The Bat
- Atenea
- Oct 5, 2021
- 1 min read
For lawyers, the owl; for doctors, a snake; and for criminologists… a bat.
If we speak in etymological terms, the word "bat" comes from the Latin “muris caceus ala,” which means blind winged mouse. So, why is a bat the symbol of criminology? Well, according to history, the bat was a deity in Mayan culture. This mammal, being a nocturnal animal that can orient itself in the dark through echolocation with the help of its ears, was considered a nocturnal guardian of the treasures of temples and tombs in the underworld and linked to the four cardinal points because of its sense of orientation. In pre-Hispanic Mexico, its figure was worshipped as a guiding being.
Symbolically, the bat accompanied Xibalba in the underworld. By analogy, criminologists walk through dark valleys, observing the worst atrocities humans are capable of, but always with the conviction that we can be useful to society with our knowledge.
