Concept in Definition ABC

In the field of Literatureis designated as bestiary to that collection of fabulous stories about real or fictional animals, popularly known as beasts.

It should be noted that these compendiums of fables became extremely famous in theMiddle Ages, people became desperate and encouraged a lot reading their pages that described the actions of these animals, which in many cases even had human attributes, monstrous characteristics, and his interaction with the natural world around them.

On France and England, the bestiaries, knew how to achieve enormous popularity in the XII century and most were the result of compilations of stories written hundreds of years ago.

The first bestiary, entitled Physiologus, it is believed that it was written between the ages II and IV, in Alexandria, Greece. In it the adventures of various animals, plants, rocks and fantastic creatures were related, and all of them were associated with moralizing phrases.

One of the most prominent features was that each story was

accompanied a lesson moral, further promoting that the natural world was the authentic creation of God and that by case, each creature, God, had given a mission on earth that he had to fulfill accordingly.

For this reason, the bestiary has been considered in literature a living expression symbolic of animals. One of the most representative examples to mention is that of the pelicans, a bird of which it was said in these books, in clear allusion to Jesus Christ, who opened his chest to give life with her own blood to his children.

The characters legendaries that paraded through the bestiaries were thought of in the region of the Mesopotamiaand from there they would begin to spread fantastically to other Eastern and Western cultures. Furthermore, there are many beasts that are closely associated with certain communities.

Many renowned artists and authors have written their own bestiaries, such is the case of: Leonardo Da Vinci, Julio Cortázar and Saul Steinberg, among others.

On the other hand, it is called a bestiary that man who in the past fought with wild beasts in Roman circuses.

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