Editing Manticore (section)

== Classical literature ==
{{anchors|origins}} 
An account of the manticore was given in Ctesias's lost book ''[[Indica (Ctesias)|Indica]]'' ("India"), and circulated among Greek writers on natural history, but has survived only in fragments and [[epitome]]s preserved by later writers.{{sfnp|Nichols tr.|2013|p=11}}

[[Photios I of Constantinople|Photius]]'s ''Myriobiblon'' (or ''[[Bibliotheca (Photius)|Bibliotheca]]'', 9th century) serves as base text, but [[Claudius Aelianus|Aelian]]  (''[[De Natura Animalium]]'', 3rd century) preserves the same information and more:

{{block indent|1=(Paraphrase) The martichora was allegedly a blue-eyed, human-faced wild beast of India. It was the size of the largest lion, with [[cinnabar]]-red fur. It has three rows of teeth, feet and claws like lions.{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|name="ctesias-kinnabari"}}{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|name="pliny-sanguineo"}} It also had a scorpion-like tail with a (main) terminal sting that measured over 1 [[cubit]], plus two rows of auxiliary stings, each a [[pous|Greek foot]] long. The sting was instantly fatal. The stings could be fired sideways, forward, or backward, by orienting the tail accordingly, up to a 1 ''[[plethron]]'' distance range, and these stings regenerated afterwards. Only the elephant was immune to the poison.<ref name="photius">{{harvp|Nichols tr.|2013|pp=48–49}}. Ctesias ''Indica'' '''Frag. 45''', Photius. ''[[Bibliotheca (Photius)|Bibliotheca]]'' 72.</ref><ref name="photius-baehr-ed"/> And it overcomes every beast except the lion.<ref name="aelian"/>}}

<ref name="photius"/><ref name="aelian"/> Aelian, citing Ctesias, adds that the Mantichora prefers to hunt humans, lying in wait and even taking down even two or three men at a time. The Indians, he continues, take the young captive and disable the tail by crushing it with a stone before the sting begins growing.<ref name="aelian"/>

=== Pliny's Aethiopian beasts ===
[[Pliny the Elder|Pliny]] described the "mantichora" in his ''[[Naturalis Historia]]''  (c. 77 AD)<ref>{{L&S|mantichora|mantĭchō^ra|ref}} lists Plin. 8, 21, 30, § 75; 8, 30, 45, § 107. So the same passage may be designated variously as 8.21 (30), or 8.30 or 8.75 depending on the editor.</ref> having relied on a faulty copy of [[Aristotle]]'s natural history that contained the misspelling ("martikhoras").<ref name="robinson"/>

Pliny also introduced the confused notion that the manticore might occur in Africa, because he had discussed this and other creatures (such as the [[Yale (mythical creature)|yale]]) within a passage on [[Aethiopia]].{{sfnp|Nichols tr.|2013|p=142}}<ref name="george"/>{{efn|[[:de:Karl Mayhoff|Carl (Karl) Mayhoff]] (ed., 1857. Plinius ''Hist. Nat.'' viii.21., i.e.. {{harvp|Mayhoff ed.|1875}}, 8.'''21''' (30) §75, p. 74) proposed an emendation of the text {{lang|la|{{linktext|eosdem}}}} "the same" to {{lang|la| {{linktext|apud |Indos |dein}} which would qualify the statements to be about India.}}}} But he also described the [[crocotta]] and the mantichora of Aethiopia together, and while the crocotta imitated the voices of men{{efn|And considered to be based on the [laughing] [[hyena]].<ref>Bostock, John ed. "[http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0978.phi001.perseus-eng1:8.45 Chap. 45. The Crocotta. The Mantichora]</ref>}} the mantichora of Aethiopia too also mimicked human speech, on authority of [[Juba II]],<ref name="pliny8.107"/> with a voice like the pipe ([[panpipe]], ''fistula'') mixed with trumpet.<ref name="pliny8.75"/>

=== Legacy ===
Ctesias purportedly saw a martichora presented to the Persian king by the Indians.<ref name="aelian"/> The Romanised Greek [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] was skeptical and considered it an unreliable exaggerated account of a [[tiger]].<ref name="pausanias"/><ref name="robinson"/>  [[Apollonius of Tyana]] also dismissed the mantichore as a tall tale, according to the biography by [[Flavius Philostratus|Philostratus]] (c. 170–247).<ref name="philostratus"/>{{sfnp|Nigg|1999|p=79}}

Pliny did not share Pausanias' skepticism.<ref name="robinson"/> And for 1500 years afterwards, it was Pliny's account, also copied by [[Gaius Julius Solinus|Solinus]] (2nd century), which was held to be authoritative on matters of natural history whether real or mythological.<ref name="robinson"/> In the advent of Christianity, writings in the Holy Scripture combined with Plinian-Aristotelian learning gave rise to the ''[[Physiologus]]'' (also c. 2nd century), which later evolved into the medieval [[bestiary|bestiaries]]<ref name="robinson"/> some of which contained entries on the manticore.