The gate of the year

Carved capital from the Abbey of La Sauve-Majeure, Aquitaine, France, established in the XI century. The image shows a Mermaid, the fish-woman who took the place of the bird-woman Siren of the Classical tradition. The latter, during the medieval period, has blended with a different tradition, of Northern origin, about the mermaid (“sea maiden”, Old English merewif, “sea witch”). The relationship with the aquatic element associates primarily this figure with the concept of fertility, but also with unbridled sexuality. For this reason, it became for Christianity a symbol of lust and sin.
“The sirens are sea maidens who deceive the sailors with their beautiful appearance and entice them with their chant; from head to navel they have the body of a virgin and are quite similar to the human species; but they have scaly fish-like tails which they conceal among the waves” (Liber monstrorum, VIII cent., Porsia 1976, p. 149).

[Image: http://www.amolenuvolette.it/root/image/abrupt_clio_team.folder/merveilles% 20des%20%C3%A9gllises% 20romanes.folder/]




Human-Animal Transformation

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Carved capital from the Abbey of La Sauve-Majeure, Aquitaine, France, established in the XI century. The image shows a Mermaid, the fish-woman who took the place of the bird-woman Siren of the Classical tradition. The latter, during the medieval period, has blended with a different tradition, of Northern origin, about the mermaid (“sea maiden”, Old English merewif, “sea witch”). The relationship with the aquatic element associates primarily this figure with the concept of fertility, but also with unbridled sexuality. For this reason, it became for Christianity a symbol of lust and sin. “The sirens are sea maidens who deceive the sailors with their beautiful appearance and entice them with their chant; from head to navel they have the body of a virgin and are quite similar to the human species; but they have scaly fish-like tails which they conceal among the waves” (Liber monstrorum, VIII cent., Porsia 1976, p. 149). [Image: http://www.amolenuvolette.it/root/image/abrupt_clio_team.folder/merveilles% 20des%20%C3%A9gllises% 20romanes.folder/]