Reference edition:

F.J. Carmody, Physiologus Latinus Versio Y, CPh (1944) 95-134.

The Physiologus is one of the few ancient works defined as Gebrauchstexts, texts used and reused which have survived in different versions: four Greek editions, three Latin ones, other oriental ones, one of which is Armenian, from which further numerous translations and reworkings derive in the centuries of the Middle Ages. All of them are witnesses of the great success of the work.

The physiologus is an anonymous bestiary in which descriptions of animals, plants and some minerals follow one another, often imaginative and without a clear order. The Christian approach of this look at nature intends to finalize these descriptions to moral teaching on various themes - among others chastity, abstinence, obedience - by connecting them to quotations from sacred texts. A minority part of modern criticism believes that the function of the work for religious preaching is not to be considered exclusive and its specific interest in the natural sciences is also relevant.

The Latin translation, which had a strong influence in particular on the western area of Europe and was the basis of numerous further translations into Romance languages, has arrived in two late antique editions, b and y, which are traditionally considered to be based on two different Greek models, but this opinion has been questioned in recent studies (Boodts and Macé). A third edition, x, without title and handed down in two mss,  one of which has beautiful illustrations (Physiologus Bernensis, Bern, Burgerbibliothek 318) is expressed in a poor Latin and biased by copying errors. For this reason it is not currently included in this library.

The edition y contains several chapters omitted in the b edition and appears closer to the Greek original. Carmody's edition (1941) is today the reference one, but it is presented by Carmody himself, in consideration of the complexity of the tradition, as an 'édition préliminaire', that is to say as a starting point for new editions. A very critical judgment on Carmody's edition, which is essentially based on the ms. M (München, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Clm 19417), is expressed by Orlandi (1985). In providing the edition of only two chapters, those on the pelican and the panther,  Shari Boodts and Caroline Macé (2021) rely on a larger number of mss., trying to propose some notations on their relationships and deviating from various Carmody choices. However, this is a small portion of the text and until now the studies have not yet been able to resolve the intricate problems of the full  manuscript tradition [R. Tabacco]