Rare Monsters

  The odontotyrranus is a giant and fearsome monster that attacked Alexander the Great as he entered India. The beast is described as being larger than an elephant, having a bull like body, and horse like head. Its most notable features were three large horns on its head and a wide mouth full of predatory teeth. The beast was also semi-aquatic and wallows in water like a hippopotamus. It was black in color and its head was darkest. Its name means toothy tyrant. The legend of the odontotyrranus states that Alexander's men made camp by a river after entering India. Two different versions state that the odontotyrranus either came down to the river to drink, or was wallowing in the water and lunged out of the river at them. Alexander's men fought the beast as it rampaged through their camp. It killed 26 men and injured 52. The odontotyrranus was carnivorous and able to swallow a human whole with ease. One of Alexander's commanders, Emendus, Duke of Arcadia finally brought the b...

  Many real creatures were turned into mythical beasts in the Medieval era. The hyena inspired the crocotta, the wildebeest the bonnacon and the ibex the yale. Yet few beasts have strayed so far from their real life inspiration as the antelope and the calopus. The antelope was first known in Europe by the ancient Greeks, who called it antelopos. The records of Alexander the Great called them aeternae and the Romans called them calopus, which means pretty foot. The name calopus continued through the Medieval period as a mostly separate creature from antelopes. Medieval bestiaries varied on whether they had entries on the calopus, antelope or both. Eventually the calopus became a symbolic beast in heraldry, where it gained its most unfamiliar form yet. The antelope known to the ancient Greeks was considered a fearsome beast, yet it still had the overall form of a goat or a roe deer. The calopus had dangerous serrated horns which it used to shred tree branches. It would hesitate to ...

  The al-miraj is one of those monsters who's on the edge of being well known. More and more people have heard of it as of recently, but few people know anything about it other than being the 'unicorn bunny'. The al miraj comes from the Arabic translations of the tale of Alexander the Great. In this account Alexander travels to Jazirat Al-Tinnin, or Sea Serpent Island. There the locals are being tormented by a serpent like dragon who is devouring their livestock. Alexander defeated the dragon by filling a cow hide with poisonous substances. The dragon subsequently swallowed the decoy and was killed. For his efforts the islanders gave Alexander the al miraj as a gift. The al-miraj is always depicted as a horned rabbit or hare that's golden yellow in color. It tends to vary more in image then it does in written description. Occasionally the al miraj is drawn with leopard spots, or a gazelle stripe, while other times it's left plain. The texts always describe the al...