Physiologous
Throughout literary history, few works have enjoyed more popular success than bestiaries. Bestiaries are encyclopedic compendiums with stories about real or mythical animals. Many of these tomes have existed throughout the centuries dating back to the pre-Christian era, but none has been more influential than Physiologus. Manuscripts of Physiologus have been found in Latin, Ethiopian, Syrian, Old High German, Flemish, Dutch, Provencal, Old French, Middle English, Italian, Waldensian, Rumanian, Icelandic, Medieval Greek, Serbian, Russian, and Old English (Cook lvii). Sokoll states that "With the exception of the Bible, there is perhaps no other book in all of literature that has been current in every cultivated tongue and among every class of people" (Cook lvii). Yet Physiologus remains a mystery: no one is sure when it was first written; no one knows the origin of the text; the author is anonymous. Examining some different ideas regarding the origins of this text might ! Little doubt remains that a proto-Physiologus first appeared in pre-Christian times. Also, it was probably influenced by works like Aristotle's Historia animalium and Pliny's Natura
The Phoenix According to Physiologus, the phoenix was a bird that came from India. More importantly, this reference to an Egyptian proto-Physiologus predates the ear!liest known Greek text by approximately two centuries. Rightly, therefore, did Physiologus co!mpare the ways of animals to spiritual matters (Curley 24). When its mouth is full, the whale closes and swallows the fish. When vipers copulate, she receives his seed in her mouth and then kills him by castration. Also, most scholars feel that the four tracts reproduced in this book were authored by the poet, Cynewulf (Cook lxii). Thus he has deceived you with the barbs of death in order to divide your plunder among hostile powers. Then it plunges into a fountain to be reborn again as a young and healthy eagle (Curley 12-3).
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