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The salamander was revered as a symbol of purity, permanence and fire. It also filled a gap for medieval natural historians, who insisted that there must be a beast of fire to complement those living in the air, in water and on earth.

The star-shaped markings spangling the dog-sized salamander's golden skin are unmistakable. It is from these star markings that it exudes a milky fluid that is one of the most potent toxins known to man. Human skin burns and shrivels on contact, and the victim's flesh withers instantly on the bone. The hair drops out and only a blackened, shrunken corpse is left to bury.

Porky Problem
The salamander's vicious excretion can poison fruit trees on contact, and make the water in rivers and wells undrinkable. It is said that 2000 of Alexander the Great's horses and 4000 of his men died in India after drinking from a salamander-poisoned stream. The only animal able to tolerate this venom is the pig, which gobbles salamanders with impunity, but stores the toxins in fat deposits under the skin, making it toxic in turn. This is one reason why travellers often regard spicy pork sausages with suspicion.

Apart from its evil toxin, which it can spit or inject by biting, the salamander has extraordinary heat-resistant properties. Indeed, it can only thrive amidst heat and flames, and the intense conditions of a furnace or even lava flow provide an ideal habitat. However, it is also able to extinguish flames at will, projecting a wave of intense cold which can douse the fiercest blaze.

A Sizzling Little Number
Regarded, for obvious reasons, with some trepidation by early chroniclers like Aristotle and Pliny the Elder, the salamander was a popular inclusion in medieval bestiaries where it was used as a moral and Christian allegory for indestructibility and the triumph over desires of the flesh. Alchemists used it as the symbol for the element of fire; King Francis I of France (1494-1547) adopted it as his emblem, with the motto, 'I nourish and extinguish'.

It was also in the time of Francis I that weavers learned how to make the salamander's cocoon into a textile. Clothes made of salamander wool, as the material was known, could be be cleaned simply by throwing them into the fire.

Salamandra pyra is closely related to other members of the genus Urodeles, especially the Common Salamander and the Black Salamander.

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Lest I be accused of spreading disinformation, read about the real salamander here. This post was about the mythical salamander. smile