Myth and legend[edit]
Main articles: Salamander (legendary creature) and Legendary salamander in popular culture
Legends have developed around the salamander over the centuries, many related to fire. This connection likely originates from the tendency of many salamanders to dwell inside rotting logs. When placed into a fire, the salamander would attempt to escape from the log, lending to the belief that salamanders were created from flames.[60] The mythical ruler Prester John, supposedly had a robe made from salamander hair, the "Emperor of India" possessed a suit made from a thousand skins, Pope Alexander III had a tunic which he valued highly andWilliam Caxton (1481) wrote: "This Salemandre berithe wulle, of which is made cloth and gyrdles that may not brenne in the fyre."[61] The salamander was said to be so toxic that by twining around a tree, it could poison the fruit and so kill any who ate them and by falling into a well, could kill all who drank from it.[61]
The association of the salamander with fire appeared first in Ancient Greece, where Pliny the Elder writes in his Natural History that "A salamander is so cold that it puts out fire on contact. It vomits from its mouth a milky liquid; if this liquid touches any part of the human body it causes all the hair to fall off, and the skin to change color and break out in a rash."[62] The ability to put out fire is repeated by Saint Augustine in the fifth century and Isidore of Seville in the seventh century.[63][64]
In Hermetic teachings, there are four orders of elements and each has a ruling elemental over it:[65]
- Spirits of Earth - Gnomes
- Spirits of Air - Sylphs
- Spirits of Water - Undines
- Spirits of Fire - Salamanders
The Japanese giant salamander has been the subject of legend and artwork in Japan, in the ukiyo-e work by Utagawa Kuniyoshi. The well-known Japanese mythological creature known as thekappa may be inspired by this salamander.[66] A newt plays a key role in Roald Dahl's children's book Matilda when, in the chapter 'The First Miracle', the eponymous heroine Matilda Wormwoodslips a newt into the headmistress Miss Trunchbull's water, and tips it over by telekinesis.[67]
Limb regeneration as applied to humans[edit]
Salamanders' limb regeneration has long been the focus of interest among scientists. Researchers have been trying to find out the conditions required for the growth of new limbs and hope that such regeneration could be replicated in humans using stem cells. Axolotls have been used in research and have been genetically engineered so that a fluorescent protein is present in cells in the leg, enabling the cell division process to be tracked under the microscope. It seems that after the loss of a limb, cells draw together to form a clump known as a blastema. This superficially appears undifferentiated, but cells that originated in the skin later develop into new skin, muscle cells into new muscle and cartilage cells into new cartilage. It is only the cells from just beneath the surface of the skin that are pluripotent and able to develop into any type of cell.[68] Researchers from the Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute have found that when macrophages were removed, salamanders lost their ability to regenerate and instead formed scar tissue. If the processes involved in forming new tissue can be reverse engineered into humans it may be possible to heal injuries of the spinal cord or brain, repair damaged organs and reduce scarring and fibrosis after surgery.[69]
Salamander brandy[edit]
A 1995 article in the Slovenian weekly magazine Mladina publicized Salamander brandy, a liquor supposedly indigenous to Slovenia. It was said to combine hallucinogenic with aphrodisiac effects and is made by putting several live salamanders in a barrel of fermenting fruit. Stimulated by the alcohol, they secrete toxic mucus in defense and eventually die. Besides causing hallucinations, the neurotoxins present in the brew were said to cause extreme sexual arousal.[70]
Later research by Slovenian anthropologist Miha Kozorog (University of Ljubljana) paints a very different picture — Salamander in brandy appears to have been traditionally seen as an adulterant, one which caused ill health. It was also used as a term of slander.[71]
A 16th-century image of a salamander from
The Book of Lambspring | |
| Grouping | Mythological |
|---|---|
| Sub grouping | Fire spirit Elemental |
| Habitat | Fire |
.jpg)
The salamander is an amphibian of the order Urodela which, as with many real creatures, often has been ascribed fantastic and sometimes occult qualities by pre-modern authors (as in the allegorical descriptions of animals in medieval bestiaries) not possessed by the real organism. The legendary salamander is often depicted as a typical salamander in shape, with a lizard-like form, but is usually ascribed an affinity with fire, sometimes specifically elemental fire.
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[hide]Classical, medieval, and renaissance lore[edit]
This legendary creature embodies the fantastic qualities that ancient and medieval commentators ascribed to the natural salamander. Many of these qualities are rooted in verifiable traits of the natural creature but often exaggerated. A large body of legend, mythology, and symbolism has developed around this creature over the centuries.
A frequently-cited[1][2][3][4] illustration of a salamander is presented in an influential[5] 20th-century occult work by Manly P. Hall, Secret Teachings of All Ages, in which it is attributed toParacelsus.[6] This illustration appears to originate in a 1527 anti-papal tract by Andreas Osiander and Hans Sachs, where it is identified as "the Pope as a monster".[7] Its association with Paracelsus derives from his Auslegung der Magischen Figuren im Carthäuser Kloster zu Nũrnberg[8] in which the author presents explanations of some illustrations found in a Carthusian monastery in Nuremberg; the illustration in question he labels as "a salamander or desolate worm with a human head and crowned with a crown and a pope hat thereon,"[9] which is later explained to represent the Pope. Catholic Archbishop Raymund Netzhammer (1862–1945) explained that the set of woodcuts it belongs to was commissioned by Osiander based on some old "pope illustrations" found at the monastery, which Netzhammer thought may have dated back to the time of Joachim of Fiore (d. 1202) and were intended as cartoons mocking the Pope and the Church.[10]
Descriptions of the legendary form are more likely to use stylized depictions. In Medieval European bestiaries, fanciful depictions of salamanders include "a satyr-like creature in a circular wooden tub" (8th century), "a worm penetrating flames" (12th century), "a winged dog" (13th century), and "a small bird in flames" (13th century).[11] Renaissance depictions[12] are characteristically more realistic, adhering more closely to the Classical description. In another example, a 1556 edition of the Book of Lambspring depicts the salamander as a white bird,[13] while Lucas Jennis' 1625 version of the same illustration, included in the Musaeum Hermeticum, depicts it as a lizard-like animal with star-like markings (see right).
In one of the earliest surviving descriptions of a salamander, Pliny the Elder (A.D. 23–79) noted that the creature is "an animal like a lizard in shape and with a body starred all over; it never comes out except during heavy showers and disappears the moment the weather becomes clear."[14][15] All of these traits, even down to the star-like markings, are consistent with the golden Alpine salamander (Salamandra atra aurorae) of Europe that has golden or yellow spots or blotches on its back[16] and some similarly marked subspecies of the fire salamander (Salamandra salamandra).[17] Pliny even made the important distinction between salamanders and lizards, which are similar in shape but different in other respects, which was not systematized until recent times, when biologists classified lizards as reptiles and salamanders as amphibians.
Pliny recounts several other traits which are less credible, such as the ability to extinguish fire with the frigidity of their bodies, a quality which was reported as hearsay by Aristotle (384–322 BCE).[18] While Pliny notes this in Book 10, Chapter 86 of the Natural History, in Book 29, Chapter 23 of the same work he views this idea with skepticism, pointing out that if such an idea were true, it should be easy to demonstrate.
Pliny also notes medicinal and poisonous properties, which are founded in fact on some level, since many species of salamander, including fire salamanders and Alpine salamanders, excrete toxic, physiologically active substances. These substances are often excreted when the animal is threatened, which has the effect of deterring predators.[16] The extent of these properties is greatly exaggerated though, with a single salamander being regarded as so toxic that by twining around a tree it could poison the fruit and so kill any who ate them and by falling into a well could slay all who drank from it.[19]
Of all the traits ascribed to salamanders, the ones relating to fire have stood out most prominently in salamander lore. This connection probably originates from a behavior common to many species of salamander: hibernating in and under rotting logs. When wood was brought indoors and put on the fire, the creatures "mysteriously" appeared from the flames. The 16th-century Italian artist Benvenuto Cellini (1500–1571) famously recalled witnessing just such an appearance as a child in his autobiography.[20] According to some writers, the milky substance that a salamander exudes when frightened and which makes its skin moist gave rise to the idea that the salamander could withstand any heat and even put out fires.[20][21]
Another idea which is found in several Medieval and Renaissance works was that "Egyptian priests" used a hieroglyph which applied the figure of a salamander to represent a man who is burnt, or in other versions a man who has died from cold.[22] This tradition is first found in the Hieroglyphica of Horapollo (Book 2, Ch. LXII), but it is not now considered to be an authentic representation of hieroglyphic usage.[23]
Early commentators in Europe often grouped "crawling things" (reptiles or reptilia in Latin) together, and thus creatures in this group, which typically included salamanders (Latinsalamandrae), dragons (Latin dracones or serpentes), and basilisks (Latin basilisci), were often associated, as in Conrad Lycosthenes' Prodigiorum ac ostentorum chronicon of 1557.[12]
The salamander is mentioned in the Talmud (Hagiga 27a) as a creature that is a product of fire, and it relates that anyone who is smeared with its blood will be immune to harm from fire. Rashi (1040–1105), the primary commentator on the Talmud, describes the salamander as one which is produced by burning a fire in the same place for seven years.[24] According to Sahih Bukhari (810–870), Muhammad said that salamanders are "mischief-doers" and "should be killed".[25]
Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) wrote the following on the salamander: "This has no digestive organs, and gets no food but from the fire, in which it constantly renews its scaly skin. The salamander, which renews its scaly skin in the fire,—for virtue."[26] Later, Paracelsus (1493–1541) suggested that the salamander was the elemental of fire,[27] which has had substantial influence on the role of salamanders in the occult. Paracelsus, contrary to the prevalent view of the time, considered them to be not devils but similar to humans — only lacking souls (along with giants, dwarves, mermaids, elves, and elemental spirits in human form).[28] Francis I of France used the salamander as his symbol.
Saint Augustine in the City of God used the example of salamanders to argue for the possibility of humans being punished by being burned in eternal flame in Purgatory. He wrote "If, therefore, the salamander lives in fire, as naturalists have recorded, and if certain famous mountains of Sicily have been continually on fire from the remotest antiquity until now, and yet remain entire, these are sufficiently convincing examples that everything which burns is not consumed."[29]
Early travelers to China were shown garments supposedly woven from salamander hair or wool; the cloth was completely unharmed by fire. The garments had actually been woven from asbestos.[20][30] According to T. H. White,Prester John had a robe made from it; the "Emperor of India" possessed a suit made from a thousand skins; and Pope Alexander III had a tunic which he valued highly.[19] William Caxton (1481) wrote: "This Salemandre berithe wulle, of which is made cloth and gyrdles that may not brenne in the fyre."[19] Holme (1688) wrote: "...I have several times put [salamander hair] in the Fire and made it red hot and after taken it out, which being cold, yet remained perfect wool."[19][21]
An alternative interpretation was that this material was a kind of silk: A 12th-century letter supposedly from Prester John says, "Our realm yields the worm known as the salamander. Salamanders live in fire and make cocoons, which our court ladies spin and use to weave cloth and garments. To wash and clean these fabrics, they throw them into flames."[31] Friar also notes that Marco Polo believed that the "true" salamander was an incombustible substance found in the earth.[21]
The salamander is found throughout French folklore, although in differing form. In addition or sometimes instead of its fire symbolism, it was attributed a powerful poison. Some legends say that merely by falling into a well, it would poison the water, and by climbing a fruit tree, poison the fruit.[32] Its highly toxic breath was reportedly enough to swell a person until their skin broke; in Auvergne, it supposedly did the same to herds of cattle. This gained it the name of "bellows breath". Like the real animal, the legendary salamander breathed seldom; unlike the real salamander, the only way to kill one was said to be to lock it in a confined space so that it breathed its own poison.[33] The Bretons feared it so they did not dare say its real name for fear it would hear and then kill them.