Drachen und Sirenen : die Rationalisierung und Abwicklung der Mythologie an den europäischen Universitäten / / von Bernd Roling.

• Superior document: Mittellateinische Studien und Texte, v. 42
• Author: Roling, Bernd, 1972-
• TeilnehmendeR: Roling, Bernd, 1972-
• Year of Publication: 2010
• Language: German
• Series: Mittellateinische Studien und Texte ; Bd. 42.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (832 p.)
• Notes: Description based upon print version of record.

What kind of being did a sailor see, when he was confronted with a mermaid? A demon, a fairy, a monster, or only an extraordinary marine mammal? Transmitted by the tradition of ancient natural history the European universities faced many creatures belonging to natural science as well as to mythology, which still could be observed throughout the world. While medieval sholarship treated those beings as subjects for demonology, early modern scholars started to rationalize the sirens and satyrs and developed new models of explanation. Throughout hundreds of academical disputations the debate on hybrid creatures can be followed up to the time of Linné and Buffon and the zoological classifications of the 18th century. This study reconstructs the discussions of hybrid creatures as part of the Early Modern change of paradigms and the longue durée of ancient and medieval natural history with the help of five examples, sirens, satyrs, giants, pygmies, and dragons.

Table of Contents

Einleitung -- Vom Wasserdämon zum Meeraffen: die Sirene -- Vom Teufel zum Affen: der Satyr -- Von der Teufelsgeburt zum Mammutknochen: der Gigant -- Zwerge und Primaten: die Pygmäen -- Vom Dämon zur Eidechse: der Drache -- Schlussbetrachtungen -- Literatur.