Boccaccio's Demogorgon and Renaissance Platonism. (2nd January 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Coleman, James K.
• Is Part Of: Italian studies. Volume 74:Number 1(2019)
• Page Start: 1
• Page End: 9
• Publication Date: 2019-01-02
• Subjects: Giovanni Boccaccio -- Marsilio Ficino -- Leone Ebreo -- Ugolino Verino; Italian literature -- History and criticism -- Periodicals; Italy -- Intellectual life -- Periodicals; Italy -- Study and teaching -- Periodicals; 945
• DOI: 10.1080/00751634.2018.1548082
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0075-1634

Abstract

ABSTRACT: The shadowy deity Demogorgon, whom Giovanni Boccaccio identifies as the uncreated progenitor of the pagan pantheon, enjoyed an illustrious literary afterlife. The information about Demogorgon that Boccaccio presents in the Genealogie deorum gentilium libri [ Genealogy of the Pagan Gods ] (and which Boccaccio claims derives indirectly from a lost, extremely ancient Greek poem) captured the interest of thinkers connected with the fifteenth- and sixteenth-century revival of Platonism and syncretism, as this essay will demonstrate by examining Demogorgon's presence in the works of three Renaissance authors: Ugolino Verino, Marsilio Ficino, and Leone Ebreo.