Concept
Physiologus
Overview
The Physiologus (Greek: Φυσιολόγος) is a didactic Christian text written or compiled in Greek by an unknown author in Alexandria. Its composition has been traditionally dated to the 2nd century AD by readers who saw parallels with writings of Clement of Alexandria, who is asserted to have known the text, though Alan Scott has made a case for a date at the end of the 3rd or in the 4th century. The Physiologus consists of descriptions of animals, birds, and fantastic creatures, sometimes stones and plants, provided with moral content. Each animal is described, and an anecdote follows, from which the moral and symbolic qualities of the animal are derived. Manuscripts are often, but not always, given illustrations, often lavish.
The book was translated into Armenian in 5th century, into Latin by the early 6th century or possibly even by the mid-4th century and into Ethiopic and Syriac, then into many European and Middle-Eastern languages, and many illuminated manuscript copies such as the Bern Physiologus survive. It retained its influence over ideas of the "meaning" of animals in Europe for over a thousand years. It was a predecessor of bestiaries (books of beasts). Medieval poetical literature is full of allusions that can be traced to the Physiologus tradition; the text also exerted great influence on the symbolism of medieval ecclesiastical art: symbols like those of the phoenix rising from its ashes and the pelican feeding her young with her own blood are still well-known.
Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).
Possible passages
Found by search and not yet checked by a person; they may only mention the idea in passing.
As soon as writing came into fashion, wise men, or those who fancied themselves such, would naturally endeavour to increase the number of those established and respected maxims, and to express their own sense of what was either proper or improper conduct, sometimes in the more artificial form of apologues, like what are called the fables of AEsop; and sometimes in the more simple one of apophthegms or wise sayings…
Adam Smith, An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations
States what Physiologus is.
The two decisive innovations in the book are, first, the comprehension of the Dionysian phenomenon among the Greeks--it provides the first psychological analysis of this phenomenon, and sees in it the single root of all Greek art; and, secondly, the comprehension of Socraticism--Socrates being presented for the first time as the instrument of Greek dissolution, as a typical decadent. "Reason" _versus_ Instinct…
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, Ecce Homo Complete Works, Volume Seventeen
Close in meaning to Physiologus; the term itself is not named.
As a consequence, the Greek tradition was lost in which a humanistic interest was used as a basis of interest in nature, and a knowledge of nature used to support the distinctively human aims of man. Life found its support in authority, not in nature. The latter was moreover an object of considerable suspicion.
John Dewey, Democracy and Education
Close in meaning to Physiologus; the term itself is not named.
Related ideas
- Jesus
- Justin Martyr
- Byzantine Empire
- Basil of Caesarea
- Latin
- Middle Ages
- Origen
- Romanian language
- Exegesis
- Epiphanius of Salamis
- Alexandria
- Logos
- Old French
- Church Fathers
- Coptic language
- Christianity
- Syriac language
- Didacticism
- Clement of Alexandria
- Incarnation
- Arabic
- Late antiquity
- Siren (mythology)
Place in the tradition
Part of Ethiopian philosophy.