Unicorns don't exist, but everyone is crazy about them. Explaining how it happened
Miscellaneous / / May 10, 2022
Unicorns are found in the Bible, on Renaissance paintings, in children's fairy tales, on T-shirts and phone cases. Find out how a fictional animal had such an impact on culture.
How it all started
The first mention of one-horned animals can be meetUnicorn / Britannica in the works of art of Mesopotamia, as well as the ancient myths of China and India.
In Greek literature, the earliest description appliesUnicorn / Britannica by the 5th century BC. It was made by Ctesias, who was captured in Persia and was the personal physician of King Artaxerxes II. Ctesias wrote that wild donkeys the size of horses live in India. They have a white body, a purple head, blue eyes, and a long horn flaunts on their foreheads. People who drink from it believe that they are protected from stomach diseases, epilepsy and poisoning. True, Ctesias had never been to India. And your stories foundedCtesias / Britannica on the stories of visitors to the Persian palace. Most likely, the "wild donkey" he described was the Indian rhinoceros.
Unicorns even flashed in the Bible - but, most likely, it was an inaccurate translation. In the Old Testament, a strong and indomitable creature, Reem, was mentioned, which was dubbed a unicorn in one of the versions. But it is probably talking about a wild bull - at least modern translators preferUnicorn / Britannica such an option.
Why the unicorn was loved in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance
Gradually, the stories about the animal were overgrown with details. The unicorn is mentioned in the bestiary "PhysiologistBooks of Beasts in the British Library: the Medieval Bestiary and its context / The British Library”, which inspired medieval authors. They compiled collections of articles in which the characteristics of animals, plants and minerals had symbolic interpretations. The unicorn is described as a strong and ferocious creature that only a virgin can tame. At the sight of her, the animal will jump on her knees, and she will be able to nurse him with milk to take him to the king's palace later. Based on this myth, the unicorn began to symbolize Christ, who moved into the womb of the Virgin Mary.
During the Renaissance, images of unicorns gained popularity. For example, a cute horse appears on the paintingPortrait of Young Woman with Unicorn / The Borghese Gallery "Lady with a Unicorn" by Raphael Santi as a symbol of purity. Another well-known work with the same name - a series of paintingsThe Lady and the Unicorn / Musee de Cluny XV century. On five tapestries, the master depicted five senses - touch, taste, smell, hearing and sight. One can only guess about the meaning of the sixth, with the inscription “According to my only desire”. There is a version that the girl and the unicorn symbolize courtly love.
There was also an alternative interpretation of the image of the unicorn: for example, Leonardo da Vinci saidThe legend of the unicorn. Erotic fantasy or a hymn to chastity / Science and technologythat this creature personifies sexual arousal. The great artist, without knowing it, foresaw the views of modern scientists, many of whom believe that the roots of the image go awayThe Harappan riddle of ‘Unicorn’ / Bulletin of the Deccan College Post‑Graduate and Research Institute into pagan fertility cults, where he probably denoted the masculine principle.
In addition, the unicorn was popular in heraldry. For example, it can be seen on royal coat of armsThe unicorn - Scotland's national animal / National Trust for Scotland Scotland. And even in the Middle Ages, unicorn horns were in use - however, under their guise soldNarwhal Tusk / The Metropolitan Museum of Art tusks narwhal.
How unicorns have become entrenched in popular culture
Gradually, unicorns get rid of the title of religious symbolism and move into secular literature. They can be found in The Tempest by William Shakespeare and Gargantua and Pantagruel by Francois Rabelais. And having become an integral part of children's fairy tales, unicorns began to increase their fame like an avalanche. For example, a fairy-tale creature appears in The Brave Little Tailor by the Brothers Grimm, in Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, and later in The Chronicles of Narnia, a novel in which Clive Lewis retells biblical stories in the fantasy genre. stories.
The world owes the image of cute rainbow unicorns to the American entrepreneur Lisa Frank, who in 1979 founded school supplies company. Children got notebooks and pencil cases with colorful unicorns, pandas and dolphins.
The unicorn has also appeared on television. A famous example is the adaptation of Harry Potter. Moreover, in JK Rowling, this animal appears in the most classic form from the New Age: in one of the chapters, readers will learn that in the world of magicians, only girls can approach unicorns.
Unicorns also live in the Gravity Falls universe. True, in the animated series they are selfish and lie to people (although they look pretty). In this they are a bit like their predecessors from the writings of Leonardo da Vinci.
And then social networks and marketing did their job. The popularity of unicorns reached another peak in 2017, when Starbucks released the Unicorn Frappuccino. Photos of the pink and blue drink immediately flooded the Internet. Children's toy brands produce unicorns in all sizes and formats: Poopsie, a pooping unicorn with a potty and diapers, has even appeared. Moreover, Hasbro's unicorn toys became the heroes of the popular animated series Friendship is Magic.
Could unicorns exist in reality?
Yes and no. Scientists have not found evidence that horses with a horn existed in the past. There were, however, attempts at hoaxes. In the 17th century in Quedlinburg allegedly foundGottfried Wilhelm Leibniz oder Otto von Guericke?—Protogaea oder Experimenta nova Magdeburgica? Die Rekonstruktion des vermeintlichen Einhorns von Quedlinburg / PubMed unicorn skeleton. But then it turned out that it was collected from the bones of different animals.
As for horses, there are several breeds that have small bony protrusions on the front of the skull that resemble a horn. For example, they meetDo Horses Have Horns / Deep Hollow Ranch Moyles, Datong and Andalusian horses. But representatives of these breeds, as a rule, have a more muscular body than their counterparts, and do not look like graceful unicorns. And bony protrusions are unlikely to compare with a large spiral horn.
Horses don't need horns. When faced with a threat, animals prefer to run away from danger. A heavy horn can slow down the run. If it is impossible to hide, horses use other tools to fight: they bite, rear up and kick.
Other representatives of the equid-hoofed order - rhinoceros - have horns. Surprisingly, with all the external differences, they are relatives of horses. And it was rhinoceroses that were probably described by the authors of ancient texts. In that sense, unicorns still exist today - they just don't look the way we want them to.
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Cover: Domenichino. "The Maiden with the Unicorn" / Wikimedia Commons / Polina Miroshnichenko / Lifehacker
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