Il guerriero e l’oltremondo: relitti di percorsi iniziatici nelle visiones cristiane

This paper wants to investigate the traces that the shamanic thought and the shamamanic culture have left inside the European medieval texts. Particularly it is interesting to notice as a lot of elements of this system of thought is preserved in medieval literary works elaborated by Christian authors. A privileged observatory is offered by the visionary literature, in which converge many characteristic topois of the shamanic imaginary. Regarding this are very interesting the descriptions of the Other World, of his topography, of his inhabitants. Likewise are many interesting the way of access to the ecstatic experience: regarding them I think that the XII century represents an important borderline, later which mostly prevail the forms of search of the vision checked from the church. With these premises it is interesting to compare the contents of the medieval visionary texts with some forms of shamanic ecstasies attested in the modern age on the European territory because they show to share the same mythical and symbolic horizon: an occurrence that offer numerous elements of reflection about the longue durée of some cultural phenomena.