Mythical creatures unicorn. Mystical symbols

At all times, people believed in the existence of unusual animals. Our ancestors often endowed such creatures not only with an unusual appearance, but also with supernatural abilities. Among the popular mythical animals is the graceful and handsome unicorn.

Who is a unicorn?

In myths, he is one of the most mysterious characters. Unicorn is mythical creature, symbolizing chastity. Outwardly, it is very difficult to confuse him with anyone, because he distinctive feature- a horn coming out of the forehead. In all other respects, he resembles a beautiful graceful horse. The most unusual representatives are a fabulous flying creature and a black unicorn.

Unicorns are considered to be very powerful creatures, capable of easily eluding hunters. Their speed is amazing as they are faster than normal horses. In addition, they can fight with incredible strength and almost always emerge victorious from battles. Unicorns are forced to fight to survive, since their priceless horns are always hunted by many who want to master magic. It is known that the horns of these unusual creatures can save even in case of poisoning. They are often used in powder form as.

Unicorn - who is he in the Bible?

Even on the pages Holy Scripture you can see this creature. However, the unicorn in the Bible and the mythical creature have nothing in common. So, spiritual literature says that this is a buffalo, bison or aurochs from ancient Russian chronicles, a wild bull that became extinct centuries ago, which can be considered the ancestor of domestic bulls. Hebrew translations even call this creature a rhinoceros. But whatever animal it really is, it is obvious that we're talking about not about a mythical, but about a real animal that once lived on earth.

Unicorn in mythology

Long-standing myths about unicorns tell about a creature with a horn on its forehead, which was the companion of chaste goddesses. The graceful mythical creatures unicorns were very freedom-loving, but when they met virgin girls, they became submissive and immediately lay down at their feet. It is not easy to catch the dexterous animal, and you can only hold it with the help of a golden bridle. The horn of a magical creature was often credited with miraculous properties.

Do unicorns exist?

It is difficult to unequivocally answer the question of whether unicorns exist in our time and whether they ever lived at all. However, some researchers argue that such creatures actually inhabited the earth. At least, there is an opinion that unicorns lived in Korea and even the rulers of the country rode them. Local scientists provided evidence that shocked the whole world, because previously everyone was sure that the unicorn was only a fictional fairy-tale character.

What does a unicorn look like?

Often the unicorn real life is a creature with the body of a horse and a large horn on its head that grows between its eyes. This horn can be long and straight, and sometimes twisted in a spiral. There are individuals that look not like horses, but like goats with a beard. Sometimes such creatures are depicted with large wings like the mythical Pegasus. Another distinctive feature of a unicorn is its thick, long mane.

The ancient Persians believed that the unicorn looked like a large three-legged beast, with nine mouths, standing in the middle of the ocean. This creature allegedly protected sea water from various pollutants. The Jews were sure that the unicorn was the size of a mountain, on the slopes of which a whole flock of sheep could fit. The Slavic unicorn is a huge horse of honey color with a large horn, Indrik.

What types of unicorns are there?

There are these types of unicorns:

1. European unicorn- heavy, clumsy gray creatures with a small horn - 15-20 centimeters. Very strong, but too slow.
2. British- the largest among all species. The creature has the powerful body of a white horse. The horn of the British representative is white with silver.
3. Indian– the tail of this creature resembles a lion’s, with a thin tassel at the end. Its horn is long and thin, and has a silver or golden color.
4. West- free and wayward horses. They will never approach a person, and if they sense danger, they can attack with their horn. These creatures are very hardy and can cover a long distance in hot weather.
5. Rainbow- a very beautiful and rare species. Compared to their body size, they have long legs. They have a white or gray color. It is less common to see a black unicorn. The fur of such creatures is not very thick for the reason that they like to live in warm climates.
6. Black– individuals of this species are found among other representatives. Among them there are winged unicorns.
7. Winged– they are often called a cross between a unicorn and a hippogriff. However, there are researchers who are confident that this is a completely independent species of animal.
8. Unicorn-Demons- the most dangerous of all existing species. They find it difficult to be around people and non-magical creatures. For this reason, they live solitarily in difficult forests. It is believed that unicorn blood is very poisonous, and therefore they are never hunted.
9. Mirror- one of the most beautiful. The creature's fur fits so tightly to the body that it can create a continuous layer and each hair becomes as if mirror-like. Like a mirror, it can reflect light and the beautiful mirror horn of an animal.

Where did unicorns live?

There are those among us who are interested in where unicorns live. Depending on the species, these or other habitats of mythical creatures are called:

1. The smallest unicorns live in dense, remote mid-latitude forests.
2. Silver - I live in the densest forests, and try to never catch the eye of people.
3. Dark (black) are among the most mysterious. No one knows about their habitats.
4. Indians live in the forests of India.
5. British ones inhabit the forests of Great Britain.
6. Unicorn-Demons live alone in dark, damp and necessarily impenetrable forests.

What do unicorns eat?

Whether a creature is fictional or real is not so important; it must feed on something. A mythical unicorn can grow beautiful and strong only if it has a balanced, complete diet, which includes a daily set of feed and supplements that meet the animal’s need for nutrients and biologically active substances. Just like insufficient nutrition, excess nutrition will be harmful to him. Graceful creatures are very fond of eating rosehip inflorescences and other forest gifts.

The Legend of the Unicorn

There is more than one beautiful legend about the unicorn. In Germany there is a belief that the Eingorn animals once lived on their lands. They supposedly lived in mountain ranges. The Einhorhole cave has survived to this day. Legend says that a witch once lived in that cave, to whom people often turned for help. However, the local cleric did not like this very much and he decided to call her a witch and demand that she be burned.

When he arrived at the cave with the guards, he saw a small hunched woman. Everyone laughed in unison in anticipation of an easy victory. However, suddenly a one-horned animal appeared in front of them. The unicorn bowed to the woman, she climbed onto his back and immediately disappeared. The soldiers tried to catch up with the witch, but the unicorn appeared and then disappeared again. At some point the monk was able to overtake her, but at that moment the ground opened up under him, and he fell into a hole.

Books about unicorns

Thanks to interest in these unusual mythical creatures, educational books about unicorns appeared:

1. "In Search of Unicorns" by Eslava Galan Juan. The famous Spanish writer invites readers to plunge into the Middle Ages and together find a magical unicorn and try to prepare a healing potion from its horn.
2. "Valley of the Unicorns" by Rosie Banks. Interesting story about the adventures of three inseparable girlfriends who find themselves in the Secret Kingdom.
3. “Master of the Unicorn Hunt” Anna Malysheva. A fascinating story about a mythical creature from an ancient tapestry that can pose a real threat to anyone who hunts it.
4. "Damn Unicorns" Robert Sheckley. The author tells a legend about a one-horned creature with extraordinary magical powers.

Movie about unicorns

The power of the unicorn is also realistically described in films. Among the most popular films about a mythical creature:

1. "Voyage of the Unicorn". When the sisters hear their mother's voice, they decide to go on an extraordinary journey with their father. Many adventures await them. The heroes of the film will be able to make friends with gnomes and elves, and also find themselves on a fairy-tale island.
2. "The Last Unicorn". The film tells about a magical land where a unicorn lived. This beautiful creature knew the secrets of magic. One day the animal learns that all his relatives have died out and he may be the last unicorn.
3. "The Virgin Suicides". The film tells about a family in which 5 teenage girls are growing up. After one of them commits suicide, the others are put under surveillance by local residents.

Using the history of the company name Mylo and a number of other large tech companies as a practical example, we'll look at what makes a good name and the best way to christen your startup.

Here I only give advice on naming startups and websites, so if you are looking for names for other purposes, then use special resources and name generators. So, for a traditional business, the resources Hello My Name is Awesome and Wordcraft are suitable.

What should a good title have?

First of all, you need to decide what function the name will perform. There are two approaches:

• Descriptive - the name directly indicates the type of activity of the company
• Abstract - the name serves as the basis of the brand

The two approaches can be combined, but it's best to choose one over the other first so you have an idea of ​​what direction to go in when searching for a title.

In addition, you need to think about the future. So, Dollar Shave Club is an excellent name for a service selling inexpensive razors for everyday use. But if the company wants to expand its range to more expensive products, then the name may mislead someone. Unlike this company, their main competitor Harry's is positioned as a premium brand with a wide range of personal care products, and the name does not cause any complaints.

Do's and Don'ts

The following are the main qualities of a good name. It is not necessary to combine all the characteristics in one. But that's definitely what works:

• Short, simple, catchy.
• Creates a clear mental image.
• Suitable for SEO, so that in direct searches it will be reflected in the results.
• Easily verbalized, that is, a verb can be made from the name. For example, as in the case of the word “Google”.
• Explains the company's mission or highlights its benefits.
• Having a deep meaning that touches people's feelings, or interesting story origin.

The following qualities of the name are shortcomings:

• The name has difficult spelling, which may make it difficult to search in.
• The name is copied from another brand or is too similar to it.
• The name is random and has nothing to do with the brand.
• A domain with this name is not available.
• The name sounds offensive or obscene in another language.
• The title has an awkward sequence of letters. For example, in the name Fashionnews there are two “n”s in a row, which is not very good.
• The name is difficult to pronounce.

How to come up with a name

Below is an extensive list of ideas for what to name your startup, as well as a list of relevant resources to help you with this. Each of the listed methods may not be suitable for a particular company, but by considering them all, you can determine in which direction to move.

Make a longlist

To begin with, you can make a list of all the words that one way or another describe the company: its values, main product, field of activity, etc. Try to include as many concepts as possible in this list.

After compiling the list, select synonyms for each word. This way you will create your own thesaurus. A Google image search will help with this, as the results can reveal many non-obvious associative connections that you may have missed.

Example. Mylo has set itself the goal of popularizing the basics of high fashion among men. Based on this, a preliminary list of basic concepts related to this goal was compiled: fashion (men's clothing), high quality (worth it, distinction, nobility, purity, perfection) and accessibility (comfortable, affordable, playful) - synonyms and related concepts are shown in parentheses.

As you build associative series, it is worth writing down the words in the form of a grid or tree to visualize the process. Here's how to break down concepts into separate branches of associations:

• A branch of associations with the concept of “basis”: original, timeless, ordinary, necessary, simple.
• Qualities commonly associated with the concept of “timeless”: classic, durable, functional.
• Typical phrases and concepts that are associated with the concept of “ordinary”: hello!, fireworks!, wink, welcome!
• Feelings that are generated by basic needs (necessities): comfort, happiness, love.

The essence of the process is that during brainstorming throw as many associations into this network as possible until something worthwhile begins to emerge. Ideally, there should be so many words that in the end you can choose the best and most suitable ones.

Basic Tools

Before deciding on an approach to creating a name, we suggest considering the basic tools and useful resources that can help in the process.

Compound words

Compound words are probably the most commonly used words when naming startups, and there's a reason for this: they're easy to come up with. The process is very simple: brainstorm a few concepts - descriptive or abstract - and then write them down in different combinations until you come up with something useful.

Well-known startups that use compound words as names include , EverNote, Photobucket, Salesforce, Wordpress, Flipboard, .

Collocations and puns

Another common trend in startup naming is to combine two common words that can act as part of a coherent sentence in conversation.

Phrases that were considered as options for Mylo: BacktoBasics, SoSimple, MyNeeds, EveryWear, ShopDrawer.

Rhyming words

If your startup is in its infancy and few people have heard of it yet, then word of mouth is your ally. Therefore, the name should be easy to hear and memorable. For example, if you're talking to someone about audio streaming services, the first thing you'll likely think of is a catchy rhyme.

It’s unlikely that anyone will Google “streaming audio.” Most likely, when searching for music, the first thing that will come up is the most famous and memorable titles. And, as a rule, “interesting” combinations are remembered.

Among those startups that use rhyming phrases as their names are SoundCloud, GrubHub, SeatGeek, Fitbit, Sunrun.

Names that were considered as options for Mylo: BestDressed, Hi!Buy, RequiredAttire, He’dNeed, DudsBud.

Changed words

Without a big budget, you can't just take a dictionary, pick a name, and use it as a domain name. Why? Because, most likely, cybersquatters or domain resellers are already ahead of you. Luckily, if a suitable name is already taken, there are many ways to get creative with it so that you can easily secure a new domain name.

Hybrid words

Hybrid words combine parts of two or more words. Such words sound similar to both components at once, which allows you to create an unusual semantic effect. The result is not only a completely new word, but also a concept.

Hybrid words tend to sound very strong. They can combine basic concepts for the company, as well as its goals and values. A good hybrid word sounds like the word has always existed.

Among the well-known startups that use hybrid words as their names are , Zenefits, Netscape, Epicurious.

Names that were considered as options for Mylo: Simplenty, Refineed, Needit, Grabasics, Yessentials.

Prefixes and endings

By adding a prefix, ending or some number to the name, you can easily find an unoccupied domain name. In some cases, you can create a great title this way. But, on the other hand, there is a risk of creating a name that sounds similar to the name of another company.

A more conservative way to find an unoccupied domain is to add a simple word to the beginning or end. In the case of Mylo, the domain with that name was occupied by a squatter (www.mylo.com), so it was decided to add the word ok before the name, and the domain okmylo.com was obtained.

Among those startups that use words with endings as names are , Cloudera, Friendster, Napster, Shopify, Visual.ly, Bit.ly.

Names that were considered as options for Mylo: Simplete, Incommon, Eversimple, Commonwear, Basic.ly, Himylo, Heymylo, Seemylo, Myloshop, Mylogoods.

Distorted spelling

Spelling a word - replacing a letter, adding or subtracting it - is another common way to find an unoccupied domain. This way you can find a short, understandable and unusual name.

Names that were considered as options for Mylo: Basix, Grabbit, Simpl, Fownd, Sollo.

IN English The following intentional misspellings are often used: er>r, i>y, le>l, z>x, ck>k, c>q, ph>f.

Existing words

Unfortunately, using already existing words as names is associated with a number of difficulties. If you use an existing word in a descriptive sense, then it cannot be registered as a trademark. You can use this word in a metaphorical or abstract sense, without a direct connection to the product, but then it will take a lot of money to buy the domain name.

You should keep these restrictions in mind if you choose a real word for the title.

Proper names

At the dawn of market trade, all enterprises were named after their founders. In the technology industry, the most famous examples are Dell, Hewlett Packard and Craigslist. IN lately There has been a tendency to name companies after literary and other fictional characters.

Among the startups that use the names of fictitious people as names are Oscar, Warby Parker, Alfred.

Names that were considered as options for Mylo: Milo, Mijlo, Kiko, Umi, Jan.

Descriptive titles with an abstract slant

Sometimes a suitable name appears out of nowhere in the form of a random abstract concept. Moreover, the name may turn out to be so appropriate that one can only wonder how it didn’t come to mind earlier. However, such insights usually come as a result of many hours of brainstorming and searching, in a rare moment of rest after intense thinking.

Names that were considered as options for Mylo: Sift, Keep, Select, Solo, Nab.

Random words

The previous set of names also seemed to be taken at random from different categories of words. But those names, at least, have at least a conditional connection to the brand. At the same time, there are a number of brands whose names seem to have fallen from the sky, since they do not have any tangible connection to the company’s field of activity. Sometimes such names turn out to be successful, although it is not entirely clear why. This is a very subjective way of naming, so there is complete scope for creativity.

Some startups that use random words as names include , Square, Stripe, Monster, Sun, Lotus, Wink.

Names that were considered as options for Mylo: Kin, Tab, Tandem, Ilk, Mint.

Other ways

Artificial words

Time passes, the deadline is approaching, but you still can’t find the right word, which would reflect the scope of the company’s activities, not to mention its essence and spirit. Your thesaurus is empty, you have tried all the puns that your father loved to repeat, but things are still there.

Names that were considered as options for Mylo: Oomi, Vound, Iba, Mibro, Robi.

Abbreviations and abbreviations

If your startup name seems too outdated, conservative, or boring, you can simply spice it up by shortening it or making it an acronym. Of course, this is primarily suitable for those companies whose name has two or three words.

Some companies encrypt the names of the founders in the abbreviation.

IBM is one of the most famous examples of acronym names. It sounds much brighter and more interesting than the sterile International Business Machines Corporation.

Other well-known startups with abbreviated names: , AOL, ICQ, AIM.

There are references to the fantastic animal in many countries: late Egypt, India, Greece, Bulgaria, Britain.

What's with the unicorn trend?

For several years now, unicorns have been everywhere, both online and in stores... This fashion, which has been going on for three years, is intensifying today. The mythical animal can be seen galloping on clothing, makeup products, phone cases, decorative accessories and, of course, toys!

Children are not the only ones who adore this cute creature... Adults are also succumbing to this fashion, attracted by the carefree and innocence of this mythical animal.

Is the unicorn a mythical animal?

The origins of this myth are ancient: traces of this legendary animal are found in the manuscripts of Pliny, Plato, Aristotle and even in the Bible! This heterogeneous creature resembles, at the same time, a deer, a goat, a mare and even a donkey...

It was in the Middle Ages that the unicorn took on the form it is known today: with a long horn on its forehead, as can be seen in the famous tapestry "The Lady with the Unicorn", exhibited at the Cluny Museum.

Already in the Middle Ages, this animal (with the body of a horse and the head and beard of a goat) was credited with mythical abilities. Its horn was said to bring good luck and health.

Unicorns

The idol of girls of the 21st century is a unicorn in the form of a white horse with a pink or multi-colored mane. Having become a plush toy, it can be seen in the movies, in the hands of Agnes, one of the heroines of the successful cartoon “Despicable Me”.

In 2015, toy brand Hasbro received great success for its unicorn Star Lily, which received the Grand Prix in the plush toy category. Hasbro also awarded its My Little Pony license, including a unicorn, of course!

Additionally, since unicorns and rainbows are often associated in the imagination, this fantastic animal has also become a symbol of the LGBT community (whose flag is a rainbow). Finally, the word also entered the spoken language.

The expression “unicorn job” describes your dream job! In short, the word, like the creation itself, symbolizes the extraordinary...

Unicorn hairstyle

Halloween is approaching and if you want to be a trend this year, forget about the make-believe blood and scary masks! On the photo site Pinterest, the unicorn idea is the coolest for Halloween.

Unicorn pajamas

This year, more unicorn costumes, represented by party pajamas, are set to rampage the streets. Some hairdressers began to promote a hairstyle where the braid is set high on the head, like a horn.

Unicorn inflatable ring

Unicorn Costumes for Girls - Ideas

Who served as a doctor at the Persian court for 17 years, returning to Greece, described wild Indian donkeys of massive build, having one horn on the forehead, as well as a red head, Blue eyes and torso. According to Ctesias' description, anyone who drinks water or wine from the horn of this animal will never be susceptible to disease. And it is possible to catch these unusually fleet-footed donkeys only when they are with their cubs, which they cannot leave. The story of Ctesias gained popularity due to the authority of Aristotle, who briefly mentioned the one-horned "Indian asses" as "odd-toed ungulates" in his History of Animals.

In European culture

The unicorn played an important role in medieval legends and fairy tales; wizards and sorceresses rode it; he killed every person who came his way; only a virgin could tame him, and then he became tame, lay down on the ground and fell asleep. In general, if you manage to catch a unicorn, you can only hold it with a golden bridle.

The elephant and the lion have long been considered the enemies of the unicorn. Whenever they met, the elephant would certainly enter into a fight and, as a rule, the unicorn would be the first to rip open the elephant’s belly. The lion could lure the unicorn into a trap: fleeing from the chase, he sharply turned to the side at the very trunk of the tree, and the unicorn, unable to quickly slow down, pierced the wood with its horn, after which the lion easily dealt with the enemy. In literature, the image of the death of a unicorn is associated with the parable of the foreigner in the literary monument “The Tale of Barlaam and Joasaph.”

In the writings of Christian writers, this legendary creature was mentioned as a symbol of the Annunciation (see Mystical hunt for the unicorn) and the Incarnation. In the Middle Ages, the unicorn was the emblem of the Virgin Mary, as well as the saints Justin of Antioch and Justina of Padua. The unicorn's horn embodied the strength and unity of the Father and the Son, and small sizes The animal symbolized the humility of Christ.

For alchemists, the swift unicorn symbolized mercury. In the Moscow state, the unicorn became a symbol of book learning, since its image adorned the facade of the Printing House on Nikolskaya Street. Architect A. Shchusev placed a bas-relief with three unicorns on the eastern wall of the Intercession Church (1912) of the Marfo-Mariinskaya Monastery.

In Russian alphabet books of the 16th-17th centuries. The unicorn is depicted like this:

The beast is like a horse, terrible and invincible, it has a large horn between its ears, its body is copper, and it has all its strength in the horn. And when we persecute him, he will run up to the heights and throw himself down, remaining without a bone. Doesn't have any friends, lives 532 years. And when he casts his horn into the sea, and from it the worm grows; and from this there is a unicorn beast. But an old beast without a horn is not strong, becomes orphaned and dies.

The horn of a unicorn (under the guise of which the tusk of a narwhal, exported by the Norwegians, Danes and Russian Pomors from the polar regions, as well as the horn of a rhinoceros and a mammoth tusk was mostly sold) was used for various products, for example, for scepters and staves, and was highly valued, especially because that in the form of grated powder it was considered a wonderful healing remedy for various diseases - from fever, epilepsy, fire (fever), from pestilence, black sickness, from snake bites, it prolongs youth and strengthens potency, and is also a remedy that protects against damage. The trade in horn cups, supposedly removing poison from food, flourished; it was believed that the poisonous liquid boiled in it. One European miniature of the 15th century depicts Saint Benedict throwing away a piece of bread given to him: a reader of that time, seeing a unicorn next to the saint, could understand that the bread was poisoned, and the saint, with the help of God, guessed it. The unicorn's horn allegedly fogged up when approaching the poison. During the Renaissance, a figurine of a unicorn was placed above pharmacies.

Buying a whole horn was only possible for very rich people or societies. Thus, Elizabeth I of England purchased a horn for 10 thousand pounds. By 1600, there were at least 12 solid horns in Europe. Ber wrote that the Moscow royal scepter, captured by the Poles in the Time of Troubles “made from a solid unicorn bone, showered with yachts, outshone everything precious in the world”. Maskevich reported in 1614 that the Poles were given two or three unicorn bones for their service in Moscow. Adam Zolkiewski was surprised to see what huge unicorn horns were in Moscow, and noted that he had never seen a whole horn in other countries, and merchants valued the Moscow horn at 200,000 Hungarian gold.

Surgical method

One-horned animals can also be obtained artificially, through surgery. This method is based on anatomical feature ruminants whose horns do not grow directly from the skull, but from an outgrowth of horny tissue. In 1933, a similar operation was performed by biologist W. Franklin Dove from the University of Maine (USA). A newborn Yorkshire calf had two horny growths transplanted into the center of its forehead, resulting in the animal growing a long, straight horn. The horn gave significant confidence to the mature bull, since the straight central horn in the form of a weapon could be used more effectively. In this regard, the mention of Pliny the Elder about a similar transplantation in ancient world, but with the opposite result: in the eleventh book “ Natural history“described a case of obtaining four horns from one growth.

Representative of megafauna

There is an assumption that the description of the unicorn reflects the trace of the extinct animal Elasmotherium - the rhinoceros of the Eurasian steppes, which lived during the Ice Age south of the range of the woolly rhinoceros; images of elasmotherium are found in cave paintings of that time. Elasmotherium somewhat resembled a horse with an extremely long horn in its forehead. It went extinct around the same time as the rest of the Eurasian megafauna ice age. However, according to the Swedish encyclopedia “Nordisk familjebok” and the arguments of science popularizer Willie Ley, the animal could survive quite for a long time, in order to get into the Evenki legends as a huge black bull with one horn in its forehead.

In heraldry

It was depicted on Russian gold coins starting from the time of the Grand Duke of Moscow John III and ending with the reign of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich Romanov (starting from False Dmitry I, it was also minted on silver coins). Since 1562, the unicorn has been depicted on the chest of a double-headed eagle, along with St. George, so in this era their semantics were equivalent. The unicorn symbol is contained on double-sided state seals Tsar Ivan the Terrible: Large (from 1562) and Small (from 1571), also the Great State Seals of the Tsars Boris Godunov, False Dmitry, Mikhail Fedorovich, Alexei Mikhailovich, on the seal of the Great Palace during the reign of Mikhail Fedorovich. A seal with a unicorn was used to seal letters from Ivan the Terrible that were of a personal nature, for example, correspondence with the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery; historian Tatishchev believed that the unicorn was on the personal coat of arms of Ivan the Terrible. The unicorn is also depicted on the back of the throne of Tsar Ivan the Terrible, on ceremonial axes, saddles, window frames of palaces, on the coats of arms of the Russian noble families of the Batashevs, Bonch-Bruevich, Verigins, Kudryavtsevs, Mansurovs, Ostafievs, Romanovsky, Strekalovs, Turgenevs, Shuvalovs, as a shield holder is included in the coats of arms of the Boltins, Ermolovs, Kozlovskys, Saltykovs, Loris-Melikovs.

In addition, it is present on the coats of arms of the cities: Lysva (Russia), Saint-Lo (France), Lisnitz (Czech Republic), Vishtynets and Merkin (Lithuania), Ramos (Switzerland), Eger (Hungary), Schwäbisch Gmünd and Gingen am Brenz (Germany), depicted in the coat of arms of the Canadian province of Newfoundland.

A pair of unicorns are shield holders in the coat of arms of Scotland, one each in the state coats of arms of Great Britain and Canada.

The unicorn played an important role in medieval legends and fairy tales; wizards and sorceresses rode it; he killed every person who came his way; only a virgin could tame him, and then he became tame, lay down on the ground and fell asleep. In general, if you manage to catch a unicorn, you can only hold it with a golden bridle.

The elephant and the lion have long been considered the enemies of the unicorn. Whenever they met, the elephant would certainly enter into a fight and, as a rule, the unicorn would be the first to rip open the elephant’s belly. The lion could lure the unicorn into a trap: fleeing from the chase, he sharply turned to the side at the very trunk of the tree, and the unicorn, unable to quickly slow down, pierced the wood with its horn, after which the lion easily dealt with the enemy.

In the writings of Christian writers, this legendary creature was mentioned as a symbol of the Annunciation (see Mystical hunt for the unicorn) and the Incarnation. In the Middle Ages, the unicorn acted as an emblem of the Virgin Mary, as well as Saints Justin of Antioch and Justina of Padua. The unicorn's horn embodied the strength and unity of the Father and the Son, and the small size of the animal symbolized the humility of Christ.

For alchemists, the swift unicorn symbolized mercury.

In Russian alphabet books of the 16th-17th centuries. The unicorn is depicted like this:

The beast is like a horse, terrible and invincible, it has a large horn between its ears, its body is copper, and it has all its strength in the horn. And when we persecute him, he will run up to the heights and throw himself down, remaining without a bone. Doesn't have any friends, lives 532 years. And when he casts his horn into the sea, and from it the worm grows; and from this there is a unicorn beast. But an old beast without a horn is not strong, becomes orphaned and dies.

The horn of a unicorn (under the guise of which the tusk of a narwhal, exported by the Norwegians, Danes and Russian Pomors from the polar regions, as well as the horn of a rhinoceros and a mammoth tusk was mostly sold) was used for various products, for example, for scepters and staves, and was highly valued, especially because that in the form of grated powder it was considered a wonderful healing remedy for various diseases - from fever, epilepsy, fire (fever), from pestilence, black sickness, from snake bites, it prolongs youth and strengthens potency, and is also a remedy that protects against damage. The trade in horn cups, supposedly removing poison from food, flourished; it was believed that the poisonous liquid boiled in it. One European miniature of the 15th century depicts Saint Benedict throwing away a piece of bread given to him: the reader of that time, seeing a unicorn next to the saint, could understand that the bread was poisoned, and the saint, with the help of God, guessed it. The unicorn's horn allegedly fogged up when approaching the poison. During the Renaissance, a figurine of a unicorn was placed above pharmacies.

Buying a whole horn was only possible for very rich people or societies. Thus, Elizabeth I of England purchased the horn for 10 thousand pounds. By 1600, there were at least 12 solid horns in Europe. Ber wrote that the Moscow royal scepter, captured by the Poles during the Time of Troubles “made from a solid unicorn bone, showered with yachts, outshone everything precious in the world”. Maskevich reported in 1614 that the Poles were given two or three unicorn bones for their service in Moscow. Adam Zolkiewski was surprised to see what huge unicorn horns were in Moscow, and noted that he had never seen a whole horn in other countries, and merchants valued the Moscow horn at 200,000 Hungarian gold.

Surgical method

One-horned animals can also be obtained artificially, through surgery. This method is based on the anatomical feature of ruminants, whose horns do not grow directly from the skull, but from an outgrowth of horny tissue. In 1933, a similar operation was carried out by biologist W. Franklin Dove from the University of Maine (USA). A newborn Yorkshire calf had two horny growths transplanted into the center of its forehead, resulting in the animal growing a long, straight horn. The horn gave significant confidence to the mature bull, since the straight central horn in the form of a weapon could be used more effectively. In this regard, the mention of Pliny the Elder about a similar transplantation in the ancient world, but with the opposite result, is noteworthy: in the eleventh book of Natural History, a case of obtaining four horns from one growth is described.

Representative of megafauna

There is an assumption that the description of the unicorn reflected the trace of the extinct animal Elasmotherium - the rhinoceros of the Eurasian steppes, which lived during the Ice Age south of the range of the woolly rhinoceros; images of elasmotherium are found in cave paintings of that time. Elasmotherium somewhat resembled a horse with an extremely long horn in its forehead. It went extinct around the same time as the rest of the Eurasian Ice Age megafauna. However, according to the Swedish encyclopedia “Nordisk familjebok” and the arguments of science popularizer Willie Ley, the animal could have existed long enough to have time to get into Evenki legends as a huge black bull with one horn in its forehead.

In heraldry

It was depicted on Russian gold coins starting from the time of the Grand Duke of Moscow John III and ending with the reign of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich Romanov (starting from False Dmitry I, it was also minted on silver coins). Since 1562, a unicorn has been depicted on the chest of a double-headed eagle, along with St. George, so in this era their semantics were equivalent. The symbol of the unicorn is contained on the double-sided state seals of Tsar Ivan the Terrible: Large (from 1562) and Small (from 1571), also on the Great State Seals of the Tsars Boris Godunov, False Dmitry, Mikhail Fedorovich, Alexei Mikhailovich, on the seal of the Great Palace during the reign of Mikhail Fedorovich. A seal with a unicorn was used to seal letters from Ivan the Terrible that were of a personal nature, for example correspondence with the Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery. The unicorn is also depicted on the back of the throne of the Terrible Tsar, on ceremonial axes, saddles, window frames of palaces, on the coats of arms of the Russian noble families of the Batashevs, Bonch-Bruevichs, Verigins, Kudryavtsevs, Mansurovs, Ostafyevs, Romanovskys, Strekalovs, Turgenevs, Shuvalovs, as a shield holder including yong in coats of arms of the Boltins, Ermolovs, Kozlovskys, Saltykovs, Loris-Melikovs.

In addition, it is present on the coats of arms of the cities: Lysva (Russia), Saint-Lo (France), Lisnitz (Czech Republic), Vystutis and Merkin (Lithuania), Ramos (Switzerland), Eger (Hungary), Schwäbisch Gmünd and Gingen an der Brenz (Germany), depicted in the coat of arms of the Canadian province of Newfoundland.

A pair of unicorns are shield holders in the coat of arms of Scotland, one each in the state coats of arms of Great Britain and Canada.

Today it is also found in the names and logos of some public organizations.

In art

Modern image

fine arts

The plot of a unicorn and a virgin is common in fine arts. Most famous works- a series of tapestries from the late 15th century, “The Girl and the Unicorn” (Cluny Museum in Paris) and “The Hunt for the Unicorn” (Metropolitan Museum in New York). The first series features six tapestries, five of which symbolize human feelings, featuring a girl, a unicorn and a lion. Another series consists of seven tapestries depicting the hunt, killing and resurrection of a unicorn, and its captivity.

Hieronymus Bosch in his triptych “The Garden of Earthly Delights” (c. 1500) depicted several fantastic views of the unicorn: on the left side of his triptych there are three unicorns: white, “Scottish”; brown, deer-like with a curved horn; with the body of a fish floating in a pond. Also, unicorns stand around the pond, among people and animals. One has a horn studded with short sharp spines; the other has the body of a deer, long ears and the beard of a goat, the third has an horn that splits into two branches.

Fiction

• In François Rabelais, Pantagruel contemplates 32 unicorns in the Land of Satin.
• William Shakespeare mentions unicorns in the romantic drama The Tempest.
• In Lewis Carroll's Alice Through the Looking Glass, a unicorn and a lion, symbolizing the shield holders of the coat of arms of Great Britain, fight for the crown.
• William Butler Yeats, in his book “The Unicorn of the Stars” (1908), associates the unicorn with the power of destruction, bringing renewal and rebirth.
• Rainer Maria Rilke, inspired by the series of tapestries “The Girl and the Unicorn,” wrote the poem “Sonnets to Orpheus” (1923).
• In T. Williams' play "The Glass Menagerie" (1945), the unicorn is the embodiment of the loneliness and vulnerability of the main character.
• In C.S. Lewis's The Last Battle (1954), the unicorn fights against the forces of evil and, along with other animals, is invited to heaven.
• In the story “A King Once and For All,” T. H. White describes four boys who first force the cook to become bait for the unicorn, and then brutally deal with it, although at first the intention was to leave the unicorn alive.

Science fiction, fairy tales and fantasy

• In the first Potter book by Joan Rowling, “Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone,” the properties of unicorn blood are mentioned - any person who drinks it will be saved even from an incurable disease, but will be damned forever.
• Tracy Chevalier "The Lady and the Unicorn" (2005)
• A sacred animal, the embodiment of Order (the opposite of the Chaos Serpent) in the Chronicles of Amber series of books by Roger Zelazny.
• Nigel Suckling "The Book of the Unicorn" (1997)
• Haruki Murakami "Wonderland without brakes and the End of the World"
• Andre Norton "Year of the Unicorn"
• In the world of My Little Pony, unicorns abound.

In popular science literature

• Odell Shepard "The Teaching of the Unicorn" (1930)
• Richard Ettindausen "The Unicorn" (1950)
• Robert Riediger Beer "The Unicorn: Myth and Reality" (1972)
• Jurgen Einhorn "Spirit of the Unicorn" (1976)
• Margaret Freeman's Unicorn Tapestries (1976)

See also

Notes

Links

• Richard Psmith (Andrey Lensky) Unicorns // The best computer games. - 2009. - No. 1 (86). - pp. 184-190.
• Unicorn in the Encyclopedia of Fictional Creatures
• // Jewish Encyclopedia of Brockhaus and Efron. - St. Petersburg. , 1906-1913.
• Tufanova O. A. The symbol of “Foreign” in “Vremennik” by Ivan Timofeev // Ancient Rus'. Questions of medieval studies. 2008. No. 2 (32). pp. 118-128.