Editing Unicorn (section)

== Similar animals in religion and myth ==
=== Biblical ===
[[File:Ur-painting.jpg|right|thumb|The [[aurochs]]]]
[[File:San Giovanni Evangelista in Ravenna, unicorn.jpg|right|thumb|Unicorn [[mosaic]] on a 1213 church floor in [[Ravenna]]]]
An animal called the ''[[re'em]]'' ({{langx|he|רְאֵם}}) is mentioned in several places in the [[Hebrew Bible]], often as a metaphor representing strength. The allusions to the ''re'em'' as a wild, untamable animal of great strength and agility, with mighty horn or horns<ref>[[Book of Job|Job]] 39:9–12; [[Psalms]] 22:21, 29:6; [[Book of Numbers|Numbers]] 23:22, 24:8; [[Deuteronomy]] 33:17; compare Psalms 112:11</ref> best fit the [[aurochs]] (''Bos primigenius''); this view is further supported by the Assyrian cognate word ''rimu,'' which is often used as a metaphor of strength, and is depicted as a powerful, fierce, wild mountain bull with large horns.<ref>{{Cite web|last1=Hirsch|first1=Emil G.|last2=Casanowicz|first2=I. M.|title=Unicorn|url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/14584-unicorn|website=Jewish Encyclopedia|access-date=26 October 2022}}</ref> This animal was often depicted in ancient [[Mesopotamia]]n art in profile, with only one horn visible.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/unicorn|title=Unicorn|date=29 August 2022|website=Britannica|publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=26 October 2022}}</ref>

The translators of the [[Authorized King James Version]] of the [[Bible]] (1611) followed the Greek [[Septuagint]] (''monokeros'') and the Latin [[Vulgate]] (''unicornis'')<ref>Psalms 21:22, 28:6, 77:69, 91:11; [[Book of Isaiah|Isaiah]] 34:7. The Latin ''rhinoceros'' is employed in Numbers 23:22, 24:8; Deuteronomy 33:17, Job 39:9–10</ref> and employed ''unicorn'' to translate ''re'em'', providing a recognizable animal that was proverbial for its untamable nature. The [[American Standard Version]] translates this term "wild ox" in each case.

The classical Jewish understanding of the Bible did not identify the ''Re'em'' animal as the unicorn. However, some rabbis in the [[Talmud]] debate the proposition that the ''[[Tahash]]'' animal (Exodus 25, 26, 35, 36 and 39; Numbers 4; and Ezekiel 16:10) was a domestic, single-horned [[kosher]] creature that existed in Moses' time, or that it was similar to the ''keresh'' animal described in [[Marcus Jastrow]]'s Talmudic dictionary as "a kind of antelope, unicorn".<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://halakhah.com/shabbath/shabbath_28.html|title=Babylonian Talmud: Shabbath 28|website=halakhah.com}}</ref>

===Chinese mythology===
[[File:Pottery unicorn. Northern Wei (386-534 CE).jpg|thumb|Pottery unicorn. Northern Wei. Shaanxi History Museum.]]
The ''[[qilin]]'' ({{zh|c=麒麟}}), a creature in [[Chinese mythology]], is sometimes called "the Chinese unicorn", and some ancient accounts describe a single horn as its defining feature. However, it is more accurately described as a hybrid animal that looks less unicorn than [[chimera (mythology)|chimera]], with the body of a deer, the head of a lion, green [[Scale (zoology)|scales]] and a long forwardly-curved horn. The [[Japanese mythology|Japanese]] version (''kirin'') more closely resembles the Western unicorn, even though it is based on the Chinese ''qilin''. The Quẻ Ly of [[Vietnam]]ese myth, similarly sometimes mistranslated "unicorn" is a symbol of wealth and prosperity that made its first appearance during the Duong dynasty, about 600 CE, to Emperor Duong Cao To, after a military victory which resulted in his conquest of [[Tây Nguyên]]. In November 2012 the History Institute of the DPRK Academy of Social Sciences, as well as the [[Korean Central News Agency|Korea News Service]], reported that the [[Kiringul]] had been found, which is associated with a kirin ridden by [[King Dongmyeong of Goguryeo]].<ref>{{citation|title=Lair of King Tongmyong's Unicorn Reconfirmed in DPRK|date=November 29, 2012|url=http://www.kcna.co.jp/item/2012/201211/news29/20121129-20ee.html|publisher=[[Korean Central News Agency]]|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121203012958/http://www.kcna.co.jp/item/2012/201211/news29/20121129-20ee.html|archive-date=December 3, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Quinn|first=Ben|title=Unicorn lair 'discovered' in North Korea|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/nov/30/unicorn-lair-discovered-north-korea|newspaper=The Guardian|access-date=5 August 2013}}</ref>

Beginning in the [[Ming dynasty]], the ''qilin'' became associated with [[giraffe]]s, after [[Zheng He]]'s [[Treasure voyages|voyage]] to [[East Africa]] brought a pair of the long-necked animals and introduced them at court in [[Nanjing]] as ''qilin''.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Wilson |first1=Samuel M. |title=The Emperor's Giraffe |journal=Natural History |date=December 1992 |volume=101 |issue=12 |url=http://muweb.millersville.edu/~columbus/data/art/WILSON09.ART |access-date=2012-04-14 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081202235051/http://muweb.millersville.edu/~columbus/data/art/WILSON09.ART |archive-date=2008-12-02 }}</ref> The resemblance to the ''qilin'' was noted in the giraffe's [[ossicones]] (bony protrusions from the skull resembling horns), graceful movements, and peaceful demeanor.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.chinanews.com/news/2004year/2004-05-31/26/442822.shtml|title=此"麟"非彼"麟"专家称萨摩麟并非传说中麒麟|website=www.chinanews.com}}</ref>

''[[Shanhaijing]]'' (117) mentioned the ''Bo''-horse ({{zh|c=駮馬|p=bómǎ}}), a chimera horse with an ox tail, a single horn, a white body, and a sound like a person calling. The creature was said to live at Honest-head Mountain. [[Guo Pu]] in his ''jiangfu'' said that the ''Bo''-horse was able to walk on water. Another similar creature, also mentioned in ''Shanhaijing'' (80) and said to live in Mount Winding-Centre, was the ''Bo'' ({{zh|c=駮|p=bó}}), but it had a black tail, tiger's teeth and claws, devoured leopards and tigers.<ref name=str>{{cite book|title=''A Chinese Bestiary: Strange Creatures from the Guideways Through Mountains and Seas''|author=Strassberg, Richard E.|publisher=University of California Press|year=2002|location=Berkeley|isbn=978-0-520-21844-4|pages=116–117, 127–128}}</ref>