The unicorn is a mythical animal that has changed in appearance over the many thousands of years of it first being recorded. The earliest description in Greek literature of a single-horned animal
was by the historian Ctesias (c.400 BC),
who related that the Indian wild ass was the size of a horse with a white body,
purple head and blue eyes.
This may have been a first attempt
to link the animal with royalty
as the colour purple has always
been so hard to get and so expensive only royalty could afford to wear it.
The unicorn was a very fast, powerful runner, even swifter than a horse.
A recurring theme is that they are extremely hard to catch and were fierce fighters.
The actual animal thought to be behind Ctesias’ description was the Indian rhinoceros.
In the Middle Ages it was thought of
as being a strong and fierce animal associated with chastity and virginity (and could only be captured by a virgin).
The unicorn is said to have leaped
into the virgin’s lap,and she suckles it and leads it to the king’s palace.
It’s horn was supposed to reveal the presence of poison in food or drink.
The horn was reputedly made into cups but were actually
made from the rhinoceros horn were highly valued
by important people in the Middle Ages as a protection against poison drinks.
The creature is of course mythical,
zoologists believe that the idea of the unicorn arose
when someone saw an oryx far away.
The big desert animal sometimes seems to have one long horn in its forehead instead of two.
The unicorn appears in the Old Testament as something to both fear and revere.
Many writers have speculated that the unicorn inhabited the Garden of Eden,
but it is not specifically named.
There is a theory that the unicorn perished in the great flood.
UNICORN:
Pronunciation: 'yoonu`korn
Definition: [n] an imaginary creature represented as a white horse with a long horn
growing from its forehead
