Research source

I have heard in the name of Rabbi Meir, the son of Kallonymos of Speyer, that this is the animal called Jeduah

Date of account: Published 1890
Source: Curious Creatures in Zoology
Reference: Curious Creatures in Zoology · selected passage 37
Rights: public_domain
Language: English
Record updated: 2026-08-24

Record summary

Published source text

Read the available text below. Archive transcriptions may contain OCR errors; later context is labelled separately. A recorded claim is not a finding that it happened.

Source passage

Source text · mention only

I have heard in the name of Rabbi Meir, the son of Kallonymos of Speyer, that this is the animal called _Jeduah_. This is the _Jedoui_ mentioned in Scripture (lit. _wizard_, Lev. xix. 31); with its bones witchcraft is practised. A kind of large stem issues from a root in the earth on which this animal, called _Jadua_, grows, just as gourds and melons. Only the _Jadua_ has, in all respects, a human shape, in face, body, hands, and feet. By its navel it is joined to the stem that issues from the root. No creature can approach within the tether of the stem, for it seizes and kills them. Within the tether of the stem it devours the herbage all around.

Historical context

Contextual commentary · mention only

This source supplies historical scientific, skeptical or conventional context. Its terminology and conclusions may not reflect current scholarship.

Modern context

Contextual commentary · mention only

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