Vuur gepersonifieerd door de god Jupiter 1587

This engraving by Johann Sadeler, made around 1600, depicts Jupiter, god of the sky and thunder, soaring on his eagle, clutching bundles of lightning bolts. Here, fire, 'Ignis' in Latin, is personified through Jupiter, a symbol of power and elemental force. Notice the recurrence of the eagle and lightning across cultures, emblems of authority and divine strength. Think of the Roman Imperial eagle, or the thunderbolts wielded by Zeus, Jupiter's Greek counterpart. The lightning bolt, a visual shorthand for sudden illumination and destruction, appears across epochs - consider its modern usage, charged with the same primal energy, in contemporary symbols. The image taps into our collective memory, stirring a potent blend of awe and fear. This god's commanding gesture speaks to our enduring fascination with the sublime, engaging us on a level that transcends time, a dance of cultural memory. The symbolic language used to interpret the human condition is not a linear path but rather a continuous cycle.