ABSTRACT
Every student of ancient churches has noticed how frequently animals and other representations of natural history are to be found carved therein, and has, no doubt, been tempted to ask whether these sculptures or paintings are mere grotesque creations of the artist's fancy or whether they have a deeper symbolical meaning. Fortunately the reply to this question is supplied from natural history books of the Middle Ages known as bestiaries. These works, which had a greater circulation than any other book except the Bible, deal with the supposed habits and appearance of various animals and birds. They also contain illuminated miniatures of each animal dealt with, and explain the moral lessons which the animal's behaviour teaches. The builders of a church were thus able to use these sculptures as symbols for instructing all future worshippers. An early compilation of such allegorical interpretations of the nature of plants and animals, made up partly from antique materials, is still extant in the Physiologus, which was the natural history of the Middle Ages and the basis of all later bestiaries.
