The itinerant Neoplatonic scholar Giordano Bruno (1548–1600), one of the most fascinating figures of the Renaissance, was burned at the stake for heresy by the Inquisition in Rome on Ash Wednesday in 1600. The primary evidence against him was the book Spaccio de la bestia trionfante, a daring indictment of the church that abounded in references to classical Greek mythology, Egyptian religion (especially the worship of Isis), Hermeticism, magic, and astrology. The author of more than sixty works on mathematics, science, ethics, philosophy, metaphysics, the art of memory, and esoteric mysticism, Bruno had a profound impact on Western thought.
Giordano Bruno's most representative work, "Spaccio de la bestia trionfante", published in an atmosphere of secrecy in 1584, was singled out by the church tribunal at the summation of his final trial. This title provides an introduction to the philosopher who dared to voice his audacious theories of nature, religion, and history.
