New Books in Intellectual History

Camillo Leonardi, "Speculum Lapidum: A Renaissance Treatise on the Healing Properties of Gemstones" (Penn State UP, 2023)


Listen Later

First published in Venice in 1502, Camillo Leonardi’s Speculum Lapidum is an encyclopedic summary of all classical and medieval sources of lithotherapy. Today Jana Byars talks to Liliana Leopardi about her new translation, Speculum Lapidum: A Renaissance Treatise on the Healing Properties of Gemstones (Penn State University Press, 2023). In early modern Europe precious and semiprecious stones were valued not only for their beauty and rarity but also for their medical and magical properties. Lorenzo de’ Medici, Philip II of Spain, and Popes Leo X and Clement VII were all treated with expensive potions incorporating ground gems such as rubies, diamonds, and emeralds. Medical and magical/astrological lapidaries, texts describing the stones’ occult and medical qualities as well as their abilities to ward off demons and incantations, were essential resources for their use. 

In describing the natural, manifest, and occult properties of precious and semiprecious stones as well as their graven images and applications, the Speculum Lapidum provides tremendous insight into the role that medical astrology and astral magic played in the life of an Italian court in the early modern period. Liliana Leopardi’s English translation, complete with critical apparatuses, gives unprecedented access to this key text within the magical lapidary genre.

A vital addition to the existing canon of lapidaria in translation, Leopardi’s work will be of special importance for students and scholars of the history of magic, medicine, religion, and Renaissance humanism, and it will fascinate anyone interested in the occult properties of precious and semiprecious stones.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/intellectual-history

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

New Books in Intellectual HistoryBy New Books Network

  • 3.9
  • 3.9
  • 3.9
  • 3.9
  • 3.9

3.9

59 ratings


More shows like New Books in Intellectual History

View all
In Our Time by BBC Radio 4

In Our Time

5,403 Listeners

Entitled Opinions (about Life and Literature) by Robert Harrison

Entitled Opinions (about Life and Literature)

494 Listeners

Arts & Ideas by BBC Radio 4

Arts & Ideas

291 Listeners

Philosophy Bites by Edmonds and Warburton

Philosophy Bites

1,534 Listeners

New Books in History by Marshall Poe

New Books in History

206 Listeners

The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast by Mark Linsenmayer, Wes Alwan, Seth Paskin, Dylan Casey

The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast

2,080 Listeners

New Books in Psychoanalysis by Marshall Poe

New Books in Psychoanalysis

192 Listeners

New Books in Military History by Marshall Poe

New Books in Military History

161 Listeners

New Books in Economics by Marshall Poe

New Books in Economics

26 Listeners

New Books in African American Studies by New Books Network

New Books in African American Studies

161 Listeners

New Books in Political Science by New Books Network

New Books in Political Science

62 Listeners

New Books in Sociology by New Books Network

New Books in Sociology

46 Listeners

New Books in Literary Studies by New Books Network

New Books in Literary Studies

22 Listeners

The LRB Podcast by The London Review of Books

The LRB Podcast

292 Listeners

New Books in Critical Theory by Marshall Poe

New Books in Critical Theory

144 Listeners

New Books in American Studies by New Books Network

New Books in American Studies

29 Listeners

Philosophy For Our Times by IAI

Philosophy For Our Times

307 Listeners

Why Theory by Why Theory

Why Theory

553 Listeners

Theory & Philosophy by David Guignion

Theory & Philosophy

340 Listeners

Acid Horizon by Acid Horizon

Acid Horizon

175 Listeners

What's Left of Philosophy by Lillian Cicerchia, Owen Glyn-Williams, Gil Morejón, and William Paris

What's Left of Philosophy

259 Listeners

Close Readings by London Review of Books

Close Readings

52 Listeners

Past Present Future by David Runciman

Past Present Future

301 Listeners