INTS 407 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Conjoined Twins, Physiologus, Bestiary
26 Aug 2016
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Information came from: reports of ambassadors, travelers, merchants. Information was most often not eye-witness: reports of unknown creatures living far away were deemed credible. Medieval man used translation techniques which depended on shared knowledge to convey descriptions of unusual creatures: rhinoceros = horse without a horn , produces a unicorn in the imagination of the listener. Mythological creatures came from techniques of translation. Medieval zoology, like geography, restricted study to what could be found in the. Knowledge was valuable insofar as it contained hints of the designs of the. Animal attributes and behavior were associated allegorically with bible episodes. The physiologus creates extended analogies demonstrating that animals are signs from god: ex: pelican resurrects its dead chicks representing the resurrection of christ, dead chick = christ; pelican = god. Idea that they things around us are a mirror or false image of the reality that is in the spiritual realm with god: animals exist to show us god.
