Aliud dicitur, aliud demonstratur: this is the ‘principle’ on which scriptural allegorism was founded in the era of Church Fathers. However, it is possible to ask ourselves if this form of allegorise is the only now known of others are yet to be found.

In this paper I would like to demonstrate that, alongside scriptural allegorism, another type of allegorism exists: the universal one, which took place in late ancient and medieval theology. Indeed, the world became a great book written by God and everything became a symbol. I will show how universal allegorism was precisely born from scriptural allegorism, to highlight how these two forms of allegory, despite what one might think, are intimately connected to each other. Lastly, one more question: what about these two forms of allegorism today?