--- title: Salamander description: A mythical being symbolizing fire. author: name: Graciela Paula Caldeiro url: http://graciela-caldeiro.idoneos.com canonical: https://mitosyleyendas.idoneos.com/en/bestiario_mitologico/salamandra/ source: en/bestiario_mitologico/salamandra/index.md --- **Salamander** There is a real animal, a black amphibian with yellow spots known as the salamander, which reaches about twenty centimeters in length including its tail. The name is also given to a wood-burning iron stove, very commonly used in Patagonian latitudes. But the word salamander carries many other mythological meanings.Salamander Throughout Western culture, the [salamander](https://esotericos.idoneos.com/seres_magicos/elementales_del_fuego#salamandras) was considered a fantastic being linked to one of the four elements: fire. Medieval bestiaries attribute to the salamander the ability to extinguish fire or even to live within it. Leonardo da Vinci claimed that the salamander fed on fire. In any case, it was said of the salamander that the temperature of its blood was so low that it could counterbalance the heat of the flames. In the symbolism of [alchemy](https://esotericos.idoneos.com/alquimia), salamanders represent the spirit of fire and, as such, behave as carriers of its essence. In this sense, they symbolize passion, destruction, purification, and movement, as well as ascending spiritual energy or the virtuous soul that can emerge from the flames of temptation unharmed. In iconography, the salamander is depicted as a creature half lizard, half dragon. Naturally, it is always surrounded by flames.