Share

cover art for The golden age of the bestiary

Real Fantastic Beasts

The golden age of the bestiary

Season 3, Ep. 34
•

Beth Morrison, senior curator of manuscripts at the J. Paul Getty Museum, talks about medieval bestiaries, her favorite imaginary animal, and a new exhibition at the Getty Museum.

More episodes

View all episodes

  • 43. And your little dog too!

    34:00||Season 4, Ep. 43
    Small, cute dogs that serve no practical purpose other than to make us go “awwww” turn out to have a long and fantastic history.

  • 42. There are no baby griffins

    39:56||Season 4, Ep. 42
    The griffin was both a ferocious beast and a maternal figure. Nobody took it seriously, but its image is everywhere in the pre-modern world from the Near East to Europe.

  • 41. Advice from Jackals: Arab Beast Fables

    59:41||Season 4, Ep. 41
    Guest expert Mustafa Banister Introduces us to the world of Arabic Beast Fables in the Kalila Wa Dimna and elsewhere.

  • 40. The Natural History of the Beasts of Revelation

    45:13||Season 4, Ep. 40
    Animals are everywhere in the end times. We explore early responses to the fantastic, terrifying, yet beautiful beasts of the Book of Revelation.

  • 39. Beasts of the Bayeux

    48:33||Season 4, Ep. 39
    Guest Elizabeth Pastan explores the animals in the Bayeux Embroidery (aka the Bayeux Tapestry). If you want to see the images we're discussing, you can go to the Youtube version of the episode here: https://youtu.be/pOaibXA5XrI .

  • 38. The Animals of the Twelve Days of Christmas

    43:26||Season 3, Ep. 38
    From partridges to "colly" birds, we explore the early history of the animals (and especially birds) of the beloved Christmas counting song. Special thanks to Evelyn Wohlbier for recording the song for us.

  • 37. Putting the Why in the Wyvern

    41:23||Season 3, Ep. 37
    Guest Edana Kleinhans takes us through the subtle differences between wyverns and dragons.

  • 36. Thoroughly Thoroughbred

    48:10||Season 3, Ep. 36
    Guest expert Richard Nash takes us through the history of the thoroughbred horse, from its hybrid origins to the cult of purity that made it the background to racial narratives of the modern world.

  • 36. When do demons get their bat wings?

    32:09||Season 3, Ep. 36
    Just in time for Halloween, we explore the humble bat, whose wings suddenly became the standard for all demonic flying creatures.