TY - JOUR AU - Kraß, Andreas PY - 2018/12/29 Y2 - 2024/03/29 TI - The Hyena's Cave: 'Jeremiah' 12.9 in Premodern Bestiaries JF - Interfaces: A Journal of Medieval European Literatures JA - Interfaces VL - IS - 5 SE - Individual Articles DO - 10.13130/interfaces-05-09 UR - https://riviste.unimi.it/interfaces/article/view/9531 SP - 111-128 AB - The premodern bestiary tradition portrays the hyena as a creature that annually changes its sex. While the <em>Greek Physiologus</em> interprets it as an allegory of sexual aberration, the various versions of the <em>Latin Physiologus</em> read it as a symbol for religious duplicity. Since the late twelfth century, the bestiaries transform the hyena into a signifier of the abominable par excellence. Throughout the bestiary tradition, the interpretation of the hyena draws on a quotation from the <em>Book of Jeremiah</em> where God compares his land to a hyena's cave (Jer. 12.9). ER -