The Judgment of Paris

Roman Monster found dead in the Tiber River

Nigel Bruce

• 3 min read
Roman Monster found dead in the Tiber River
Hans Burgkmair the Younger/Heinrich Vogtherr: "Tiber Monster" Folio 90 from illuminated manuscript "Augsburg Book of Miracles" (circa 1550).

This is really a story about money and riches, but more on that in a minute.

Even today it reads like a tabloid headline but, in January 1496, after the Tiber River flooded the city of Rome, a rumor got around that a monster had been found in the mud left after the flood. It reportedly had an ass's head, a female body, and an elephant trunk, amid other hybrid body parts. It was perfect for anti-papal propaganda since, surely, its appearance had something to do with the corrupt Popes in Rome. In Germany, it was called der Papstesel, the "pope-ass," in a satirical pamphlet published in Wittenberg in 1523 by Martin Luther and Philipp Melanchthon, illustrated by, among others, Lucas Cranach the Elder:

Lucas Cranach the Elder: "Tiber Monster" (1523), probably based on a Roman engraving, now lost.

Why are hybrid monsters always of interest to the public? Back in 1496, this sexy monster appeared during the papacy of Rodrigo Borgia, better known as Alexander VI. He was notorious for libertinism and nepotism and for being the father of Cesare and Lucretia Borgia. But it was later popes like Julius II ("the Warrior Pope") and Leo X who drew attacks from Erasmus, Calvin, Luther, Melanchthon and others. Some of them even promoted the colorful idea - an effective idea - that the Popes were the Antichrist and the Catholic Church was the Whore of Babylon.

I would note that the Antichrist is very poorly represented in art history... Peter Thiel should do something about that. Below is one of the few images we have.

Lucas Cranach the Younger and Pancratius Kempff: this is right half (the Antichrist half) of a woodcut: "Difference Between the True Religion of Christ and the False Idolatrous Teaching of the Antichrist in its Principal Features" (1545-46), Kupferstichkabinett, Berlin

The Tiber Monster was propaganda of course. This story was really about money and riches, because the monster was used (effectively) to attack what was perceived to be the corrupt practices of the Church, especially indulgences, which were the primary fundraising tool of the time. The monster was a convenient metaphor for how unnatural this all was, and for why a "Reformation" was still needed after more than a century of angry criticism by Wycliff, Hus, Erasmus, Zwingli and others, who resented the entrenched wealth and privilege of the Church. I am not defending either side, but I am reminded of this cartoon, which I'm sure Peter Thiel would dislike:

William Balfour-Ker: "From the Depths," published in "The Silent War" (1906), by John Ames Mitchell, in the Library of Congress

The issue of corruption and entrenched wealth is very much with us today. The Reformation may have been about the perceived corruption of the Catholic Church, but it didn't take long before the rich and powerful took sides and the plundering of the monasteries and vicious wars got underway. It might happen again, with the Church replaced by the oligarchs.