Jewish Snails

And it's nothing to do with Techelet

The other night I was feeling overwrought from everything to do with Israel, the war, anti-Zionism from abroad and from inside Israel, politics, and all that. I needed a distraction. I needed to get away from anything to do with Israel and Jews.

So I asked ChatGPT for an idea, based on its knowledge of me. And it suggested that I listen to a podcast called “Ologies” that interviews experts about offbeat topics related to science and zoology. One episode that caught my attention was about weird illustrations of animals in medieval manuscripts. Perfect!

Or so I thought.

The interviewee, medieval art historian Evan Pridmore, delved into an unexpected animal that is surprisingly common in medieval animal art: the snail. In particular, there are many illustrations of giant snails battling knights:

What are these illustrations all about? Some people thought that they were just cartoons, adding some light-hearted comic relief to serious tomes. But, Pridmore said, the most widely-accepted explanation among contemporary scholars specializing in the medieval period is very different.