Bär und Baum - Oso y Madroño. Kulturhistorische Betrachtung einer Motivtypengruppe im Alten Orient und in der Spanischen Heraldik

Resumen

This paper investigates the typology and role of the brown bear, Ursus arctos, in the iconography of the Ancient Near East and Europe, with the aim of illuminating the special combination of the images “bear and tree” thematically. Though it focuses on the natural behaviours of the bears this motif only emerges sporadically in ancient oriental, sasanid and late Roman art. However, the topos bear and vegetation or bear as constellation also appear in medieval islamic miniatures. Within the European heraldry, it forms the coat of arms for the city of Madrid “oso y madroño”, where there is an additional astronomical dimension because of the 7 stars. There does not seem to be any direct tradition of this motif deriving from the ancient oriental analogies, but there are close parallels to examples from late Roman mosaic art. The theme itself contains multilayer significance which might be impacted by different denotations.