The Old Testament mentions Unicorns.


The unicorn is a legendary animal. It is usually portrayed as a slender, white horse with a spiraling horn on its forehead, although its appearance and behavior differs, depending on the location. In the west it was usually considered wild and untamable, while in the Orient it was peaceful, meek and thought to be the bringer of good luck. There it is usually depicted as a goat-like creature, with cloven hooves and a beard. In Japan it is called Kirin, and in China Ki-lin.
The word "unicorn" is based on the Hebrew word re'em ("horn"), in early versions of the Old Testament translated as "monokeros", meaning "one horn", which became "unicorn" in English. The creature is possibly based on the rhinoceros or the narwhal, a marine creature with one horn.
In the west it was first mentioned by the Greek historian Ctesias in 398 BCE. According to him they lived in India and he described them as 'wild asses which are as big as a horse, even bigger. Their bodies are white, their heads dark red and their eyes are deep blue. They have a single horn on their forehead which is approximately half-a-meter long.' This description was based on the tales of travelers, and is a mixture of an Indian rhinoceros, the Himalayan antelope, and the wild ass.

The horn itself is white at the base, black in the middle and with a sharp, red tip. It is believed to possess healing abilities. Dust filed from the horn was thought to protect against poison, and many diseases. It could even resurrect the dead. Amongst royalty and nobility in the Middle Ages, it became quite fashionable to own a drinking cup made of the horn of an unicorn, not in the least because it was supposed to detect poison.

The belief in the healing abilities of the horn is probably based on a medieval story. In this particular tale, many animals once gathered around a pool in the midst of night. The water was poisoned and they could not drink from it, until a unicorn appeared. He simply dipped his horn in the pool and the water became fresh and clean again.

Another medieval story tells of the capture of a unicorn by a maiden. The unicorn was far too fast and wild for the man that was hunting him. He could only be tamed by a maiden who sat lonely underneath a tree in the woods. Attracted by the scent of purity he would lay his head on her lap and she would rock him to sleep. Then she would cut of his horn, and leave him for the hunter and his dogs.

There have been attempts to give these tales a Christian interpretation. In the first tale the horn symbolizes the cross and the pool the sins of the world. In the second story the maiden was Maria, the unicorn Jesus Christ and the horn a representation of the unity of the Father and the Son. Jesus, embodied in the unicorn, was killed for sake of a sinful world.



Do you believe that Unicorns once roamed these lands and had the magical abilities that this article has indicated?

No... but I do believe that the christians typically take things such as legends and make them their own

there is a goat that has a "unicorn-like" horn
perhaps it used to be taller

Yes i believe in them even wrote a poem
about them.
Have a huge collection on unicorns.
They are beautiful.
Happy New Year.
Pat

bout as much chance as a horse with a horn in the middle of it's head as there is some dude in the clouds watching over everyone. Fairy tales and imaginary friends.........lol...pretty much defines religion in my opinion.

hello yes i BELIEVE

You know there are such things as whales with horns on their heads. I think they are a type of beluga whale?

I saw a special once from Jacque Cousteau who filmed such rare mammals.

I believe that unicorns still exist

I would have to check but i thought they found the remains of what would seem to be a Unicorn not that long ago..Shalom

That would be highly interesting if you get back with the information.

Thanks friend

It reminds me of a movie I watched in the 80s with Tom Cruise called Legend. The Demon or Dark Lord recruited a goblin to chop off a rare unicorn for its powers. When this happened winter erradicated summer and night was inevitable allowing the dark lord to become more powerful. Fortunately a group of adventures managed to save the horn and place it back on the rare unicorn ressurrecting him to save the balance of the planet bringing light into the world and peace amongst those who seeked it.

It would be interesting where the directors derived this story from. What ancient folklore tale was read to get the ideas to eventually lead to such a movie.

Good movie if you haven't watched it yet. It is called "Legend".

Take a look at this.. It looks like a fetus unicorn they have found.. i don't know could be..blessings ,..Miles

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GRffwt8yEk

Sorry messed up..this is it

I don't agree with the types of animals they think are at the root of the unicorn myths. But since they show up in many cultures, I think there must have been something.

I think some kind of one horned antelope like creature fits the description far better than a rhino. Possibly went extinct long enough ago to be a myth by the middle ages. But receintly enough to probably know the reason for extinction. Over hunting for that horn, based on the mythology of uses for it.

I don't see any reason why one could not have lived. I think I remember a shark creature that a fossil was found, it had a horn like that. As has been mentioned other animals have horns like that, evolution predicts this types of feature will reoccur.

Evolution works becuase of the amazing variation.

I also see no reason without any evidence to believe it did exist either.

I tell you what that was very realistic looking. The great mysteries right! lol

I'd like to believe in unicorns. So I do.

I can think of a millions ways to fake that, would be great to see some real research using the latest DNA analysis, more often then not we are able to piece together the genome of more and more fossilized and especially mummified critters.

I mean there is a good chance that this happened. If we look at the sabre tooth cat with those huge fangs they had and maybe just became later the tiger or lion. Then we as humans who had alot more hair on our body and face including sharper teeth somehow managed to evolve to what we are now. Then we look at the mammoth that had alot of fur to keep warm through the ice age although I think there was over 27 species of elephants that existed before dying out to only have 2 species left, but neverthless you see how we changed to adapt to our environment.

Perhaps a wild horse at its time needed that horn to survive the ordeals of the planet and eventually died out.

The magical abilities of course where superstitions of us humans as usual. lol

I mean I am just guessing around here, but it may have been possible.

Also the whale which I find interesting was once a land animal as marine biologist can prove they have a extra bone that they don't use near their tale that was once begining bones for legs at one time.

This can explain perhaps why those rare whales I am talking about have horns on them, for they once needed them on land to protect themselves.

its the nharwhale (sp?) that you mentioned in your original post that has the horn on its head. A beluga is all white with a smooth head. :) I believe that a unicorn like animal did exist once upon a time, as do i Dragons, which also apear in many cultures accross the world.

I personaly believe that something like what happend to the Dodo birds happend to Dragons and Unicorns...humans killed them off. There were many creatures that had some of the features of both "animals" prior to the ice age, whos to say some didn't make it through only to then be killed off?

I agree with you and was going to mention about dragons as I have many times here before, but never mentioned about the unicorn. It is interesting to know that perhaps thousands and thousands of wild horses with horns once roamed these lands, although it is mysterious we cannot find any remains.