Primi del '200. A Castelfiorentino, chiusa in una cella, santa Verdiana compie la sua missione: sfama due orridi serpenti che ogni giorno le fanno visita. Presto quelle due serpi diventano l'attributo della sua santità: quando una di loro viene uccisa, Verdiana intuisce la sua prossima fine. Che storia è questa? Dietro la devozione per Verdiana, si cela il profilo della dea romana Igea: la nutrice dei serpenti. Secoli prima che Verdiana nascesse, il mondo antico adorava la Madre per i frutti che Lei dispensava. E adorava i serpenti annidati nella terra, liberi di strisciare nei suoi templi.

2008 American Publishers Awards for Professional and Scholarly Excellence (The PROSE Awards) Finalist/Honorable mention, Business, Finance & Management.

The Fundamental Index examines a new approach to indexing that can overcome the structural return drag created by traditional capitalization-based indexing strategies, and in so doing, enhance the performance of your portfolio. Throughout this book, Robert Arnott and his colleagues outline this breakthrough strategy and explain how it can be used to improve investment returns, typically at lower risk and lower cost than most conventional investments.

In this reprint of the 1918 original published in The Mythology of All Races, Volume III by Marshall Jones Company, MacCulloch describes elements of Irish and Welsh folklore, including the heroic myths of Fionn, Cúchulainn and Arthur and the divine exploits of the Síd gods and goddesses. He describes how it has been said the gods and goddesses behaved toward each other, which was often violently, and how they interceded in the affairs of mortal life. He also writes of divine animals, the myths of the origins of the world and its people, and the rise of the perception that the land was sacred. This edition includes sketches of artifacts said to be related to the faith system and the history of Celtic folklore. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)