El viaje sidéreo de las almas: origen y fortuna de un tema clásico en Occidente

Abstract

This article summarizes the literary tradition on the subject of the celestial rise and fall of souls from its beginning till the Renaissance. The author concentrates his attention on the role played by Greek scholars, with special reference to the innovations presented by Plutarch. Once introduced the astral journey into the Christian eschatology, its survival and passing on into the Middle Ages is assured by late commentators and scholars such as Servius, Macrobius, Boethius and Martianus Capella. The Twelfth Century, with the School of Chartres, means the literary revival of the classical theme which flourishes in medieval literature and the first Italian Renaissance. The work ends with two references to Castillian poetry, El laberinto de la Fortuna, by Juan de Mena and El Dezir del nacimiento de Don Juan by Micer Francisco Imperial, in whose structure underlies this tradition of the celestial journey of souls.