The essays in this collection focus on animals not as literal, living organisms - food, prey, possessions, or companions to man - but as symbols, ideas, or images during the Middle Ages. ... For the opening section, I have selected essays that demonstrate how animal images in medieval art and literature were used as ... books or pictures to teach man some truth about his cosmos... the hermeneutic use of animal imagery during the Middle Ages is due primarily to the Physiologus and the bestiaries. Thus, studies examining these works are a necessary part of this collection. ... The essays in [the] final section all deal with composite creatures, especially combined animal-human forms." - [Introduction]

Language: English

ISBN: 0-8153-1315-2; LCCN: 95-30586; LC: GR705.A541996; DDC: 398.2/094/04520