The Prophet Jonah and the Whale

The Prophet Jonah and the whale. By Tommaso di Antonio Finiguerra, an artist of the early Italian Renaissance and the Florentine school.

It is curious that, in place of a whale, Finiguerra drew the heraldic dolphin of Florence, enlarged to improbable dimensions.

As for the likelihood of surviving inside the belly of a marine mammal, scientists suppose that it might be possible. In the case of the killer whale, for instance, which has a special compartment in its stomach for the preliminary storage of food. Or in the case of the sei whale or the fin whale, which pushes food into an air chamber, a continuation of the nasal cavities, where a grown man could quite comfortably fit, and if the swallowed object goes no further, the whale spits it out. Legends describe a living man being found inside the belly of a slain sperm whale in 1758 and 1891.

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September digest: archaeological finds, exhibitions, museums, theatre and the Church

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The Prophet Jonah and the Whale

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September digest: archaeological finds, exhibitions, museums, theatre and the Church

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