The idea of the body as a mirror of the soul has fascinated mankind throughout history. Being able to see through an individual, and drawing conclusions on their character solely based on a selection of external features, is the subject of physiognomy, and has a long tradition running well into recent times. However, the pre-modern, especially medieval background of this discipline has remained underexplored.

The selected case studies in this volume each contribute to a better understanding of the history of physiognomy from antiquity to the Renaissance, and offer discussions on unedited treatises and on the application, development, and reception of this field of knowledge, as well as on visual sources inspired by physiognomic theory.

Contents

Illustrations

Acknowledgements

Lisa Devriese – Physiognomy from Antiquity to the Renaissance : an Introduction 

Maria Michela Sassi – The Beginnings of Physiognomy in Ancient Greece 

Maria Fernanda Ferrini – Oἰνωποί/Aἰγωποί: Manuscript Tradition and Conjecture

Enikő Békés – The Physiognomy of Apostle Paul: Between Texts and Images 

Steven J. Williams – Some Observations on the Scholarly Reception of Physiognomy in the Thirteenth and Early Fourteenth Century: Success, and the Limits of Success

Lisa Devriese – First Medieval Attestations of the Physiognomonica

Oleg Voskoboynikov – Michael Scotus’ Physiognomy: Notes on Text and Context 

Joël Biard & Christophe Grellard – La place des Questiones circa librum de physionomia dans le système philosophique de Jean Buridan

Gabriella Zuccolin – Towards a Critical Edition of Michele Savonarola’s Speculum Physionomie 

Joseph Ziegler & Luís Campos Ribeiro – Astral Physiognomy in the Fifteenth Century: the Case of the Illuminated Opening Folio of Rolandus Scriptoris’ Reductorium Phisonomie

Notes on Contributors

Index codicum manu scriptorum

Index nominum 

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