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Thursday 04 July 2024 e Friday 05 July 2024, 10:30 AM • Rome

212

Agiografia cristiana

Legend of the seven sleepers who slept for three hundred and seventy-three years: then they woke up believing they had slept one night, 1630

Estimate

€ 120 - 140

Sold

€ 452

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Information

Padua, Sebastiano Sardi, [1630?] In 4th. 4 cards. Vignette engraved on the title page depicting one of the sleepers with a lake in the background, without binding.   

Specialist Notes

It is said that the emperor Decius, a great persecutor of Christians, around 250, on the occasion of his trip to the East, called to trial seven young Christians from Ephesus, a city in Turkey once famous for the temple of Diana, one of the seven wonders of the world, and then for the devotion to the Madonna. Between one interrogation and another, the seven managed to escape and hide in a cave. However, they were discovered and, by order of the emperor himself, walled up alive inside. The boys then had no choice but to prepare to die in the grace of God and to this end they lay down on the ground. However, they unexpectedly fell into a very deep sleep. As soon as they woke up, they saw amazed faces watching them. The wall of the cave had been knocked down by a shepherd who wanted to create a shelter for his animals. The seven, convinced that they had fallen asleep the day before, asked if there was still danger outside. After a few jokes we got to the bottom of the huge misunderstanding: they had slept for two centuries only to awaken around 450 under the emperor Theodosius II, a Christian, but with little faith in the resurrection.