This is one of the most mysterious creatures of the Ancient World and the Middle Ages. The salamander was represented as a small dragon living in fire and embodying its spirit. Mentioned in "Natural History" by Pliny the Elder, who says that the salamander itself is so cold that it can extinguish any flame, barely touching it. “The creepiest of all animals is the salamander,” Pliny writes. - Others bite, at least, individual people and do not kill many at once, and the salamander can destroy an entire people so that no one will even notice where the misfortune came from. If a salamander climbs a tree, all the fruits on it become poisonous. If it touches the table on which bread is baked, it becomes poisonous … Plunging into the stream, it poisons the water … If it touches any part of the body, even the tip of a finger,then all the hairs on the body fall out …”In alchemy, the salamander is the spirit of the elements of fire, just as there are spirits of the other three elements - earth, water and air.
Where did this legend about the fiery creature come from? In the Hebrew legend "The Gates of Heaven" there are the following lines: "From the fire is born an animal called a salamander, which feeds on fire alone; and fire is its matter, and it will appear in the glow of the furnaces that have been burning for seven years. " The image of a spotted lizard associated with the element of fire migrated to medieval treatises on symbolism and alchemy and found a connection with religious symbolism.
In The Physiologist, a book written in the 3rd century and which is a collection and a kind of interpretation of pre-Christian works on zoology, a fire salamander corresponds to three righteous people who were not burnt in a fiery furnace. Further, her image spread throughout various bestiaries and gained popularity, and the legend took root and firmly entered many prophecies.
The fiery image was initiated by the coloring of the animal. Ancient scientists, in particular Pliny the Elder and Albert the Great, tried to associate its yellow and orange spots on the skin with the light of distant stars. It was believed that the fire salamander somehow affects the appearance of meteors, comets and new stars, and they, accordingly, affect the location of the colored spots on its skin. A connection with various fiery phenomena is also mentioned, since scientists associated the same elongated specks with tongues of flame.
The salamander has always evoked superstitious horror and fear, giving rise to many myths. In some, she is immortal, and her skin is capable of curing all diseases; in others, it is a small dragon, from which a fire-breathing monster will grow in a hundred years. In medieval magic, the salamander is a spirit, the keeper of fire, its personification. In Christianity, she is the messenger of hell, but in the 11th century treatises of the Byzantine George of Pisidia she is identified with the biblical symbol of a pious person "who does not burn in the flame of sin and hell."
In the Middle Ages, the belief spread in Europe that salamanders live in flames, and therefore in Christianity its image became a symbol of the fact that a living body can withstand fire. In addition, the magic lizard personifies the struggle with carnal pleasures, chastity and faith. Theologians cited the phoenix bird as evidence of the resurrection in the flesh, and the salamander as an example of the fact that living bodies can exist in fire.
In the book “City of God” by St. Augustine there is a chapter entitled “Can bodies exist in fire? soul and life, not only do they not disintegrate and do not decompose after death, but their existence continues amid the torments of the eternal fire? Since it is not enough for unbelievers that we attribute this miracle to the omnipotence of the Almighty, they demand that we prove this by some example. And we can answer them that there really are animals, perishable creatures, for they are mortal, which nevertheless live in fire."
Poets also resorted to the images of the salamander and the phoenix, but only as a poetic exaggeration. For example, Quevedo in the sonnets of the fourth book of the Spanish Parnassus, where "feats of love and beauty are sung":
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I am like a Phoenix, embraced by the furious
With fire and, burning in it, I am reborn, And I am convinced of his masculine strength,
That he is the father who gave birth to many children.
And the salamanders are notorious cold
It does not extinguish, I can vouch for it.
The heat of my heart, in which I suffer, She doesn't care, even though he is hell to me.
In ancient books, the salamander was often given a magical appearance. It is already unusual, and in ancient descriptions it surpasses this image as well. She has the body of a young cat, behind her back are large webbed wings, like some dragons, a snake's tail, and only the head of an ordinary lizard. Its skin is covered with small scales, fibers that resemble asbestos (often this mineral was identified with salamander) - these are hardened particles of an ancient flame.
Salamander can often be found on the slope of a volcano during an eruption. She also appears in the flames of the fire, if she herself so desires. It is believed that without this amazing creature, the appearance of heat on the earth would be impossible, because without his command, even the most ordinary match cannot ignite.
According to the treatises of Kabbalism, in order to get hold of this outlandish creature, one should find a transparent glass vessel that has a round shape. In the center of the bulb, using specially placed mirrors, focus the sun's rays. After a while, the salamander's solar substance will appear there, its true essence, which can then be used in alchemy to obtain the philosopher's stone. Other sources specify that the non-combustible salamander only ensured the maintenance of the required temperature in the crucible, where the lead was converted into gold.
The image of the salamander was widely used in symbolism and heraldry. So, on the coats of arms, a four-legged lizard surrounded by flames symbolized resilience and contempt for danger. For example, in British coats of arms, it means bravery, courage, fortitude, which cannot be damaged by the fire of disasters. It is curious that the first insurance companies chose the salamander as their symbol, which meant safety from fire.
Traveling to the French castles of Chambord, Blois, Azay-le-Rideau, Fontainebleau, you can find dozens of images of a salamander, because it was she who was chosen as his symbol by the French king Francis I., decorates walls and furniture. The meaning of this motto was that a wise and just monarch sows good and good, while eradicating evil and ignorance.
Fiction and reality are often very closely intertwined, and the salamander is a classic example of this. Now, of course, they are pretty well studied, but some superstitious fear still remains. Perhaps, also because these creatures are unusually poisonous, and most importantly, they have such a mystical trail behind them, which has rarely been awarded to any other species of amphibians.
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