The Legend of Saramanda

Saromanda, a legendary creature, represents the fantasy imposed on salamanders by ancient and medieval Europe. Many of these fantasies stem from the true characteristics of salamanders, but most of them are wrongly exaggerated. There are many views on the image of Salamander, including insects and birds, but after being polished by alchemists, writers and many metaphysical scholars, the narrative of salamander is the mainstream at present. In ancient European works about natural history and philosophy, you can often find strange records about Salonda. At that time, many legends, myths and symbols related to Salonda developed.

There are many images of Salonda in the legend. In the animal fables of medieval Europe, the absurd descriptions include "a creature that looks like Satya in a wooden basin" (the eighth century), "a bug that can pass through flames" (the twelfth century) and "a bird in flames" (the thirteenth century). [1] The description of the Rose Cross is more realistic and closer to the description of the classical era.

In an early description of the salamander, Pliny Sr wrote that it was "a lizard-like creature with stars all over it." . Never come out unless it rains heavily, and it will disappear when the weather clears up. These characteristics are consistent with the European golden mountain salamander (scientific name), with golden spots on its back, and similar to some subspecies of some salamanders (scientific name). Pliny Sr even made a standard to distinguish salamanders from salamanders. They are similar in appearance, but there are some differences in other aspects. In contrast, no one in the scientific community has done systematic research until modern times. Biologists classify lizards as reptiles and salamanders as amphibians.

Other features described by Pliny are less credible, such as being able to put out fires with the cold of the body (Aristotle also mentioned). Although Pliny recorded this point in Chapter 86 of Volume 10 (Volume 10) of Natural History, he also mentioned in Chapter 23 of Volume 29 that he was skeptical about it, thinking that if this statement is true, it should be quite easy to find, but there has never been any evidence that these amphibians can do legendary things. He also mentioned the characteristics of medicine and poison, which are indeed the characteristics of some salamanders (such as golden Alps salamanders and fire salamanders), and they can discharge toxic and physiologically irritating substances. These substances are usually produced when threatened, which can effectively deter predators. However, the extension of these characteristics is quite exaggerated. For example, it is believed that a newt can make the fruit toxic and kill the people who eat it as long as it wanders near a tree.

Among the characteristics of Sarromanda described by ancient Europeans, the legends related to fire can be said to be the focus of such legends. This may be related to a characteristic of most salamanders, that is, they hibernate in or under the rotten Kinouchi. When dead wood is brought home for firewood, hibernating salamanders will "mysteriously" erupt from the fire. /kloc-Benvenuto Cellini, an Italian artist in the 6th century, mentioned in his autobiography that he witnessed it when he was a child. According to some writers, when the salamander is frightened, the milk-like substance secreted will make its skin very moist, which will cause the salamander (Sharomanda) to endure high temperature and even put out the fire. Early European commentators often regarded "reptiles" (called reptiles or reptiles in Latin) as the same species, so salamanders (called salamanders in Latin), dragons (called dragons or snakes in Latin) and winged lizards (called basiliski in Latin) were regarded as related species, just like Konrad Lecosse Tinis's spiritual knowledge. In the Talmud Sutra (Hagiga 27a), it is said that Sharomanda is a product of fire, and people covered with its blood will be able to avoid the fire. Rashi, the first commentator of Talmud, wrote that Shalomanda will be born in the flame that has been burning for more than seven years. According to Buhari's hadith, Muhammad said that Shalomanda was a "maker of bad luck", not a "thing that should be killed".

Leonardo da Vinci described Salomanda like this: "It has no digestive organs. It doesn't eat any food, only fire. In the fire, it will constantly take off and change its own scale-this is its intrinsic value. " A few years later, Parra Cyrus put forward the theory that Salomanda is the elemental spirit representing fire, which greatly influenced Salomanda's role in mysticism.

It is said that early travelers to China all wore clothes made of salon wool, which would not be damaged by fire. In fact, those clothes were mixed with asbestos to prevent fire. According to t? h？ According to TH White, the priest King John has such a robe, the "Indian Emperor" also has a dress made of thousands of layers of skin, and Pope Alexandra III also has a treasured coat. William? William caxton, 148 1+0) wrote: "These clothes from Solomon will not burn in the fire." Holm, 1688) wrote: "... I burned (Solomon's big hair) in the fire several times until it was red and hot, and then I took it out. It was cold at that time, but it was still perfect hair.

Another explanation is that this substance is some kind of silk: a letter from pastor John in the 20th century reportedly wrote: "Our kingdom has produced a worm named Saromanda, which lives in the fire and makes cocoons, and our court ladies use it to spin clothes. If you want to clean these fabrics, throw them into the fire. " Flair also described that Kyle Poirot believed that the "real" Salonda was some kind of non-combustible substance in the soil. In modern times, the most famous fallacy originated from an influential mysticism book in the 20th century: by Li Man? Palmer? The Secret Law of the Past Dynasties written by Manley Palmer Hall (see the notes for details) describes a realistic example. Because this illustration seems to come from 1527, a book by Andrea? Ossiander and Hans? Hall's description of the illustrations in hans sachs's anti-Pope pamphlet was questioned, which portrayed the Pope as a monster.