Mythological characters

The poets and playwrights of ancient Greece wrote vivid tales of Gods and heroes, bold legends of men who were either tragic or triumphant, women either devious or devout. But the fertile vision of these great storytellers was not confined merely to the works of man, but also to those of nature. And they were not alone in their praise of nature and its unique creations. Myth and legend from around the world speak of fantastic creatures that modern science has been unable to classify. Cultural art from a span of millennia depict fascinating figures and rare and exotic creatures, both monster and marvel. These creatures, which have spanned imaginations for countless centuries, are the animals and man-animals of popular mythology.

There is perhaps no animal more revered in mythology than the horse. To ancient man, the horse was a helpmate and companion, the means to speedy, comfortable travel, and the source of nobility and devotion. Small wonder, then, that the most popular and enduring mythological of all creatures share their shapes with the beautiful, majestic beast of burden.

Over the centuries, every corner of the world has possessed written lore of the unicorn, and not all of them are the romanticised, horse-like image that modern imagination has embraced. They have been tiny and huge, with either glistening or dull coats of every colour and type. They can whinny, bleat, growl, roar, bellow, or sing. They have been either valiant warriors or gentle creatures of supreme purity. They have stood on four legs and two legs, with body shapes and parts of every type. In fact, the only detail that seems universally agreed upon is that the unicorn has a single horn thrusting from its forehead.

From the very first record ever made, the fascination with the animal’s temperament and usage began. Over the millennia since that first inscription, the unicorn, and particularly its horn, has been granted many magical powers by its adoring public. Most of those powers have to do with healing and childbirth. A powder made from the unicorn’s horn was said to protect against poisoning, and if water or wine were drunk from the hollowed-out horn, it was believed to cure and prevent convulsions and epilepsy. The touch of a unicorn’s horn to a pregnant woman was said to impart great wisdom upon the unborn child. One example of this latter belief can be found in the Orient. In China, a kind of unicorn called the ki-lin was one of the four highest animal forms, along with the tortoise, dragon, and phoenix. The ki-lin was said to be a herald to the birth of great philosophers, including Confucius.

Perhaps the strangest manner of unicorn, however, is found in Hindu lore. In India, the unicorn was not a beast, but rather a man with a curved horn growing from his forehead. This man, Risharinga, was believed to be an embodiment of divinity, simplicity, and compassion.

References to unicorns abound in all manner of religious texts, but perhaps nowhere so profoundly odd as the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. In Deuteronomy, the unicorn is used in a description of the power of Joshua, though this description never appears in the original Hebrew text. Instead, the Hebrew writers referred to a creature called a re’em, thought now to be a kind of wild aurochs, but which was translated by Greek scholars into the Greek “monoceros” and, eventually, the Latin “unicorn.”

The unicorn, among other creatures, also makes an appearance in a Greek text called the “Physiologus” (Scientist). There, it appears beside classifiable animals such as the weasel, camel, and lion, as well as the fanciful manticore, said to have a human head, feline body, and scorpion’s stinger.

After the unicorn, the next most popular mythological horse is the pegasus, which has often been depicted in heraldry and sculpture. A purely Greek creation, this winged horse was said, in mythology, to have been birthed from the blood of Medusa after she was beheaded by the hero Perseus. Later, at Corinth, the pegasus appeared to Bellerophon, and the Goddess Athena showed the man how to tame the winged steed.

Mounted on the marvellous pegasus, Bellerophon confronted the fire-breathing monster Chimaera, which was part lion, goat, and serpent. The pegasus was later taken to Olympus and transformed into a constellation by Zeus.

The next horse-like mythological beast is actually more of a man-beast. This creature, one of many formed by the fusion of human and animal features, is the mighty centaur. Centaurs are apparently Greek in origin, residing in the rich area of ancient Thessaly. They are recorded as fierce warriors with the torso, head, and arms of a man or woman, mounted on the four-legged body of a horse or, occasionally, some other hoofed animal. Perhaps the most famous of all centaurs in Greek mythology was the highly-respected healer Chiron, who was said to have instructed some of Greece’s most famous legendary heroes and demi-gods.

Much like the centaur, the satyr combined the qualities of the hoofed with the human. With the upper body of a man and the hind quarters of a goat, and quite often the goat’s nubby horns as well, the Greco-Roman satyrs were minor deities of the woods and countryside. They were often celebrated for either their lewd orgies or their mischievous pranks. Perhaps the most famous of these demi-gods was the incorrigible Pan, the reed-playing prankster God of shepherds who lent his name to the creation of the word “panic.”

Far more grotesque a creation than either the centaur or the satyr was the creature known as the Harpiae, or Harpy. These hagish creatures are a familiar, in loathed, part of Greek mythology. With the head, neck and breasts of a woman and the wings and body of a vulture, classical writers viewed harpies as the polar opposite of the pure unicorn. They were the embodiment of all that was vile and deadly. Originally personifications of the damaging storm winds, their responsibilities soon expanded to include the contamination of their victims’ food. Eventually, they became the bearers of the souls of the dead, and the inflictors of divine punishment on the evil or impious.

Unlike the bold centaur, the jolly satyr, or even the gruesome harpy, the Merfolk have a respected as well as feared place in mythology. Of all the man-beasts in mythology, only the merfolk have ever been connected to the sea. Perhaps derived from the words “mar,” meaning “sea,” and “volk,” meaning “people,” the term Merfolk applies to any of a race of mythological creatures, possessing the upper bodies of men and women, and the tails of fish, living under the sea. Said to sometimes sing haunting and mournful songs which could either save a sailor’s life or draw him to his death, mermaids, in particular, have become firmly rooted in popular mythology. Viewed as both good and bad luck, these sea-people are universally considered the most attractive of all human-animal creations.

Another creature noted for its scaly body is the dragon. In mythology, this reptilian beast is no simple creation. Every region of the world, and, indeed, every period of history, has viewed this creature differently, ranging from veneration to abject terror.

Typically depicted with four clawed legs, iron-hard scales, a barbed or serpentine tongue, sleek ears, and leathery wings, the European dragon has perhaps the most convoluted of histories, though it has always been seen as a powerful force. Looked upon, in ancient times, as a symbol of wisdom and magic, the dragon of Europe came to embody evil and suffering during the reign of the Medieval Church, when old symbols that could not be adopted soon became abhorred. But, for all its negative press during the Dark Ages, the European dragon has never lost its air of mystery and otherworldliness. Nor did it ever lose its symbology of power, for dragons often decorated the crests of some of Europe’s most powerful families, and standards of some of Europe’s craftiest armies. To this day, a red dragon decorates the national flag of Wales, and was a supporter in the crests of Tudor kings until changed to a golden dragon by Elizabeth I.

Like most European dragons, the Hydra has a long history of distasteful association and depiction, but unlike many European dragons, the Hydra’s infamy was born with its original conception. A dragonesque water lizard with nine heads, one of which was immortal, the Hydra is a violent monster most often associated with Greek mythology and the Twelve Tasks of Hercules. In fact, it appears that Greek mythology holds nearly exclusive rights to the Hydra. The multiheaded evil serpent-dragon was rarely depicted outside of reference to Greek myth until the mid-twentieth century and the advent of the modern fantasy novel, where the Hydra had a rebirth of sorts.

Another relative of the European dragon is the Wyvern, said to be a more sinister version of the dragon. In popular mythology, it is seen as a creature of pure evil, possessing no remorse and delighting in the taste of human flesh. In Medieval art and heraldry, the Wyvern is nearly always depicted as having only two clawed legs, rather than the dragon’s traditional four. In more modern times, the Wyvern has regained its missing legs, but turned from green to black, with fiery red eyes and foul-smelling breath.

However, Europe was not the only region of the world to tell tales of dragons, even though each continent added its own unique touches. For instance, the Oriental dragon. With its serpentine form, the Oriental dragon bears little resemblance to its European cousin. For one thing, the Oriental dragon has no wings, but usually possesses an elaborate mane and drooping mustache. Said to represent the Yang force of the Yin-Yang duality, this snake-like dragon is often associated with bodies of water. Unlike its European counterpart, the Oriental dragon was seen as lucky as well as wise, and the protective spirit of the dragon was displayed in most Oriental homes in the forms of painting and sculpture. Much like the European dragon, however, the Oriental dragon was seen as a symbol of powerful forces, and often adorned the palace and person of the Emperor himself.

However, horses and dragons, and even the strange man-beasts of mythology, cannot begin to compare to the bizarre creatures without which mythology might seem almost believable. These creatures are spectacular in their appearance, and lend mythology the air of complete mystery which truly sets it apart.

First among these creatures is the majestic gryphon. The gryphon has very distinct characteristics, with the body, hind legs, and tail of a lion, conjoined to the head and claws of an eagle. It is also said to have the wings of an eagle and feline ears. Gryphons run rampant in Medieval art and literature, although he exact origin of the gryphon is a mystery.

Another popular creature of Medieval European art, as well as late twentieth-century literature and fantasy gaming, is the cockatrice. The cockatrice is said to have the body of a Medieval wyvern, head and legs of a rooster, and the wings of either a dragon or a chicken. This strange creature often decorated the family crests of notable Medieval figures. Though little true mythology of the period survives where this bizarre creature is concerned, modern myth has more than made up for the lack, ascribing many strange abilities to this rather unique fowl.

There is another popular mythological bird; the immortal phoenix. Held in high esteem in both China and North Africa, the long-lived phoenix has one very unique aspect which makes it special. After centuries of life, the phoenix burns up inside its own nest, turns to ashes, and is then reborn from the ashes, a perpetual cycle of renewal. For this unique quality, the phoenix is held up in many cultures as a symbol of the immortal soul.

It hardly seems strange, when one considers man’s driving desire to express new ideas as exaggerated tales, that these creatures might once have existed, inspiring men such as Homer and Virgil to record their triumphant or depraved lives. Nor does it seem fanciful to think that, somewhere beyond our current horizon, there could rest even more wondrous creatures, the likes of which may yet become the mythology of tomorrow.