Feast of San' Ercole dei Rinoceronti

[David Morris]

http://www.angelfire.com/tx3/Jennifer1/unicorn.html

mythological animal resembling a horse or a kid with a single horn on its 
forehead. The unicorn appeared in early Mesopotamian artworks, and it also 
was referred to in the ancient myths of India and China. The earliest 
description in Greek literature of a single-horned (Greek: monokeros; Latin: 
unicornis) 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; 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. The actual 
animal behind Ctesias' description was probably the Indian rhinoceros.

Certain poetical passages of the biblical Old Testament refer to a strong 
and splendid horned animal called re'em. This word was translated "unicorn" 
or "rhinoceros" in many versions of the Bible, but many modern translations 
prefer "wild ox" (aurochs), which is the correct meaning of the Hebrew 
re'em. As a biblical animal the unicorn was interpreted allegorically in the 
early Christian church. One of the earliest such interpretations appears in 
the ancient Greek bestiary known as the Physiologus, which states that the 
unicorn is a strong, fierce animal that can be caught only if a virgin 
maiden is thrown before it. The unicorn leaps into the virgin's lap, and she 
suckles it and leads it to the king's palace. Medieval writers thus likened 
the unicorn to Christ, who raised up a horn of salvation for mankind and 
dwelt in the womb of the Virgin Mary. Other legends tell of the unicorn's 
combat with the elephant, whom it finally spears to death with its horn, and 
of the unicorn's purifying of poisoned waters with its horn so that other 
animals may drink.

Cups reputedly made of unicorn horn but actually made of rhinoceros horn or 
narwhal tusk were highly valued by important persons in the Middle Ages as a 
protection against poisoned drinks. Many fine representations of the hunt of 
the unicorn survive in medieval art, not only in Europe but also in the 
Islamic world and in China.

_________________________________________________________________
Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com