The Use of the Term phantasma in Latin Literary Sources: From Early Records to Late Roman Christian Authors
Abstract
Ghosts are the cultural product of a series of beliefs that stem from the existence of a dissociated numen that inhabits the human body. It is this separation that makes possible to conceive the autonomous presence of the spiritual entity. This ancestral type of story has been reproduced since the dawn of humanity, although this work seeks to elucidate what the connotations of use of a Greek term are, that passes into Latin and that undergoes an evolution through the filter of Christianity. Through a study of a historical-philological nature with a comparative perspective, this article aims to show the differences in use, paying special attention to the patristic texts of Tertullian and the allegorical and Christian poetry of Prudentius.
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