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Unicorns
The unicorn is a legendary creature that has been described since Classical antiquity, antiquity as a beast with a single large, pointed, spiraling horn (anatomy), horn projecting from its forehead. In European literature and art, the unicorn has for the last thousand years or so been depicted as a white horse- or goat-like animal with a long straight horn with spiraling grooves, cloven hooves, and sometimes a goat's beard. In the Middle Ages and Renaissance, it was commonly described as an extremely wild forest, woodland creature, a symbol of purity and grace, which could be captured only by a virgin. In encyclopedias, its horn was described as having the power to render poisoned water potable and to heal sickness. In medieval and Renaissance times, the tusk of the narwhal was sometimes sold as a unicorn horn. A bovine type of unicorn is thought by some scholars to have been depicted in Indus seal, seals of the Bronze Age Indus Valley Civilisation, Indus Valley civilization ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
LGBTQ Symbols
Over the course of its history, the LGBTQ community has adopted certain symbols for Identity (social science), self-identification to demonstrate unity, gay pride, pride, shared values, and allegiance to one another. These symbols communicate ideas, concepts, and identity both within their communities and to mainstream culture. The two symbols most recognized internationally are the pink triangle and the Rainbow flag (LGBTQ), rainbow flag. Letters and glyphs Gender symbols The female and male Gender symbol, gender symbols are derived from the astronomical symbols for the planets Venus and Mars respectively. Following Carl Linnaeus, Linnaeus, biologists use the planetary symbol for Venus to represent the Female, female sex, and the planetary symbol for Mars to represent the Male, male sex. Two interlocking female symbols (⚢) represent a lesbian or the lesbian community, and two interlocking male symbols (⚣) a Gay men, gay male or the gay male community. These symbols f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Qilin
The qilin ( ; ) is a legendary hooved chimerical creature that appears in Chinese mythology, and is said to appear with the imminent arrival or death of a sage or illustrious ruler. Qilin are a specific type of the mythological family of one-horned beasts. The qilin also appears in the mythologies of other Chinese-influenced cultures. Origins The earliest mention of the mythical qilin is in the poem included in the Classic of Poetry (11th – 7th c. BCE). '' Spring and Autumn Annals'' mentioned that a ''lin'' () was captured in the 14th year of Duke Ai of Lu () (481 CE); ''Zuo Zhuan'' credited Confucius with identifying the ''lin'' as such. The bisyllabic form ''qilin'' ( ~ ), which carries the same generic meaning as ''lin'' alone, is attested in works dated to the Warring States period (475–221 BCE). ''Qi'' denotes the male and ''lin'' denotes the female according to ''Shuowen Jiezi''.''SWJZ'Radical 鹿 quote: "" translation: "''Lín'' (): a large female deer. ..'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Narwhal
The narwhal (''Monodon monoceros'') is a species of toothed whale native to the Arctic. It is the only member of the genus ''Monodon'' and one of two living representatives of the family Monodontidae. The narwhal is a stocky cetacean with a relatively blunt snout, a large Melon (whale), melon, and a shallow ridge in place of a dorsal fin. Males of this species have a large () long tusk, which is a protruding left Canine tooth, canine thought to function as a weapon, a tool for feeding, in sexual selection, attracting mates or sensing water salinity. Specially adapted slow-twitch muscles, along with the jointed neck vertebrae and shallow dorsal ridge allow for easy movement through the Arctic environment, where the narwhal spends extended periods at great depths. The narwhal's geographic range overlaps with that of the similarly built and closely related beluga whale, and the animals are known to interbreed. Narwhals inhabit the Arctic waters of Canada, Greenland and Russia. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Legendary Creature
A legendary creature is a type of extraordinary or supernatural being that is described in folklore (including myths and legends), and may be featured in historical accounts before modernity, but has not been scientifically shown to exist. In the classical era, monstrous creatures such as the Cyclops and the Minotaur appear in heroic tales for the protagonist to destroy. Other creatures, such as the unicorn, were claimed in accounts of natural history by various scholars of antiquity. Some legendary creatures are Hybrid beasts in folklore, hybrid beasts. Some legendary creatures originated in traditional mythology and were believed to be real creatures--for example, dragons, griffins and unicorns. Others are based on real encounters or garbled accounts of travellers' tales, such as the Vegetable Lamb of Tartary, a sheeplike animal which supposedly grew tethered to the earth. Creatures A variety of mythical animals appear in the art and stories of the classical era. For exampl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shadhavar
Shâd'havâr (Arabic: شادهافار ''(Šādhāfār)'') or Âras (آرس) is a legendary creature from medieval Muslim bestiaries resembling a unicorn. Al-Qazwini said that it lives in the country of '' Rūm'' (Byzantium) and that it has one horn with 42 hollow branches which, when the wind passes through them, produces a pleasant sound that makes the animals sit around and listen. Horns of those creatures, sometimes gifted to kings, can be played like flutes. When played on one side, they produce a cheerful sound, and when on the other, the music is so sad it makes people cry. The scholar Al-Damiri stated a larger number of branches to 72, and al-Mustawfi made shadhavar a ferocious carnivore. The change can be explained as a result of merging its description with another creature from Qazwini, the ''Sirânis'' (سيرانس), a predator that plays music to lure its victims. G. Jacob pointed out similarities between the ''Sirânis'' and the sirens from Greek mythology ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Indus Seal
The Indus ( ) is a transboundary river of Asia and a trans- Himalayan river of South and Central Asia. The river rises in mountain springs northeast of Mount Kailash in the Western Tibet region of China, flows northwest through the disputed Kashmir region, first through the Indian-administered Ladakh, and then the Pakistani administered Gilgit Baltistan, Quote: "Kashmir, region of the northwestern Indian subcontinent. It is bounded by the Uygur Autonomous Region of Xinjiang to the northeast and the Tibet Autonomous Region to the east (both parts of China), by the Indian states of Himachal Pradesh and Punjab to the south, by Pakistan to the west, and by Afghanistan to the northwest. The northern and western portions are administered by Pakistan and comprise three areas: Azad Kashmir, Gilgit, and Baltistan, ... The southern and southeastern portions constitute the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. The Indian- and Pakistani-administered portions are divided by a "line of c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Re'em
A re'em, also reëm (), is an animal mentioned nine times in the Hebrew Bible. Job , Deuteronomy , Numbers and ; Psalms , and ; and Isaiah . It has been translated as "unicorn" in the Latin Vulgate, King James Version, and in some Christian Bible translations as " oryx" (which was accepted as the referent in Modern Hebrew), "wild ox", "wild bull", "buffalo" or "rhinoceros". Natan Slifkin has argued that the ''re'em'' was an aurochs, as has Isaac Asimov before him. Translation The King James Version of the Book of Job followed the Septuagint and Jerome's Vulgate in the translation of ''re'em'' into ''unicorn'': Some Bible translations into English, including the American Standard Version The American Standard Version (ASV), officially Revised Version, Standard American Edition, is a Bible translation into English that was completed in 1901 with the publication of the revision of the Old Testament. The revised New Testament had ... and New American Standard Bible ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bible
The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally written in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Koine Greek. The texts include instructions, stories, poetry, prophecies, and other genres. The collection of materials accepted as part of the Bible by a particular religious tradition or community is called a biblical canon. Believers generally consider it to be a product of divine inspiration, but the way they understand what that means and interpret the text varies. The religious texts were compiled by different religious communities into various official collections. The earliest contained the first five books of the Bible, called the Torah in Hebrew and the Pentateuch (meaning 'five books') in Greek. The second-oldest part was a collection of narrative histories and prophecies (the Nevi'im). The third co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cosmas Indicopleustes
Cosmas Indicopleustes (; also known as Cosmas the Monk) was a merchant and later hermit from Alexandria in Egypt. He was a 6th-century traveller who made several voyages to India during the reign of emperor Justinian. His work '' Christian Topography'' contained some of the earliest and most famous world maps.''Encyclopædia Britannica'', 2008, O.Ed, Cosmas Indicopleustes. Cosmas was a pupil of the East Syriac Patriarch Aba I and was himself a follower of the Church of the East. Voyage Around AD 550, while a monk in the retirement of a Sinai cloister, Cosmas wrote the once-copiously illustrated '' Christian Topography'', a work partly based on his personal experiences as a merchant on the Red Sea and Indian Ocean in the early 6th century. His description of India and Ceylon during the 6th century is invaluable to historians. Cosmas seems to have personally visited the Kingdom of Axum in modern day northern Ethiopia, as well as Eritrea. He sailed along the coast of Socotra, but ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Claudius Aelianus
Claudius Aelianus (; ), commonly Aelian (), born at Praeneste, was a Roman author and teacher of rhetoric who flourished under Septimius Severus and probably outlived Elagabalus, who died in 222. He spoke Greek so fluently that he was called "honey-tongued" ( ); Roman-born, he preferred Greek authors, and wrote in a slightly archaizing Greek himself. This cites: * ''Editio princeps'' of complete works by Gesner, 1556; Hercher, 1864-1866. * English translation of the ''Various History'' only by Fleming, 1576, and Stanley, 1665 * Translation of the ''Letters'' by Quillard (French), 1895 His two chief works are valuable for the numerous quotations from the works of earlier authors, which are otherwise lost, and for the surprising lore, which offers unexpected glimpses into the Greco-Roman world-view. ''De Natura Animalium'' is also the only Greco-Roman work to mention Gilgamesh. ''De Natura Animalium'' ''On the Nature of Animals'' (alternatively "On the Characteristics of Anima ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pliny The Younger
Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus (born Gaius Caecilius or Gaius Caecilius Cilo; 61 – ), better known in English as Pliny the Younger ( ), was a lawyer, author, and magistrate of Ancient Rome. Pliny's uncle, Pliny the Elder, helped raise and educate him. Pliny the Younger wrote hundreds of letters, of which 247 survived, and which are of some historical value. These include 121 official memoranda addressed to Emperor Trajan (reigned 98-117). Some are addressed to reigning emperors or to notables such as the historian Tacitus. Pliny served as an imperial magistrate under Trajan, and his letters to Trajan provide one of the few surviving records of the relationship between the imperial office and provincial governors. Pliny rose through a series of civil and military offices, the ''cursus honorum''. He was a friend of the historian Tacitus and might have employed the biographer Suetonius on his staff. Pliny also came into contact with other well-known men of the period, includi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
