Perseus with the head of Medusa

 Author: Benvenuto Cellini – Piazza della Signoria in Florence

The cut of the head in war, to a penalty imposed by a modern legal system, or to a pagan ritual, it is a murder. Every murder is horrendous and, in addition, here we see a conscious desire to attribute meanings and symbols after the disappearance of the enemy. The head is a treasure, because it was the food: it contains the essence of the enemy. In ancient times we believed to possess the soul, the memory, or, on the contrary, that we send him definitively in the realm of the dead. In periods even closer to us, the severed heads became a trophy, to certify the power of the killer acting on the justice of God, legal, royal, political and moral.

During the period of the Enlightenment the guillotine was meant to sublimate the horrendous act of murder. A murder that recalls the fears of the archaic male, who were also referred to castration. The cut is not due to self-defense, and it has a major aggravating for guilt of the murder: it is premeditated. Do not you cut the head out of anger, ire or madness. This is done with common sense thinking about all the implications to strike terror, or to obtain the approval. It is in the midst of his faculties, and if it is fulfilled in view of an exposure to an audience, there is no mitigating factor. The states that still have the death penalty, organize the ritual aseptically; it is almost impersonal. The Executioner must be anonymous and faceless, and his actions must be mediated by machines to make the final gesture. In other countries with the hanging or the firing squad, there is a ritual among the public, the authorities, the “guilty” and the machinery that kills. The execution in the public square is a sacrificial rite that establishes a balance between the guilt and penalty. The rite want to cover the horror of death.

In recent months, ISIS – Jama’at al-Tawhid wa al-Jihad – (Islamic State of Syria) has reversed the process of abstraction between death and beheaded. There is a contact between the victim and murderess, so this is annihilated in silence. Not by chance are killed journalists: those who see and speak. The ISIS wants the annihilation and he wants to instill fear through the means of mass communication: an advertising strategy from western marketing. They were described as barbarians, or crazy, or of other cultures genetically evil. They are the bad guys. Still others say that they are our main products, and the fault is ours. In each case, the victim is forgotten. Beyond the political controversy and war, the element that arouses even more concern is that they have missed the mark, though when someone posts a picture of centuries ago that is the beheading, instead of talking about art and also the horror, the sublime and tragic, many commented on the exploits of this ISIS.

“Judith and Holofernes” Of Artemisia Gentileschi.

 The Image is taken  HERE –

The vision of horror and death disrupts our patterns historical and aesthetic. Some people, even those who know nothing of art, they believe that Artemisia was a bloody life. Instead Artemisia Gentileschi, in addition to being a great artist, was generosity personified in life. The art speaks of the human soul and in addition to light, there is also the abyss without light.

The death of that cuts is more frightening than a murder with a gun that in ten seconds can kill 20 humans. The ISIS is using a new fear. It is not God’s punishment, there is no rule of law, there is no clash eorico, maybe it’s a simple statement of power deaf.

What do you think? But the most important thing is: do you feel? What do you hear in your mind?