not many people see the neon 90s fever
dream of Lisa Frank the pure beacons of
light in legend or the endless barrage
of unicorn stuffies and think how scary
although if you can't unsee a certain
Cabin in the Woods scene you know better
unicorns are everywhere today take
Princess Unikitty the cat unicorn hybrid
breakout star from the Lego movie or
Twilight Sparkle the Unicorn who takes
command in 2017's My Little Pony the
movie and of course there's a seemingly
endless supply of stickers t-shirts
posters notebooks board games plush toys
and action figures unicorns seem to have
their own economy these days if you
combine rainbows and glitter and a horse
with a single horn you will inevitably
get a unicorn but this is the modern
version the origins of the Unicorn are a
little more gory which makes sense given
that typically a giant horn on an
animal's head is a pretty easy way to
Signal power and frighten Predators so
why is the European unicorn that is so
pervasive in popular culture today
almost always just a docile innocent and
magical horse
I'm Dr Emily zarka and this is monstrum
a majestic all-white horse with a
spiralized horn on its forehead is the
typical unicorn in Western culture today
but this is just one depiction and what
were historically many varieties of
unicorns
take this European Paleolithic cave art
painting the depiction could be of the
very real but now extinct elasmotherium
a mammoth-sized animal with a single
horn in the center of its forehead but
it also might be the original unicorn
depiction regardless of the appearance
of these monsters in early Antiquity in
every story they are positioned as rare
and exotic and incapable of being
captured alive which suggests ferocity
or preternatural power around 400 BCE
satisius writes of a pretty terrifying
unicorn he observed in India wild asses
the size of horses with white bodies
redheads blue eyes and a multi-colored
horn on their forehead
capable of outrunning any other animal
these one-horned creatures can only be
killed when they lead their foals to
graze protective parents they are
unwilling to leave their young
vulnerable and stay to defend satisius
emphasizes they are ferocious even
bloodthirsty they will charge Hunters
gouging them with their horn and even
cruelly rip up the sides of the Hunter's
horses with such strength their very
entrails gush out brutal have I forever
changed your perception of unicorns yet
that's the other thing about unicorns
humans have always coveted them because
of their unique physiology across
history and lore unicorns and their
horns were prized for their Rarity and
assumed Supernatural powers in reality
the spiralized horns written about in
Roman author Claudius alianos's third
Century encyclopedic account of the
world's animals were bought and sold as
Treasures called Alicorns prized by the
highest ranking members of society
including the Christian church and
royalty across Europe the horns were
made in to pastoral items and drinking
vessels they were thought to cure
illness and protect anyone who drank
from them against poison even serving as
an antidote that is not the only
Supernatural attribute of the Unicorn
Aristotle's version of the Unicorn is a
male goat with a single forehead horn
who Floats or flies skimming over the
whole earth without touching the ground
Aristotle's language here suggests that
all unicorns are male which would become
the common assumption other varieties of
the Unicorn include a donkey type
sporting an antelope horn a double horn
variation and even the sea unicorn which
is arguably the most monstrous but to
understand the European unicorn's
Evolution into Fantastical symbols of
magic and wonder we have to look at
abrahamic scripture the holy texts
include multiple metaphorical uses of an
important horned animal of Incredible
strength referred to in Hebrew Ezra M
exactly what kind of animal this
creature is referring to is debatable
Scholars today interpret the original
cuneiform symbols to wedge shapes as a
bull wild ox or arak implying that the
animal has two horns but original
historic interpretations of the
cuneiform also include the single-horned
rhinoceros and the Unicorn the Unicorn
interpretation of the ram gains
popularity only in the Christian faith
when the Unicorn becomes associated with
Christ perpetuating the idea that the
Unicorn is male gendered in around 370
CE Saint Basil warns of a unicorn in his
collected homilies on the creation Story
one passage States and take heed unto
thyself o man and beware the Unicorn who
is the demon he goes on to say that the
Unicorn will gouge and devour men and
notes that the great power of this
creature Compares only with the
unconquerable strength of God the
anonymously authored physiologus a
Christian Natural History text penned
sometime between the second and 4th
Century describes the Unicorn as a baby
goat-sized exceedingly Fierce creature
that could only be captured using a
virgin as bait like Saint Basil's
creation homilies physiologist also
connects a fierce unicorn to Christ it
also includes reference to all the
Unicorn passages of the Bible including
those that compare the Virgin born
Christ being loved like the beloved Son
of unicorns given the immense popularity
of physiologists the Unicorn continued
to be linked to Christ and now also the
Virgin Mary who served as a convenient
parallel to the Virgin lure folklore
already in existence the metaphor of
Christ as a unicorn was not appreciated
by Pope gelassius he declared the
connection heretical in 496 but if we
know anything about well people that
just strengthened the appeal of the
Unicorn the Christian story of saints
barlim and josephat that appears around
the 9th or 10th Century features an
awfully monstrous unicorn barlim is
teaching josephat about the
inevitability of death and the
unpredictability of the world with a
unicorn Parable and his isn't the docile
unicorn we've come to know today
according to the story a man Anna is
chased into the jaws of a fire-breathing
dragon by a ferocious bellowing unicorn
who wishes to devour him the man
temporarily avoids his Fate by hanging
onto a tree the tale which became common
lore across Western Europe established
the Unicorn as a representation of
capital D death the Unicorn began to
appear in narrative fiction of the
medieval period introducing some new
traits like a ruby hidden under the horn
and adding to some of the established
tropes like the Virgin lure but now the
Unicorn could detect and kill false
virgins during the Middle Ages visual
depictions of the Unicorn became more
uniform in Europe most artwork featured
the creature as horse-like with white
hair and cloven Hooves moving closer to
the Unicorn we are most familiar with
today The Hunt of the Unicorn a seven
tapestry series produced around 1500
alternatively called The Unicorn
tapestries depicts The Hunt of a white
bearded unicorn with a spiraled horn the
exquisitely woven textiles show a group
of well-trust men and their hounds
chasing down and killing a unicorn after
a noblewoman lures the creature into a
false sense of security onto her lap the
final tapestry shows an apparently
resurrected captive unicorn the red
liquid on its flanks may be blood from
the hunting wounds that caused its
initial demise or perhaps it could be
juice dripping from the pomegranates in
the tree above which would actually make
the Unicorn a symbol of fertility
according to the fruit's lore in my
opinion it is blood from the hunt and
this unicorn is Undead a common
interpretation of these tapestries is
that the Unicorn represents Christ and
the events of the hunt are an allegory
for his crucifixion
in another tapestry from around the same
time a series known as the lady and the
Unicorn a unicorn appears subservient to
a richly dressed woman the image is
believed to Aid in the tapestry's
purpose to depict the tenets of courtly
love and decadence in each of the five
senses they help us understand the
unicorn's affinity for virgins chivalry
knights in the Middle Ages lived by a
strict moral and social codes Within
These social practices is the idea of
courtly love an idealized expectation of
how Knights should treat women
especially any romantic partner outside
of marriage the unicorn's metaphor as a
symbol of unattainable unconsummated
love first suggested by the Virgin
subjugation becomes a noble quality
unicorns and European heraldry of the
time are mostly depicted in silver and
white with the body of a horse the legs
of a deer and a Lion's Tail
Scotland's Royal coat of arms proudly
Bears two such chained unicorns and when
King James United Scotland and England
into the United Kingdom in 1603 the new
Royal Crest combined the unicorn with
England's lion and a symbol still used
by the monarchy today the use of the
Unicorn was a shrewd move by King James
the version of the Bible he commissioned
a year after uniting the crowns contains
seven unicorn references including the
Unicorn as the first animal named by
Adam and Eve
the use of unicorn as the interpretation
of ram not only provided Christian
readers a significant holy figure they
already recognized but further
solidified the United symbolism of King
James's blessed New Kingdom as divinely
ordained unicorns continued association
with Rarity and royalty made them a
symbol of luxury Queen Elizabeth the
first spent a significant sum to add a
unicorn horn to her crown jewels King
Francis the first had one as well five
feet long and decorated with gold even
the church treasury of Venice stored two
unicorn horns alongside other riches
like solid gold armor and the purported
original Gospel of Saint Mark Alicorn
collectors were likely upset when in
1638 Danish zoologists Olay warm gave a
lecture asserting most unicorn horns
were in fact the elongated teeth from
narwhals in the 17th century belief in
unicorns began to decline thanks to
science and education Europeans at the
time believed that finding a unicorn
living on their continent was unlikely
but the possibility of finding one in
some exotic Terra incognita was believed
plausible through the 19th century but
as knowledge grows and the exploration
of the world continues the belief in a
real unicorn begins to fade beginning in
the 20th century the Unicorn monster
once said to Rome forest and terrorize
Hunters finds a new home in literature
and film as a popular fantasy trope
like the playful pastel colored unicorns
of Fantasia the Unicorn that Mrs Noah's
Ark in Shel Silverstein's 1962 album
inside folk songs and Peter S beagles
The Last Unicorn beagle's book breaks
tradition with a female unicorn she is
on a mission to find out if she is
indeed the last of her species along the
way she's temporarily turned into a
human woman who romances a prince
another Twist of the unicorn and Maiden
Legends of the past this book
illustrates a more contemporary version
of the Unicorn as a symbol of Innocence
magic and Purity lasting associations
fortified by popular culture texts and
of course backpacks Trapper Keepers and
sparkly t-shirts it is also in the 20th
century that unicorns become the trusted
steeds of protagonists like in Legend
The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe and
stardust this metaphorical Taming of the
Unicorn indicates our growing Mastery
over nature or at least the illusion of
it and the killing of a unicorn once
believed to be a great albeit near
impossible feat becomes indicative of a
character's evil nature because overall
at its core the Unicorn is defined by
its Rarity we've adopted this idea to
apply the name unicorn to Elusive and
highly sought after prizes such as an
undervalued startup or polyamorous
companion yet part of me wonders if the
danger of the unicorn's history is also
evoked in these metaphors can there be
too much of a good thing so outside of a
few creative horror movies and
imaginative books the unicorn has gone
from terrifying potentially real monster
to religious icon and chivalric symbol
to something entirely different but in a
way one thing has remained constant our
desire to commodify the creature
possessing a unicorn has always been
part of its Allure
if you want to know more about how other
cultures around the world have
Incorporated Tales of mythical
one-horned creatures as symbols of
Rarity and resilience head over to this
episode from fate and fabled with a
unicorn parabelle parabelle physio Locus
physiologus given the immense popularity
of physiologus I just said it completely
different way didn't I