The role of animals and mythological creatures in global cultures

0563952 - OÚ 2023 RIV SK eng M - Část monografie knihy
Liščák, Vladimír
Odoric of Pordenone and his Chinese bestiary.
The role of animals and mythological creatures in global cultures. Bratislava: Institute of Oriental Studies, Slovak Academy of Sciences, 2022 - (Cziráková Zhang, D.; Bucková, M.; Verešová, V.), s. 149-164. ISBN 978-80-89867-07-3
Institucionální podpora: RVO:68378009
Klíčová slova: Odoric of Pordenone * bestiaries * strange creatures * Chinese mythology and folklore in Western sources
Obor OECD: Antropology, ethnology

The paper deals with a special characteristic of the “Relatio” by Odoric of Pordenone - his using of bestiaries with their origin in ancient sources. Odoric, in the account of his travels, was very restrained in his use of a bestiary, although, given the lack of a critical edition and the presence of diverse editions, some codices include more than the others. One of the possible sources for Odoric’s bestiary may be Shanhai jing 山海經, the “Classic of Mountains and Seas”, the most famous Chinese text of fantastic geography. Odoric used also medieval Chinese sources, such as “Monograph on Foreign Countries” (異域志 Yìyù zhì) of 1366, In my paper, I bring some illuminating examples, where strange beings mentioned by Odoric are observed and compared with similar beings that populated the Chinese imagination. Whenever possible, the descriptions were accompanied by ancient images that have come down to us both from the West and from China.
Trvalý link: https://hdl.handle.net/11104/0336134