1 00:00:03,279 --> 00:00:05,600 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of 2 00:00:05,680 --> 00:00:11,040 Speaker 1: My Heart Radio. Hi, my name is Robert Lamb and 3 00:00:11,119 --> 00:00:15,360 Speaker 1: this is the Monster Fact, a short form series from 4 00:00:15,360 --> 00:00:18,480 Speaker 1: Stuff to Blow Your Mind, focusing in on mythical creatures, 5 00:00:19,040 --> 00:00:25,320 Speaker 1: ideas and monsters in time. The gleam of my scarlet 6 00:00:25,360 --> 00:00:29,960 Speaker 1: hair mingles with the reflection of the great sands. I 7 00:00:30,040 --> 00:00:35,159 Speaker 1: breathe through my nostrils. The terror of solitudes. I spit 8 00:00:35,320 --> 00:00:40,280 Speaker 1: forth plague. I devour armies when they venture into the desert. 9 00:00:40,960 --> 00:00:46,720 Speaker 1: My claws are twisted like screws, my teeth shaped like saws, 10 00:00:46,840 --> 00:00:51,600 Speaker 1: and my curving tail bristles with darts, which I cast 11 00:00:51,960 --> 00:00:59,520 Speaker 1: to right and left, before and behind. See see These 12 00:00:59,560 --> 00:01:03,800 Speaker 1: are the words of the Manticore, as related in Gustave 13 00:01:03,840 --> 00:01:09,160 Speaker 1: Flaubert's eighteen seventy four dramatic poem The Temptation of Saint Anthony. 14 00:01:09,400 --> 00:01:13,880 Speaker 1: The monster itself, however, is no mere French literary creation. 15 00:01:14,440 --> 00:01:19,200 Speaker 1: It emerges from the pages and dreamscapes of antiquity and beyond. 16 00:01:20,040 --> 00:01:22,880 Speaker 1: By virtue of its depictions and mythic riddles. The sphinx 17 00:01:23,120 --> 00:01:28,279 Speaker 1: tends to enjoy far greater fame among fantastic lion human hybrids, 18 00:01:28,280 --> 00:01:32,760 Speaker 1: but the manticore is even more fabulous in form. While 19 00:01:32,840 --> 00:01:35,200 Speaker 1: it does possess the body of a lion and the 20 00:01:35,240 --> 00:01:38,240 Speaker 1: head of a man, it also boasts a tale of 21 00:01:38,360 --> 00:01:42,319 Speaker 1: fans spikes that may be launched at its adversaries like 22 00:01:42,480 --> 00:01:47,680 Speaker 1: venomous missiles. The monster's face makes it even more chimerical, 23 00:01:47,800 --> 00:01:51,680 Speaker 1: not perfectly human, but colored a deep red and possessing 24 00:01:51,720 --> 00:01:55,760 Speaker 1: a cavernous maw full of interlocking teeth that Pliny the 25 00:01:55,840 --> 00:02:00,160 Speaker 1: Elder compared to those of a comb. The Roman Pliny 26 00:02:00,240 --> 00:02:04,240 Speaker 1: was fighting the work of earlier Greek physician Cetasius, who 27 00:02:04,240 --> 00:02:08,240 Speaker 1: would have lived in Anatolia now part of Turkey during 28 00:02:08,280 --> 00:02:12,320 Speaker 1: the fifth century b c. E. He also states that 29 00:02:12,400 --> 00:02:14,799 Speaker 1: the creature's cry is like that of a flute and 30 00:02:14,919 --> 00:02:18,560 Speaker 1: a trumpet combined, and that above all else, it craves 31 00:02:18,639 --> 00:02:23,360 Speaker 1: the taste of human flesh. While the manticors popularity in 32 00:02:23,480 --> 00:02:27,280 Speaker 1: Western traditions and in the Christian Church would span centuries, 33 00:02:27,520 --> 00:02:31,840 Speaker 1: the creature's origins seemed to date back to ancient Mesopotamia, 34 00:02:31,919 --> 00:02:36,560 Speaker 1: perhaps as a distortion of the Persian mard cora, meaning 35 00:02:36,639 --> 00:02:42,080 Speaker 1: man slayer. Noted scholar Dorothea McEwen also pointed to some 36 00:02:42,160 --> 00:02:46,399 Speaker 1: of the similarities between the manticore and the Ethiopian Sebitat, 37 00:02:46,840 --> 00:02:50,840 Speaker 1: a human headed lion with serpents for tales. It lacks 38 00:02:50,880 --> 00:02:54,000 Speaker 1: only the teeth in its resemblance to the manticor, and 39 00:02:54,080 --> 00:02:57,560 Speaker 1: to be sure, plenty points to Ethiopian origins for the 40 00:02:57,600 --> 00:03:02,160 Speaker 1: Manticor as well. However, many sources speak of the manticore 41 00:03:02,480 --> 00:03:06,200 Speaker 1: as a creature of ultimate Persian origins, but the manticore 42 00:03:06,280 --> 00:03:11,520 Speaker 1: itself seems rather unconcerned with such distinctions. All human beings 43 00:03:11,520 --> 00:03:16,520 Speaker 1: are equal in its eyes, creatures worthy of mockery, hunting, 44 00:03:17,120 --> 00:03:22,360 Speaker 1: and ravenous consumption. Thanks to my son Sebastian for suggesting 45 00:03:22,480 --> 00:03:26,679 Speaker 1: this episode as he was reading through the Dungeons and 46 00:03:26,800 --> 00:03:30,560 Speaker 1: Dragons fifth Edition Monster Manual with me and had some 47 00:03:30,680 --> 00:03:37,880 Speaker 1: questions about this fabulous creature. Tune into additional episodes of 48 00:03:37,920 --> 00:03:41,680 Speaker 1: The Monster Fact each week. As always. You can email 49 00:03:41,800 --> 00:03:53,800 Speaker 1: us at contact at stuff to Blow your Mind dot com. 50 00:03:53,880 --> 00:03:55,720 Speaker 1: Stuff to Blow Your Mind is a production of I 51 00:03:55,840 --> 00:03:58,720 Speaker 1: Heart Radio. For more podcasts for my Heart Radio, visit 52 00:03:58,720 --> 00:04:01,240 Speaker 1: the i Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you 53 00:04:01,360 --> 00:04:02,560 Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows.