Novus Phisiologus eBook

The only known text witness of the Novus Phisiologus which was written between 1294 and 1298, in all probability in Germany, is the MS 2780 of the Darmstadt Library. The work cannot, despite its title, be included among the known Latin versions of the Physiologus. In contrast to the old Latin Physiologus this Novus Phisiologus leaves out the trees and stones, but on the other hand treats the animals which it and the Latin Physiologus take on board in the descriptive part but also in the allegorically interpretative part in far more depth and detail than is the case in the Latin Physiologus. The Novus Phisiologus provides a mass of detail, of which the Latin versions of the Physiologus do not even seem to be aware.The Novus Phisiologus is a poem of 1400 lines composed partly of hexameters and partly of couplets, and contains the following parts: Prologus, De homine, De quadrupedibus, De avibus, De reptilibus, De minutis animalibus and De anima.