The Healing Power of Erotic Dreams in the Age of Humanism

The article explores the perception of erotic dreams in the works of fifteenth to seventeenth century humanists. Erotic dreams were undoubtedly a delicate theme, which humanists attempted to treat scientifically, to naturalize them, chiefly in medical works. The appearance of erotic dreams (most often dreams about sexual acts) was supposed to indicate the imbalance of humor in the human body. In other words, humanists argued that they not be signs of the devil’s work, tempting people to sin, but a symptom of a diagnosable and curable physiological process. Moreover, erotic dreams did not merely help in diagnosing the imbalance of humors but could also have healing power because they could restore the appropriate proportion of the bodily fluids. Through antique, medieval and fifteenth- to seventeenth-century medical treatises, the article outlines how erotic dreams were interpreted in history, connected as much to spirituality as to bodily and mental diseases – especially to melancholy – and to love frenzy

A lélek, a káosz és a titokzatos Mót: A föníciai Sanchuniathón kozmogóniai töredékének platonikus olvasata

A föníciai Sanchuniathóntól alig maradt fent valami, a vele foglalkozó bőséges szakirodalom a konkrétumok helyett inkább a körülötte lévő bizonytalanságok és feltevések miatt terjedelmes. Jelen tanulmány Sanchuniathón állítólagos föníciai kozmogóniáját vizsgálja meg. Lehetséges életrajzi adataira csak vázlatosan térek ki, és ott is csak a személye körüli legáltalánosabb bizonytalanságokra hívom fel a figyelmet. </jats:p

Elragadott lelkek

Enraptured souls: remembering and imagination in the Renaissance theory of furor This paper investigates the connection of the Renaissance theory of furor with the images which can be essential and timeless forms of the knowledge given by divinity. It first seeks the answer to the question how the inspired person receives the true knowledge during his enrapturing, and how he can convey this knowledge to others. Secondly, how these relate to remembering and phantasy. And finally, which antique author can be suspected behind the 16th-century theoretical writings which promulgated the primacy of the fine arts

Álom és emésztés

Dream and digestion: Antonio Gazio on the medical relationship between mental and corporeal activities The Paduan physician Antonio Gazio’s book entitled &apos;De somno ac eius necessitate&apos; was published in 1539. Because of his activities in Hungary, the present paper outlines first a still incomplete and unwritten biography of him, then summarizes the views of this book on the relationship between sleep, dreams and digestion. Gazio gives practical and useful advice on eating which affects our sleeping and our dreams too. He deals with the diagnosis based on the dreams and mentions the sexual ones as well. The paper draws attention to the special significance of the sensual and voluptuous dreams that can have beneficial effects on the nocturnal digestive disorders which has not been examined to date. The question is how to avoid these nocturnal - either enjoyable or unpleasant - disorders with the help of proper nutrition according to 15th and 16th-century medicine