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James Nava

Mr. dini

World History II

13 February 2012

The Biblical Unicorns Reflection on Religion

Unicorns in modern pop culture are grossly exaggerated forms of their

historic counter part. Unicorns are most commonly presented in a comedic context,

from the game Robot Unicorn Attackto the online series Charlie the Unicorn. Genuine

belief in unicorns is seldom acknowledged, however only a few hundred years ago it

was common. This belief came from stories that were given credence by the biblical

presence of these animals. This demonstrates how literal interpretations of religious

texts foster damaging and counter productive movements.

Ctesias, the Greek historian, is thought to be the origin of this mythological

creature. After spending many years in India, Ctesias returned home to Greece and

started writing about his journeys in many volumes including one called Indica.

(Encyclopedia Britannica, Ctesias) The Indian Ass as Ctesias called it was

the size of a horse, with a white body, purple head, and blue eyes, and

on its forehead was a cubit-long horn coloured red at the pointed tip,

black in the middle, and white at the base. Those who drank from its

horn were thought to be protected from stomach trouble, epilepsy,

and poison. It was very fleet of foot and difficult to

capture(Encyclopedia Britannica, Unicorns).

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When the Old Testament was being translated from Hebrew to Latin

and Greek the word reem, which actually references to a two-horned

animal (1895 Sunday School Teachers' Bible), was translated to the word

monokeros and unicornis in Greek and Latin, respectively. During the

translation to English for theAuthorized King James Bible, in 1611, based on

these earlier Latin and Greek editions the word unicorn entered into the

bible and the creature entered the Christian faith. (Norris, Unicorns and the

KJV)

Unicorn was used a total of nine times throughout the King James

translation of the text (Norris, Unicorns and the KJV), the use of the creature ranged

from metaphorical to literal. God brought them out of Egypt he hasth as it were the

strength of a unicorn. (King James, Numbers 23:22) Unicorn is used in this

passage to symbolize strength, is it was in a majority of these passages. Can you

bind the unicorn with his band in his farrow or will he harrow the valleys after

thee. Here the creature is used in a very literal sense.

As time passed the mythical unicorn evolved. The black and white, purple-

headed animal that Ctesias described evolved into a large white stallion with a

magical horn. (Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Hunt of the Unicorn) Unicorns, as

their presence in folklore expanded, became more prominent in other facets of

society. Unicorns became more common in art; one of the most notable examples is

a series of tapestries called The Hunt of the Unicorn. (Metropolitan Museum of Art,

The Unicorn Tapestries) Even more influential than unicorns were there horns; the

horns of unicorns were thought to have mystical healing properties. Many believed

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that they could make poisoned water drinkable and drinking water from a unicorn

horn had strong healing properties. (AMNH, Mythic Creatures: Dragons, Unicorns &

Mermaids.) This faith in the powers of these horns led people to turn focus away

from medical paths that had more logical grounding. This interest in unicorn horns

also had an interesting economic and political effect. What society believed to be

unicorn horns were actually horns from a type of whale called a narwhal. Narwhals

native habitat was in an area of sea, which Denmark controlled. Because of this

access Denmark was able to feed this marketfor these unicorn horns. Queen

Elizabeth I is known for having paid ten thousand pounds for a full narwhal horn,

the price of an entire castle. (Broad, Its sensitive. Really.) Hunts for unicorns were

attempted to acquire these same horns. Unicorns were believed to be able to be

tamed by a young virgin girl so many of these hunting tactics incorporated this.

Leonardo Da Vinci, in one of his notebooks, along side a sketch of a young maiden

and a unicorn, wrote about this unicorn hunting.

The unicornbecause of its intemperance, not knowing how to

control itself before the delight it feels towards maidens, forgets its

ferocity and wildness, and casting aside all fear it will go up to the

seated maiden and sleep in her lap, and thus the hunter takes it (Da

Vinci, Young Woman Seated in a Landscape with a Unicorn).

These beliefs were wide spread among society despite having no definite

proof of the existence of unicorns. Believers ranged from common men and women

to legends of the time like Da Vinci, to royalty such as queen Elizabeth I. Unicorns

were present in society before there biblical moment, the appearance in the King

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James Bible just added fuel to the fire. Metaphorically the imagery and symbolism of

unicorns augmented the stories told in the bible in a positive way but out side of

these stories they were not real. The bible for many is a source of guidance, almost a

manual for living a better life. The stories in this ancient text contain strong morals

but the bible is an ancient text that has been altered over time and has been taken

severely out of context in many occasions. Wars have been fought and people have

been died over opinions on how this text should be interpreted. Unicorns, which we

today think of as ridiculous mythical animals, found there way into these sacred

texts by mistake and because of this lives and cultures were changed. These literal

interpretations that place so much focus on minute details are counterproductive

and often lead to behavior that conflicts with the very messages in the text being

fought over. Martin Luther, with his 99 Theses brought to light the abuse of these

texts and war broke out over interpretation of the bible. Today a bloody feud rages

on between the Sunni and Shia, two factions of the Islamic religion, over the

importance of a religious leader. Whether or not the stories of the bible are true or

not I am at no position to say but the details, the small facts contained in them are

often times wildly out of context and often times false for one reason or another and

unicorns demonstrate this very neatly.

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