Tierische Weltpolitik oder spirituelle Kartierung der Welt? Tiergestalten im Sacharjakommentar des Hieronymus

Abstract How does Saint Jerome handle animal appearances in his exegesis of the night visions in the prophet Zacharias? Within apocalyptic texts, mostly fabulous or chimeric animals play a big role in transporting the symbolic message. Saint Jerome interprets the animals in Zach 1–6 primarily in a canonical frame, while showing some interest in zoological identification in order to enrich his interpretation with details of behaviour and attributes. He understands both horses and chimeric birds as symbols for world political processes on the level of historia and for spiritual mapping of the world regarding the tropologia.