Abstract
The blind Belisar as an example of the sudden fall from honour and glory to poverty and distress inspired not only Rembrandt but also several artists from the 17th to the 19th century. The contemporary historians report that Belisar was dismissed by Justinian because of envy and distrust and that he died in poverty. Details about his blinding can be found only in an epic of the 12th century. A report is given about the different gruesome techniques of blinding that existed during the centuries of Byzantine empire.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Bovini G. & Matt Lv. Ravenna. Du Mont Schauberg, Köln 1971.
Held JS. Der blinde Tobias und seine Heilung in Darstellungen Rembrandts. Mit einem Vorwort von W. Jaeger. Die medizinhistorische Bedeutung der Tobiasheilungen Rembrandts. Brausdruck Heidelberg 1980. Belisar Fig. 20.
Pigler A. Barockthemen II. Berlin-Budapest 1956. p. 425–426.
Mahoney M. The drawings of Salvator Rosa. New York-London 1977 I p. 461–462 and II Fig. 41, 1. - Salerno L. Salvator Rosa. Florence 1963. Fig. 32.
Schenck Ev. Belisar. Romantisches Trauerspiel in 5 Aufzügen. Reclam o.J.
Ashbrook W. Donizetti and his operas. Cambridge 1982.
Beck HG. Geschichte der byzantinischen Volksliteratur. In: Byzantinisches Handbuch im Rahmen des Handbuchs der Altertumswissenschaft II, 3. S. 150–153. C.H. Beck. München 1971.
Follieri E. Il poema bizantino del Belisario. In: La poesia epica e la sua formazione. Academia Nationale dei Lincei 1970. Quaderno 139. p. 583–651. (publication in Greek and Italian).
Schaab M. Die Blendung als politische Maßnahme im abendländischen Früh-und Hochmittelalter. Diss. Heidelberg 1955. Reporting the practices in the history of the Byzantine Emperors, demonstrated by the Diss. of O. Lampsides Athens 1949.
Jaeger W. Die verschiedenen Formen der Blendung und ihre Darstellung in der Kunst. Proceedings XXX. International Congress of the history of medicine. Düsseldorf 1986. Ed. H. Schadewaldt. Vicom K.G. Leverkusen 1988. S. 591–603.
Georgios Pachymeres 3, 16.
Hoppe U. Ophthalmologische Beiträge zur Technik der Blendung. Diss. Heidelberg 1962.
Gellius, Noctes Atticae 10, 17; Plutarch de curiositate 12 p. 521 CAD.
Wallace RW. Salvator Rosa’s Democritus and L’umana Fragilità . The Art Bulletin 50 (1) 20–26 (1968) Fig. 9.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1990 Kluwer Academic Publishers
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Jaeger, W. (1990). The blind Belisar as beggar. In: Henkes, H.E., Zrenner, C. (eds) History of Ophthalmology. History of Ophthalmology, vol 3. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-0641-9_11
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-0641-9_11
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-0-7923-0826-3
Online ISBN: 978-94-009-0641-9
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive