Throughout the history of the animalistic tradition, a series of animals have become divine symbols, especially when representing certain mysteries such as the resurrection and, therefore, human redemption. Primitive texts, such as the Greek Physiologus and its Latin derivatives establish this category, which is basically repeated in all the manifestations of medieval bestiaries. In some cases, such marked allegories disappear, and the animal ends up becoming a paradigm of behaviour. This is the case of some of the later bestiaries that give more importance to the exemplification of vices to be avoided and christian virtues to be imitated than to the primitive divinisation. In this work we offer some examples of animals characterised by their divine symbolism, and how it has or has not varied over the centuries. - [Abstract]

Language: Catalan