Salamanders in folklore

The salamander is an amphibian of the order Urodela which once, like many real creatures, often was suppositiously ascribed fantastic and sometimes occult qualities by pre-modern authors, as in the allegorical descriptions of animals in medieval bestiaries. The legendary salamander is often depicted as a typical salamander in shape, with a lizard-like form, but is usually ascribed an affinity with fire, sometimes specifically elemental fire.

Ancient and medieval commentators ascribed many fantastical abilities to the natural salamander. Many of these qualities are rooted in verifiable traits of the natural creature but often exaggerated. A large body of legend, mythology, and symbolism has developed around this creature over the centuries. Carl Linnaeus in the 10th edition of Systema Naturae of 1758 established the scientific description of the salamander and noted the chief characteristics described by the ancients: the reported ability to live in fire, and the oily exudates.

The salamander were discussed allegorically in the writings of Christian fathers as well as in the Physiologus and bestiaries.

Aristotle, Pliny, Nicander, Aelian

The standard lore of the salamander as a creature enduring fire and extinguishing it was known by the Ancient Greeks, as far back as the 4th century BC, by Aristotle (384–322 BC) and his successor Theophrastus (c. 371–c. 287 BC) who gave such description of the σαλαμάνδρα (salamandra). The salamander's mastery over fire is described by Aristotle in his History of Animals, while his Generation of Animals offers the explanation that since there are creatures belonging to the elements of earth, air and water, salamander must be such a creature that belongs to the element of fire. Theophrastus refers to the salamander as a lizard ("saura") whose emergence is a sign of rain.

The Ancient Greek physician Nicander (2nd century BC), in his Therica, provides another early source of the lore of fire-resistance. In his Alexipharmaca, he describes the product of the salamander, referred to as the "sorcerer's lizard" (or "sorceress's lizard", φαρμακίδος σαύρη) in the form of poisonous potion. The aftereffects of ingestion included symptoms of "inflammation of the tongue, chills, trembling of the joints, livid welts, and lack of mental lucidity". A person who consumed this beverage ("draught") was thus enfeebled and reduced to crawling on all fours, as illustrated in the Paris manuscript of the work. It is puzzling why people would so frequently ingest the debilitating salamander potion such as to merit a warning. One conjecture is that a person could have been secretly administered a dose of poison or charm by another. Another possibility is the accidental introduction of it into food or drink. Pliny the Elder (23–79 AD) warns of its effects of (detrimental) hair loss, though other sources hint at its controlled use for the "removal of unwanted hairs".

Pliny described the salamander "an animal like a lizard in shape and with a body specked all over; it never comes out except during heavy showers and goes away the moment the weather becomes clear." Pliny's description of physical markings suggest possible identification with the fire salamander (Salamandra salamandra), perhaps one of its subspecies. Pliny even made the important distinction between salamanders and lizards, which are similar in shape but different in other respects, which was not systematized until modern times, when biologists classified lizards as reptiles and salamanders as amphibians.

Pliny offers the frigidity of their bodies as an alternate explanation to why the salamander can extinguish fire, considered implausible. Note that Pliny offers this explanation in one part of his work, while elsewhere he disbelieves the premise that the salamander has such fire-quenching capability, pointing out that if such an idea were true, it should be easy to demonstrate. Pliny also reports that his contemporary Sextius Niger denied the idea that salamanders could extinguish fire, though Sextius also believed honey-preserved salamander acted as an aphrodisiac when combined with food after it was properly de-headed, gutted, etc.