unicorn

 

  • In the The Lady and the Unicorn tapestry set of (c. 1500), it has been claimed that the Taste tapestry shows a young unicorn without a horn among the animals in the millefleur
    background, above the two women.

  • The animal is always in profile on Indus seals, but the theory that it represents animals with two horns, one hiding the other, is disproved by a (much smaller) number of
    small terracotta unicorns, probably toys, and the profile depictions of bulls, where both horns are clearly shown.

  • The allusions to the re’em as a wild, untamable animal of great strength and agility, with mighty horn or horns[41] best fit the aurochs (Bos primigenius); this view is further
    supported by the Assyrian cognate word rimu, which is often used as a metaphor of strength, and is depicted as a powerful, fierce, wild mountain bull with large horns.

  • In the film, the protagonist believed she was one of a kind throughout her life.

  • It is thought that the unicorn was the symbol of a powerful “clan or merchant community”, but may also have had some religious significance.

  • [citation needed] The mysterious feature depicted coming down from the front of the back is usually shown; it may represent a harness or other covering.

  • Shakespeare scholars describe unicorns being captured by a hunter standing in front of a tree, the unicorn goaded into charging; the hunter would step aside the last moment
    and the unicorn would embed its horn deeply into the tree (See annotations[30] of Timon of Athens, Act 4, scene 3, c. line 341: “wert thou the unicorn, pride and wrath would confound thee and make thine own self the conquest of thy fury”.)

  • In the Middle Ages and Renaissance, it was commonly described as an extremely wild woodland creature, a symbol of purity and grace, which could be captured only by a virgin.

  • Two versions of the royal arms exist: that used in Scotland gives more emphasis to the Scottish elements, placing the unicorn on the left and giving it a crown, whereas the
    version used in England and elsewhere gives the English elements more prominence.

  • Whether because it was an emblem of the Incarnation or of the fearsome animal passions of raw nature, the unicorn was not widely used in early heraldry, but became popular
    from the 15th century.

  • [38][39] Similar animals in religion and myth Biblical The aurochs Unicorn mosaic on a 1213 church floor in Ravenna An animal called the re’em (Hebrew: ) is mentioned in several
    places in the Hebrew Bible, often as a metaphor representing strength.

  • In European literature and art, the unicorn has for the last thousand years or so been depicted as a white horse- or goat-like animal with a long straight horn with spiralling
    grooves, cloven hooves, and sometimes a goat’s beard.

  • [12] Pliny the Elder mentions the oryx and an Indian ox (perhaps a greater one-horned rhinoceros) as one-horned beasts, as well as “a very fierce animal called the monoceros
    which has the head of the stag, the feet of the elephant, and the tail of the boar, while the rest of the body is like that of the horse; it makes a deep lowing noise, and has a single black horn, which projects from the middle of its forehead,
    two cubits [900 mm, 35 inches] in length.

  • Another similar creature, also mentioned in Shanhaijing (80) and said to live in Mount Winding-Centre, was the Bo (Chinese: pinyin: bó), but it had a black tail, tiger’s teeth
    and claws, devoured leopards and tigers.

  • [42] This animal was often depicted in ancient Mesopotamian art in profile, with only one horn visible.

  • The qilin (Chinese: ), a creature in Chinese mythology, is sometimes called “the Chinese unicorn”, and some ancient accounts describe a single horn as its defining feature.

  • [5] Classical antiquity Unicorns are not found in Greek mythology, but rather in the accounts of natural history, for Greek writers of natural history were convinced of the
    reality of unicorns, which they believed lived in India, a distant and fabulous realm for them.

  • Scotland See also: The Lion and the Unicorn In heraldry the unicorn is best known as a symbol of Scotland: the unicorn was believed to be the natural enemy of the lion – a
    symbol that the English royals had adopted around a hundred years before[32] Two unicorns supported the royal arms of the King of Scots and Duke of Rothesay, and since the 1707 union of England and Scotland, the royal arms of the United Kingdom
    have been supported by a unicorn along with an English lion.

  • Jonathan Mark Kenoyer stated the IVC “unicorn” has no “direct connection” with later unicorn motifs observed in other parts of the world; nonetheless, it remains possible
    that the IVC unicorn had contributed to later myths of fantastical one-horned creatures in West Asia.

  • They bring the animal to bay with the help of a maiden who traps it with her charms, appear to kill it, and bring it back to a castle; in the last and most famous panel, “The
    Unicorn in Captivity”, the unicorn is shown alive again and happy, chained to a pomegranate tree surrounded by a fence, in a field of flowers.

  • [36] Alice Fisher, an editor of Observer Design magazine, notes that the values of a unicorn – as rare and magical – have resulted in the word being used with various connotations.

  • [49] Shanhaijing (117) mentioned the Bo-horse (Chinese: pinyin: bómǎ), a chimera horse with an ox tail, a single horn, a white body, and a sound like a person calling.

  • The Council of Trent finally banned this somewhat over-elaborated, if charming, depiction,[29] partly on the grounds of realism, as no one now believed the unicorn to be a
    real animal.

  • [27] The famous late Gothic series of seven tapestry hangings The Hunt of the Unicorn are a high point in European tapestry manufacture, combining both secular and religious
    themes.

  • A bovine type of unicorn is thought by some scholars to have been depicted in seals of the Bronze Age Indus Valley civilization, the interpretation remaining controversial.

  • [8] Aristotle must be following Ctesias when he mentions two one-horned animals, the oryx (a kind of antelope) and the so-called “Indian ass” .

  • It is often used as a symbol of fantasy or rarity.

  • However, it is more accurately described as a hybrid animal that looks less unicorn than chimera, with the body of a deer, the head of a lion, green scales and a long forwardly-curved
    horn.

  • 20)[16] that the monoceros was sometimes called cartazonos, which may be a form of the Arabic karkadann, meaning ‘rhinoceros’.

  • He gives a description of a unicorn based on four brass figures in the palace of the King of Ethiopia.

  • The unicorn already functioned as a symbol of the Incarnation and whether this meaning is intended in many prima facie secular depictions can be a difficult matter of scholarly
    interpretation.

  • The earliest description is from Ctesias, who in his book Indika (“On India”) described them as wild asses, fleet of foot, having a horn a cubit and a half (700 mm, 28 inches)
    in length, and colored white, red and black.

  • The Japanese version (kirin) more closely resembles the Western unicorn, even though it is based on the Chinese qilin.

  • [2] The unicorn continues to hold a place in popular culture.

  • [20]: 305  The unicorn, tamable only by a virgin woman, was well established in medieval lore by the time Marco Polo described them as “scarcely smaller than elephants.

  • Typically, the unicorn faces a vertical object with at least two stages; this is variously described as a “ritual offering stand”, an incense burner, or a manger.

  • However, the true meaning of the mysterious resurrected unicorn in the last panel is unclear.

  • The myths refer to a beast with one horn that can only be tamed by a virgin; subsequently, some writers translated this into an allegory for Christ’s relationship with the
    Virgin Mary.

  • Several European medieval travelers claimed to have seen unicorns in their travels outside of Europe.

  • [31] Though sometimes shown collared and chained, which may be taken as an indication that it has been tamed or tempered, it is more usually shown collared with a broken chain
    attached, showing that it has broken free from its bondage.

  • “—Numbers 24:8 • “His glory is like the firstling of his bullock, and his horns are like the horns of unicorns: with them he shall push the people together to the ends of
    the earth.

  • The unicorn is often shown hunted, raising parallels both with vulnerable virgins and sometimes the Passion of Christ.

  • In one of his notebooks Leonardo da Vinci wrote: The unicorn, through its intemperance and not knowing how to control itself, for the love it bears to fair maidens forgets
    its ferocity and wildness; and laying aside all fear it will go up to a seated damsel and go to sleep in her lap, and thus the hunters take it.

  • History Indus Valley civilization A creature with a single horn, conventionally called a unicorn, is the most common image on the soapstone stamp seals of the Bronze Age Indus
    Valley civilization (“IVC”), from the centuries around 2000 BC.

  • [36] They often relate to one or more of the following aspects: uniqueness, magical quality, elusiveness and gender fluidity.

  • Entire horns were very precious in the Middle Ages and were often really the tusks of narwhals.

  • [7] Winged bull, perhaps perceived as a unicorn, in Apadana, Susa, Iran Ctesias got his information while living in Persia.

  • [21] However, when the unicorn appears in the medieval legend of Barlaam and Josaphat, ultimately derived from the life of the Buddha, it represents death, as the Golden Legend
    explains.

  • [17][18] Middle Ages and Renaissance Wild woman with unicorn, tapestry, c. 1500–1510 (Basel Historical Museum) Hunt of the Unicorn Annunciation (ca.

  • [22] Alicorn Main article: Unicorn horn The horn itself and the substance it was made of was called alicorn, and it was believed that the horn holds magical and medicinal
    properties.

 

Works Cited

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Photo credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/barkbud/5811004432/’]