Ancona, Mole Vanvitelliana
21-24 September 2023
The fifth edition of the History Festival entitled "Demons" starts in Ancona
Every man has his demon on his shoulder, every historical era cultivates its own. What are ours made of?
The theme of the 5th edition of the History Festival, "Dèmoni", arises from the series of suggestions generated by recent events. First the pandemic, then the war in Ukraine, the financial crises, to name just a few, have often led to the temptation in common thinking to believe that the devil has had a hand in our history. However, the word demon, upon closer inspection, derives from the Greek "daimon", a term which in classical philosophy refers to a power that dominates us, neither good nor bad. Socrates' demon is a sort of beneficial genius, or an inner voice (conscience?), which derives from the divinity, and warns him against carrying out certain actions, by which he lets himself be guided.
“There remains the care not to pollute the demon that has taken up residence in our chest, the care not to disturb it with confused and multiple impressions; to keep him serene and benign, paying him ritual and honor as if he were a god; and do not say anything that is contrary to the truth; do nothing against justice." It is precisely this meaning, traceable in the words of Marcus Aurelius, from "Conversations with himself", that interests us and pushes us to investigate and reflect on the role of demons in History, without however forgetting the path that led the believer to transform the demon into devil, what Paul VI, in 1972, defined as "enemy number one, the tempter par excellence".
This year's Festival, therefore, will broaden the investigation from the feared presence/action of the devil, from the Middle Ages onwards, to the influence that the demon can have, or is presumed to have, in the actions of men and in the transformations that they they have operated, up to the demons of the present and the immediate future.
Areas of investigation: society and politics; finance; the religion; health and medicine; sciences and discoveries. Demon also in terms of creativity, therefore: music, cinema, entrepreneurship, art...
All events are free entry without reservation.
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