1 00:00:03,360 --> 00:00:06,399 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio. 2 00:00:10,240 --> 00:00:12,320 Speaker 2: Hi, my name is Robert Lamb and this is the 3 00:00:12,400 --> 00:00:15,240 Speaker 2: Monster Fact, a short form series from Stuff to Blow 4 00:00:15,240 --> 00:00:20,400 Speaker 2: Your Mind focusing on nonmithical creatures, ideas, and monsters in time. 5 00:00:24,400 --> 00:00:28,040 Speaker 2: As mentioned in yesterday's core episode The Nature of Diamonds, 6 00:00:28,080 --> 00:00:32,000 Speaker 2: Part one, I'd like to discuss the fantastic salamander in 7 00:00:32,040 --> 00:00:36,200 Speaker 2: today's Monster Fact. Now. Dungeons and Dragons players have long 8 00:00:36,320 --> 00:00:40,680 Speaker 2: noticed the startling difference between salamanders of the natural world 9 00:00:40,760 --> 00:00:43,040 Speaker 2: and salamanders as they appear in the D and D 10 00:00:43,200 --> 00:00:47,400 Speaker 2: Monster Manual, where they are described as flaming snakes and 11 00:00:47,520 --> 00:00:51,559 Speaker 2: snakelike beings that quote slither across the Sea of ash 12 00:00:51,600 --> 00:00:56,160 Speaker 2: on the elemental plane of fire. Meanwhile, real life salamanders 13 00:00:56,200 --> 00:01:01,400 Speaker 2: are quite remarkable but are decidedly not on fire. Ancient 14 00:01:01,440 --> 00:01:04,920 Speaker 2: and medieval bestiaries are full of strange and often fiery 15 00:01:05,040 --> 00:01:07,959 Speaker 2: tales of the salamander. I turned to the writings of 16 00:01:08,000 --> 00:01:12,000 Speaker 2: folk historian Carol Rose and her book Monsters, Giants and Dragons, 17 00:01:12,319 --> 00:01:15,560 Speaker 2: as well as Jorge Luis Borges The Book of Imaginary 18 00:01:15,640 --> 00:01:19,760 Speaker 2: Beings to piece together the different attributed features of the 19 00:01:19,800 --> 00:01:23,640 Speaker 2: mythic salamander. The creature pops up in various works from 20 00:01:23,640 --> 00:01:27,039 Speaker 2: the ancient Greco Roman world, most notably the writings of 21 00:01:27,160 --> 00:01:31,360 Speaker 2: Roman historian Pliny the Elder in seventy seven CE. He 22 00:01:31,440 --> 00:01:35,679 Speaker 2: describes the salamander as a monstrous lizard that poisons anything 23 00:01:35,720 --> 00:01:38,920 Speaker 2: it touches, known to live on the slopes of volcanoes 24 00:01:39,280 --> 00:01:43,080 Speaker 2: as well as within the heart of a fire. As 25 00:01:43,120 --> 00:01:47,440 Speaker 2: Borges points out, Plenty highlights the creature's natural coldness as 26 00:01:47,480 --> 00:01:50,840 Speaker 2: a reason for this. It's so cold it simply resists 27 00:01:50,840 --> 00:01:54,800 Speaker 2: the fire and even extinguishes it. But Pliny also writes 28 00:01:54,840 --> 00:01:58,880 Speaker 2: of another creature, the pyrosta, that lives within the copper 29 00:01:58,920 --> 00:02:03,560 Speaker 2: smelting furnaces of Cyprus, and the creature, he says, dies 30 00:02:03,800 --> 00:02:07,440 Speaker 2: if they leave the flames. Borges points out that later 31 00:02:07,520 --> 00:02:12,080 Speaker 2: traditions would take these attributes and apply them to the salamander. 32 00:02:12,639 --> 00:02:15,680 Speaker 2: It's also worth noting, though, that, as a creature of fire, 33 00:02:16,080 --> 00:02:19,960 Speaker 2: the mythic salamander was, by some standards, a necessary part 34 00:02:20,280 --> 00:02:24,560 Speaker 2: of classical elemental theory. If earth, water, air, and fire 35 00:02:25,040 --> 00:02:27,720 Speaker 2: are the prime building blocks of nature, then there have 36 00:02:27,880 --> 00:02:31,919 Speaker 2: to be animals of each element, and that includes creatures 37 00:02:31,919 --> 00:02:36,239 Speaker 2: of fire, as we discussed in yesterday's episode. Sixteenth century 38 00:02:36,240 --> 00:02:40,960 Speaker 2: Italian sculptor Benvenuto Cellini claimed in his autobiography to have 39 00:02:41,080 --> 00:02:44,639 Speaker 2: seen a salamander in the fire as a child. As 40 00:02:44,680 --> 00:02:48,160 Speaker 2: Matt Simon discussed in a twenty fourteen article for Wired Magazine, 41 00:02:48,360 --> 00:02:52,880 Speaker 2: fantastically wrong the legend of the homicidal fireproof salamander. This 42 00:02:52,960 --> 00:02:56,040 Speaker 2: common bit of lare likely came about as ancient people 43 00:02:56,280 --> 00:03:01,240 Speaker 2: occasionally threw damp logs on their fires, logs that may 44 00:03:01,280 --> 00:03:05,640 Speaker 2: have had tiny, unfortunate salamanders clinging to their underside. But 45 00:03:05,720 --> 00:03:08,920 Speaker 2: as Borges stressed, the notion of a creature that lives 46 00:03:08,960 --> 00:03:12,560 Speaker 2: in fire was a theologically useful bit of lore as well. 47 00:03:13,120 --> 00:03:16,160 Speaker 2: Saint Augustine, in his fifth century CEE work The City 48 00:03:16,200 --> 00:03:20,040 Speaker 2: of God, used the salamander as proof that fiery living 49 00:03:20,160 --> 00:03:23,320 Speaker 2: torment in the afterlife was not that far fetched a notion. 50 00:03:24,000 --> 00:03:28,040 Speaker 2: Borhes notes that the mythical phoenix, another mythical creature of fire, 51 00:03:28,520 --> 00:03:31,760 Speaker 2: was often cited by theologians to support the idea of 52 00:03:31,800 --> 00:03:36,160 Speaker 2: a bodily resurrection during the Middle Ages. Salamanders continued to 53 00:03:36,240 --> 00:03:38,839 Speaker 2: tear it up in the bestiaries. Writers of the day 54 00:03:38,920 --> 00:03:41,720 Speaker 2: described their abilities to poison the fruit of trees. They 55 00:03:41,880 --> 00:03:45,720 Speaker 2: entwined to stop up the mouths of lions, and of course, 56 00:03:45,840 --> 00:03:50,560 Speaker 2: extinguish fires. The creature also became associated with fibrous minerals 57 00:03:50,560 --> 00:03:55,280 Speaker 2: classified today as asbestos, which are highly fire resistant. Of course, 58 00:03:55,400 --> 00:03:58,960 Speaker 2: natural salamanders do not live in or tolerate fire any 59 00:03:58,960 --> 00:04:01,280 Speaker 2: more than the rest of the Anna kingdom. In fact, 60 00:04:01,360 --> 00:04:05,160 Speaker 2: they are decidedly moist creatures. The truth of experience and 61 00:04:05,240 --> 00:04:11,440 Speaker 2: experimentation easily extinguish the fantastic idea of a literal salamander 62 00:04:11,480 --> 00:04:15,400 Speaker 2: of the flames, but the creature lived on in heraldry, 63 00:04:15,800 --> 00:04:20,400 Speaker 2: alchemical symbolism, and of course fantasy. Tune in for additional 64 00:04:20,440 --> 00:04:23,240 Speaker 2: episodes of The Monster Fact each week. As always, you 65 00:04:23,279 --> 00:04:26,000 Speaker 2: can email us at contact at stuff to Blow your 66 00:04:26,000 --> 00:04:35,320 Speaker 2: Mind dot com. 67 00:04:35,440 --> 00:04:38,400 Speaker 1: Stuff to Blow Your Mind is production of iHeartRadio. For 68 00:04:38,480 --> 00:04:41,279 Speaker 1: more podcasts from my Heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, 69 00:04:41,400 --> 00:04:44,160 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.