Myths and Magical Facts about Unicorns

If you look at the boards on Pinterest relating to unicorns you would be left with the view that they produce rainbows and don’t believe in humans but the myths around the unicorn are a little more complex than that.

Where does the myth come from?

The first known appearance of the unicorn is in the Lascaux Caves of France.  These cave drawings date back to around 15,000 BC and were originally thought to depict a horse-like animal with a single straight horn.  But it has since been realised that the creature actually has two horns which were drawn very close together.  These are not the only early illustrations of this mythical beast.  There are early paintings in South Africa and South America that are said to be unicorns because they look like no other known animal.

In Western literature the first mentions of the unicorn were by Heroditus and also the Greek historian Ctesias who both referred to horned beasts from Africa and Persia.

One of the most amusing recollections of encountering a unicorn belongs to Marco Polo.  He wrote ‘they are very ugly brutes to look at’.  It has since been realised that Marco Polo was describing a rhinoceros.

Among other famous people said to have witnessed unicorns were Alexander the Great who claimed he had ridden a unicorn into battle and Julius Caesar who reported seeing a unicorn in the forests of Germany. Even Genghis Khan was susceptible to the influence of unicorns.  He reportedly turned back from conquering India after seeing a unicorn and taking it as a sign not to invade.

Unicorns and their Magical Powers

Magical powers were assigned to the unicorn in literature and myth.  Among these powers was the ability for unicorn horns to neutralise poison and purify water.  All of which was bad news for the narwhal.  The narwhal ‘tooth’ which protrudes from the front of the whale’s head was often sold as unicorn horn.

Did you know there are unicorns in the bible? The King James version of the Old Testament contains nine references to unicorns all due to a mistranslation of the original Hebrew text.

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