Carol Symes writes [excerpted]:
> I don't have an auctoritas handy, but I had always taken those beams of
> light (pointing to the BVM's ear, rather than to her head) to be
> representative of the "Word made Flesh" in Mary's womb; that upon hearing
> the word of God from the mouth of Gabriel she immediately conceived. The
> Physiologus (13th c.) picked up on the aural conception theme and
> attributes this genetive trait to either the weasel or the hyena, I forget
> which - in pious emulation, of course.
Actually, this theme of conceiving through the ear (and giving birth
through the mouth) is quite ancient, and appears already in pre-Christian
Jewish literature (Epistle of Aristeas 165). Aristotle and his school
attempted to expose it as a pseudo-scientific folktale, but obviously not
with the desired impact over the ages!! In early Christian literature, the
Epistle of Barnabas (2nd century) has probably telescoped the tradition
(or received a compressed form of the tale) when it claims that the weasel
conceives through the mouth (10.8, in a lesson opposing oral sex!). The
complex Physiologus tradition is another stage in this hoary heritage.
The tradition doubtless lives on in some places in our own world!
Bob Kraft
--
Robert A. Kraft, Religious Studies, University of Pennsylvania
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http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/rs/rak/kraft.html
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