Ancient Unicorns

Unicorns are not found in Greek mythology, but rather in accounts of natural history, for Greek writers of natural history were convinced of the reality of the unicorn

Source




This 3000 year old seal found in the Indus Valley by Archaeologist Ernest Mackay, depicts a Unicorn or a "one-horned-animal" Source

The Unicorn is also mentioned in the Bible:

An animal called the Re’em (Hebrew: רְאֵם‎) is mentioned in several places in the Hebrew Bible, often as a metaphor representing strength. "The allusions to the re'em as a wild, un-tamable animal of great strength and agility, with mighty horn or horns (Job 39:9-12, Ps 22:21, 29:6, Num 23:22, 24:8, Deut 33:17 comp. Ps 92:11), best fit the aurochs (Bos primigenius). This view is supported by the Assyrian rimu, which is often used as a metaphor of strength, and is depicted as a powerful, fierce, wild mountain bull with large horns."[4] This animal was often depicted in ancient Mesopotamian art in profile, with only one horn visible. The translators of the Authorized King James Version of the Bible (1611) employed unicorn to translate re'em, providing a recognizable animal that was proverbial for its un-tamable nature.

This animal is apparently also known in Asia. This is a japanese artists depiction of the ancient animal called "Kirin" (The animal is called Qilin in Chinese):



Check out the encyclopedic entry linked and you`ll see that the Unicorn was no stranger to many more cultures.

Considering the widespread belief in the Unicorn, maybe this "myth" has roots in reality....?

An ancient cave painting:


Source

could just be some a horned bull that looks like it has 1 horn because its drawn from the side. like when I was younger I would only draw animals with 2 legs and 1 horn if it was a horned animal as if I was drawing a rigid creature from the side. But I wouldn't doubt that a 1 horned cow species existed a while ago. We will never find a horn to prove it since horns don't seem to last through the ages like bones.

realistically tho, a unicorn or similar such animal would be a great find but wouldn't it just be another type of horse with a horn? or maybe its more of a cross between a bull and horse? either way i dont think it would be thaaaaaaaat awesome if one was found... But can you imagine if they found something like a minotaur or a centaur? now THAt would be cool!

Ancient art always shows everything from the side.

Notice the bull or horse or w/e in the cave drawing and the Greek carving- they show both legs in the front and the back. They would show both horns on the bull if it had two, that is just how they made their art back then.

Look at Egyptian reliefs, old Catholic reliefs, and most ancient societies, you will see the people drawn from the side, yet you see both legs, arms, eyes, etc.

Seems like there may be some kind of reality to this myth. Although, the 1 horned creatures look more like bulls as opposed to horses, except the Asian one.

Kinda cool thanks for posting this, reminds of dragons and how they are more or less universal throughout ancient societies that as far as we know had very little to no contact with each other.

Definitely a possibility in nature...

June 12, 2008—A young deer nicknamed "Unicorn" is drawing hundreds of curious visitors to a nature preserve in Tuscany, park officials say.
The year-old roe deer was born in captivity with an apparent genetic flaw that gave it a single horn in the center of its head, said Gilberto Tozzi, director of the Center of Natural Sciences in Prato, northwest of Florence

Unicorn Deer

reply to post by Skyfloating


Sometimes in the Bible, the word "horn" is unintentionally mistranslated from the word "ray of light," or "shine," to show enlightenment. The word used in Hebrew is "qaran." The mistranslation probably occurred when the Bible was translated from the Latin-Vulgate language to English.

An example of this is when the Bible refers to Moses's face. In Exodus 34:29 it says "And when Moses came down from the mount Sinai, he held the two tablets of the testimony, and he knew not that his face was horned from the conversation of the Lord."

And again later it says "And they saw that the face of Moses when he came out was horned, but he covered his face again, if at any time he spoke to them."

Due to this error, you will see images and statues of Moses, even ancient ones, showing him with horns.

The original verse was meant to say that rays of light emitted from his face, not horns.

I believe the same verse you quoated about the animal like the unicorn could very well be from the same error. Perhaps the animal in question was supposed to be described as "The allusions to the re'em as a wild, un-tamable animal of great strength and agility, with mighty brilliance of light" and not "The allusions to the re'em as a wild, un-tamable animal of great strength and agility, with mighty horn or horns."











[edit on Thu Jan 29th 2009 by DJMessiah]

Thanks for the interesting data MS and DJM

[edit on 30-1-2009 by Skyfloating]

Originally posted by Skyfloating
An ancient cave painting:

The painting could be a gemsbok

Originally posted by Skyfloating
The Unicorn is also mentioned in the Bible:

Isaiah 34:7 (King James Version)
And the unicorns shall come down with them, and the bullocks with the bulls; and their land shall be soaked with blood, and their dust made fat with fatness.

The word used for unicorn in isaiah 34:7...

רם רים ראים ראם
re'êm re'êym rêym rêm
reh-ame', reh-ame', rame, rame
a wild bull (from its conspicuousness): - unicorn.

After reading the original meaning, it made me think of an Elasmotherium sibiricum which looks more like a bull than a horse...maybe even a plain old rhinoceros...but who knows.

Another very old story of the unicorn can actually be found in the bible. the ark of the covenant was said to be covered in the skins of an animal called a "tachash". The talmud describes the tachash as a multicolored one horned animal that only appeared for use by Moses and then was "hidden away".

Islam also describes a similar winged creature that was said to have the body of a horse and wings, which prophet Abraham used to travel to and from Mecca. This creature only lived in heaven and would descend to help prophets travel from place to place when instant travel was needed. It is known as the "Buraq".

The image of it on the page was made in the 1600s. The actual face of the Buraq is never really described.

Seems to me that if we use the seal ,printing its picture on clay , you will get something written like HOAX ! Is i not funny ?

Seems to me that if we use the seal ,printing its picture on clay , you will get something written like HOAX ! Is i not funny ?

Seems to me that if we use the seal ,printing its picture on clay , you will get something written like HOAX ! Is i not funny ?

It would be awesome if they were once real, but it's a slim chance, I mean civilization back then wasn't quite developed yet. Who's to say those weren't misprints?