Monoceros

 

   The monoceros is an animal that is mentioned by many Greek and Roman authors. Many people assume the monoceros was just a rhinoceros, however its description differs quite a bit from a mere rhino, and it was probably a mythical amalgamation of different animals. The description was added to multiple times by subsequent authors, further elaborating on the monoceros's attributes.

    The monoceros was first mentioned by Megasthenes, who was a Greek explorer who travelled to India. It's likely out of all the authors who wrote about the monoceros, Megasthenes was the only one who actually saw a rhinoceros. Yet, his description still doesn't quite fit a rhino, as he said the creature had the head of a stag and a horn two cubits long, which would be nearly 3 feet. The monoceros was also said to live in the foothills of the Himalayas, rather than in the lowlands where rhinoceros are actually found. Still Megasthenes' description does have a fair bit in common with a rhino as well, being a heavy set beast, with elephant feet and a boar's tail. The monoceros was also notoriously aggressive, fighting to the death with others of its own kind and being impossible to capture alive.

    The monoceros was next written about by Pliny the Elder in his Natural Histories. Pliny remained accurate to Megasthenes's description, and added little of his own interpretation. Through Pliny's writings the monoceros became popularized throughout the classic world. 

    The next author to write about the monoceros was Claudius Aelianus, who described a different animal called a cartazon, which either comes from the Arabic Karkadann, which is another mythical unicorn like creature, or from the Sanskrit khaḍgadhenu, which is a female rhinoceros. While Aelianus gave his creature a different name, its description became entangled with the monoceros until they were considered synonymous. Aelianus's cartazon was quite similar to the monoceros, but had a horse like mane along its neck, and was overall yellow in color. The cartazon also had a straight spiralling horn, rather than a horn that was smooth and curved like a rhinoceros. Previous authors didn't describe the appearance of the horn other than its length. It's likely Aelianus was describing the horns of the Tibetan antelope, also known as the chiru, or possibly the horn was from an African or middle eastern antelope.  

    As time went on the description of the monoceros became increasingly fanciful. In the 6th century, Cosmas Indicopleustes wrote that the source of the monoceros' great strength lay in its horn. When the monoceros was pursued by hunters it would leap off a cliff, and in the air turn to land on its horn, which would sustain the force of impact and leave the animal unharmed.

    By the medieval era, the monoceros had become indistinguishable from the better known unicorn.