of such reports in debate between Christians and Hindus, between Protestants and Catholics, and between Christians and sceptics in Europe. Authenticity, how far possession was regarded as “real” and how far as mere play-acting for a superstitious and gullible audience, is shown to be a key issue and to have a bearing on the question of the legitimacy of the Jesuit mission itself.

La autora presenta una figurita de plomo procedente de la necrópolis de Paros y la compara con otras figuritas mágicas. Sus rasgos, así como el lugar de hallazgo (una tumba) apunta a un uso en alguna práctica de magia, probablemente maléfica, como las mulequitas de voodoo.

Il saggio narra di Girolamo Menghi, teologo ed esorcista che visse tutte le vicissitudini religiose dovute al tumultuoso periodo della Controriforma e che venne direttamente coinvolto nelle dinamiche di quegli anni. L’analisi della sua vita e del suo pensiero riflette tutte le difficoltà che doveva affrontare chiunque decidesse in quegli anni di intraprendere l’attività di esorcista.

The essay is about Girolamo Menghi, a theologian and exorcist who lived during the Counter - Reformation, directly involved in the religious dynamics that characterized those years. The analysis of his life and thought reflects the difficulties anyone would encounter when undertaking the hard job of the exorcist.

This article is an attempt to understand ‘locality’, where the issues of subversion, subordination and marginalization as well as the problematic notions of liminality and empowerment are more vibrant and real. We shall demonstrate that while the low castes and untouchables were engaged in economic conflict, at various levels, with the high-caste landowners, which resulted in occasional uprisings too, the popular belief system was used by the marginalized as an instrument of assertion of their power against social coercion. It is argued that the social and ritual protest aimed at diluting or subverting the local caste hierarchy in a stratified society is an efficacious threat to the power of the high castes; that the hope of social revision becomes an
alternative to economic subordination. More important, the symbols of empowerment are not the ones controlled by the high castes, but those which are located in the specialized rituals of the marginalized dalits. This article is about these symbols, which are liminal in nature, and how they empower, if only for a brief while, the economically exploited and socially marginalized dalit practitioners.

Le document que je voudrais revisiter ici n'est pas véritablement inédit 1 ; mais, exhumé il y a quelques années, il est loin d'avoir livré toute sa substance. Il s'agit d'un récit anonyme couvrant les six derniers folios (170v-173v) d'un manuscrit bien connu des spécialistes de Hildegarde de Bingen (†1179) et contenant, dans l'ordre, le Liber vite meritorum d'Hildegarde, le Liber viarum Dei de la cistercienne Elisabeth de Schönau (†1164) et la Symphonia S. Hildegardis, à savoir les compositions lyriques de la nonne (mélodies et textes) dont c'est le plus ancien témoin. Copié de son vivant dans le scriptorium du Rupertsberg, ce manuscrit fut ensuite offert par ses soins au monastère cistercien de Villers-en-Brabant, avec lequel elle était entrée en contact par l'entremise de son dernier secrétaire, Guibert de Gembloux (†1213). Guibert avait notamment soumis à Hildegarde, de la part des frères de Villers, un corpus de 38 questions 2 , auxquelles elle mit du temps à répondre 3. Le codex contenant le Liber vite meritorum parvint en effet à Villers avant les Solutiones de l'abbesse, et en tout cas avant le 1 er novembre 1176, comme en témoignent une lettre par laquelle Guibert et les moines la remercient 4 , ainsi qu'une marque de possession du XII e siècle sur le dernier folio, Lib. Sce Mar[ie de] Villari. On ignore en revanche presque tout de son histoire jusqu'au XVIII e siècle, époque à laquelle il se retrouva à l'abbaye d'Affligem, puis, après la disparition de cette dernière, à l'abbaye bénédictine de Termonde (Dendermonde en néerlandais). Après avoir donné un résumé du texte et après avoir évoqué le contexte dans lequel il vit le jour, on tentera de montrer sa richesse pour la question des sources, en amont comme en aval : s'il transmet en effet des informations diverses qui méritent que l'on s'interroge sur leur origine et leur nature, différents renseignements qu'on peut y glaner invitent aussi à examiner la question de son influence et donc de son propre statut de source. Le texte se présente comme le récit d'une séance d'exorcisme — bien que le mot ne soit pas prononcé —, au cours duquel un esprit malin fut longuement interrogé par un prêtre : cent-vingt questions lui sont posées sur des sujets divers, la pénitence, le baptême, l'excommunication, les suffrages des vivants, l'ange gardien et son pendant l'ange tentateur, les pratiques des cathari, la discipline monastique, la simonie, les prêtres mariés, les saints, le pèlerinage, mais aussi les tournois, les traînes des femmes, les fourrures que portent les moines, etc. ; les points du dogme ou de la pratique rejetés par les hérétiques requièrent plus longuement l'attention, comme le libre arbitre des anges, qu'ils contestaient en expliquant leur chute par le principe du mal 5 , ou la pénitence, thème dont l'importance donne à lire en négatif l'obstination des cathares à nier l'existence de peines purgatoires et l'utilité de la confession au prêtre.

Reconstrucción narrativa de la identidad en un caso de posesión Autor: Pablo Nicolás Cuadrado Tutor: Jorge Castro Tejerina Programa: Máster en Investigación en Psicología Itinerario: Psicología, Cultura e Identidad Facultad de Psicología, UNED, Octubre de 2017 ii

Die 'Lamella Bernensis' (LB) ist ein griechisches Amulett auf einer Goldfolie mit einem, von einem theologisch einigermaßen gebildeten Exorzisten verfassten, in sieben Abschnitte gegliederten christlichen Exorzismus (wohl einem Tauf-Exorzismus) aus dem 5. Jh.n.Chr. für Leontios, Sohn der 'heiligen Mutter' Nonna. Der Text steht in naher Beziehung zu dem Amulett für Alexandra, Tochter der Zoe, auf dem Silberstreifen der 'Tablette Magique de Beyrouth' (TMB) im Louvre und zu einem Teil des Papyrus-Amuletts für Paulus Iulianus aus Oxyrhynchos (PSI 29 = PGM XXXV) in Florenz. Auch diese Texte wurden einer Nachprüfung unterzogen. Das Ergebnis der neuen Lesungen ist in synoptischer Darstellung auf einer Falttafel wiedergegeben. Daran sind Art und Verwendung gemeinsamer Vorlagen für unterschiedliche Zauberzwecke zu beobachten. Das vielfältige im Kommentar zur Erklärung herangezogene Material soll dazu dienen, LB und TMB (und die entsprechenden Teile von PGM XXXV) in den großen Zusammenhang der spätantiken und frühbyzantinischen Zauberpraxis und der magischen Tradition insgesamt einzuordnen. Aus der Diskussion ergeben sich auch Vorschläge zur Interpretation anderer verwandter Zaubertexte.

What did the devil speak of in a catholic Marian sanctuary? Why did the faithful listen to the Prince of Liars? What kind of questions did they ask and how did they understand his answers? Post-Tridentine Church in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was a time of enormous popularity of pilgrimages to the miraculous sanctuaries of Virgin Mary, where it was not uncommon to witness exorcisms of the possessed. The expelled devils were forced to hold a conversation with the exorcist which served the apology of the Church. The cultural context of that mental representation is a subject of the analysis.

ihe auctor analvses txvo new curse tablets of Selinunt (SEG 39. 1020 and ¡021) and shc compares them -specially the 1020---with other tahlets of sanie date and origin, [roen the point of view of date. contents. type. structure and language. and finally sbe proposes ¿e little correction in ¡he reading of ¡he 1020. eme ¡erín>» (IL' Ej/e>!,íqei, Cjcís¿ca (Estudieus griegos e i nLloe tiro peo sg u.'' 5 t ¡ 995). 209-2 ¡4. Servicio de Peiblicaciones. ti niversidad Coin plutense. Madrid « En otra lámina selinu m»tina contempoí'anea 1 SUD 95) ¿eparece mencionado sin EÍíx?-..to; ./ E&<ho~(gen.>, que probablemente sea la misma persona.

L’obiettivo di questo saggio è quello di presentare un’analisi storico-antropologica dell’esorcismo e della “possessione demoniaca” nell’ambito cattolico italiano a partire dagli anni Ottanta. Verranno impiegate come fonti per l’analisi i rapporti scritti dagli esorcisti, le interviste rilasciate ai periodici italiani e gli appunti raccolti sul campo durante il Corso di “Esorcismo e Preghiera di Liberazione” svoltosi a Roma nel maggio 2017, presso l’Ateneo Pontificio Regina Apostolorum. In un’Italia plurireligiosa ma culturalmente cattolica, l’esorcismo e la possessione si configurano ancora come alternative ai disagi esistenziali tra quanti condividono, in qualche forma, l’esperienza della fede. Nella prospettiva teorica in cui lavoriamo, basata sugli studi di Ernesto De Martino, la costruzione del posseduto e dell’esorcismo si compie all’interno di un processo storico-culturale. È per questa ragione che diventa imprescindibile un’analisi che oltrepassi il campo psicologico.

The purpose of this paper is to present a historical-anthropological analysis of exorcism and “diabolical possession” in contemporary Italian society from the 1980’s. It will be considered as documental sources, mainly, the reports written by Italian exorcists, their interviews to local newspapers and notes taken during the fieldwork at the “Exorcism and prayer of liberation” course occurred in Rome on May 2017 at the Pontifical Athenaeum “Regina Apostolorum”. In the context of a multireligious Italian society, but culturally Catholic, exorcism and possession are still considered alternatives to the existential problems, principally among those who share the Christian faith. Our theoretical prospective is based on Ernesto De Martino’s studies, in which the construction of exorcism and the possessed person develops within a historical-cultural process. For this reason, it is indispensable to consider an analysis that goes beyond the psychological field.

En las siguientes páginas se estudia la pervivencia de una formula exorcística (¿quién eres tú?) en la literatura occidental. Se traza la evolución y origen de la fórmula desde el siglo I en 11QPs a , Testamento de Salomón, Preguntas de San Bartolomé, en contextos exorcísticos, para estudiar después su utilización en obras de autores occidentales (Dante, Marlowe, Shakespeare, Calderón de la Barca, Tirso de Molina, Quevedo, Vélez de Guevara, Goethe y Mann). Palabras clave: exorcismo, demonio, tradición religiosa, literatura.