Reinventare il mondo. Potere immaginifico e matericità delle pietre

The lapides figurati are a particular category of stones, so called because of the images which were believed to be spontaneously imprinted on them. The analysis of the corpus of Greek and Roman lapidaries, along with other scattered evidence in literary texts of the Late Period, leaves out some elements useful in defining the identity of this stones as cultural objects. In showing the mechanisms of this cultural representation, this essay will focus on two orders of things: first, the question of the materiality and the agency of these objects, particularly as regards the concept of brightness; second, the anthropological meaning of this minerals appearances and the relationship they have with the supernatural dimension.