Representation of the Snake in Medieval Arabic Literature

During the development of Medieval studies, scientists began to turn to this type of source as a bestiary containing complex information about the picture of the world of medieval man through images of the animal world. In Arab medieval literature, zoological genres were also formed, reminiscent in their form and content of their Western counterparts. However, these sources have been studied only fragmentarily. This study aims to present a representation of the image of a snake in Arabic zoological literature and trace the transformation of this image using the example of the treatises "Kitab al-Hayawan" by al-Jahiz, "Aja'ib al-Makhluqat wa Ghara'ib al-Mawjudat" by al-Qazwini. With this purpose in mind, comparative research design involving functional descriptive analysis, bibliographic analysis and linguistic analysis will be employed. The author's translations of the above-mentioned treatises will be used as research materials. As a result of the study, the following was determined: Quran and hadiths do not form a unified narrative of the representation of the image of snake in the medieval tradition, the general approach to the consideration of snakes as a wise creation of the Almighty is preserved, legends about the origin of snakes are changing, the body of knowledge about the medical use of snakes is increasing, despite all the transformations some archetypal features of snakes as deadliness, danger, voraciousness, but at the same time bravery, cunning and peacefulness are preserved. Keywords: Arabic medieval literature, zoological treatises, Arab-Islamic culture, Middle Ages, al-Jahiz, al-Qazwini