unicornismonokern

[unicornismonokern]

A New Perspective

The An Interpretation of the Unicorn by Elmer G. Suhr is a well written article that dives into the different interpretations of the unicorn in a number of writers like Ctesias and Solinus as well as countries like China and India. The motivation of this article was to analysis the “salient features” of interpretations of the unicorn rather than the commonly written manifestations of the unicorn. Suhr’s Suhr also goes into his own interpretation of the unicorn connecting it to the being an eclipse in which the unicorn is the sun and the moon at the same time. He connects the eclipse and the unicorn to Ctesias' interpretation of the white (the sun) and black horn (the moon) and the unity of the holy Father and the holy Son coming together, which also symbolizes an eclipse. A quote that I really find interesting from the article that had a good connection to the Father and the Son is “cogent parallels with the horn or shadow and its connection with the sun,” (Suhr 107). The quote connects the shadow or moon to the holy Father and the sun as the holy Son and as they come together creates an eclipse. I found this perspective interesting and new considering all the articles and point-of-views I have read so far, this look at the unicorn was a new one. I really enjoyed Elmer’s interpretation and connections between the different cultures and writings.  

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Unicorn Myth: The Quest for the Unicorn

This Canadian based film company called Dash Film and Emmanuel Laurent produced Unicorn Myth: The Quest for the Unicorn documentary (2009) on the conquest to discovery where did the unicorn go in modern society and how did it become an obsolete figure today. The narratore in the documentary explores museums and archives to further explore this thesis. He discusses the different unicorn descriptions by writers over the years and includes Ctesias and Aristotle's writings. He visits the tapestries that are housed at The Cloisters owned by The MET Museum in New York City, and we are shown that they are a biblical adaptation of the unicorn's story. They included a background of information to help the viewer understand how the unicorn came into existence. As we develop more into the documentary, we discover that due to the advancements of science, unicorns have lost their mythical hold on society. The Bible started to take out the passages about them, Kings and Queens stopped using them protection against poisons, and artists were no longer painting them. Emmanuel Laurent and Dash Films created this documentary to explore this unknown creature from the past and openly educate people about their false existence. This documentary was written for people of all ages to enjoy as well as people interested in the Medieval period.   

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What Is An Athletic Unicorn?

The word unicorn isn’t just used to describe horse-like figures with a horn the ancient philosophers wrote about but is also used today in modern slang for something or someone that holds rare qualities. Athletes are the most subjected to this nickname and particularly the NBA uses it the most to describe their star players. One current NBA unicorn in the league is the 7’2” Latvian player Kristaps Porzingis of the Boston Celtics.  

On June 7th of 2024, The Wall Street Journal wrote about his return to the court during the 2023-2024 season NBA Finals. Porzingis was out with calf injury for 2 months and has experienced many injuries in the past and is currently, as I am writing this, he's out due to an elbow injury. The article praising Porzingis’s returning to the game, highlighting that he was able to work out major plays and many points after being out for those months and being a large contributor to the Celtics success during that season even injured.  

O’Connell, the author, discusses The Unicorns above average point streak during that game even for someone who was just injured. Porzingis seems like a rare assent to the Celtics organization and seems to be highly valued like a unicorn would have been to Kings and Queen during the Middle Ages. A point he brought up was when Porzingis lost his unicorn nickname during his trade from the New York Knicks to another team who had their own Unicorn/star player at the time that outshined him, but once a unicorn always a unicorn. Getting traded to the Boston Celtics gave him the ability to prove his mythical unicorn powers were still there. But is this all opinion?  

While I did find out O’Connell is not just Celtics fan or even born in Boston so this could be non-biased and he’s just cognizing The Unicorns powers. The article was written not using his own thoughts about the player but rather showed his points and score average which are facts. He also used the opinions of the coaches about The Unicorn, not his own opinions. Trying to find other non-opinion based articles is impossible. Most of the articles I find about Porzingis is written by a Celtic fan based author. Even articles from 2017 calling him The Unicorn when he was on the New York Knicks are written by New York Knicks fans. Is all sports journalism opinion based? Do sports journalists only write about their favorite teams? But can a Celtic fan journalist write about Porzingis without bias?

Here’s another article from Sporting News written on June 9th about Porzingis’s unicorn nickname and even includes probably the funniest (my bias) NBA meme creating his other nickname, Tingus Pingus. This author, Kyle Irving, is a Celtics fans that could have some sort of bias about his favorite teams starting player. The article though is not written in an opinion based form and rather it was written as an editorial on his nicknames over the course of his NBA career. The author uses the opinions from reports to explain his unicorn nickname, he’s not using his own opinions.  

The use of this nickname is widely used for other sport athletes as well and I think it’s a unique look at the potential of what the modern unicorn could be defined as. Is it athletes not inside of mythical creatures now? Are we hunting for these mythical creatures in more modern and much more ethical way by just recruiting generationally talented athletes and calling them Unicorns?  

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Is AI A Better Researcher Than Humans?

When asking ChatGPT questions that I have answered and explored, I found some interesting answers.  

The question I asked AI was about Ctesias and what we wrote. It gave me an extensive list of his books and did not discuss anything about his unicorn descriptions. Below is the Ctesias discussion.  

I asked ChatGPT another question about unicorns and who wrote the most influential paper on them. I got an answer that I am not completely surprised about. The AI robot gave me information about the business start-up company called Unicorn. This is a common I have found during my research, and I have come across this business start-up company many times. Below is the conversation.  

While I did ask it to give me information about the descriptions of unicorns and I provided me with a detailed list of descriptions and even their symbolisms which I did not touch upon in this blog.  

So, in short, if you want some basic information about unicorns, AI could be somewhat helpful. But if you want deeper information like who wrote about them in ancient texts, you’ll have to go out on your own into the research field for that information.  

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The Lore of The Unicorn

When finding books on the mythical unicorn that discussed them in a historical and historical context was a bit of a search. When I was searching for a book, I commonly would come across children’s story books. The Lore of The Unicorn by Odell Shepard was one of the only books the library had available, and it is perfect for my research. This book is exactly what I was looking for.  

Odell Shepard wrote The Lore of The Unicorn and was originally published in 1930 but the edition I’m using the version published by Avenel Books was published in 1982. This monograph novel describing the lore of the unicorn can be found online here.  

Each of the ten chapters feature well written stories, explanations, and theories of the unicorn. Within those chapters also featured many illustrations from Antiquity and the Medieval period that added a stylistic touch to each chapter that I really enjoyed. The introduction perfectly expressed Shepard’s purpose in creating this book. He has written for his own indulgence in the stories of the unicorn but also to pull together all these stories, theories, and opinions into one book for others to read and explore the lore as well. Shepard includes a lengthy bibliography that gives credit to all of his sources. Some of these sources I have already come across in my own research. 

Shepard tells the origins of the unicorn, the first writings from Ctesias and the use of unicorn horns to prevent poisoning. Discussed them in the context that the King James Bible did and told the story of the holy hunts for the unicorns. He includes texts like the Physiologus that widely described the purpose of the unicorn in a Christian context and poems that speak of the unicorns' powers. This book combines all ancient unicorn theories and stories into one well written book.  

One chapter I would like to dedicate a bit more of a summary to is the last chapter named Reflections. This chapter was a perfect way to wrap up his research that brought some perspectives I really never thought of before reading this chapter. In the second section of this chapter, he wrote “It is not that the men of the Middle Ages who believed in the unicorn were less intelligent than we; their intelligence was trained in a different direction.” Shepard here is expressing that when evaluating what we know now, we cannot call these past people “less intelligent” because at the time this was high education for them, and they could not have possibly known what they did not know. This perspective is really eye opening and allowed me to really consider that these claims are not as silly or as imaginative now knowing that they fully convinced that unicorns were in fact a real creature and the evidence they had was real. Throughout this book Shepard is not degrading or making a fool out of these Middle-Ages unicorn believers but instead explores their theories and stories for what they are. He is clearly passionate about his research, and it shows when reading this book. This book was very beneficial to my own research, and it was refreshing to read something with the same whimsical joy that the medieval used in their writings.  

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Translation Errors and Opinions

Throughout the years, there have been different interpretations and opinions on the unicorn. Writers like Ctesias, Aristotle, Shepard, Pliny the Elder, and Marco Polo have submitted their own thoughts and descriptions on that mythical creature.  

Ctesias, who I have written about before, wrote “Their bodies are white, their heads dark red, and their eyes blue. They have a horn on the forehead which is about a foot and a half-length. The dust filed from this horn is administered in a potion as a protection against deadly drugs. The base of this horn, for some two hands’-breadth above the brow, is pure white: the upper part is sharp and of a vivid crimson; and the remainder, or middle portion, is black.” This description comes from a book Ctesias wrote around 398 B.C. called Indika after a trip to Persia. Ctesias’s unicorn writings shaped the way others wrote about them as well. I think that an interesting detail about this depiction is Ctesias saying they had dark red heads. Most of the paintings and illustrations I have seen of unicorns never included a red head. If you were to look up a unicorn picture, they’re mostly all white. The horn is also not depicted as fully white either. Ctesias of course did not see a real unicorn because, well, they do not exist, so he relied on what people told him about these animals. In The Lore of The Unicorn by Odell Shepard, he makes the point that this version of the unicorn closely matches the Indian rhinoceros. Ctesias wrote that the horn had healing properties which people believed was true for rhinoceroses' horns in this part of the world. The horn color variation is also another characteristic of Indian rhinoceros. So, did he purposefully write this false depiction for notoriety, or did he simply misinterpret what those people told him? I like to think that without Ctesias incorrect telling of the unicorn, there would be a lot of different writing about them. Especially the horn’s medicinal properties. Maybe people would have been hunting rhinoceros instead? Maybe the rhinoceros would be on the Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom instead?  

 Shepard was not the only one to point out these flaws. Many years before Shepard, Aristotle criticized Ctesias description of the unicorn. Aristotle claimed that Ctesias was not a trustworthy source and questioned his depiction of the unicorn as a misinterpretation. In Aristotle’s History of Animals, he wrote “We have not observed any single-hooved, two-horned animals. But there are a few animals that are single-horned and single-hooved, like the Indian donkey.” By single-single hooved he means hooves like a horse that do not have a separation in their hooves like a goat has. He is suggested that the unicorn Ctesias is talking about is actually an Indian donkey.  

Pliny the Elder wrote a slightly different description of the unicorn in his Natural History book in 100 C.E. He wrote “the unicorn has a body like a horse, a head like a deer, feet like an elephant, a tail like a boar; it has a deep bellow, a singly black horn two cubits long projecting from the middle of its forehead.” “Feet like an elephant” is also another depiction that is not seen in most of the paintings and illustrations. Marco Polo in fact wrote a similar depiction for Pliny's that also included the elephant feet characteristic in 1298 C.E. But a different twist that Polo claims “They are very ugly brutes to look at. They are not at all such as we describe them when we relate that they let themselves by captured by virgins, but clean contrary to our notions.” This is the first time I am seeing someone claim that the unicorn is ugly. A lot of the readings I have done for my research includes them being called beautiful and majestic.  

These different descriptions of the unicorns from different writes are very interesting and fascinating to read what they believed was the truth.  

Source for the Ctesias quote comes from The Lore of The Unicorn by Odell Shepard

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Not Only the Medieval Painted Unicorns  

While yes, the renaissance painters produced a wide range of unicorn paintings. Unicorns were also painted on Pennsylvania Dutch dower chests and even hex signs from the 18th century.  

Being a Berks County native and of PA Dutch heritage, I know a thing or two about their wood crafted chests and representative hex signs on farm barns. But one thing I completely looked over all these years was their inclusion of the unicorn. Walking through the Pennsylvania Germany Gallery at The Reading Public Museum like I have done some many times before, but this time was different. I saw a unicorn! 4 in fact on two dower chests from 1792 and 1784. How could I have walked past these and never noticed? 

The symbolism of the two black unicorns represented that even the wildest creatures of God could live in peace and harmony. Dower chests were the most important thing for a PA Dutch girl filled with things to help her be the perfect wife and mother to her future husband and children. This is a customary practice in other cultures as well like in Sweden and Germany. They were also decorated with different symbols, floral designs, and sometimes the girl's name.  

The first one here is from Rapho Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania and was made in 1792. This dower chest is made from walnut, tulip poplar, and white pine. The inscription above the two unicorns says “Diese kist Gehert Mir Susanna Badrof 1792” to my best of guess and my elementary level German skills, the translation is “The Chest Dear Ms. Susanna Badrof”.  

The second chest is from Bern Township, Berks County, Pennsylvania and made in 1784 with the name Heinrich Faust. This chest is made from white pine only and the description given by the museum says that Faust bought the chest at the value of one dollar!  

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From Nobility to Elementary

Today, the mythical unicorn is much easier to find. Not because scientists have found some unicorn DNA and reproduced a few in a laboratory but because they’re embroidered, printed, painted, and drawn on merchandise in stores. During the heyday of unicorn hunting (or the holy hunt if we’re being official) like in the Medieval period, they would convince a young virgin girl to fully undress and be tied to a tree in the middle of a dense forest to hopefully attract the mythical beast. That's insane! Now, you can simply walk into any store and a catch a glimpse or even buy one for your own keepsake and, thankfully, stores require shirts and shoes for their patrons. No more naked unicorn hunting! 

But how did they go from being on the Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom to being on a pencil case with spiderman? Or even from being written about in a scholarly and philosophical way to being the main character of a children's books that teaches them a valuable lesson? This is a thought I began to have during the brainstorming of this research topic, and I have formed my own opinions on the adaptation of the unicorn over the years.  

What I believed happen was two things, we learned that unicorns were purely mythical creatures and the very erotic history behind the unicorn was softened for children to enjoy. Science became more advanced, and exploration of the world became advanced as well. During these advancements we were able to disprove the unicorns' existence. We, as a society, no longer seen unicorns as serious figures and started to characterize them for our own amusement. Adding them to cartoons, putting them on lunchboxes, and into children's books. Along with this also was the dulling or never acknowledging the unicorns “holy hunt” story, which is NOT for children. Children ask questions, naturally, and sometimes the answers to those questions need to be formatted for their innocent brains. So, making unicorns more children friendly they made them easier for children. One way that unknowing changed the original story of unicorns for kids was in the show My Little Pony. This show completely disregards everything known about the Medieval story of unicorns and creates a new one for children. Whether this was the purpose or not (though I doubt it had those intentions) it does a good job at keeping the children entertained as well as far far far away from the holy hunt story.  

I enjoy seeing unicorns in their new childish form and makes me smile when my niece brings over her unicorn bookbag with her unicorn hairbrush and unicorn dollies. The new version of the “holy hunt” is much more fun for everyone. This makes me wonder now, what other topics that were once taken with the utmost importance is now dulled down and not cared for in the same way?  

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Meet The First Writer To Mention The Unicorn!!!

Ctesias was a physician to the Achaemenid king, Artaxerxes II and a history writer. While the date of his birth is unknown due to no official documentation of his birth, some believe that he was born around 441 BCE. He went to the Knidian school of physicians and Ctesias lived in Knidos which was a part of the Achaemenid Empire during the time of his life. He followed the King on several expeditions and wars. Ctesias wrote many books relating the history of different Middle Eastern countries or Empires like India and the Persian Empire.  

One book he wrote called Indika was a survey on India and the nature within the country. Indika is known for its writings on the unicorn that Ctesias claimed to be there. He also wrote about other animals like the manticore, large lion sized dogs, and monkeys with six feet long tails. Some of his writings included offensive descriptions of colored people. These sights are questionable, and one could wonder what Ctesias actually saw. In Indika, he describes unicorns as different from normal horses and was the historian that started the myth that drinking from their horns would gain you immunity from poisons as well as other spiritual evils. He only discussed them in a small section of this book, but it influenced people like Aristotle to write about unicorns.  

While Aristotle claimed that Ctesias is not to be trusted, he discussed the unicorn and other animals in reference to Indika. He wrote “And in India, as Ctesias — who isn’t worth believing” (Aristotle, History of Animals 8.28, 605b22-606a10). while Aristotle mentions Ctesias, he gives him zero credit for being correct with the description or the discovery; Aristotle is a little bit of a plagiarizer.  

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Indus stamp seal and modern impression; unicorn and incense burner or manger, 2600–1900 BC

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Unicorns had a presence in Ancient Greek culture but they did not consider them mythology because they believed unicorns to be real animals.

Myth? What's that?

Before I dive into the depths of the ancient Greek Gods, monsters, heroes, villains, nymphs, and Olympians that appear in ancient Greek mythology I’d like to ask a simple question.

What is a myth?

I’d love to hear your answers to this question in the comments! There are many definitions for the word myth. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica a myth is considered “a symbolic narrative” the origin of a myth is often difficult to pinpoint simply because its true beginning is often undocumented. Therefore, myths are ever changing, even today there is no clear answer to whether a version of a myth is true or false. When denoting what the definition of myth in the context of Greek mythology it’s important to note that, “The word myth derives from the Greek mythos, which has a range of meanings from ‘word,’ through ‘saying’ and ‘story,’ to ‘fiction’.”

Now that we understand what myth means, I will be researching ancient Greek mythology in this blog. Oxford English Dictionary defines mythology as, “mythical stories or traditional beliefs collectively.” Researching ancient Greek mythology entails reviewing and comparing various versions of the same story. Depending on the region, time period, or author the same story/gods have different characteristics. Considering Greek mythology has existed since well before the 700s BCE according to the Encyclopedia of World Mythology, there is much to cover. As explained by the Encyclopedia of World Mythology the earliest documentation of Greek mythology comes from around 600 BCE from the less famous poet Pindar who created odes dedicated to myths, Homer and Hesiod two famous authors who recorded the Greek myths that were only shared through spoken form, their works are believed to have come from around 700 BCE. My intention is to find out how ancient Greek mythology influences Western media and society in the 21st century. As well as how the ancient characters from Greek Mythology have evolved.

Bust of Homer, Greek poet. Sourced from Wikimedia Commons.

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Opening The Door To Unicorns

Unicornis? Monokern? Unicorn? What truly is a unicorn and where did they come from? According to the Oxford English Dictionary as unicorn is "A mythical animal typically depicted as a horse with a straight (and usually spirally twisted) horn projecting from its head." But this does not give us all the answers.  

The first literary evidence of a unicorn was written in 1225 from a book called Acnere Riwle. In this text, the unicorn is spelled unicorne while other texts spelled it like vnycorne which was the Latin translation for a rhinoceros. In the Medieval period, unicorns were the mythical creatures that we know of today but in Middle English bibles, rhinoceros are referred as unicorns. 

The myth behind the unicorn a figure that resembled a horse but was larger in size came out of the grasses in India. These large horse-like figures have white bodies, a red head, blue eyes, and of course a long horn protruding out from its forehead. The magic of the unicorn is within its horn; many stories claim that either the dust or liquid from the horn can treat any illness. All unicorns were male and never female. Kings had cups made of what they believed were unicorn horns and that they had immunity from any kind of illness or poison. Unicorns are in many cultures. According to The Myth of The Unicorn by Roger Caillois on page 4, in Persian culture, they are three legged animals of Bundahish that were “living in the middle of the ocean, it has six eyes, and nine mouths, two ears, one horn”. While each culture has their own unique depiction of unicorns that are all represented with magical healing powers in their horns. There are many other stories and myths that go along with the unicorn and even a guide on how to catch one in the wild.

 This blog will mostly focus on antiquity and the Renaissance when is comes to unicorns but will lean into and explore some of the other cultures that the unicorn appeared in. One part of this blog will contain an analysis on art that unicorns appear in and their significance they had. The main point of this research blog is explore the background of unicorns. This blog will not touch upon other mythical creatures that are similar in form to the unicorn like Pegasus.

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The Lady and the Unicorn: Sight, ca. 1500, Musee de Cluny-Musee National du Moyen Age, Paris, France