I start this thread, cause I detected (for myself) the description of Fulgentius about Saturn in his Mythogiae:

http://www.theoi.com/Text/FulgentiusMyt ... s1.html#11

The name of the son of Pollus, and the husband of Ops, is Saturn, an elderly man, with his head covered, carrying a scythe. His manhood was cut off and, thrown into the sea, gave birth to Venus. Let us then hear how Philosophy interprets this. She says thus: Saturn first secured dominion in Italy; and seizing people for his harvest prerogative, he was named Saturn, for glutting (saturando). Also his wife is named Ops because she brought help (opem) to the hungry. He is the son of Pollus, either for his heavy strength (pollendo) of from the wealth of high living (pollucibilitate), which we call the human state. Whence Plautus in the comedy Epidicus says: “Drink up, we live as sumptuously (pollucibiliter) as the Greeks.” He is depicted with head covered because all crops with their cover of leaves are protected in a shady enclosure. He is reported as having devoured his own sons because every season devours what it produces; and for good reason he carries a scythe, either because every season turns back on itself like the curved blades of scythes or on account of the crops; whence also he is said to have been castrated, because all the strength of crops is cut down and cast into the fluids of the belly as into the sea, just as Venus is produced from these circumstances because they necessarily produce lust. Apollophanes also in his epic poem writes that Saturn is for sacrum nun, because nus in greek means sense, or for satorem nun, as for he divine intelligence as it creates all things. Along with him they add four other children, that is first Jove, second Juno, third Neptune, fourth Pluto. Pollus they explain as poli filium, the father of the four elements.

The question is naturally: Who is Pollus? Usually the father of the mentioned 4 gods is Uranos.

The answer came by this impression:



In Rome had been a very big Saturn temple and very near to it a very big Castor and Pollux temple.

Following the lines of usual research ... checking information about Fulgentius
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fabius_Pla ... Fulgentius

Very little is known about the life of Fulgentius other than the few references he makes to himself in his own works. His style of Latin, knowledge of Greek, and his view on classical authors and cults suggests that he was likely educated in colonial North Africa.[2] Other references to African culture in his work support placing him in this region, clearly before the Muslim invasions of the 7th century. Moreover, his apparent knowledge of the Libyco-Berber language and script indicates that he was probably an ethnic African, with him referring to the language in his On the Ages of the World and of Man as being part of his 'own' heritage.

and checking information about Castor and Pollux

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castor_and_Pollux

Even after the rise of Christianity, the Dioskouroi continued to be venerated. The fifth-century pope Gelasius I attested to the presence of a "cult of Castores" that the people did not want to abandon. In some instances, the twins appear to have simply been absorbed into a Christian framework; thus fourth-century AD pottery and carvings from North Africa depict the Dioskouroi alongside the Twelve Apostles, the Raising of Lazarus or with Saint Peter. The church took an ambivalent attitude, rejecting the immortality of the Dioskouroi but seeking to replace them with equivalent Christian pairs. Saints Peter and Paul were thus adopted in place of the Dioskouroi as patrons of travellers, and Saints Cosmas and Damian took over their function as healers. Some have also associated Saints Speusippus, Eleusippus, and Melapsippus with the Dioskouroi.

S, it's logical, somehow in the relevant time of Fulgentius the Cult of Castor and Pollux was still strong in North Africa.

Now for Fulgentius the following is stated:

Fulgentius’ work is said to mark the transition from late-antique to Medieval literary study.[38] After a period of decreased interest in the literature, the practice of mythography was picked up again in what is thought to be the 7th century by the so-called Vatican Mythographers. All three writers borrow Fulgentius’ methods in order to search the classical myths for obscured meaning. However, it was during the Carolingian period, from the 8th through to the 10th centuries, that Fulgentius’ work reached the height of its popularity. He came to be admired as one of the founding fathers of mythographic writing, as well as being praised for bringing classical pagan literature in line with Christian teachings. Along with this renewed admiration of his writings came a series of Fulgentian-inspired literary commentaries. The practice of differentiating between the author’s intention and the deeper meaning of a piece of literature as carried to the extreme by Fulgentius seemed to provide the framework for the commentaries of this period. The Mythologies in particular proved to be an essential storehouse of resources for the Medieval commentators who carried on his tradition of discussing classical poetry in moral terms. Furthermore, his exotic language and use of rare words seemed to influence the writing style of a number of poets throughout the Middle Ages.
Fulgentius’ manuscripts date as far back as the early 8th century. As a testament to his popularity, a copy of Mythologies may have been available in England as early as the 9th century. Fulgentius remained a standard part of collections of antique mythology up until the 19th century, at which time his work began to come under popular criticism as being absurd and factually unreliable.

With no doubt Fulgentius' concept of mythology ... rather different from Hesiod's interpretation ... was influential, it more or less definitely influenced the people, who made Tarot and similar things, for instance Lazzarelli (and the Mantegna Tarocchi), who used the row of the Muses of Fulgentius instead of two other rows, which also were known in this time.
http://trionfi.com/0/m/11

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Now today, with the reflection of mikeh's work about "Tarot-like images in a c.1420 manuscript" ... this was here ...
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=655&start=10
...
seeing this "Pollus" in the writing of Fulgentius and getting the meaning of this I exploded with thhis ...

And here we have the answer to some good old Tarot questions ..

Why is 35 Gemini the highest numbered trump below the 5 Aries in Minchiate?

I guess, this is answered now. Gemini shows Castor and Pollux.

Also the question of the wedding between Costanzo Sforza and Camilla d'Aragon in 1475. Why did Castor and Pollux got such a preferred position in the festivity?

viewtopic.php?f=11&t=418&hilit=camilla+aragon
... somehow in this thread

And for the Minchiate and Pollus as father of the elements:

36-40 Aries (usual Tarot elements)
24-35 Zodiac with reigning Gemini
20-23 elements
16-19 four additional virtues
1-15 usual Tarot elements till lightning.

And the problem appears also in the analyzes of the Lorenzo Spirito text:

search.php?t=442

... and we have a general twin-pairing models in the 15th century, which appears in Sola-Busca, Boiardo Tarocchi, also in biographical presentations.

... as this a new insight with some surprizing character I considered it necessary to open a new thread.



So ... Why ?

Why had been the twins the "highest numbered cards". The influence of Fulgentius seems to be the answer, but a lot of more work is necessary to get this finished.

Pierre de Ronsord
French poet, who refers to the Dioskures in reflection to the Florentine family Salviati

This was followed in 1552 by the publication of his "Amours de Cassandre" with the fifth book of Odes, dedicated to the 15-year-old Cassandre Salviati, whom he had met at Blois and followed to her father's Château de Talcy.

http://books.google.com/books?id=MzeDIQ ... &q&f=false
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_de_Ronsard
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salviati_%28bankers%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ch%C3%A2teau_de_Talcy

In the château is the "chambre de la Médicis" where Catherine de' Medici and her son Charles IX are said to have planned the Massacre of Saint Bartholomew's Day during the "conference of Talcy" 28 and 29 June 1572

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http://www2.vo.lu/homepages/phahn/photos/roma/index.htm

Scala Cordonata
Other famous stairs, planed by Michelangelo. They lead to the Capitol, museum and municipal administration.
The statues to both sides of the steps represent Castor and Pollux.

The existing design of the Piazza del Campidoglio and the surrounding palazzi was created by Renaissance artist and architect Michelangelo Buonarroti in 1536–1546. At the height of his fame he was commissioned by the Farnese Pope Paul III, who wanted a symbol of the new Rome to impress Charles V, who was expected in 1538.

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Salviati, Giuseppe (1520 - 1575) - The Rape of the Sabine Women / Castor & Pollux carrying off the daughters of Leucippus - Renaissance (Late, Mannerism)



Again the Salviati-family ... a banker family of Florence

Francesco Salviati Riario was the archbishop of Pisa in 1475. A blood-member of the Riario family, and of the Salviati family (to whom Pope Sixtus IV had re-awarded the papal banking contract after taking it away from the Medici), he was also related by marriage to the Pazzi, Medici, Vettori, and other powerful families. Orphaned at a young age, Salviati was educated as a humanist but vied to succeed in the church, knowing he could not rise to power in the family after losing his father. Pro-Medici sources paint Salviati as a flatterer, a gambler, and lusted for the power that could be attained through church favour.

In 1464, Salviati moved to Rome to attach himself to Francesco della Rovere - who would later become Pope Sixtus IV - and his nephews, Girolamo and Pietro Riario. This paid off in his appointment as archbishop.

The Medici family of Florence opposed his appointment as archbishop and so in spring 1478, he sent to Florence his nephew Raffaele Riario to lure both Lorenzo and Giuliano to the Duomo for assassination in the Pazzi Conspiracy, and invited him to a mass at the Duomo at which the assassination would take place. When the bell that was rung during the elevation rang, Salviati was to go to the Palazzo Vecchio, kill the Gonfaloniere Petrucci and take possession of the Palazzo della Signoria, whilst the main killing occurred in the cathedral, but on arriving there he was arrested by Petrucci and within an hour had been hanged by a lynch mob from the window of the Sala dei Duecento.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francesco_ ... hbishop%29

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Peter Paul Rubens in 1618 ... this might be well a painting, which gave him the favor of Maria de Medici, Italian (Florentine) Queen of France, from whom Rubens got commissions since 1622.

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Opera

Castor et Pollux - Jean Philippe Rameau - 24 October 1737
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castor_et_Pollux

1725: production of a famous Minchiate deck
9 July 1737: Death of the last grand duke Medici

The opera was relative clearly a (diect or indirect) reaction on the death of the last Medici ruler and possibly other political conditions connected to it.
For the moment of 1737 there was a "war of the Polish succession" (1733-1738) ... after the peace of Vienna the German emperor lost Lothringen, but got Tuscany.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_the ... Succession

Further operas:
(sume subject ?) - Bianchi 1779 Florence
Castore e Polluce - Vogler - 1787 (German)
Castor et Pollux - Candeille - 1791 (French ... time of French revolution))
Castore e Polluce - Felice Radicati - 1815 (Italian)

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Most findings - for the moment - relate to the city of Florence or the Medici. It seems, that it had been a Florentine theme mainly in mid 16th century ... the time, when the specific deck type of Germini or Minchiate might have become rather popular. Generally one find not too much ... beside the older mythological stories. But I'm interested in the renaissance reception of the Castor and Pollux, not in the old stories.

It's somehow remarkable: Rome had "twin pope's" with Leo X (fomer Giovnni di Medici) (1513-1521) and Clemens VII (former Giulio di Medici') (1522 - 1534), one the son of Lorenzo di Medici, who survived the attack of 1478, and the other Giuliano, who died in the same attack, both sons of Pietro di Medici. Somehow once living examples of the other mythological twins.

Also rather strange: In the analyzes of the festival book of the wedding of Camilla d'Aragon and Constantio Sforza it was analyzed, that the Gemini Castor and Pollux played a dominant role in the festival concept. This wedding happened 1475, so before the attack of 1478. For the organization of the festivity there are good arguments, that it was strongly influenced b Federico Montefeltro. For Montefeltro it was recently publicly discussed, that he actively participated in the attack on the Medici brothers.

Well, and we don't know for sure, which motifs were in the Minchiate version, which is noted in documents 1466, 1471 and 1477 in or near Florence - also before the attack.
And the Salviati family, which later also was involved in the Castor-Pollux-theme. was also involved in the attack of 1478 (see above).

There is a rather detailed book on the Dioscuri cult in the Roman Empire: Maurice Albert, Le Culte de Castor et Pollux en Italie, Paris 1883. Also, we discussed them quite a bit on the "Sun" thread, but with a narrow focus not connected to the four elements, just about how they got reinterpreted in Christianity. Search "Castor" there (search.php?keywords=Castor&terms=all&au ... mit=Search).

The equations might go something like this. Castor (human) + Pollux (immortal) = Christ on earth, both mortal and immortal, with Pollux (immortal Christ) sacrificing part of his immortality, undergoing death and Hades, for the sake of Castor (humanity). (In that way, the cult of the Dioscori can be painlessly assimilated into Christianity. This point is elaborated on in the "Sun" thread.) But if "in the beginning was the Word" *(John 1:1) then the immortal aspect of Christ is the father of the elements, creating them out of what was "void, and without form" (Gen:1:2). (Christ as demiurge was the point of the famous illumination, http://christianrockhalloffame.com/911-3A-w.JPG. We know it better from Blake's version, http://jimmyprophet.files.wordpress.com ... -blake.jpg). Therefore Pollux (immortal part of Christ) = father of the elements.

In the above I was taking as given that Fulgentius was a Christian, and going on to suggest that his purpose was at least in part to co-opt the pagan gods and their cults into Christianity. If there was a strong Castor and Pollux cult in North Africa, it would be important to make its deities into Christ, and the immortal Pollux into the eternal Word. I haven't checked to see if Albert mentions Fulgentius in his book.

The Wikipedia article that Huck cites is not very clear on his Christian orientation, except for one mention of his fondness for Augustine, although his time, late 5th or early 6th century (assuming it is accurate), makes it virtually impossible that he be anything but Christian. Wikipedia mostly emphasizes, correctly, that he is probably not the Bishop Fulgentius of approximately the same time and place. For more, I cite the following, in Whitehead's Fulgentius the Mythographer, p. 4f (this book is the source of the theoi.com text):

His Christian attitudes, particularly in the Content and the Ages, seem to be orthodox Roman Catholic and opposed to the backsliding of a hereticus neglectful of "mother Church"; see especially his interpretation of the story of Noah and the two birds in the Ages, chapter 2. As well as the Bible--mainly the Old Testament, the Gospels, and the Acts of the Apostles--he is acquainted with such early Christian historians as Eusebius; and the Ages regularly reveals a strong anti-Jewish prejudice.

Also, there is Fulgentius himself, in Mythologies II.1 (http://www.theoi.com/Text/FulgentiusMyt ... [quote]For the first or contemplative life is that which has to do with the search for knowledge and truth, the life led in our days by bishops, priests, and monks, in olden days by philosophers.[/quote]
As for his own personal station in life, he says in the Prologue to the Mythologies (http://www.theoi.com/Text/FulgentiusMythologies1.html#0), third paragraph and a couple following, that he owns a country estate that is slowly recovering from the "barbarian onslaughts," although the memories are still vivid. That would be the invasions of the Vandals, which began in North Africa in 439, Whitehead tells us (p. 4).

Also, the temple of the Dioscuri in the Roman Forum was built because they were seen fighting on the Roman side in an important battle, helping them to win a victory, and "later seen watering their horses at the spring of Juturna next to the Roman Forum after delivering the news of victory" (http://www.sacred-destinations.com/ital ... and-pollux; see also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_of_ ... and_Pollux). It is near the Temple of Saturn, but not next to it, and 5 other temples are just as close. The large, long "Basilica Julia" is between the two, constructed by Julius Caesar.

The question is, when did "Pollus" come into existence as the name of the father of Saturn? I suspect it is a Christian invention, maybe Fulgentius's. I will do more checking on this issue: not only on whether there is any record of it before Fulgentius, but also whether it was interpreted as Pollux in the medieval commentaries. So far I have only checked Martianus Cappela: no Pollus there, and the Gemini are simply the divine twins, one fathered by Jupiter.

I am still supporting your basic point, that this "Pollus" in Fulgentius, associated with Pollux, is why the Gemini are put before the four elements in Minchiate. I am just offering a different explanation of where this "Pollus" name came from. As you say, more research is in order. I will be checking other sources before and after Fulgentius next.

Very interesting, thanks friends.

... ... perhaps exist some connection between the brothers Cosimo and Lorenzo (they loved) with Castor and Pollux.

mikeh wrote: I am still supporting your basic point, that this "Pollus" in Fulgentius, associated with Pollux, is why the Gemini are put before the four elements in Minchiate. I am just offering a different explanation of where this "Pollus" name came from. As you say, more research is in order. I will be checking other sources before and after Fulgentius next.

... ') ... it seems you got ideas about it ...

One point: Fulgentius lived in North Africa and became strong and influential in Christian countries ... so it is described. This sounds, as if the total Latin tradition of Greek mythology died in European countries ... so that they finally had to get a North African version to recover.
This sounds like "strong persecution" in Western Europe.
Also I've in mind, that England, similar "at the border of Western Europe" as North Africa had astonishingly much about Greek mythology.
In the period of 1400 - 1450, in the first wave of the "discoveries of old text" we see, that Italian intellectuals had to plunder German libraries with the help of Nicolaus Cusanus .. and were astonished, what they found there.

Further we have, that Italians in Florence started to learn Greek with Chrysolares (1400). Somehow this explains, that Florence "discovered the world", when they got the harbor of Pisa (1406) and with that had easier access to trade via ships.
People in Venice didn't feel like being Italians a long time.

Further we have the council of Ferrara/Florence (1438/1439) as an eye-opener especially for Florentine citizens with the connected visit of Gemisthos Plethon, who ... in Ferrara rather silent and not so important ... in Florence caused big enthusiasm.

From the perspective, that definitely - for the moment - the Michelino deck is the "oldest Tarot", there's also our interest, to explore the rediscovery of Greek mythology, which just went the way through access of specific texts, which with the time were discovered to "Italian eyes" and were formerly lost.

So we have Pollus given as the father of Saturn as Fulgentius version ... this could live as long, as Hesiod's Theogony was hidden and with it the genealogy of the gods.

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For the moment I've that ...

1471 Lorenzo Valla translated the "work and days" of Hesiod
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorenzo_Valla
Valla died in 1457, so that should mean a printing date

1474 Bonino Mombrizio (active in Ferrara /Milan) translated the Hesiod's Theodizee
... if the upper meant a printing date, this likely also

So a check at
http://www.gesamtkatalogderwiegendrucke.de/
results in 17 Hesiodus results, from which the overwhelming majority (15) refer to the Lorenzo Valla text, one to a lost mixed composition of Valla/Mombrizio and only one one - from 1474 - to the Theogony alone.

But the Theogony appeared - also - in Theocritus-editions as added texts (though not always) ... I first overlooked this.

This earliest edition of 1474:

12404 Hesiodus: Theogonia. Übers. Boninus Mombritius. Hrsg. Peregrinus Priscianus. Ferrara: Andreas Belfortis, 1474. 4°
24 Bl. [a–c⁸]. 25–26 Z. Typ. 2:116R.
Bl. 1a BONNINI MOMBRITII MEDIOLANENſis præfatio ad Ill’. & excellen. d. d. Borſium Ducem Mutinæ & Regii Marchionē Eſtenſē Comi-tem Rodigii in heſiodi Aſcræi theogoniam.  … Bl. 3a HESIODI. ASCREI. THEOGONIA  [⁶]Ncipiam a muſis heliconis carmen  alumnis:  Quæ iuga ſacra colunt montis ſpa-tioſa terga.  … Lage b Annuerat ſoror & fratri cōmixta marito ē.  … Endet Bl. 24b Z. 18 Quæ te cā mouet? ſūt quæ nos ml'ta valemus  Scribere. ſunt ſtudiis accōmoda plurīa noſtris.  Ad Decus: golriā Illuſtriſſimi quondā Ducis  Borſii: Excellētiſſimæ. Domꝯ Eſtēſis: Ad Bōnini mōbritii: Heſiodi: doctiſſimoꝝ viroꝝ famā  ꝑpetuā memoriā: Peregrini priſciani nobilis ferrariēſis oꝑa: Per Andreā Gallū Ferrarie hoc opus  Impreſſum eſt. Anno legis gratiæ .M.cccclxxiiii. 
Vorlage: Berlin SB (Original).
Anm.  Bl. 24b Z. 20 auch abweichend … gloriā … (BMC. Günther 1041; Ex. Leipzig. London).
Reproduktionen: Valencia BU (Digitalisat).
H 8541. Ce³ H-141. IBE 2893. IBP 2773. IGI 4725. Pell 5836. VB 2864.10. BSB-Ink H-230. CIBN H-77. Pr 5727. BMC VI 602.IA 25611. Günther 1041. ISTC ih00141000.
Berlin *SB. Città del Vaticano BVat. Cremona Sem. Leipzig UB. London BL (def.). Manchester RylandsL. München *SB. Napoli BN. Oxford Bodl. Paris BN. Nelahozeves Lobkowitz. San Marino HuntingtonL. Valencia BU. Washington LC. Wrocław BU.

But the Theogony appeared - also - in Theocritus-editions as added texts (though not always) ... I first overlooked this.

Okay:
The first Valla-edition of "work and days" appeared c. 1472 at Sweynheim Pannartz in Rome.
Then
Milan c. 1480 (Theocritus edition - without theogony)
Milan 1483
Deventer 1492
Paris 1493
Cremona 1495 (Theocritus edition
Venice 1495/96 (Theocritus edition)
Paris 1497
Deventer 1497
Paris 1498
Paris 1499
Zwolle 1499
Leipzig 1499
Venice 1499 (Theocritus edition)
Venice 1500 (Theocritus edition)

The Theocritus editions contained also Hesiod stuff, mostly also the Theogony ...but not in the version of c. 1480 !!! ... so we've a greater spread of the theogony since 1495 (Cremona).

So a very specified circle in Ferrara developed some knowledge about the Theogony, but the rest of the world ignored it, more or less. We find the name of Peregrinus Priscianus, who had been responsible for the Schifanoia cycle and this was started under Borso. Borso died 1471 and Ercole had enough to do develop his own style and sponsorship. But we've a print of the Manilius text in 1472 (also in Ferrara) and this Hesiod-theogony edition 1474, worked out by this Milanese-Ferrarese specialist Bonino Mombrizio:

wiki wrote:Bonino Mombrizio (Mombritius) (1424 - between 1482 and 1502, perhaps 1500) was an Italian philologist, humanist, and editor of ancient writings.

He was descended from a noble but not very wealthy family of Milan, and studied the Latin and Greek classics at Ferrara, with zeal and success. Later he became a teacher of Latin at Milan, and was highly esteemed, not only for his extensive knowledge and his literary works, but also for his earnest religious life, as may be gleaned from the letters of his contemporaries. He suffered many misfortunes, which, however, did not affect his industry.

His literary importance lies especially in his editions of ancient writings. The following may be mentioned:

* "Chronica Eusebii, Hieronymi, Prosperi et Matthæi Palmerii" (Milan, 1475)
* "Scriptores rei Augustæ" (1475)
* "Papiæ Glossarium" (1476)
* "Mirabilia mundi" of Solinus (place and date unknown)

A very notable contribution to hagiography is his collection of records of the martyrdom and lives of saints, which appeared under the title: "Sanctuarium", probably printed in 1480, and edited in 1910 by the Benedictines of Solesmes Abbey.

He also composed poems, some of which were published in his editions of the ancient writings, and some printed separately. Of the latter may be particularly mentioned "De passione Domini".

His translation of Hesiod isn't even mentioned in his biography.

A Greek version of Hesiod's work by the printer Filippo Giunta was produced 1515 in Florence.

I checked who made the Theocritus editions (the translator):

The Roman milieu of Leto's Academy is at the center of Maria Agata Pincelli's analysis and interpretation of Filetico's teaching career at the Studium Urbis and his two invectives against the "corruptores Latinitatis." Martinus Phileticus (1430-9Oca.), "Eques, Poeta, Comes Palatinus," as recorded on his tombstone, was a pupil of Guarino's and Theodore Gaza's, a scholar of Greek, a translator of Isocrates and Theocritus, and an author of poetic works, commentaries (on Cicero, Persius, Juvenal, Horace) and dialogues. Before his appointment as teacher of Greek and, later, rhetoric at the Roman Studium, he was also a praeceptor for the Montefeltro and the Sforza children in Urbino and Pesaro.

"Sforza children" should mean "in Pesaro, not in Milan" in this context. He was also active in the literary cicle of Rome. He discussed translation problem, fighting for a "correct understanding" and interpretation.
More information at
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Hyempsal, ... a084722731

Naturally there's also Theocritus himself:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theocritus

He's somehow related to Sicily and shephards literature, which became in Naples. We see, that Giangaleazzo in 1489 married a Naples' princes, which should have taken influence on Milanese poets. We see, that Valla (in his late years in Naples till 1447 / then Rome) influenced Leto, who was a great man in Rome and who possibly influenced Martinus Phileticus. Camilla d'Aragon (1475) and Phileticus appear (together ?) in the context of Pesaro and Urbino.

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... something revolutionary happened. With a side-view I got (I'm still searching, where), that Pandora's box was missing in the early renaissance version of Greek mythology (Pandora's box belongs to the Hesiod-stuff. Also I got that "Pandora's box" was an translation error, the true object is a "jar".

Also it's a generally common knowledge, that the number "17" in Italy has a very unlucky meaning, more than "13".

So we have here the "star" ... I remember, that you engaged very much in this question:



... well, here with two jars ...



Are this also two jars (Cary Sheet)?

I think, the jar is missing in the early versions ... as far I get it, Pandora's box appeared not in the Theogony, but in the second Hesiod work:

Theogony

Now Iapetus took to wife the neat-ankled mad Clymene, daughter of Ocean, and went up with her into one bed. And she bare him a stout-hearted son, Atlas: also she bare very glorious Menoetius and clever Prometheus, full of various wiles, and scatter-brained Epimetheus who from the first was a mischief to men who eat bread; for it was he who first took of Zeus the woman, the maiden whom he had formed.

Pandora isn't mentioned, Epimetheus appears only once.

"work and days"

(ll. 42-53) For the gods keep hidden from men the means of life. Else you would easily do work enough in a day to supply you for a full year even without working; soon would you put away your rudder over the smoke, and the fields worked by ox and sturdy mule would run to waste. But Zeus in the anger of his heart hid it, because Prometheus the crafty deceived him; therefore he planned sorrow and mischief against men. He hid fire; but that the noble son of Iapetus stole again for men from Zeus the counsellor in a hollow fennel-stalk, so that Zeus who delights in thunder did not see it. But afterwards Zeus who gathers the clouds said to him in anger:

(ll. 54-59) `Son of Iapetus, surpassing all in cunning, you are glad that you have outwitted me and stolen fire -- a great plague to you yourself and to men that shall be. But I will give men as the price for fire an evil thing in which they may all be glad of heart while they embrace their own destruction.'

(ll. 60-68) So said the father of men and gods, and laughed aloud. And he bade famous Hephaestus make haste and mix earth with water and to put in it the voice and strength of human kind, and fashion a sweet, lovely maiden-shape, like to the immortal goddesses in face; and Athene to teach her needlework and the weaving of the varied web; and golden Aphrodite to shed grace upon her head and cruel longing and cares that weary the limbs. And he charged Hermes the guide, the Slayer of Argus, to put in her a shameless mind and a deceitful nature.

(ll. 69-82) So he ordered. And they obeyed the lord Zeus the son of Cronos. Forthwith the famous Lame God moulded clay in the likeness of a modest maid, as the son of Cronos purposed. And the goddess bright-eyed Athene girded and clothed her, and the divine Graces and queenly Persuasion put necklaces of gold upon her, and the rich-haired Hours crowned her head with spring flowers. And Pallas Athene bedecked her form with all manners of finery. Also the Guide, the Slayer of Argus, contrived within her lies and crafty words and a deceitful nature at the will of loud thundering Zeus, and the Herald of the gods put speech in her. And he called this woman Pandora (2), because all they who dwelt on Olympus gave each a gift, a plague to men who eat bread.

(ll. 83-89) But when he had finished the sheer, hopeless snare, the Father sent glorious Argus-Slayer, the swift messenger of the gods, to take it to Epimetheus as a gift. And Epimetheus did not think on what Prometheus had said to him, bidding him never take a gift of Olympian Zeus, but to send it back for fear it might prove to be something harmful to men. But he took the gift, and afterwards, when the evil thing was already his, he understood.

(ll. 90-105) For ere this the tribes of men lived on earth remote and free from ills and hard toil and heavy sickness which bring the Fates upon men; for in misery men grow old quickly. But the woman took off the great lid of the jar with her hands and scattered all these and her thought caused sorrow and mischief to men. Only Hope remained there in an unbreakable home within under the rim of the great jar, and did not fly out at the door; for ere that, the lid of the jar stopped her, by the will of Aegis-holding Zeus who gathers the clouds. But the rest, countless plagues, wander amongst men; for earth is full of evils and the sea is full. Of themselves diseases come upon men continually by day and by night, bringing mischief to mortals silently; for wise Zeus took away speech from them. So is there no way to escape the will of Zeus.

Well, Spes, one of 3 theological virtues = Hope, was part of early Trionfi decks (Cary-Yale) and we'd earlier analyzed, that its natural prolongation had been the star in Tarot ... so that's not new. But if the story of Pandora's box or jar wasn't known (or if even for some time), then - in the moment, when it became - it should have changed the perception of "hope = Spes" and with that possibly the iconography of the "Star".

6 added cards (PMB) = woman holds a star
Charles VI = the star didn't exist
Este cards = shows astronomers

I looked for old pictures of Pandora and found this by Jean Cousin the Elder ca. 1550 (France) ... with jar and not with box, drawing a connection between Eva and Pandora.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Cousin_the_Elder

In the reception of Valla's Hesiod's "work and days" version we have 4 editions in the 1490's in Paris alone, so "somehow" a rather interested reaction.

Any older picture of Pandora known ?

Boccaccio's encyclopedic work Genealogie deorum gentilium doesn't mention Fulgentius' "Pollus". In Book 8 he gives Celum (heaven, the sky), aka Uranus, as Saturn's father.

Whitbread's notes to his translation of Fulgentius (p. 50) offer the suggestion that Fulgentius was using the Latin form of the Greek term polos, meaning the "vault of heaven' (more precisely the "poles", but sometimes used for the whole sky). It is not a bad solution.