Ancient and medieval commentators ascribed many fantastical abilities to the natural
salamander. Many of these qualities are rooted in verifiable traits of the natural creature but often exaggerated. the chief characteristics described by the ancients: the reported ability to live in fire, and the oily exudates. The salamander were discussed allegorically in the writings of Christian fathers as well as in the
Physiologus and
bestiaries. while his
Generation of Animals offers the explanation that since there are creatures belonging to the elements of earth, air and water, salamander must be such a creature that belongs to the
element of fire. Theophrastus refers to the salamander as a lizard ("saura") whose emergence is a sign of rain. The Ancient Greek physician
Nicander (2nd century BC), in his
Therica, provides another early source of the lore of fire-resistance.
Pliny the Elder (23–79 AD) warns of its effects of (detrimental) hair loss, though other sources hint at its controlled use for the "
removal of unwanted hairs". Pliny described the salamander "an animal like a lizard in shape and with a body specked all over; it never comes out except during heavy showers and goes away the moment the weather becomes clear." Pliny's description of physical markings suggest possible identification with the
fire salamander (
Salamandra salamandra), perhaps one of its subspecies. 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 modern times, when
biologists
classified lizards as
reptiles and salamanders as amphibians. Pliny offers the frigidity of their bodies as an alternate explanation to why the salamander can extinguish fire, considered implausible.
Dioscorides ( 40–90 AD) in
De materia medica also repeats the lore of the salamander extinguishing fire but refutes it. Miniature paintings of salamander engulfed in flame occurs in
illuminated manuscript copies, such as the
Vienna Dioscurides ms. (med. gr. 1, see fig. right) and Morgan Library ms. (M. 652).
Jewish and Early Christian '
Talmud, Augustine, Physiologus''''' The legendary salamandra ( / ) mentioned in the
Talmud Augustine used the example of the salamander to argue for the plausibility of
Purgatory as a stage of purification of the dead, where human souls live but are not consumed by fire. In the
Physiologus the salamander was allegoric for the
three men cast into
Nebuchadnezzar's fiery furnace and survived.
Early medieval Hermeticism The 5th century
Hieroglyphica attributed to
Horapollo (supposed original written in
Coptic) also mentions the salamander entering the furnace and putting out its flames; it is pointed out this work draws from Greek classical authors as well as the
Physiologus. this is thought to be a contamination with the lore of the two-headed
amphisbaena.
High Middle Ages After the end of the Classical era, depictions of the salamander became more fantastic and stylized, often retaining little resemblance to the animal described by ancient authors. The medieval European
bestiaries contain fanciful pictorial depictions of salamanders. The oldest such illustration of the salamander, according to Florence McCulloch's treatise on bestiaries, occurs in the Bern 318 manuscript, but this actually the so-called
Bern Physiologus of the 9th century, discussed above. Other iconographic examples come from bestiaries of the post-millennium, e.g., "a worm penetrating flames" (Bodleian 764, 12c.), "a winged dog" ("GC",
BnF fr. 1444. 13c.), and "a small bird in flames" (BnF fr. 14970, 13c.).) its presence in a tree infects all its apples, and renders the water of the well poisonous to all who drink it. It dwells and survives in fire, and can extinguish fire as well. but, it is explained by Lady Aventiure, it is the heathens who take the salamander as a love symbol, when it fact, it represents the opposite,
unminne or "un-love". In the poem by
Petrarch (1304–1374), the salamander is used to represent "infinite, burning desire". Commentators in Europe still persisted in grouping "crawling things" (
reptiles or
reptilia in Latin) together and thus creatures in this group, which typically included salamanders (Latin
salamandrae),
dragons (Latin
dracones or
serpentes), and
basilisks (Latin
basilisci), were often associated, as in Conrad Lycosthenes'
Prodigiorum ac ostentorum chronicon of 1557.
Thomas Bulfinch in his commentary about Cellini's encounter explains that a salamander exudes a milky substance when frightened, which could plausibly protect it long enough to survive the fire as it scurried away. which has had substantial influence on the role of salamanders in the occult. Paracelsus, contrary to the prevalent belief at the time, considered salamanders to be not devils, but similar to humans, only lacking a soul (along with giants, dwarves, mermaids, elves, and elemental spirits in human form). Salamanders due to their fiery environs cannot interact with humans as other elements may be able to do, so, whereas the
undine/nymph can marry a human and will seek to do so, to gain an immortal soul, it is rare for other elements to marry humans, though they may develop a bond and become a human's servant. Paracelsus also considered the
will-o'-the-wisp to be "monsters" or the "misbegotten" of the salamander spirit.
Salamander iconography associated with Paracelsus Frequently reprinted as Paracelsus's "salamander" image is the illustration of a salamander is presented in the (influential) 20th-century occult work by
Manly P. Hall which attributes the illustration to
Paracelsus. 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". Its association with Paracelsus derives from his
Auslegung der Magischen Figuren im Carthäuser Kloster zu Nũrnberg 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 abominable worm with a human head and crowned with a crown and a
Pope's hat thereon", which is later explained to represent the Pope.
Later alchemical treatises A later alchemical text, the (
Das Buch Lambspring, 1556), depicts a salamander as a white bird, being kept in fire by a man with a polearm. The text in German states the salamander while in fire exhibits an excellent color hue, while the Latin inscription connects this to the
philosopher's stone (). But in the
Book of Lambspring inserted into
Lucas Jennis Musaeum Hermeticum (1625), an illustration with the same composition (man holding a
polearm) depicts the salamander as a lizard-like animal with star-like markings (see right). The author is also styled Lamspring, and his
Book bears the title
Tractatus de lapide philosophorum with 15 pictures. The first 10 explains the Arabic alchemical process of extracting spirit/animus from the corpus, culminating in the crowned king and salamander.
Thomas Browne, a follower of Baconian principles, in his
Pseudodoxia Epidemica (1646) also discusses the salamander at more length, including esoterica from the past, such as the salamander's use as
hieroglyphic symbol.
C.S Lewis mentions salamanders living in the fire itself, liking small dragons in his book
The Chronicles of Narnia, sixth book, The Silver Chair, chapter thirteen, The Bottom of the World. "Oh no, your Honour. Not we. It's only salamanders live in the fire itself." "What kind of beast is your salamander?" asked the Prince Rilian. "It is hard to tell their kind, you Honour," said Golg."For they are too white-hot to look at but they are most like small dragons. They speak to us out of the fire. They are wonderfully clever with their tongues: very witty and eloquent." ==In heraldry==