Goat, Rochester Bestiary, c.1230
The goat is an animal that has been associated both with Christ and with the Devil. Medieval bestiaries, for instance, saw the goat as a symbol of Christ: just as the goat loves high mountains, Christ loves the high mountains that were a metaphor for the angels, the prophets and the patriarchs. As the goat’s food was the grass of the valleys, Christ’s food was the good deeds of Christians. The goat’s sharp eyesight was God’s omniscience and His ability to detect the Devil’s tricks.
According to Origen1, the goat’s milk had the abilities to regenerate and sharpen anyone’s eyesight and was compared to Christ’s blood that was capable of opening the eyes of the souls and sharpening their spiritual sight.
The goat’s skin was believed to heal wounds, its urine to cure earaches and its liver to help leprosy.
However, the goat had also a negative connotation. In Christian symbolism, it was also associated with lust and sin: the goats’ mating behaviour and their lascivious nature led to the belief that goats represented sinful desires.
The concept of the scapegoat comes from the Bible: in the Book of Leviticus (16:20-22)2, a scapegoat is chosen to bear the sins of the whole community and is sent it into the wilderness to carry away the sins of the people.
In Matthew 25:31-463, the parable of the sheep and the goats associated this beast with the damned and the importance of good deeds and charity is emphasised.
The horned variety of Gods has also been associated with the Devil. The connection between this animal and the Devil can be traced back to Paganism, which was absorbed by Christian symbolism. Pagan traditions in the Roman and Greek society associated goats with the god of fertility such as Pan that was later transformed into negative symbolism by Christianity.
captet aspera. Nonnulli a crepita capream vo-
cant. Hee sunt agrestes capree. quos greci eoquod
acutissime videant; dorcas appellaverunt. Moran-
tur in excelsis montibus. et de longinquo venien-
tes; cognoscunt si venatores sunt aut viatores.
Sic dominus nostr iesus christus; amat excelsos mon-
The goat is called in Latin căpĕr, for it seeks uneven, rugged grounds. Some say the word căprĕa, wild she-goat, comes from crĕpita, crackling, rattling sounds. These are the wild goats the Greeks have called δορκάς/ dorkás4, for they have very sharp sight. They dwell in high mountains and when they see approaching people from afar, they recognize whether they are hunters or travellers. Similarly, our Lord Jesus Christ loves
dicitur. Ecce fratruelis meus sicut caprea venit saliens
super montes. transiliens colles. et sicut caprea in conval-
libus pascitur. Ita dominus noster iesus christus in ecclesia pascitur.
Bona opera christianorum esce eius sunt; qui dicit. Esurivi et
dedisti mi manducare. Sitivi; et dedistis mi bibere. Con-
vallia montium; ecclesie per diversa loca intelliguntur.
sicut in canticis dicitur. Ecce fratruelis meus. conver-
tere et esto similis capree hinnuloque cervorum. Quod acu-
tissimam habet aciem oculorum; et prospicit omnia et a
longe cognoscit; significat dominum nostrum qui scienciarum
dominus est. Et alibi qui scientiarum dominus est; Qm excelsus
dominus et humilia respicit et alta a longe cognoscit.
et omnia creavit et condidit. et regit et videt. et pros-
picit. et antequam in cordibus nostris aliquid oriatur; pre-
videt et cognoscit. Denique sicut caprea a longe cognos-
cit venantium adventum; ita christus prescivit insidias
proditoris sui dicens. Ecce appropinquare qui me tra-
det.
high mountains, that is, the prophets and the apostles, as it is written in the Song of Songs: “Behold, my beloved cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills” (Song of Solomon, 2:8). As a goat grazes in the valleys, our Lord grazes in the Church. The good deeds of Christians are His food, and He said: “For I was hungred, and ye gave me meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink.” (Matthew, 25:35). The valleys of the mountains are interpreted as various places in the Church, as it is said in the Song of Songs: “My beloved is like a roe or young hart.' (Song of Solomon, 2:9). The fact that the goat has very sharp eyesight, sees everything and recognises things from afar, it signifies our Lord Jesus Christ who is the Lord of knowledge. Elsewhere it is written: “Though the Lord be high yet hath he respect unto the lowly but the proud he knoweth afar off.”(Psalms, 138:6). He created and established all things and governs, sees and provides. Before anything arises in our hearts, He foresees and knows it. Finally, just as a goat recognizes the approach of hunters from afar, so Christ foresaw the deceit of His betrayer5, and said: “Behold, he is at hand that doth betray me.” (Matthew, 26:46)
Bibliography
David Badke, The Bestiary Blog: Animals in the Middle Ages, Goat, November 6 2023, https://bestiary.ca/beasts/beast163.htm
Josh Goldenberg (BA 2012) and Matt Shanahan (BA 2014, Logeion, November 2022, https://logeion.uchicago.edu/
Castiglioni, L. and Mariotti, S. (1996). Vocabolario della Lingua Latina: Latino-Italiano Italiano-Latino. Terza Edizione. Loescher Torino
Mark Davoren, Dominican Friars, Biblical Beasts: Goat, December 2023, https://www.english.op.org/godzdogz/biblical-beasts-goat/
Michele Corti, Ruralpini, La capra: una storia culturale e sociale, December 2023, https://www.ruralpini.it/Capra_storia_culturale.html
Matthews, J. and Matthews C., (2010), The Element Encyclopedia of Magical Creatures, HarperCollins UK, London
Curley, M. J., Physiologus: A Medieval Book of Nature Lore (University of Chicago edition 2009)
Rackham, H., M.A., Pliny Natural History Volume III, Libri VIII-XI (London: William Heinemann Ltd, 1949)
Collins, A. H., M.A., Symbolism of Animals and Birds (New York: McBride, Nast & Company, 1913)
Henderson, C., The Book of Barely Imagined Beings (London: University of Chicago Press, 2013)
White, T. H., The Bestiary: A Book of Beasts (New York: G.P Putnam’s Sons, 1960)
Barney, S. A., Lewis, W. J., Beach A., Berghof O., The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006)
Footnotes
1 Origen of Alexandria was a prolific writer who wrote roughly 2,000 treatises in multiple branches of theology, including textual criticism, biblical exegesis and hermeneutics, homiletics, and spirituality. He was one of the most influential and controversial figures in early Christian theology, apologetics, and asceticism. He has been described as the greatest genius the early church ever produced. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origen
2 Book of Leviticus (16:20-22) : “And when he hath made an end of reconciling the holy place, and the tabernacle of the congregation, and the altar, he shall bring the live goat and Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness: and the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited: and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness.”
3 The Parable of The Sheep and The Goats: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2025%3A31-46&version=NIV
4 The word δορκάς/ dorkás in Greek actually means gazelle.
5 Judas Iscariot.