The master{\crq}s thesis is divided into three parts. The introductory part is concerned with the turtle from a professional viewpoint. The historical development and symbolism of this creature are dealt with, as well as palaeontological findings and relevant bits of interesting information. The following chapters are primarily practical. This practical work on the ceramic sculpture, though, is also based on the study of relevant literature. The third part provides a photodocumentation to the text. It features the final product as well as the process of its creation.

This thesis examines the relevance of animal symbolism for group cohesion within Vendel- and Viking Age warrior groups. Late Iron Age Scandinavia (c. 550-1050) saw increased political centralization where leading figures would legitimize and maintain their authority by forming and maintaining warrior groups. Animal symbolism is examined with regards to its role in stimulating processes of 'ingroup identification and identity fusion, which are likely to have been of vital importance in facilitating cohesion within ancient Scandinavian warrior groups. Literary, historical and archaeological sources are examined and compared in order to identify independently reoccuring phenomena, which collectively provide indications about the martial ideologies and practices of the Vendel- and Viking periods. Animals were used as identifying symbols for specific individuals, groups and organizations which could hade served to identify group members and hightlight the distinctiveness of ingroups in order to stimulate cooperation. Particular animals such as ravens were used by Scandinavian leaders in order to indicate martial competency and connections to the god Odin. Both of these functions would have increades the warrior bands' confidence in, and presumably loyalty towards their commanders. Animal symbolism was likely used by some warrior groups in the assumption of therianthropic identities. Conceptions of therianthropy could have stimulated identity fusion by cultivating specific personality traits, providing ideological motivations for violent actions, enhancing actual or perceived combat performance and by distinguishing therianthropic warriors from the rest of society. The relevant forms of animal symbolism would have coexisted to various degrees withing the same or similar ideological frameworks with Odin as a reoccuring and significant - but not necessarily essential - central figure.

Dans un certain nombre d’œuvres didactiques et sapientiales du Moyen Âge, l’animal est utilisé comme représentation du prince et de son entourage. L’animal est tantôt filtre, tantôt masque, un regard porté sur les cours princières par des auteurs plus ou moins impliqués dans celles-ci, et qui trouvent en l’animal l’outil le plus expressif pour exposer certaines valeurs ou dénoncer certains comportements. Notre étude se fonde sur un ensemble de sources, essentiellement le Calila et Dimna composé en Castille au milieu du XIIIe siècle pour l’infant Alphonse (futur Alphonse X) ; l’analyse inclut une étude de l’itinéraire textuel du Calila et Dimna : quelles différences présentent les versions indienne (Panchatantra), persane, arabe (Kalila wa Dimna), hébraïque, castillane, et les versions latines (Jean de Capoue et Raymond de Béziers). L’étude est étayée par une comparaison avec des textes indiens, persans et arabes qui offrent un rapport thématique avec ce traité dans la représentation du monde animalier. Textes latins et français (Roman de Renart, Roman de Fauvel accessoirement) complètent le corpus. Nous nous interrogeons aussi sur l’influence de la fable antique gréco-latine sur le traité (Ésope, Avianus), dans le choix des animaux et de leurs caractéristiques, notamment ; et sur les modalités de la transmission à l’Occident d’autres textes ayant suivi des itinéraires parallèles (Sendebar, Secret des Secrets, Roman des Sept sages de Rome). Nous nous demanderons si le Calila et Dimna n’était pas – comme le Renart ou le Fauvel – la caricature d’un certain milieu curial que les lecteurs contemporains n’avaient aucun mal à reconnaître ; et ce qu’il s’agisse de la version arabe ou de la version castillane du traité, étant entendu que chaque traducteur successif a contextualisé cette vision de la cour. Nous chercherons à comprendre la fonction et les mécanismes de ces masques animaliers : au-delà d’un bestiaire complexe, que nous nous attacherons à analyser de façon détaillée, en quoi et comment l’animal sert-il de filtre aux critiques politiques, comment constitue-t-il le miroir d’une vie de cour, et quelles images nous renvoie-t-il des courtisans ? Quels animaux sont-ils choisis (selon les versions) pour incarner tel ou tel homme de cour ? Quels préceptes moraux, traits de caractères, ou valences symboliques chaque animal « humanisé » véhicule-t-il ? Pourquoi utiliser des animaux ? Sont-ils là pour distraire les princes ou permettent-ils aux auteurs d’en dire plus qu’ils ne pourraient se l’autoriser, avec des héros humains ? L’animal est-il donc masque ou miroir ? / In a number of didactic and sapiential works of the Middle Ages, the animal is used as a representation of the prince and his entourage. The animal is sometimes a filter, sometimes a mask, looking at the princely courts by more or less involved authors. They find in the animal the most expressive tool to expose some values or to denounce some behaviours. Our study is based on a variety of sources, mainly the Calila et Dimna composed in Castile in the middle of the 13th century for the Infante Alfonso (future Alfonso X); the analysis includes a study of the Calila et Dimna textual path: what are the differences between Indian (Panchatantra), Persian, Arabic (Kalila wa Dimna), Hebrew, Castilian and Latin (Jean de Capoue and Raymond de Béziers) versions ? The study is supported by a comparison between some Indian, Persian and Arabic texts offering a thematic relevance in the animal world with this treatise. Latin and French (Roman de Renart, Roman de Fauvel secondarily) texts complete the corpus. We are also wondering about the Greco-Latin antique fable influence on the treatise (Esope, Avianus), concerning the choice of the animals and their characteristics. The modes of transmission to the Occident of other texts that followed parallel ways (Sandbar, Secret des Secrets, Roman des Sept Sages de Rome) are reviewed. We will be wondering whether the Calila et Dimna was not, as le Roman de Renart or le Roman de Fauvel, the caricature of a certain curial milieu that contemporary readers had no difficulty to recognise; Both the Arabic and the Castilian version of the treatise are concerned, on the understanding that each successive translator contextualised this vision of court. We will seek to understand the function and the mechanisms of these animal masks: beyond the complex bestiary, which will be thoroughly analysed, how and to what extent the animal is used as a filter for political criticism, how it constitutes the mirror of a court life, and what are the reflected images of the courtiers ? What animals are chosen (depending on the version) to embody one courtier or another ? Which moral precepts, character traits or symbolic values, each « humanised » animal is transmitting ? Why use animals ? Are they there to amuse princes or to allow the authors to tell more than they could with human heroes ? Is the animal a mask or a mirror ?

Bruhn (2008) and Griffiths (1978) have referred in passing to Messiaen's use of non-Western content as an appropriation, but a consideration of its potential moral and aesthetic failings within the scope of modern literature on artistic cultural appropriation is an underexplored topic. Messiaen's first encounter with India came during his student years, by way of a Sanskrit version of Saṅgītaratnākara (c. 1240 CE) written by the thirteenth-century Hindu musicologist Śārṅgadeva. I examine Messiaen's use of Indian deśītālas within a cultural appropriation context. Non-Western music provided a safe space for him to explore the familiar, and served as validation for previously held creative interests, prompting the expansion and development of rhythmic techniques from the unfamiliar. Chapter 1 examines the different forms of artistic cultural appropriation, drawing on the ideas of James O. Young and Conrad G. Brunk (2012) and Bruce H. Ziff and Pratima V. Rao (1997). I consider the impact of power dynamic inequality between 'insider' and 'outsider' cultures. I evaluate the relation between aesthetic errors and authenticity. Chapter 2 considers the internal and external factors and that prompted Messiaen to draw on non-Western rhythm. I examine Messiaen's appropriation of Indian rhythm in relation to Bloomian poetic misreading, and whether his appropriation of Indian rhythm reveals an authentic intention. Chapter 3 analyses Messiaen's interpretation of Śārṅgadeva's 120 deśītālas and its underlying Hindu symbolism. Chapter 4 contextualises Messiaen's Japanese poem Sept haïkaï (1962) in relation to other European Orientalist artworks of the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, and also in relation to Michael Sullivan's (1987: 209) three-tiered definitions of japonism.