Chaser617 wrote:*Chuckles* I don't want to insult Calbeck but when I first read this and before he posted, I thought Warhorse was making an apparence as another PC.
I know Waarhorse, that's no insult. -:D
Squeaky Bunny wrote:If it were on a unicorn wouldn't it be called a horsee?
*whapwhapwhaps ya wif an inflatable mallet*
Squeaky Bunny wrote:I've heard that you were in the tank division. He He
It was an experience that expanded my horizons immensely. I found it uplifting. -:)
On the reality of unicorns:
If there ever was a "true" unicorn, it most likely was that of the Indus Valley in what is today modern Pakistan. Excavations at Mohenjodaro in 1927 unearthed what appear to be seals dating to 2600 B.C., each seal bearing the image of one of five animals. Four of these are well-known, real animals indigenous to the region at the time --- the Rhinoceros, Tiger, Bull, and Elephant. The fifth, and by far the most common, is the Unicorn. Mohenjodaro is one of the world's most ancient cities.
http://www.harappa.com/seal/10.html
The Unicorn seals appear to have been involved primarily in trade and commerce, as they are most commonly found on clay tags that were affixed to bundles of goods. Seals also were made from soapstone, copper, and even silver, though these are progressively more rare. Many of these types of seals have also been found in Mesopotamian cities, indicating a substantial trade route between what is today Pakistan and Iraq. Although some scholars have suggested that the Unicorn is actually a two-horned animal being shown in relief, others point out that the Bull is shown as two-horned without any problems, and that there appears to be no indication that the one horn being shown grows from anywhere other than the top, rather than side, of the head.
From what has been discerned regarding the society of the Harappan culture, which made the seals, the Unicorn was a revered creature which was hard to hunt but which could be lured to its doom --- a direct parallel of the more modern Western mythos. It is always shown as garlanded, and possibly collared, standing before what is thought to be either a trough of food or possibly an incense burner. Sacrificial animals are even today garlanded this way in modern India.
Further parallels include the role of wild cattle in ancient Indus society: the bull, for example, was symbolic of male virility, and its slaughter was integral to fertility rituals. It should be noted that in Harappan culture, however, it is only the Unicorn which is always accompanied by the "cult" object. Other animals appear either with a shallow trough or, most often, no object at all, suggesting that the Unicorn alone was the revered creature of the Harappan culture --- even compared to bovines.
Looking at the seals, it is hard to ultimately define what species (other than Mammal) the Unicorn belongs to. Variants of the seal include striping on the face which could refer to facial coloration of the sort that Pliny referred to --- especially if the species is related to the Gazelle. The curving horn, which appears segmented in more detailed seals, also suggests influence from the Gazelle, which could explain the "leonine tail" and "goatlike legs and hooves". The main argument against this is the somewhat elongated appearance of the Unicorn, suggestive of a larger animal.
It is also known that moving the horn buds of a goat or cow adjacent to each other via surgical procedures results in a centrally-located single horn growing from the forehead. This is how the Barnum and Bailey Circus got their "Living Unicorn". It is not beyond the pale to suggest that such an arrangement of horn tissue could have occurred as a natural mutation.
In other words, the Unicorn may have represented a branch of the Gazelle family, perhaps the size of a small Bull, with a single central horn resulting from the horn buds being merged, hunted to extinction by Indus Valley citydwellers for their fertility and marriage rituals. These rituals, involving the hunt as well as offerings and bait to capture the animal alive, may have provided the root memes for the medieval Unicorn's transfiguration into the well-known mythology of today.
I read all RH's strips, mind you, so I may be crazier than you think... er, I think... what was I thinking about?;)
