
Interpreting the Beasts of the Middle Ages - ohaikbai
https://hyperallergic.com/507274/interpreting-the-beasts-of-the-middle-ages/
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high_5
Related: there is a very interesting guy who interprets the modern popular
phenomena (mostly movies) through this medieval Christian symbolic lens:
[https://thesymbolicworld.com](https://thesymbolicworld.com)

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ManuelKiessling
Well, there goes another productive day...

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wickerman
Although I understand the middle ages' worldview was entirely christian and
thus tracing the evolution on the symbolic perception of animals would involve
tracing it through christian authors I'd contest that to fully understand the
origin of this symbolism one has to broaden the view a lot further than St.
Augustine... 2nd 3rd century christian texts and thought emerge from a very
very cosmopolitan world where pagan conceptions of the nature of reality (i.e.
neoplatonism, orphism, chaldean theology) are mixing with the newly emergent
jewish sect that we'll later call christianity, and even with new jewish
apocalyptic and esoteric thought.

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ariehkovler
I'm not totally convinced by this. Some of the animal archetypes predate the
medieval bestiary and appear in, say, Roman or Greek plays, or pre-medieval
texts like the Talmud, or Aesop's Fables.

EG Crocodile tears goes back to Plutarch. Lions' association with Kingship is
Biblical.

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yellowapple
There also seems to be little mention of Norse Pagan influences despite
animals (both mythical and mundane) being prevalent in Norse mythology.

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mothsonasloth
Interesting, I wonder why cartographers in the medievil and renaissence
periods used to draw sea monsters on their maps. Was it for similar reasons as
explained in the article?

[https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/can-you-spot-all-
the-s...](https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/can-you-spot-all-the-sea-
monsters-in-this-16thcentury-map)

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codezero
My understanding is those maps were for display and not actual use by sailors.
The creatures are meant to be fun and fanciful to the not so adventurous
person who keeps it on display at their home and uses it to entertain guests.

I base this on buying a few very old maps. One with California as an island,
well after it was understood not to be. Simple things were pretty novel in the
past.

