3-040-709 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

A Snake, 1510-1520. The Physiologus is a didactic Christian text written or compiled in Greek by an unknown author in Alexandria, traditionally dated to the 2nd century AD. It consists of descriptions of animals, birds, and fantastic creatures, sometimes stones and plants, provided with moral content. Each animal is described, and an anecdote follows, from which the moral and symbolic qualities of the animal are derived.