Editing Unicorn (section)

=== Classical antiquity ===
Unicorns are not found in [[Greek mythology]], but rather in the accounts of [[natural history]], for Greek writers of natural history were convinced of the reality of unicorns, which they believed lived in India, a distant and fabulous realm for them. The earliest description is from [[Ctesias]], who in his book ''[[Indica (Ctesias)|Indika]]'' ("On [[India]]") described them as [[Onager|wild ass]]es, fleet of foot, having a horn a [[cubit]] and a half ({{Convert|700|mm|in|disp = comma|abbr = in}}) in length, and colored white, red and black.<ref>{{cite book
|last = Ctesias
|orig-date=390 BC
|author-link = Ctesias
|title = Indica (Τα Ἰνδικά)
|chapter = 45
|url = https://www.livius.org/ct-cz/ctesias/photius_indica.html
|access-date = 2020-03-26
|archive-date = 2012-07-16
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120716183321/http://www.livius.org/ct-cz/ctesias/photius_indica.html
|url-status = dead
}} (quoted by [[Photios I of Constantinople|Photius]])</ref> Unicorn meat was said to be too bitter to eat.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Bhairav|first1=J. Furcifer|title=Ghosts, Monsters, and Demons of India|last2=Khanna|first2=Rakesh|publisher=Blaft Publications Pvt. Ltd.|year=2021|isbn=9789380636467|location=India|pages=395|language=English}}</ref>

[[File:Unicorn in Apadana, Shush, Iran--2017-10.jpg|thumb|Winged bull, perhaps perceived as a unicorn, in [[Apadana]], [[Susa]], Iran]]
Ctesias got his information while living in [[Persian Empire|Persia]]. Unicorns or, more likely, winged bulls, appear in [[relief]]s at the ancient Persian capital of [[Persepolis]] in Iran.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Unicorns and Other Magical Creatures |last=Hamilton |first=John |publisher=ABDO Publishing Company |year=2010 |isbn=978-1617842818}}</ref> [[Aristotle]] must be following Ctesias when he mentions two one-horned animals, the [[oryx]] (a kind of [[antelope]]) and the so-called "Indian ass" ({{lang|grc|ἰνδικὸς ὄνος}}).<ref>{{cite book |last=Aristotle
 |author-link  = Aristotle
 |others      = trans. William Ogle
 |title       = On the Parts of Animals (Περι ζώων μορίων)
 |chapter     = Book 3. Chapter 2.
 |url         = http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/a/aristotle/parts/
 |url-status     = dead
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20080501140737/http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/a/aristotle/parts/
 |archive-date = 2008-05-01
}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Aristotle
 |author-link  = Aristotle
 |others      = trans. [[D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson]]
 |title       = History of Animals (Περί ζώων ιστορίας)
 |chapter     = Book 2. Chapter 1.
 |url         = http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/a/aristotle/history/
 |url-status     = dead
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20070630051759/http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/a/aristotle/history/
 |archive-date = 2007-06-30
}}</ref> [[Antigonus of Carystus]] also wrote about the one-horned "Indian ass".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://sites.google.com/site/paradoxography/texts/antigonus|title=Paradoxography - Antigonus|website=sites.google.com}}</ref> [[Strabo]] says that in the [[Caucasus]] there were one-horned horses with stag-like heads.<ref>{{cite book |last=Strabo
|author-link = Strabo
|title = Geography
|chapter = Book 15. Chapter 1. Section 56.
|url = https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Strabo/15A3*.html }}</ref> [[Pliny the Elder]] mentions the oryx and an Indian [[ox]] (perhaps a [[Indian rhinoceros|greater one-horned rhinoceros]]) as one-horned beasts, as well as "a very fierce animal called the monoceros which has the head of the [[Deer|stag]], the feet of the [[elephant]], and the tail of the [[boar]], while the rest of the body is like that of the horse; it makes a deep lowing noise, and has a single black horn, which projects from the middle of its forehead, two cubits [{{Convert|900|mm|in|disp = comma|abbr = in}}] in length."<ref>{{cite book |last=Pliny
 |author-link = Pliny the Elder
 |others     = trans. John Bostock
 |title      = Natural History
 |chapter    = Book 8, Chapter 31
 |url        = https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0137%3Abook%3D8%3Achapter%3D31
}} Also [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0137%3Abook%3D8%3Achapter%3D30 Book 8, Chapter 30], and [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0137%3Abook%3D11%3Achapter%3D106 Book 11, Chapter 106].</ref> In ''On the Nature of Animals'' ({{lang|grc|Περὶ Ζῴων Ἰδιότητος}}, {{lang|la|De natura animalium}}), [[Claudius Aelianus|Aelian]], quoting Ctesias, adds that India produces also a one-horned horse (iii. 41; iv. 52),<ref>{{cite book |last=Aelian|author-link = Claudius Aelianus |others=trans. A.F.Scholfield |title=On the Nature of Animals (Περὶ Ζῴων Ἰδιότητος, De natura animalium) |year=220 |orig-year=circa |chapter=Book 3. Chapter 41. |url=http://www.attalus.org/translate/animals3.html#41}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Aelian|author-link = Claudius Aelianus |others=trans. A.F.Scholfield |title=On the Nature of Animals (Περὶ Ζῴων Ἰδιότητος, De natura animalium) |year=220 |orig-year=circa |chapter=Book 4. Chapter 52. |url=http://www.attalus.org/translate/animals4.html#52}}</ref> and says (xvi. 20)<ref>{{cite book |last=Aelian|author-link = Claudius Aelianus |others=trans. A.F.Scholfield |title=On the Nature of Animals (Περὶ Ζῴων Ἰδιότητος, De natura animalium) |year=220 |orig-year=circa |chapter=Book 16. Chapter 20. |url=http://www.attalus.org/translate/animals16.html#20}}</ref> that the {{transliteration|grc|[[Monoceros (mythology)|monoceros]]}} ({{lang|grc|μονόκερως}}) was sometimes called {{transliteration|grc|cartazonos}} ({{lang|grc|καρτάζωνος}}), which may be a form of the Arabic {{transliteration|ar|[[karkadann]]}}, meaning '[[rhinoceros]]'.

[[Cosmas Indicopleustes]], a 6th-century Greek traveler who journeyed to India and the [[Kingdom of Aksum]], gives a description of a unicorn based on four bronze figures he saw in the four-towered palace of the King of [[Ethiopia]]. He states, from report: <blockquote>They speak of him as a terrible beast and quite invincible and that all its strength lies in its horn. When he finds himself pursued by many hunters and on the point of being caught, he springs up to the top of some precipice whence he throws himself down and in the descent turns a somersault so that the horn sustains all the shock of the fall, and he escapes unhurt.<ref>{{cite book |last=Cosmas Indicopleustes
|author-link = Cosmas Indicopleustes
|title = Christian Topography
|chapter = Book 11. Chapter 7.
|url = http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/cosmas_11_book11.htm}}</ref><ref>[https://archive.today/20120805164810/http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/southasia/History/Ancient/Indus2.html Manas: History and Politics, Indus Valley]. Sscnet.ucla.edu. Retrieved on 2011-03-20.</ref></blockquote>