n In the Classical world, the unicorn was not a mythicalnbeast because the ancients believed that they were real flesh and blood creatures. The first description of thenunicorn is in the writings of Ctesias, a Greek historian of the fifth centurynBCE who is remembered largely for his unreliability. In his Indica, hensays that in India there are wild asses as large as horses that have a singlenhorn in their foreheads about a cubit in length, this horn is proof againstnpoison and is made into cups, the unicorns are very wild, are impossible tontake alive and that their flesh is inedible.
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nAll the usual Classical suspects –nHerodotus, Aristotle, Aelian, Pliny the Elder and their ilk – take his word for itnand included descriptions of the unicorn in their works that can be traced backnto Ctesias’ original, although there are some embellishments and elaborationsnof their own added. Julius Caesar, in Book IV of the Gallic Wars,ndescribes an animal that can be found the Hercynian forest of Germany,
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n“…annox shaped like a stag, from the middle of whose forehead between the earsnstands forth a single horn, taller and straighter than the horns we know.”n
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nConveniently, the inability to take a unicorn alive is emphasised, whichnaccounts for the lack of live specimens being exhibited in, say, the Romannarena. There is a creature mentioned in the Bible – the Re’em – a name that isnsometimes translated as the unicorn, but the term is misapplied and refersnperhaps to some species of wild ox, the oryx or maybe even the rhinocerosninstead.
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nThe unicorn moves into the world of myth and fable in the Physiologus,nan early (c. 2nd century CE) precursor of the mediaeval bestiaries,nin which a series of allegorical stories are related to Christianity, withnanimals real and imaginary used as metaphors for Christian virtues andnattributes. The unicorn was introduced as a symbol of the Incarnation, a wildnbeast that would only permit itself to be tamed by a pure virgin maiden,nreflecting how Christ allowed himself to be made flesh through his mother, the VirginnMary.
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nStories like this were included in the later bestiaries, descriptions ofnstrange birds and beasts, which also included the myths surrounding theirnsubjects and which came to be regarded as fact. So, for example, the pelicannwas believed to feed its young on its own blood, delivered through pecks itnmade to its breast, something taken as fact long after mediaeval times.
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nThenlegend grew that the only way in which a unicorn could be caught was for anvirgin maiden to sit in the forest and the animal would approach her, place itsnhead on her lap and allow her to place a silver chain about its neck.
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nThere arena number of animals that could have been the ‘real’ unicorn, which werenprobably seen by early travellers and their descriptions conflated with localntales from natives to arrive at single horned creature.
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nOne such is the oryx, antype of desert antelope that, seen from the side and at a distance, could benmistaken for a monocerous beast, although its horns point backwards rather thannforward as in the traditional view of the unicorn. We can see from reliefncarvings and paintings in ancient Egyptian tombs and temples that it could beneasy to mistake the double horns of the oryx for a single-horned unicorn.
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nAnnamusing depiction of a unicorn also comes from an Egyptian papyrus (in thenBritish Museum), where one can be seen playing a board game against an(victorius) lion.
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nAnother candidate is the rhinocerous itself, either single orntwin horned, that is, in spite of its bulk, a remarkably speedy creature in ancharge and again, seen at distance, could conceivably misconstrued as a heavynhorse-like beast. Other possibilities are a variety of horned cattle, goats orndeer, which could all be thrown into the mix and a zoological game of Chinesenwhispers did the rest.
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nIn one of the earliest travel books ever published,nBernhard von Breydenbach’s Pilgrimage to the Holy Land (1486), there isna woodcut by Erhard Reuwich that shows some of the animals seen on the journeynand in addition to a giraffe, some goats, a camel and a very strange crocodile,nthere is a beautiful unicorn.
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nA slightly later traveller, Lewes Vertomannus,nwrote about a pair of unicorns he saw in a temple at Mecca, included in hisndescription of his voyages made in 1503. He says,
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n“This beast is of thencolour of a horse of weesell colour, and hath the head like a hart, but no longnneck, a thynne mane hanging only on the one side. Their leggs are thin andnslender like a fawn or hind. The hoofs of the fore-feet are divided in two,nmuch like the feet of a goat. The outer part of the hinder feet is very full ofnhair.”n
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nVertomannus says that these unicorns were presented to the Sultan ofnMecca by the King of Ethiopia, and later, after being driven by an ill wind tonZeila, Africa, he writes about a market there, were he saw,
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n“…certain kyne [cattle],nhaving only one horn in the middle of the forehead, as hath the unicorn, andnabout a span in length, but the horn bendeth backwards. They are of brightnshining red colour.”n
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nIn 1622, a Portuguese Jesuit, Father Jerome Lobo, alsonreports in his Voyage seeing unicorns in Abyssinia,
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n“In the provincenof Agaus has been seen the unicorn; that beast so much talked of and so littlenknown … The shape is the same with that of a beautiful horse, exact and nicelynproportioned, of a bay colour, with a black tail … They are so timorous thatnthey never feed but surrounded with other beasts that defend them.”n
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nTomorrow – More Unicorns