About this document
Half Mouse Half Earth in Jewish Texts by Julian Ungar-Sargon is a document available to read on EtoBox.
The document discusses the jerboa, a small rodent described in ancient Jewish texts as being "half flesh and half earth." It was believed to spontaneously generate from moist soil after floods in Egypt. The Greek and Roman sages Diodorus, Ovid, and Pliny also described these mice emerging from the Nile river banks. Rabbinic sources like the Mishnah and Talmud discussed the jerboa in legal and theological contexts. The article explores how observations of jerboas emerging from mud led to the belief that they
- Author
- Julian Ungar-Sargon
- Language
- EN