Der Pelikan als Christussymbol

When Thomas Aquinas refers to Christ as a pelican in the 13th century, he is obviously assuming a common knowledge of this animal symbolism. The roots of this symbolism lie in the Septuagint (especially Ps 101:7) and in the Physiologus . From this dual origin, this essay attempts to trace how the pelican-Christ symbolism was received in the course of late antiquity and at the beginning of the Middle Ages, thus paving the way for it to become widely known in the further course of the Middle Ages, leaving its mark to this day.