Keyword

Alpak ID

Date

Findspot

Material

Category

Language

Archive/Collection

ALpak ID:

AL4

Description:

This unusual illumination from a pseudo-Albertus Magnus text depicts the succubus—a female demon believed to visit sleepers. The image navigates careful boundaries between medical illustration and moral warning. The demon’s feminine features are rendered with evident discomfort: beautiful yet subtly wrong. Wing-membranes double as seductive drapery, while taloned feet betray true nature. This ambiguity served didactic purposes, warning against deceptive appearances. The sleeping figure’s posture follows medical illustrations of nightmare (incubus/succubus) episodes, connecting demonic attack to sleep paralysis phenomena. Medieval understanding merged physiological and spiritual explanation without perceiving contradiction.

Archive/Collection:

Vatican Museum

Date:

13th Century

Findspot:

Alexandria

Current Location:

De Secretis Mulierum

Provenance:

Germany

Category:

Amulet

Material:

Bronze

Language:

Greek

Script:

Greek majuscule

Bibliography:

PGM IV.296–466; Preisendanz 1928, vol. I, 82–88.

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