1 00:00:01,280 --> 00:00:04,320 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff you Missed in History Class, a production 2 00:00:04,360 --> 00:00:13,720 Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 3 00:00:13,760 --> 00:00:17,239 Speaker 1: I'm Tracy V. Wilson and I'm Holly fry Back. When 4 00:00:17,239 --> 00:00:20,720 Speaker 1: we went to Paris in twenty nineteen, which just it 5 00:00:20,760 --> 00:00:24,560 Speaker 1: feels like eons ago and maybe something that happened on 6 00:00:24,600 --> 00:00:28,880 Speaker 1: another planet. At this point, I saw the lady in 7 00:00:28,920 --> 00:00:32,320 Speaker 1: the unicorn tapestries that the muse de Cluny, and these 8 00:00:32,360 --> 00:00:37,920 Speaker 1: tapestries are beautiful. After I looked at the tapestries and 9 00:00:37,920 --> 00:00:41,120 Speaker 1: then I went through the entire rest of the museum, 10 00:00:41,159 --> 00:00:44,000 Speaker 1: I went back into the tapestry room and just sat 11 00:00:44,080 --> 00:00:47,760 Speaker 1: with them for a while. After we got back to 12 00:00:47,760 --> 00:00:50,320 Speaker 1: the US, I kept trying and failing to figure out 13 00:00:50,720 --> 00:00:55,120 Speaker 1: how to do an episode on these tapestries, and then 14 00:00:55,160 --> 00:00:58,840 Speaker 1: it finally dawned on me that looking at unicorns more 15 00:00:58,920 --> 00:01:02,880 Speaker 1: broadly might be the way to go, rather than trying 16 00:01:02,920 --> 00:01:10,120 Speaker 1: to like intricately describe tapestries with our words on an 17 00:01:10,120 --> 00:01:14,319 Speaker 1: audio podcastst we will be talking about the tapestries, but 18 00:01:15,400 --> 00:01:17,960 Speaker 1: more of a general history of unicorns. Just a heads 19 00:01:18,040 --> 00:01:22,520 Speaker 1: up though that the history of unicorn lore includes a 20 00:01:22,560 --> 00:01:26,240 Speaker 1: lot of lore about people hunting them and towards the 21 00:01:26,319 --> 00:01:28,760 Speaker 1: end of this episode will also be covering some modern 22 00:01:28,959 --> 00:01:34,399 Speaker 1: history that touches on animal cruelty. You probably know exactly 23 00:01:34,480 --> 00:01:38,560 Speaker 1: what animal we mean when we say unicorn, but spelling 24 00:01:38,600 --> 00:01:40,920 Speaker 1: it out to level set is actually kind of tricky 25 00:01:41,040 --> 00:01:44,720 Speaker 1: because descriptions and depictions of unicorns have shifted a lot 26 00:01:44,800 --> 00:01:48,640 Speaker 1: over the millennia. Even something very very basic like saying 27 00:01:48,920 --> 00:01:53,000 Speaker 1: a mythical magical quadruped that has only one horn does 28 00:01:53,040 --> 00:01:57,480 Speaker 1: not necessarily always work. Case in point, the paleolithic art 29 00:01:57,520 --> 00:02:01,640 Speaker 1: in Lasco Cave network in France spell seventeen thousand years old, 30 00:02:01,720 --> 00:02:06,080 Speaker 1: and one particular animal depicted there has been nicknamed the unicorn, 31 00:02:06,520 --> 00:02:09,320 Speaker 1: and sometimes that's described as the oldest depiction of a 32 00:02:09,400 --> 00:02:13,079 Speaker 1: unicorn in the world. This is in the main chamber 33 00:02:13,160 --> 00:02:16,040 Speaker 1: of those caves that's known as the rotunda or the 34 00:02:16,080 --> 00:02:19,840 Speaker 1: Hall of the Bulls, and the animal in question has 35 00:02:19,960 --> 00:02:23,160 Speaker 1: four legs and a sagging belly and a kind of 36 00:02:23,280 --> 00:02:26,960 Speaker 1: squarish head. But in spite of its nickname and the 37 00:02:27,000 --> 00:02:29,160 Speaker 1: fact that people like to say it's the oldest depiction 38 00:02:29,200 --> 00:02:33,960 Speaker 1: of a unicorn, it definitely has two very long, straight horns. 39 00:02:34,720 --> 00:02:37,720 Speaker 1: It is so clearly two horns rather than one that 40 00:02:37,760 --> 00:02:40,839 Speaker 1: I went down a huge and unsuccessful rabbit hole trying 41 00:02:40,880 --> 00:02:43,560 Speaker 1: to figure out who first called it the unicorn and 42 00:02:43,639 --> 00:02:46,920 Speaker 1: why they did that? Like was there a shadow? Was 43 00:02:46,960 --> 00:02:50,320 Speaker 1: the cave all art? Like? What was happening? I am 44 00:02:50,360 --> 00:02:53,200 Speaker 1: not the only person to find this naming weird. French 45 00:02:53,360 --> 00:02:58,000 Speaker 1: archaeologist Annette Lemming Empereire, who specialized in cave art, called 46 00:02:58,040 --> 00:03:03,520 Speaker 1: the unicorn quote most inappropriately named in her book on 47 00:03:03,600 --> 00:03:07,680 Speaker 1: these paintings. Even though those two horns raised some questions 48 00:03:07,760 --> 00:03:11,520 Speaker 1: about the unicorn Moniker, this doesn't really look like a 49 00:03:11,560 --> 00:03:14,480 Speaker 1: real animal, and it's the only animal depiction in the 50 00:03:14,560 --> 00:03:18,639 Speaker 1: Lisco Caves that isn't readily identifiable as something specific like 51 00:03:18,720 --> 00:03:22,359 Speaker 1: a horse or a stag or a bull. Some sources 52 00:03:22,400 --> 00:03:26,760 Speaker 1: describe it as almost feline. Overall, it is not as 53 00:03:26,760 --> 00:03:30,080 Speaker 1: skilled or elegant in its execution as other artwork in 54 00:03:30,120 --> 00:03:33,120 Speaker 1: the cave, so it's possible that it's just an early 55 00:03:33,160 --> 00:03:36,920 Speaker 1: piece of work by someone who wasn't experienced. But there's 56 00:03:37,000 --> 00:03:40,400 Speaker 1: also speculation that it was intentionally obscured in some way 57 00:03:40,520 --> 00:03:43,600 Speaker 1: and that it depicts a person dressed as an animal, 58 00:03:43,800 --> 00:03:46,320 Speaker 1: or maybe that it shows an animal that is mythical 59 00:03:46,480 --> 00:03:52,720 Speaker 1: or imaginary. Another early depiction more clearly shows a one 60 00:03:52,920 --> 00:03:57,360 Speaker 1: horned animal, but there is still some speculation involved. This 61 00:03:57,480 --> 00:04:01,080 Speaker 1: is found on seals from the Indus Valleys realization, also 62 00:04:01,160 --> 00:04:04,920 Speaker 1: known as the Harappan Civilization. This is the earliest known 63 00:04:05,000 --> 00:04:08,640 Speaker 1: civilization on the Indian subcontinent, and it existed from roughly 64 00:04:09,520 --> 00:04:14,119 Speaker 1: dred b c. We talked about the civilization a bit 65 00:04:14,160 --> 00:04:17,440 Speaker 1: in our episode on Mohenjo Daro, which was one of 66 00:04:17,480 --> 00:04:23,440 Speaker 1: its most important cities. These seals are small, they're usually square, 67 00:04:23,800 --> 00:04:26,320 Speaker 1: and they are carved from stone in a way that 68 00:04:26,360 --> 00:04:29,719 Speaker 1: would leave a clear positive imprint if you press it 69 00:04:29,760 --> 00:04:33,200 Speaker 1: into a soft substance like clay. One of the most 70 00:04:33,240 --> 00:04:37,120 Speaker 1: common motifs on these seals is usually described as a unicorn. 71 00:04:37,640 --> 00:04:39,920 Speaker 1: It's a quadruped with a body a little like an 72 00:04:40,040 --> 00:04:42,599 Speaker 1: rix or an ox, and it's shown in profile with 73 00:04:42,640 --> 00:04:45,839 Speaker 1: a single long horn growing from its head just in 74 00:04:45,920 --> 00:04:49,240 Speaker 1: front of the ear. There's been some speculation that this 75 00:04:49,320 --> 00:04:52,880 Speaker 1: is a depiction of a real animal that actually had 76 00:04:52,880 --> 00:04:56,200 Speaker 1: two horns. You just can't see it on the seal 77 00:04:56,360 --> 00:04:59,839 Speaker 1: because the second horn is hidden behind the other one. 78 00:05:00,240 --> 00:05:03,600 Speaker 1: At the same time, though these animals usually have all 79 00:05:03,680 --> 00:05:07,440 Speaker 1: four of their legs visible, and other animals on other 80 00:05:07,560 --> 00:05:11,040 Speaker 1: seals do have two horns with both of the horns visible. 81 00:05:11,120 --> 00:05:14,440 Speaker 1: So at this point it's generally believed that these seals 82 00:05:14,480 --> 00:05:18,560 Speaker 1: depict only one horn because the animal being shown had 83 00:05:18,800 --> 00:05:21,960 Speaker 1: only one horn, and also that this might be a 84 00:05:22,040 --> 00:05:26,919 Speaker 1: mythical animal rather than a living one. Unfortunately, the script 85 00:05:27,000 --> 00:05:29,400 Speaker 1: that's on a lot of these seals cannot help answer 86 00:05:29,440 --> 00:05:32,560 Speaker 1: this question because scholars haven't figured out how to read 87 00:05:32,600 --> 00:05:36,320 Speaker 1: it yet. I imagine us cracking the code and it 88 00:05:36,440 --> 00:05:39,200 Speaker 1: just being like, not relevant to the nige at all. 89 00:05:41,000 --> 00:05:44,240 Speaker 1: An early depiction that definitely shows an animal with only 90 00:05:44,279 --> 00:05:47,400 Speaker 1: one horn is a small brass statue from the Omlash 91 00:05:47,480 --> 00:05:49,960 Speaker 1: culture and what's now Iran, dating back to the eighth 92 00:05:50,080 --> 00:05:54,360 Speaker 1: or ninth century BC. This is a stylized goat like 93 00:05:54,560 --> 00:05:58,560 Speaker 1: quadruped with one sort of sweeping flame like horn at 94 00:05:58,600 --> 00:06:01,359 Speaker 1: the center of its head. It was found among some 95 00:06:01,480 --> 00:06:04,520 Speaker 1: grave goods, but we really do not know its significance. 96 00:06:05,560 --> 00:06:08,719 Speaker 1: One element of unicorn lore that we will talk about 97 00:06:08,720 --> 00:06:11,280 Speaker 1: more in a bit is the idea that a unicorn 98 00:06:11,440 --> 00:06:14,839 Speaker 1: is a magical beast who can only be captured by 99 00:06:14,960 --> 00:06:19,080 Speaker 1: a virtuous maiden. And it's possible that, like the Indus 100 00:06:19,160 --> 00:06:22,640 Speaker 1: Valley seals. This lore has roots on the Indian subcontinent. 101 00:06:23,279 --> 00:06:28,440 Speaker 1: The Hindu epic poem Mahabharata was composed in Sanskrit and 102 00:06:28,560 --> 00:06:31,640 Speaker 1: probably written down for the first time some time between 103 00:06:31,680 --> 00:06:34,200 Speaker 1: three hundred b c E and three hundred c E, 104 00:06:34,680 --> 00:06:38,040 Speaker 1: although it's circulated orally before that. This is both a 105 00:06:38,160 --> 00:06:41,800 Speaker 1: historical and a religious text, and it includes lots of 106 00:06:41,800 --> 00:06:45,240 Speaker 1: stories and folk tales. One of these is about a 107 00:06:45,360 --> 00:06:49,440 Speaker 1: rishi or an enlightened sage named Riscius Ringa, whose mother 108 00:06:49,839 --> 00:06:52,400 Speaker 1: was a celestial being cursed to take the form of 109 00:06:52,440 --> 00:06:56,200 Speaker 1: a dome. Riscius Ringo was born with deer horns and 110 00:06:56,279 --> 00:06:59,600 Speaker 1: raised by another sage who kept him secluded, teaching him 111 00:06:59,640 --> 00:07:03,920 Speaker 1: phila sofie and holy texts away from society. After a 112 00:07:04,000 --> 00:07:07,040 Speaker 1: drought and a famine struck a nearby kingdom, the king's 113 00:07:07,040 --> 00:07:09,440 Speaker 1: advisers told him that the only way to bring back 114 00:07:09,480 --> 00:07:11,960 Speaker 1: the rain was to find a rishi who had never 115 00:07:12,000 --> 00:07:14,720 Speaker 1: seen a woman, and to marry that rishi to his daughter. 116 00:07:15,600 --> 00:07:18,720 Speaker 1: The king's daughter lured Rischia Sringa out of the forest, 117 00:07:18,760 --> 00:07:21,720 Speaker 1: and when they arrived back at the palace, the rain began. 118 00:07:23,040 --> 00:07:27,080 Speaker 1: This is really the barest outline of this story. Riches 119 00:07:27,280 --> 00:07:30,960 Speaker 1: Ringa is sometimes described as having one horn and sometimes two, 120 00:07:31,640 --> 00:07:35,480 Speaker 1: and sometimes his name is translated to something like gazelle horn. 121 00:07:36,320 --> 00:07:39,560 Speaker 1: But some scholars trace a through line from this and 122 00:07:39,640 --> 00:07:43,640 Speaker 1: other myths and stories from Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism to 123 00:07:43,880 --> 00:07:47,160 Speaker 1: the unicorn hunt stories of medieval Europe in which a 124 00:07:47,240 --> 00:07:50,560 Speaker 1: virgin tames or helps to capture or kill a unicorn. 125 00:07:51,400 --> 00:07:54,400 Speaker 1: We should note, though, that this very basic virgin capture 126 00:07:54,480 --> 00:07:56,720 Speaker 1: idea might go all the way back to one of 127 00:07:56,720 --> 00:07:59,840 Speaker 1: the world's oldest works of literature, which is the epic 128 00:07:59,840 --> 00:08:03,520 Speaker 1: of Gilgamesh, in which a woman seduces the wild man 129 00:08:03,560 --> 00:08:06,440 Speaker 1: inky Do, although the woman in that case is not 130 00:08:06,640 --> 00:08:11,160 Speaker 1: usually described as virtuous. The Chinning from Chinese mythology is 131 00:08:11,200 --> 00:08:14,240 Speaker 1: sometimes called a Chinese unicorn. It has a body like 132 00:08:14,320 --> 00:08:17,080 Speaker 1: a deer, covered with scales like a dragon, and a 133 00:08:17,160 --> 00:08:21,200 Speaker 1: tail like an ox. These creatures are mystical and magical, 134 00:08:21,440 --> 00:08:24,640 Speaker 1: described as so benevolent that they don't even harm the 135 00:08:24,640 --> 00:08:27,880 Speaker 1: grass as they walk. They are associated with both the 136 00:08:27,920 --> 00:08:31,200 Speaker 1: births and the deaths of sages and emperors, but the 137 00:08:31,240 --> 00:08:34,520 Speaker 1: idea that they're a Chinese unicorn is something of a misnomer. 138 00:08:34,960 --> 00:08:38,000 Speaker 1: While they are sometimes depicted as having only one horn, 139 00:08:38,240 --> 00:08:41,959 Speaker 1: many many depictions have two horns or more. There are 140 00:08:42,000 --> 00:08:44,960 Speaker 1: similar animals in the mythology of other parts of Asia 141 00:08:45,000 --> 00:08:48,280 Speaker 1: with similar names, including the kirn in Japan and the 142 00:08:48,320 --> 00:08:53,040 Speaker 1: guillen in Thailand. The earliest descriptions of unicorns in the 143 00:08:53,080 --> 00:08:56,400 Speaker 1: Greek and Roman world also have Asian roots, which we 144 00:08:56,440 --> 00:09:09,320 Speaker 1: will get to after a quick sponsor break. Many European 145 00:09:09,400 --> 00:09:13,600 Speaker 1: descriptions of unicorns from the medieval period and later traced 146 00:09:13,679 --> 00:09:16,800 Speaker 1: back to the work of Catisus of Natos, who was 147 00:09:16,840 --> 00:09:20,559 Speaker 1: a Greek physician and historian who lived around four b C. 148 00:09:21,480 --> 00:09:25,680 Speaker 1: And Ktisius's description goes back to what is now India. 149 00:09:26,320 --> 00:09:29,480 Speaker 1: To be clear, Catius had not been to India. He 150 00:09:29,640 --> 00:09:32,880 Speaker 1: lived in and traveled through Persia for about seventeen years 151 00:09:32,920 --> 00:09:36,600 Speaker 1: while working as court physician to Achimanid kings Darius the 152 00:09:36,640 --> 00:09:40,600 Speaker 1: second and Artisserxes the second. He met people who had 153 00:09:40,600 --> 00:09:43,360 Speaker 1: traveled and traded along the Silk Road, and he wrote 154 00:09:43,360 --> 00:09:47,199 Speaker 1: what he heard from them in his book Indica. This 155 00:09:47,240 --> 00:09:50,040 Speaker 1: book is believed to be the first Greek work entirely 156 00:09:50,120 --> 00:09:57,840 Speaker 1: about India. It wasn't particularly accurate Thoughts left Artisserses service 157 00:09:57,960 --> 00:10:01,800 Speaker 1: around or three seven b c e and went back 158 00:10:01,800 --> 00:10:05,120 Speaker 1: to Greece. That was only after that point that he 159 00:10:05,160 --> 00:10:08,040 Speaker 1: wrote his Indica, along with a similar book that was 160 00:10:08,120 --> 00:10:11,319 Speaker 1: on Persia. A lot of what he wrote was probably 161 00:10:11,400 --> 00:10:14,439 Speaker 1: second hand at best. He learned it from people whose 162 00:10:14,480 --> 00:10:17,240 Speaker 1: travels might not have taken them all that close to 163 00:10:17,280 --> 00:10:21,800 Speaker 1: the Indian subcontinent. He also documented stories from myths and 164 00:10:21,920 --> 00:10:26,120 Speaker 1: epic poems as though they were just straightforward fat. To 165 00:10:26,200 --> 00:10:29,240 Speaker 1: make matters worse, we don't have a complete copy of 166 00:10:29,280 --> 00:10:32,440 Speaker 1: the Indica today, we just have fragments and quotes from 167 00:10:32,440 --> 00:10:35,560 Speaker 1: it in the work of later writers, many of whom 168 00:10:35,559 --> 00:10:40,119 Speaker 1: really thought he was a crackpot. In the Indicatsias describes 169 00:10:40,280 --> 00:10:43,760 Speaker 1: quote certain wild asses there as big as a horse 170 00:10:43,920 --> 00:10:47,080 Speaker 1: or bigger, as well as being strong and so fast 171 00:10:47,120 --> 00:10:50,959 Speaker 1: that no other animal can outrun them. Catsius describes these 172 00:10:51,000 --> 00:10:54,280 Speaker 1: animals as white with a crimson head, with a horn 173 00:10:54,400 --> 00:10:57,000 Speaker 1: growing from their brow that's half a cubit in length. 174 00:10:57,040 --> 00:11:01,200 Speaker 1: That's works out too approximately nine inches or twenty three centimeters. 175 00:11:02,000 --> 00:11:04,760 Speaker 1: The horn is white at the bottom, black in the middle, 176 00:11:04,880 --> 00:11:09,320 Speaker 1: and crimson at the tip. According to Ctesius, the meat 177 00:11:09,400 --> 00:11:12,080 Speaker 1: of these animals is too bitter to eat, but they 178 00:11:12,080 --> 00:11:16,040 Speaker 1: are hunted for their horns and their ankle bones or talus's. 179 00:11:16,520 --> 00:11:19,000 Speaker 1: If somebody drinks from a cup made out of the horn, 180 00:11:19,160 --> 00:11:24,040 Speaker 1: they're immune to poison and to seizures. The animals talus bone, 181 00:11:24,120 --> 00:11:28,400 Speaker 1: also called the astragolis, is exceptionally beautiful and heavy, which 182 00:11:28,440 --> 00:11:31,440 Speaker 1: is important because these bones were used to make dice 183 00:11:31,559 --> 00:11:36,400 Speaker 1: for both divination and gaming. In Ktisius's account, this wild 184 00:11:36,480 --> 00:11:40,280 Speaker 1: ass cannot be captured alive, so people hunt them by 185 00:11:40,360 --> 00:11:43,240 Speaker 1: surrounding them in a pasture when they're with their young, 186 00:11:43,640 --> 00:11:47,200 Speaker 1: and then using arrows and javelins. There are a lot 187 00:11:47,240 --> 00:11:50,840 Speaker 1: of opinions about exactly what animal Ktisis might have been 188 00:11:50,840 --> 00:11:55,040 Speaker 1: describing here. Poet and professor O'Dell Shepherd published a book 189 00:11:55,040 --> 00:11:58,120 Speaker 1: called The Lore of the Unicorn in nine that's still 190 00:11:58,160 --> 00:12:01,920 Speaker 1: cited today, and he can louted that Catsius conflated three 191 00:12:02,000 --> 00:12:06,280 Speaker 1: different animals, a wild ass, a rhinoceros, and a cheru 192 00:12:06,400 --> 00:12:10,120 Speaker 1: also called the Tibetan antelope. Others conclude that it is 193 00:12:10,240 --> 00:12:14,880 Speaker 1: just one animal, a badly described rhinoceros, and that Catsius 194 00:12:14,960 --> 00:12:18,280 Speaker 1: thought the horn was multicolored because he had seen rhinoceros 195 00:12:18,320 --> 00:12:21,599 Speaker 1: horn cups that were decorated that way. One of the 196 00:12:21,679 --> 00:12:26,200 Speaker 1: question marks here involves that talus bone. Although Catsius did 197 00:12:26,200 --> 00:12:29,920 Speaker 1: not say he had personally ever seen one of these animals, 198 00:12:29,960 --> 00:12:32,680 Speaker 1: he did say he had seen it's a stragg list. 199 00:12:33,360 --> 00:12:36,000 Speaker 1: He described it as looking like the astragg list of 200 00:12:36,040 --> 00:12:41,160 Speaker 1: an ox. Typically, the ankle bones of hoofed animals were 201 00:12:41,200 --> 00:12:44,040 Speaker 1: the ones that were used to make dice, and oxen 202 00:12:44,240 --> 00:12:48,640 Speaker 1: have hooves, so that makes sense. But a rhinoceros does 203 00:12:48,720 --> 00:12:52,120 Speaker 1: not have hooves, and if Catsius saw one of their 204 00:12:52,160 --> 00:12:55,120 Speaker 1: talus bones, he probably would not have described it as 205 00:12:55,160 --> 00:12:58,480 Speaker 1: the most beautiful as stragglers he had ever seen, which 206 00:12:58,520 --> 00:13:01,360 Speaker 1: is what he said about the unicorn. But own, I mean, 207 00:13:01,480 --> 00:13:07,440 Speaker 1: you know, tasteberries. Writing a few decades later, Aristotle was 208 00:13:07,480 --> 00:13:10,840 Speaker 1: dismissive of Catsius's work, but he's still referenced to the 209 00:13:11,000 --> 00:13:15,000 Speaker 1: quote Indian ass. In his The History of Animals, he 210 00:13:15,040 --> 00:13:19,040 Speaker 1: wrote quote, some animals have horns, others have none. Most 211 00:13:19,080 --> 00:13:22,520 Speaker 1: of those with horns also have cloven feet, as the ox, 212 00:13:22,600 --> 00:13:25,480 Speaker 1: the stag, and the goat. We have never seen an 213 00:13:25,480 --> 00:13:28,280 Speaker 1: animal with a solid hoof with two horns, and there 214 00:13:28,280 --> 00:13:30,360 Speaker 1: are only a few that have a solid hoof and 215 00:13:30,480 --> 00:13:34,040 Speaker 1: one horn, as the Indian ass and the orix. Of 216 00:13:34,080 --> 00:13:37,280 Speaker 1: all animals with a solid hoof, the Indian ass alone 217 00:13:37,440 --> 00:13:41,000 Speaker 1: has a talus. It is not clear what animal Aristotle 218 00:13:41,080 --> 00:13:43,760 Speaker 1: was talking about when he mentioned the orix here, since 219 00:13:43,800 --> 00:13:47,080 Speaker 1: the orax is a real animal and it has two horns. 220 00:13:47,320 --> 00:13:50,800 Speaker 1: But the history of animals reinforced this idea that in India, 221 00:13:51,120 --> 00:13:53,920 Speaker 1: and maybe also in Africa, since Orax has lived there, 222 00:13:54,440 --> 00:13:57,840 Speaker 1: there was a unique animal that had only one horn, 223 00:13:58,120 --> 00:14:02,200 Speaker 1: whose horn had some special property eives. In general, one 224 00:14:02,280 --> 00:14:06,199 Speaker 1: horned animals were clearly seen as remarkable and worthy of note. 225 00:14:06,880 --> 00:14:10,520 Speaker 1: Julius Caesar's commentaries on the Gallic Wars, written around fifty 226 00:14:10,640 --> 00:14:14,440 Speaker 1: b C, includes descriptions of the strange animals of the 227 00:14:14,480 --> 00:14:18,080 Speaker 1: Hersinian forest. One is an animal that has the shape 228 00:14:18,080 --> 00:14:20,800 Speaker 1: of an ox and a deer, but with one horn 229 00:14:21,040 --> 00:14:24,560 Speaker 1: branched like a hand, stretching out from its forehead in 230 00:14:24,640 --> 00:14:30,160 Speaker 1: between its ears. Sometimes this gets kind of distilled. To 231 00:14:30,440 --> 00:14:40,280 Speaker 1: Julius Caesar said there were unicorns in Germany. Plenty of 232 00:14:40,320 --> 00:14:45,280 Speaker 1: the Elder's Natural History, published in seventy seven CE, describes 233 00:14:45,320 --> 00:14:48,240 Speaker 1: an Indian animal with one horn in a way that 234 00:14:48,360 --> 00:14:52,280 Speaker 1: seems to have come from Catsius's earlier writing, but he 235 00:14:52,320 --> 00:14:55,040 Speaker 1: goes on to say that people in India hunt quote 236 00:14:55,160 --> 00:14:59,400 Speaker 1: a very fierce animal called the monocaros, which has the 237 00:14:59,440 --> 00:15:02,200 Speaker 1: head of stag, the feet of the elephant, and the 238 00:15:02,240 --> 00:15:04,880 Speaker 1: tail of the bore, while the rest of the body 239 00:15:04,960 --> 00:15:07,760 Speaker 1: is like that of the horse. It makes a deep, 240 00:15:07,880 --> 00:15:11,720 Speaker 1: lowing noise and has a single black horn which projects 241 00:15:11,760 --> 00:15:15,080 Speaker 1: from the middle of its forehead two cubits in the length. 242 00:15:15,520 --> 00:15:19,880 Speaker 1: This animal, it is said, cannot be taken alive. Later 243 00:15:20,000 --> 00:15:24,640 Speaker 1: Roman writers returned again to Catsius's description, including alien around 244 00:15:24,640 --> 00:15:28,840 Speaker 1: the second century. Aliens description is quite similar to the 245 00:15:28,840 --> 00:15:32,280 Speaker 1: one of Catsius, except he describes the animal's body as 246 00:15:32,360 --> 00:15:36,440 Speaker 1: red with a black horn. By about this point, an 247 00:15:36,480 --> 00:15:40,120 Speaker 1: animal called the monoceros was becoming used as a symbol 248 00:15:40,240 --> 00:15:44,640 Speaker 1: or allegory in Christian artwork. There are a whole lot 249 00:15:44,720 --> 00:15:47,720 Speaker 1: of depictions that today we would call unicorns that are 250 00:15:47,760 --> 00:15:52,880 Speaker 1: represented in mosaics and reliefs and tapestries and manuscript illuminations. 251 00:15:53,560 --> 00:15:57,040 Speaker 1: Unicorns came to represent purity and chastity, as well as 252 00:15:57,120 --> 00:16:01,400 Speaker 1: sometimes representing Jesus Christ. A round the year one ninety 253 00:16:01,600 --> 00:16:05,520 Speaker 1: or Tullian of Carthage wrote that the unicorns horn represented 254 00:16:05,560 --> 00:16:10,280 Speaker 1: the Cross. Depictions of unicorns being hunted often included wounds 255 00:16:10,360 --> 00:16:13,960 Speaker 1: that were reminiscent of Jesus Christ's wounds during his crucifixion, 256 00:16:14,600 --> 00:16:18,200 Speaker 1: and sometimes maidens that were depicted along with the unicorn 257 00:16:18,240 --> 00:16:21,600 Speaker 1: were meant to represent the Virgin Mary. By about the 258 00:16:21,640 --> 00:16:25,120 Speaker 1: third century CE, the Greek word minosterros had made its 259 00:16:25,120 --> 00:16:28,240 Speaker 1: way into translations of the Christian Bible in place of 260 00:16:28,280 --> 00:16:31,600 Speaker 1: the Hebrew word re m. In modern Hebrew, this is 261 00:16:31,640 --> 00:16:35,240 Speaker 1: often translated as orix, although there is some argument that 262 00:16:35,280 --> 00:16:39,680 Speaker 1: it references the now extinct rox. Just to be clear, 263 00:16:39,800 --> 00:16:41,440 Speaker 1: since we got a lot of email the last time 264 00:16:41,480 --> 00:16:44,360 Speaker 1: these came up, the rix o r y x is 265 00:16:44,400 --> 00:16:48,120 Speaker 1: an antelope with long horns. It still lives today, but 266 00:16:48,200 --> 00:16:52,280 Speaker 1: the rax a u r o c hs is a 267 00:16:52,320 --> 00:16:56,760 Speaker 1: bovine species that is now extinct. Over time, the Greek 268 00:16:56,800 --> 00:17:02,760 Speaker 1: word minosterros was translated as the Latin word unicornis way 269 00:17:02,800 --> 00:17:05,000 Speaker 1: back at the beginning of this episode, we talked about 270 00:17:05,000 --> 00:17:09,000 Speaker 1: epic poems in which wild men were captured by a maid, 271 00:17:09,480 --> 00:17:12,600 Speaker 1: and by the fourth century this idea had also folded 272 00:17:12,680 --> 00:17:16,880 Speaker 1: into the unicorn lore. Instead of being impossible to catch alive. 273 00:17:17,119 --> 00:17:21,479 Speaker 1: Unicorns were depicted as approachable only by virtuous young women. 274 00:17:22,200 --> 00:17:24,560 Speaker 1: One of the earliest appearances of this idea is in 275 00:17:24,640 --> 00:17:28,840 Speaker 1: the collection known as the Physiologists, whose author is unknown. 276 00:17:29,480 --> 00:17:32,359 Speaker 1: This is a beastiary written sometime between the second and 277 00:17:32,480 --> 00:17:36,959 Speaker 1: fourth centuries, and one passage describes the unicorn as strong 278 00:17:37,160 --> 00:17:40,639 Speaker 1: and fierce and capable of being caught only with the 279 00:17:40,640 --> 00:17:45,800 Speaker 1: help of a maid. In his Etymologies, Spanish cleric Isadore 280 00:17:46,000 --> 00:17:49,800 Speaker 1: of Seville wrote of the monoceros as a tremendously strong animal, 281 00:17:50,240 --> 00:17:54,800 Speaker 1: capable of killing elephants with its horn. Isadora agreed with 282 00:17:54,880 --> 00:17:58,000 Speaker 1: the author of the Physiologists. According to Isadore, that there 283 00:17:58,119 --> 00:18:00,560 Speaker 1: was only one way to catch it. Quote. If a 284 00:18:00,640 --> 00:18:03,399 Speaker 1: virgin girl is placed in front of a unicorn and 285 00:18:03,480 --> 00:18:06,560 Speaker 1: she bears her breast to it, all of its fierceness 286 00:18:06,640 --> 00:18:09,520 Speaker 1: will cease, and it will lay its head on her bosom, 287 00:18:09,560 --> 00:18:14,200 Speaker 1: and thus quieted, it is easily caught past podcast subject. 288 00:18:14,280 --> 00:18:17,560 Speaker 1: Hildegard of Bingen also wrote about maidens catching unicorns in 289 00:18:17,600 --> 00:18:21,000 Speaker 1: the eleventh century, with various parts of the unicorn having 290 00:18:21,040 --> 00:18:25,240 Speaker 1: medicinal value. Mentions of the unicorn were not exclusive to 291 00:18:25,320 --> 00:18:30,240 Speaker 1: Christian texts during this period. Islamic text described an animal 292 00:18:30,359 --> 00:18:34,400 Speaker 1: called the carcadan, which physically resembled a rhinoceros and could 293 00:18:34,440 --> 00:18:38,200 Speaker 1: be lured by a maiden. That animal's horn was also 294 00:18:38,280 --> 00:18:43,359 Speaker 1: reported to treat poisoning. During the medieval period, unicorns proliferated 295 00:18:43,400 --> 00:18:48,479 Speaker 1: in stories, poems, religious writings, beast theories, illuminated manuscripts just 296 00:18:48,600 --> 00:18:51,480 Speaker 1: on and on, and they were also used in heraldry, 297 00:18:51,560 --> 00:18:53,720 Speaker 1: for example, as part of the royal coat of arms 298 00:18:53,720 --> 00:18:56,640 Speaker 1: of Scotland, which included a lion on a golden shield, 299 00:18:56,960 --> 00:19:00,159 Speaker 1: supported on either side by a white unicorn bound in 300 00:19:00,200 --> 00:19:04,160 Speaker 1: a golden chain. When James the sixth of Scotland ascended 301 00:19:04,200 --> 00:19:06,560 Speaker 1: to the English throne as James the First in sixteen 302 00:19:06,560 --> 00:19:10,120 Speaker 1: o three, the coat of arms retained the Scottish unicorn 303 00:19:10,160 --> 00:19:13,080 Speaker 1: on one side, replacing it with a lion on the other. 304 00:19:14,200 --> 00:19:17,679 Speaker 1: The idea that the unicorns horn could cure or prevent 305 00:19:17,720 --> 00:19:20,400 Speaker 1: poisoning went all the way back to Catsius, and by 306 00:19:20,400 --> 00:19:26,440 Speaker 1: the twelfth century people were selling purported unicorn horns. These 307 00:19:26,440 --> 00:19:29,679 Speaker 1: were usually off white or ivory colored. They were long 308 00:19:29,760 --> 00:19:33,240 Speaker 1: and narrow and spiraled, and so valuable and rare that 309 00:19:33,280 --> 00:19:36,680 Speaker 1: they were passed down within royal and noble families will 310 00:19:36,720 --> 00:19:40,359 Speaker 1: come back to these later. By the fourteenth century, belief 311 00:19:40,400 --> 00:19:43,560 Speaker 1: in unicorns was widespread enough in Europe that people used 312 00:19:43,560 --> 00:19:47,320 Speaker 1: the term to describe very real and pretty ordinary animals. 313 00:19:47,760 --> 00:19:50,160 Speaker 1: Here is something Marco Polo wrote about what he saw 314 00:19:50,240 --> 00:19:53,920 Speaker 1: in Sumatra. Quote. There are wild elephants in the country, 315 00:19:53,960 --> 00:19:57,560 Speaker 1: and numerous unicorns, which are very nearly as big. They 316 00:19:57,600 --> 00:20:00,440 Speaker 1: have hair like that of a buffalo, feet like those 317 00:20:00,480 --> 00:20:02,520 Speaker 1: of an elephant, and a horn in the middle of 318 00:20:02,560 --> 00:20:06,040 Speaker 1: the forehead, which is black and very thick. They do 319 00:20:06,119 --> 00:20:09,280 Speaker 1: no mischief, however, with the horn, but with the tongue alone, 320 00:20:09,720 --> 00:20:13,280 Speaker 1: for this is covered all over with long and strong prickles, 321 00:20:13,680 --> 00:20:16,679 Speaker 1: And when savage with anyone, they crush him under their 322 00:20:16,760 --> 00:20:20,160 Speaker 1: knees and then rasp him with their tongue. The head 323 00:20:20,240 --> 00:20:23,080 Speaker 1: resembles that of a wild boar, and they carry it 324 00:20:23,160 --> 00:20:26,920 Speaker 1: ever bent towards the ground. They delight much to abide 325 00:20:26,920 --> 00:20:29,960 Speaker 1: in Meyer and mud. 'tis a passing, ugly beast to 326 00:20:29,960 --> 00:20:31,920 Speaker 1: look upon, And it's not in the least like that 327 00:20:31,960 --> 00:20:34,199 Speaker 1: which our stories tell of as being caught in the 328 00:20:34,280 --> 00:20:38,040 Speaker 1: lap of a virgin. In fact, is altogether different from 329 00:20:38,080 --> 00:20:41,960 Speaker 1: what we fancied. This is pretty clearly a description of 330 00:20:41,960 --> 00:20:46,320 Speaker 1: a Sumatran rhinoceros, although that species really has two horns, 331 00:20:46,320 --> 00:20:48,800 Speaker 1: with the larger nearer to the nose and the smaller 332 00:20:48,840 --> 00:20:52,280 Speaker 1: one often just a little nub behind it. It really 333 00:20:52,280 --> 00:20:54,439 Speaker 1: cracks me up that for Marco Polo it was a 334 00:20:54,560 --> 00:21:01,160 Speaker 1: shorter walk to Wow. Unicorns sure are ugly, and this 335 00:21:01,200 --> 00:21:06,280 Speaker 1: is different some other animals. We will get to the 336 00:21:06,320 --> 00:21:10,080 Speaker 1: tapestries that inspired this episode after we take another quick 337 00:21:10,119 --> 00:21:23,199 Speaker 1: sponsor break. Now we are finally to the subject that 338 00:21:23,240 --> 00:21:27,680 Speaker 1: prompted me to do this episode, which is tapestries, specifically 339 00:21:28,000 --> 00:21:32,440 Speaker 1: mild fleur or thousand flower tapestries. These have a background 340 00:21:32,560 --> 00:21:36,000 Speaker 1: that are almost totally covered in these tiny flowers and plants. 341 00:21:36,640 --> 00:21:39,760 Speaker 1: This style of tapestry was popular in the late fifteenth 342 00:21:39,760 --> 00:21:43,480 Speaker 1: and early sixteenth centuries in Europe, especially in France and 343 00:21:43,520 --> 00:21:47,199 Speaker 1: the Low Countries. There were lots of tapestries made in 344 00:21:47,280 --> 00:21:50,719 Speaker 1: this style, and there are two different sets that depict 345 00:21:50,920 --> 00:21:55,119 Speaker 1: unicorns that are still in existence today and are among 346 00:21:55,280 --> 00:21:58,160 Speaker 1: the greatest works of medieval artwork that we still have. 347 00:21:59,040 --> 00:22:01,320 Speaker 1: One which we at the top of the show is 348 00:22:01,359 --> 00:22:04,000 Speaker 1: the Lady in the Unicorn. This is a set of 349 00:22:04,080 --> 00:22:08,240 Speaker 1: six tapestries made around fifteen hundred. The Music de Cluny 350 00:22:08,400 --> 00:22:11,440 Speaker 1: acquired them in eighteen eighty two after they were discovered 351 00:22:11,480 --> 00:22:14,399 Speaker 1: at a chateau a couple of decades before, where they 352 00:22:14,440 --> 00:22:18,640 Speaker 1: were being damaged by dampness and rodents. Five of them 353 00:22:18,680 --> 00:22:23,080 Speaker 1: represent the five senses touch, taste, smell, hearing, sight, and 354 00:22:23,119 --> 00:22:26,679 Speaker 1: the sixth is called a Monsieur lizier or to my 355 00:22:26,800 --> 00:22:30,359 Speaker 1: only desire. It's named for the words displayed on a 356 00:22:30,400 --> 00:22:34,200 Speaker 1: tent shown in the tapestry. Like the name suggests, each 357 00:22:34,240 --> 00:22:37,600 Speaker 1: of them depicts a lady in a unicorn. Each one 358 00:22:37,640 --> 00:22:41,080 Speaker 1: also features a lion, and some also include other women 359 00:22:41,240 --> 00:22:46,200 Speaker 1: or other animals, or sometimes both. The plants and animals 360 00:22:46,200 --> 00:22:49,520 Speaker 1: that fill the backgrounds of these tapestries are real. They 361 00:22:49,520 --> 00:22:55,120 Speaker 1: show things like oak and orange trees, holly, monkeys, rabbits, dogs, 362 00:22:55,200 --> 00:22:59,160 Speaker 1: and various birds. They're also all clearly meant to be 363 00:22:59,240 --> 00:23:02,679 Speaker 1: a set. They all have the same red background. The 364 00:23:02,840 --> 00:23:06,400 Speaker 1: coat of arms of the Leaviste family is incorporated into 365 00:23:06,480 --> 00:23:09,600 Speaker 1: each of them, and the elegant lady and the unicorn 366 00:23:09,720 --> 00:23:13,600 Speaker 1: are always shown in a blue oval. Each of these 367 00:23:13,640 --> 00:23:17,439 Speaker 1: tapestries has the lady doing something that's associated with the 368 00:23:17,520 --> 00:23:21,280 Speaker 1: sense that is being portrayed, So in the one representing touch, 369 00:23:21,680 --> 00:23:25,040 Speaker 1: she's touching the unicorn's horn, and in sight she is 370 00:23:25,080 --> 00:23:28,880 Speaker 1: holding a mirror. It's really not known who wove these 371 00:23:28,880 --> 00:23:33,000 Speaker 1: tapestries or where or which member of the Laviste family 372 00:23:33,119 --> 00:23:36,000 Speaker 1: commissioned to them, which is presumably how they came to 373 00:23:36,040 --> 00:23:39,920 Speaker 1: be made, and then there's debate about how to interpret them. 374 00:23:40,440 --> 00:23:44,359 Speaker 1: Are they a meditation on the senses, is a monsour disy, 375 00:23:44,640 --> 00:23:48,040 Speaker 1: a sixth sense, or some aspect that united all of 376 00:23:48,080 --> 00:23:51,399 Speaker 1: the other senses, or just something else we haven't figured 377 00:23:51,400 --> 00:23:54,880 Speaker 1: out yet. In that tapestry, the lady is placing some 378 00:23:55,000 --> 00:23:58,040 Speaker 1: jewelry in a chest held by a maid, or perhaps 379 00:23:58,640 --> 00:24:02,960 Speaker 1: removing the jewelry, and we don't know what is their significance. 380 00:24:04,080 --> 00:24:06,960 Speaker 1: The other major set of unicorn tapestries is that the 381 00:24:07,000 --> 00:24:09,520 Speaker 1: met cloisters in New York City, and it is a 382 00:24:09,600 --> 00:24:13,760 Speaker 1: sequence depicting a hunt for the unicorn. There's some debate 383 00:24:13,800 --> 00:24:16,160 Speaker 1: about what order these are meant to be shown in, 384 00:24:16,280 --> 00:24:19,120 Speaker 1: as well as whether the ones that are generally listed 385 00:24:19,160 --> 00:24:21,879 Speaker 1: first and last are really part of that same set. 386 00:24:22,600 --> 00:24:27,240 Speaker 1: With those two included, they are the hunters enter the woods, 387 00:24:27,720 --> 00:24:32,480 Speaker 1: the unicorn purifies water, the unicorn crosses a stream, the 388 00:24:32,600 --> 00:24:37,199 Speaker 1: unicorn defense himself, the unicorn surrenders to a maiden, the 389 00:24:37,320 --> 00:24:41,600 Speaker 1: hunters returned to the castle, and lastly, the unicorn rests 390 00:24:41,640 --> 00:24:45,639 Speaker 1: in a garden, which is also called the unicorn in captivity. 391 00:24:45,840 --> 00:24:50,080 Speaker 1: These were probably woven between four and fifteen o five, 392 00:24:50,440 --> 00:24:53,800 Speaker 1: but they were first documented in sight in the home 393 00:24:53,840 --> 00:24:58,000 Speaker 1: of Francois the six de la Rochefuco. The tapestry stayed 394 00:24:58,000 --> 00:25:01,240 Speaker 1: in the La Rochuco family until the and Revolution, when 395 00:25:01,240 --> 00:25:05,840 Speaker 1: they were looted but ultimately returned. John D. Rockefeller Jr. 396 00:25:05,920 --> 00:25:08,520 Speaker 1: Bought them in nineteen twenty three and donated them to 397 00:25:08,520 --> 00:25:12,240 Speaker 1: the met Cloisters in nineteen thirty seven. With the exception 398 00:25:12,440 --> 00:25:15,800 Speaker 1: of the unicorn surrenders to the maiden, much of that 399 00:25:15,800 --> 00:25:19,000 Speaker 1: one is missing, probably due to damage. After the tapestries 400 00:25:19,040 --> 00:25:23,080 Speaker 1: were looted during the French Revolution. Rockefeller bought the remaining 401 00:25:23,080 --> 00:25:26,359 Speaker 1: pieces separately after learning that the family still had them 402 00:25:26,600 --> 00:25:28,720 Speaker 1: and that parts of them were being used to plug 403 00:25:28,800 --> 00:25:33,879 Speaker 1: up drafty walls. As with the lady in the Unicorn tapestries, 404 00:25:34,040 --> 00:25:37,680 Speaker 1: we don't know for sure who commissioned these or exactly 405 00:25:37,680 --> 00:25:40,520 Speaker 1: where they were made, but each of them includes the 406 00:25:40,600 --> 00:25:43,159 Speaker 1: letter A and a backward E, and that might be 407 00:25:43,200 --> 00:25:46,440 Speaker 1: a clue. It's possible that these are made in celebration 408 00:25:46,560 --> 00:25:49,040 Speaker 1: of the marriage of Anne of Brittany to Louis the 409 00:25:49,080 --> 00:25:53,040 Speaker 1: twelfth in fourteen ninety nine. There's debate about how to 410 00:25:53,119 --> 00:25:56,960 Speaker 1: interpret these tapestries as well. One interpretation is that the 411 00:25:57,040 --> 00:26:00,000 Speaker 1: unicorn hunt is an allegory for the crucifixion of Jesus 412 00:26:00,000 --> 00:26:03,000 Speaker 1: as Christ, and that if the unicorn rests in a 413 00:26:03,080 --> 00:26:05,679 Speaker 1: garden is really part of the set, it's meant to 414 00:26:05,720 --> 00:26:09,000 Speaker 1: represent the unicorn in a paradise or a unicorn that 415 00:26:09,040 --> 00:26:13,439 Speaker 1: has been resurrected. Discussions of the symbolism in these tapestries 416 00:26:13,480 --> 00:26:16,159 Speaker 1: extend not only to their subjects, but also to the 417 00:26:16,200 --> 00:26:20,520 Speaker 1: plants and the animals in the militia background. These tapestry 418 00:26:20,560 --> 00:26:24,800 Speaker 1: sets were made as European belief in unicorns as real 419 00:26:25,119 --> 00:26:28,959 Speaker 1: magical animals was really approaching its peak, but by the 420 00:26:29,040 --> 00:26:32,280 Speaker 1: late sixteenth century, more and more people were starting to 421 00:26:32,320 --> 00:26:37,520 Speaker 1: express some skepticism about this. One was past podcast subject 422 00:26:37,560 --> 00:26:42,119 Speaker 1: Emoise Pare, who described the unicorn as quote more imagined 423 00:26:42,200 --> 00:26:45,560 Speaker 1: than real and natural in his Book of Venoms in 424 00:26:45,680 --> 00:26:50,040 Speaker 1: fifteen seventy nine. His fifteen eighty two discourse on the 425 00:26:50,160 --> 00:26:53,880 Speaker 1: Unicorn expressed his doubts about both unicorns as a real 426 00:26:54,040 --> 00:26:58,520 Speaker 1: animal and cures that were supposedly made from their horns. 427 00:26:58,800 --> 00:27:02,679 Speaker 1: An anonymously pub was Rebuttal compared Parade to the devil, 428 00:27:02,920 --> 00:27:06,800 Speaker 1: and he responded by publishing retort of amboise parade to 429 00:27:07,000 --> 00:27:11,359 Speaker 1: the response made against his Discourse of the Unicorn. This 430 00:27:11,520 --> 00:27:14,119 Speaker 1: led to a whole huge back and forth that escalated 431 00:27:14,160 --> 00:27:17,000 Speaker 1: all the way to people denouncing him to already the 432 00:27:17,040 --> 00:27:20,080 Speaker 1: Third of France and Catherine de Medici. I love this 433 00:27:20,160 --> 00:27:22,760 Speaker 1: idea of writing papers back and forth to yell at 434 00:27:22,800 --> 00:27:25,400 Speaker 1: one another. Yeah it was. It's the slow Burn way 435 00:27:25,400 --> 00:27:28,359 Speaker 1: to be angry. Yeah it was. It was like a 436 00:27:28,359 --> 00:27:33,760 Speaker 1: Reddit thread. But in fifteen two. In the sixteenth and 437 00:27:33,840 --> 00:27:37,760 Speaker 1: seventeenth centuries, sailors from places like Italy, Spain and Britain 438 00:27:37,880 --> 00:27:41,760 Speaker 1: started voyaging farther into the Arctic searching for a passage 439 00:27:41,800 --> 00:27:45,160 Speaker 1: to Asia, and they encountered an animal that people who 440 00:27:45,160 --> 00:27:47,480 Speaker 1: lived in the far northern parts of the world already 441 00:27:47,520 --> 00:27:51,600 Speaker 1: knew about. That was the narwhale. Narwhal's have a long, 442 00:27:51,800 --> 00:27:57,000 Speaker 1: distinctive tooth, usually only one found most often but not exclusively, 443 00:27:57,119 --> 00:27:59,920 Speaker 1: in males. In other words, they look like a way 444 00:28:00,000 --> 00:28:03,440 Speaker 1: oh with a unicorn horn. It did not take long 445 00:28:03,640 --> 00:28:06,960 Speaker 1: for people to make the connection between this long, straight, 446 00:28:07,240 --> 00:28:12,240 Speaker 1: spiraling whale tooth and the alcorns or unicorn horns that 447 00:28:12,359 --> 00:28:16,200 Speaker 1: had been passed down through families as remedies for poison. 448 00:28:17,160 --> 00:28:19,679 Speaker 1: It's likely that some of these were made by other means, 449 00:28:20,680 --> 00:28:23,840 Speaker 1: like getting a tusk of something else and like boiling 450 00:28:23,880 --> 00:28:26,880 Speaker 1: it until it was soft enough to make it straighter 451 00:28:27,000 --> 00:28:32,679 Speaker 1: in spirally. But in sixteen thirteen, Caspar Bartholn, the elder 452 00:28:32,800 --> 00:28:36,000 Speaker 1: professor of medicine at the University of Copenhagen, started to 453 00:28:36,200 --> 00:28:39,360 Speaker 1: believe that alcorns that were being held in cabinets of 454 00:28:39,480 --> 00:28:45,120 Speaker 1: curiosities and other collections were really from narwhal's. His brother 455 00:28:45,240 --> 00:28:50,240 Speaker 1: in law, Olivorm concluded the same after comparing narwhale skeletons 456 00:28:50,320 --> 00:28:56,240 Speaker 1: with purported unicorn horns. Caspar Son Thomas compiled and synthesized 457 00:28:56,280 --> 00:28:59,920 Speaker 1: their research and added his own material in sixty five, 458 00:29:00,360 --> 00:29:05,880 Speaker 1: publishing it as New Observations about the unicorn. Thomas Bartolin 459 00:29:05,960 --> 00:29:10,480 Speaker 1: concluded that alcorns were real and had powerfully effective medicinal uses, 460 00:29:11,480 --> 00:29:14,160 Speaker 1: but that they were marine tusks, not the horns of 461 00:29:14,280 --> 00:29:17,600 Speaker 1: land animals, so if you needed alcorn, you should buy 462 00:29:17,640 --> 00:29:21,480 Speaker 1: it right from the source, that source being Scandinavian whalers. 463 00:29:22,120 --> 00:29:24,360 Speaker 1: It cracks me up because it was really like these 464 00:29:24,480 --> 00:29:29,440 Speaker 1: ones that come from an industry importance to where we live. 465 00:29:34,440 --> 00:29:37,760 Speaker 1: People didn't entirely give up on the idea of unicorns 466 00:29:37,800 --> 00:29:41,600 Speaker 1: as a real land animal, though. In sixteen sixty three 467 00:29:41,720 --> 00:29:47,840 Speaker 1: a unicorn skeleton was purportedly discovered in a cave in Quedlburg, Germany. 468 00:29:48,600 --> 00:29:51,320 Speaker 1: One of the people who believed that this skeleton was 469 00:29:51,440 --> 00:29:56,120 Speaker 1: the real deal was scientist and mathematician Gottfried Wilhelm Leibnitz. 470 00:29:56,720 --> 00:29:59,960 Speaker 1: This is the person who developed differential and integral calcul 471 00:30:00,080 --> 00:30:04,600 Speaker 1: lists independently of Isaac Newton, so presumably a smart person. 472 00:30:04,720 --> 00:30:08,840 Speaker 1: When writing about this find, he referenced the Bartolon's earlier 473 00:30:08,920 --> 00:30:12,680 Speaker 1: work about sea creatures, but also maintained that this skeleton 474 00:30:12,840 --> 00:30:16,800 Speaker 1: was credible. It's not clear who assembled these bones and 475 00:30:16,920 --> 00:30:19,480 Speaker 1: whether they intentionally did it to be deceptive, but this 476 00:30:19,680 --> 00:30:24,200 Speaker 1: was probably an incomplete hodgepodge of mammoth and rhinoceros bones. 477 00:30:24,960 --> 00:30:29,800 Speaker 1: Also in the seventeenth century, Dutch cartographer Petrus Plantius introduced 478 00:30:29,880 --> 00:30:34,480 Speaker 1: a constellation called Minoceros in the northern sky, surrounded by Oriyan, 479 00:30:34,760 --> 00:30:40,160 Speaker 1: Gemini Hydra, and Canus major. Although belief in real living 480 00:30:40,360 --> 00:30:46,160 Speaker 1: unicorns eventually waned, efforts to find living specimens continued well 481 00:30:46,320 --> 00:30:50,760 Speaker 1: into the nineteenth century, and the scientific effort to categorize 482 00:30:50,840 --> 00:30:53,680 Speaker 1: and classify animals that we talked about in our recent 483 00:30:53,760 --> 00:30:57,480 Speaker 1: episode on the platypus that extended to the unicorn as well. 484 00:30:58,400 --> 00:31:01,640 Speaker 1: For example, George Cuvier, that's the person who thought the 485 00:31:01,680 --> 00:31:05,120 Speaker 1: platypus belonged in the same order as ant eaters and spots. 486 00:31:05,800 --> 00:31:09,800 Speaker 1: He argued that unicorns were anatomically impossible because they were 487 00:31:09,840 --> 00:31:13,480 Speaker 1: typically depicted as having cloven hoofs, which meant that their 488 00:31:13,560 --> 00:31:17,240 Speaker 1: skull could only produce two horns, not one. By the 489 00:31:17,320 --> 00:31:21,120 Speaker 1: twentieth century, some people had moved from looking for unicorns 490 00:31:21,600 --> 00:31:25,320 Speaker 1: to making them. Franklin Dove, biologists at the University of Maine, 491 00:31:25,760 --> 00:31:30,000 Speaker 1: published works on horn physiology in the nineteen thirties, including 492 00:31:30,320 --> 00:31:34,080 Speaker 1: surgically altering animals so that they would grow only one horn. 493 00:31:35,600 --> 00:31:39,400 Speaker 1: Dove had been fascinated by stories of African herders manipulating 494 00:31:39,440 --> 00:31:42,000 Speaker 1: the horns of their livestock so that they had only 495 00:31:42,080 --> 00:31:46,160 Speaker 1: one horn or many, or horns that grew in interesting shapes, 496 00:31:46,560 --> 00:31:49,240 Speaker 1: as well as herders in Nepal who had manipulated their 497 00:31:49,360 --> 00:31:53,040 Speaker 1: rams to grow only a single horn. In May of 498 00:31:53,160 --> 00:31:56,920 Speaker 1: nineteen thirty six, Dove published an article in Scientific Monthly 499 00:31:57,120 --> 00:32:02,000 Speaker 1: called Artificial Production of the Fabulous Unicorn. He described how 500 00:32:02,120 --> 00:32:05,640 Speaker 1: goats are born with two horn buds, and for about 501 00:32:05,680 --> 00:32:08,000 Speaker 1: the first week of their life, those buds are part 502 00:32:08,040 --> 00:32:11,240 Speaker 1: of their skin, not attached to their skull. So it 503 00:32:11,360 --> 00:32:14,800 Speaker 1: was possible to surgically move the buds from the sides 504 00:32:14,960 --> 00:32:17,080 Speaker 1: of the upper head to the middle so they would 505 00:32:17,080 --> 00:32:18,880 Speaker 1: be next to each other, and then they would grow 506 00:32:19,520 --> 00:32:23,680 Speaker 1: with the appearance of only one horn. Oberon Zel, also 507 00:32:23,800 --> 00:32:26,960 Speaker 1: known as Oberon Zell Ravenhart built on this work in 508 00:32:27,000 --> 00:32:30,320 Speaker 1: the nineteen seventies and eighties, applying for a patent on 509 00:32:30,400 --> 00:32:33,440 Speaker 1: a surgical procedure under the name Timothy G. Z l 510 00:32:33,640 --> 00:32:38,160 Speaker 1: In two. This patent was granted in nineteen eighty four. 511 00:32:38,880 --> 00:32:42,360 Speaker 1: It describes a method for surgically repositioning in animal's horn 512 00:32:42,440 --> 00:32:45,280 Speaker 1: buds so they grow at the appearance of only one horn. 513 00:32:46,280 --> 00:32:49,640 Speaker 1: In addition to this surgical technique, Zell cross different breeds 514 00:32:49,680 --> 00:32:52,000 Speaker 1: of goat so that they would have the silky hair 515 00:32:52,080 --> 00:32:56,560 Speaker 1: of an angora, but with somewhat longer legs. Zell performed 516 00:32:56,640 --> 00:33:00,400 Speaker 1: with the resulting animals at Renaissance Bears before signing a 517 00:33:00,560 --> 00:33:04,120 Speaker 1: contract with Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus, with 518 00:33:04,200 --> 00:33:07,320 Speaker 1: a goat named Lancelot and his brothers joining the show. 519 00:33:08,160 --> 00:33:11,560 Speaker 1: The circus maintained that Lancelot was a real, living unicorn 520 00:33:11,640 --> 00:33:13,720 Speaker 1: who had just wandered up to one of their tents 521 00:33:13,760 --> 00:33:16,360 Speaker 1: in nineteen eighty four, and the goat was one of 522 00:33:16,400 --> 00:33:21,160 Speaker 1: the circus's main acts In and eighty six. Ringling Brothers 523 00:33:21,280 --> 00:33:25,240 Speaker 1: faced huge criticism from animal rights groups, including the Humane 524 00:33:25,280 --> 00:33:27,720 Speaker 1: Society and the A s p c A, as well 525 00:33:27,800 --> 00:33:31,320 Speaker 1: as multiple U. S d A inspections involving these animals. 526 00:33:31,960 --> 00:33:36,160 Speaker 1: In early nine six, the animals were briefly confiscated following 527 00:33:36,240 --> 00:33:40,520 Speaker 1: allegations that the circus was violating animal rights laws that 528 00:33:40,720 --> 00:33:45,720 Speaker 1: banned the use of disfigured animals as entertainment. Purported unicorn 529 00:33:45,800 --> 00:33:51,800 Speaker 1: discovery still occasionally make headlines. In A sloppy English translation 530 00:33:51,920 --> 00:33:55,040 Speaker 1: of a release from the Korean Central News Agency led 531 00:33:55,080 --> 00:33:58,760 Speaker 1: to a bunch of headlines that archaeologists in Pyongyang had 532 00:33:58,840 --> 00:34:02,520 Speaker 1: discovered a unicor horns layer. There's a lot about this 533 00:34:02,600 --> 00:34:05,280 Speaker 1: story that's unclear, from the exact site that was being 534 00:34:05,360 --> 00:34:08,799 Speaker 1: described to why the English translation was worded the way 535 00:34:08,880 --> 00:34:11,880 Speaker 1: that it was. But what the announcement was really about 536 00:34:12,040 --> 00:34:14,799 Speaker 1: was a place called Kieran Ghoul or Kieran's Grotto, which 537 00:34:14,880 --> 00:34:17,960 Speaker 1: is associated with King Tong Young, founder of the ancient 538 00:34:18,040 --> 00:34:21,800 Speaker 1: kingdom of Cogurio, not a grotto belonging to a literal 539 00:34:21,960 --> 00:34:25,400 Speaker 1: Kieran or a layer of an actual unicorn. And of 540 00:34:25,520 --> 00:34:29,440 Speaker 1: course there are seemingly infinite unicorns and pop culture today. 541 00:34:30,120 --> 00:34:32,480 Speaker 1: Trying to cover all of them would be a whole 542 00:34:32,600 --> 00:34:40,280 Speaker 1: different podcast. I have one I want to talk about 543 00:34:40,400 --> 00:34:43,600 Speaker 1: in our behind the scenes just quite a unicorn. We 544 00:34:43,719 --> 00:34:46,760 Speaker 1: can do that, but a take on the unicorn story 545 00:34:46,800 --> 00:34:51,480 Speaker 1: and its medicinal value. Do you have listener mail though 546 00:34:52,000 --> 00:34:54,800 Speaker 1: I do. It's from Katie and it's about our recent 547 00:34:55,000 --> 00:34:58,040 Speaker 1: Unearthed where we talked about the ethics of DNA research, 548 00:34:58,640 --> 00:35:00,880 Speaker 1: and Katie wrote to say dear ally and Tracy just 549 00:35:01,040 --> 00:35:03,800 Speaker 1: wanted to write a quick note about something you mentioned 550 00:35:03,840 --> 00:35:07,000 Speaker 1: in your Unearthed part one this year and your discussion 551 00:35:07,160 --> 00:35:10,560 Speaker 1: of the DNA analysis of sitting bowls hair, you mentioned 552 00:35:10,680 --> 00:35:14,320 Speaker 1: that an ethical code for ancient DNA research was published 553 00:35:14,640 --> 00:35:18,840 Speaker 1: in October in Nature. That code, while a good first step, 554 00:35:19,080 --> 00:35:22,480 Speaker 1: was not without its problems and controversies. It was drafted 555 00:35:22,520 --> 00:35:26,160 Speaker 1: by a group of over sixty active ancient DNA researchers 556 00:35:26,200 --> 00:35:31,320 Speaker 1: out of a virtual meeting in However, multiple active ancient 557 00:35:31,440 --> 00:35:34,960 Speaker 1: DNA researchers, several of whom are indigenous and who are 558 00:35:35,040 --> 00:35:38,600 Speaker 1: extremely active in the global discussion of the ethics of 559 00:35:38,680 --> 00:35:43,120 Speaker 1: ancient DNA and indigenous DNA in particular. We're not invited 560 00:35:43,200 --> 00:35:45,880 Speaker 1: to that meeting. Just wanted to direct your attention to 561 00:35:45,960 --> 00:35:49,080 Speaker 1: some of the excellent commentary by several of those scientists 562 00:35:49,239 --> 00:35:52,200 Speaker 1: on those guidelines. See this commentary in the New York 563 00:35:52,280 --> 00:35:56,120 Speaker 1: Times as well as this response piece in Nature. Thank 564 00:35:56,200 --> 00:35:58,279 Speaker 1: you for all of your excellent work. Love your work 565 00:35:58,360 --> 00:36:02,560 Speaker 1: from me and Miriam Rouge too. It's from Katie. I 566 00:36:02,680 --> 00:36:06,560 Speaker 1: think Miriam Regrew is a PETS maybe, but I have not. 567 00:36:06,840 --> 00:36:14,600 Speaker 1: The picture was broken unfortunately, so yes Um, I did 568 00:36:14,760 --> 00:36:19,000 Speaker 1: not actually see any of this commentary because I had 569 00:36:19,080 --> 00:36:20,960 Speaker 1: been trying to figure out where whether it's to talk 570 00:36:21,120 --> 00:36:24,080 Speaker 1: in more detail about the DNA Code of Ethics that 571 00:36:24,280 --> 00:36:28,200 Speaker 1: was published late last year, and I wound up just 572 00:36:28,320 --> 00:36:30,600 Speaker 1: including it as like a one sentence aside, and I 573 00:36:30,640 --> 00:36:33,719 Speaker 1: did not look further into all of the discussion around it, 574 00:36:33,760 --> 00:36:35,520 Speaker 1: which I would have done with a longer treatment. So 575 00:36:35,560 --> 00:36:37,960 Speaker 1: I'm sorry for dropping the ball on that, and thank 576 00:36:38,000 --> 00:36:40,759 Speaker 1: you Katie for bringing my attention to it. Um. I 577 00:36:40,920 --> 00:36:44,160 Speaker 1: did read the New York Times commentary. I was gonna 578 00:36:44,200 --> 00:36:47,360 Speaker 1: say the response piece in Nature is behind a paywall. 579 00:36:47,480 --> 00:36:49,879 Speaker 1: Probably the commentary of the New York Times is also 580 00:36:49,960 --> 00:36:51,920 Speaker 1: behind a paywall, but I have access to the New 581 00:36:52,000 --> 00:36:54,239 Speaker 1: York Times, so um, I have not been able to 582 00:36:54,280 --> 00:36:58,080 Speaker 1: look at the response piece in Nature yet. But yeah, 583 00:36:58,280 --> 00:37:01,480 Speaker 1: the point was aid in the New York Times article 584 00:37:01,600 --> 00:37:03,600 Speaker 1: that like some of the voices who would be most 585 00:37:03,760 --> 00:37:06,840 Speaker 1: important to this discussion, because one of the really critical 586 00:37:06,920 --> 00:37:11,120 Speaker 1: pieces of it is thoughtfully and ethically dealing with the 587 00:37:11,360 --> 00:37:14,640 Speaker 1: DNA of indigenous people, like the researchers who are specifically 588 00:37:14,680 --> 00:37:16,880 Speaker 1: involved with in that, we're not involved in the conversation. 589 00:37:17,040 --> 00:37:20,479 Speaker 1: So thank you Katie for that note. If you would 590 00:37:20,480 --> 00:37:22,120 Speaker 1: like to send us a note about this or any 591 00:37:22,200 --> 00:37:25,000 Speaker 1: other podcast or a history podcast that I heart Radio 592 00:37:25,080 --> 00:37:27,719 Speaker 1: dot com and we're all over social media. 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