Awakening Mnemosyne
Rediscovering Ancient and Medieval Memory Arts for a 21st Century Renaissance
My child, knowledge is a treasury and your heart is its strongbox. As you study all of knowledge, you store up for yourselves good treasures, immortal treasures, incorruptible treasures, which never decay nor lose the beauty of their brightness. In the treasure-house of wisdom are various sorts of wealth, and many filing-places in the store-house of your heart. In one place is put gold, in another silver, in another precious jewels. Their orderly arrangement is clarity of knowledge. Dispose and separate each single thing into its own place, this into its and that into its, so that you may know what has been placed here and what there. Confusion is the mother of ignorance and forgetfulness, but orderly arrangement illuminates the intelligence and secures memory.
Hugh of St. Victor, “The Three Best Memory Aids”
Beyond Remembering: Memory as the Wellspring of Human Creativity
In ancient wisdom, Memory was never merely storage—or storage was never merely storage. She was Mnemosyne, the Titaness mother of the nine Muses. When we cultivate memory, we nourish the very source from which all of our native creative and intellectual powers flow.
What’s truly at stake is nothing less than the fullness of human cognition in an age of artificial intelligence.
Pathway Description
This seminar explores the ancient and Renaissance art of memory through primary texts and Socratic dialogue. Participants will engage directly with classical, medieval, and Renaissance sources on memory techniques while developing practical visualization memory skills for contemplation. The seminar emphasizes how memory arts connect to the broader intellectual traditions represented in the great books, inviting participants to discover how memory systems enhance their engagement with canonical works of literature, philosophy, history, mathematics, and science.
Walking Pace Reading: number of sessions spent on each reading will depend on both the length of reading and the dynamics of the particular group.
Reading 1
– Cicero, *De Oratore* (selections on Simonides)
– Yates Reading: Chapter 1 “The Three Latin Sources for the Classical Art of Memory” (first part)
Reading 2
– Anonymous, *Rhetorica ad Herennium* (Book III on memory)
– Yates Reading: Chapter 1 “The Three Latin Sources for the Classical Art of Memory” (second part)
Reading 3
– Quintilian, *Institutio Oratoria* (Book XI on memory)
– Yates Reading: Chapter 1 (third part) and start of Chapter 2
Reading 4
– Aristotle, *On Memory and Reminiscence*
– Yates Reading: Chapter 2 “The Art of Memory in Greece: Memory and the Soul” (first half)
Reading 5
– Plato, *Theaetetus* and *Phaedrus* (sections on memory)
– Yates Reading: Chapter 2 “The Art of Memory in Greece: Memory and the Soul” (second half)
Reading 6
– Augustine, *Confessions* (Book X)
– Yates Reading: Chapter 3 “The Art of Memory in the Middle Ages” (first part)
Reading 7
– Hugh of St. Victor, *The Three Best Memory Aids*
– Bonaventure, *Journey of the Mind to God* (selections)
– Yates Reading: Chapter 3 “The Art of Memory in the Middle Ages” (second half)
Reading 8
– Thomas Aquinas, *Summa Theologica* (on memory)
– Yates Reading: Chapter 4 “Mediaeval Memory and the Formation of Imagery” (first half)
Reading 9
– Albertus Magnus, *De Bono* (memory sections)
– Yates Reading: Chapter 4 “Mediaeval Memory and the Formation of Imagery” (second half)
Reading 10
– Peter of Ravenna, *Phoenix, sive artificiosa memoria* (selections)
– Yates Reading: Chapter 5 “The Memory Treatises”
Reading 11
– Giulio Camillo, *L’Idea del Theatro* (first selections)
– Yates Reading: Chapter 6 “Renaissance Memory: The Memory Theatre of Giulio Camillo”
Reading 12
– Giulio Camillo, *L’Idea del Theatro* (second selections)
– Yates Reading: Chapter 7 “Camillo’s Theatre and the Venetian Renaissance”
Reading 13
– Giordano Bruno, *De Umbris Idearum* (first selections)
– Yates Reading: Chapter 8 “Camillo and Bruno” and Chapter 9 “Giordano Bruno: The Secret of Shadows”
Reading 14
– Giordano Bruno, *De Umbris Idearum* (second selections)
– Yates Reading: Chapter 10 “Bruno’s Conflict with Oxford” and Chapter 11 “Bruno in France”
Reading 15
– Matteo Ricci, *The Memory Palace of Matteo Ricci* (selections)
– Supplementary materials on Ricci
Reading 16
– Robert Fludd, *Utriusque Cosmi Historia* (first sections on memory)
– Yates Reading: Chapter 12 “Bruno and the New Philosophy” and Chapter 13 “Conflict and Persecution”
Reading 17
– Robert Fludd, *Utriusque Cosmi Historia* (second sections on memory)
– Yates Reading: Chapter 14 “After Bruno: The Occult Tradition”
Seminar Approach
– Discussions follow Socratic conversation rather than lectures
– Questions and direct attention to primary source texts drive inquiry rather than predetermined conclusions
– Participants take turns as discussion leaders
– Practical memory exercises supplement textual reflection and analysis
– Memory techniques are applied directly to other Great Books texts
Primary Texts
Classical Sources
– Cicero, *De Oratore*, Book II (sections on memory)
– Anonymous, *Rhetorica ad Herennium*, Book III (sections on memory)
– Quintilian, *Institutio Oratoria*, Book XI (on memory)
– Aristotle, *On Memory and Reminiscence*
– Plato, *Theaetetus* and *Phaedrus* (sections on memory)
Medieval Sources
– Augustine, *Confessions* (Book X)
– Thomas Aquinas, *Summa Theologica* (sections on memory)
– Hugh of St. Victor, *The Three Best Memory Aids for Learning History*
– Albertus Magnus, *De Bono* (on memory)
– Bonaventure, *Journey of the Mind to God* (selections)
Renaissance Sources
– Giulio Camillo, *L’Idea del Theatro* (selections)
– Giordano Bruno, *De Umbris Idearum* (selections)
– Peter of Ravenna, *Phoenix, sive artificiosa memoria* (selections)
– Robert Fludd, *Utriusque Cosmi Historia* (sections on memory)
– Matteo Ricci, *The Memory Palace of Matteo Ricci* (selections)
Early Modern Sources
– Francis Bacon, *The Advancement of Learning* (on memory)
– Descartes, *Rules for the Direction of the Mind*
– Leibniz, writings on combinatorial memory
– John Wilkins, *Mercury, or the Secret and Swift Messenger*
Secondary Guides
– Yates, Frances A. *The Art of Memory* (as contextual guide)
– Carruthers, Mary. *The Book of Memory* (supplementary readings)
