Unicorn

Description
The unicorn is a mythical creature. Strong, wild, and fierce, it was impossible to tame by man. Plinie, the Roman naturalist records it as "a very ferocious beast, similar in the rest of its body to a horse, with the head of a deer, the feet of an elephant, the tail of a boar, a deep, bellowing voice, and a single black horn, two cubits in length, standing out in the middle of its forehead."

Origin
The unicorn is an archetypal monster, present both in eastern and western mythology. In the Bible, God is said to have the strength of a unicorn. [Num 23:22 & 24:8]; The warlike fierceness of the unicorn is referred to when Ephraim and Manasseh are described as being like the horns of unicorns. [Deu 33:17]; The terrifying destruction of Idumea is completed when God sends unicorns and wild bulls to attack the people. [Isa 34:8 see also Psa. 92:10 & Psa 22:21]

Modern zoologists have generally disbelieved the existence of the unicorn. Yet there are animals bearing on their heads a bony protuberance more or less like a horn, which may have given rise to the story. The rhinoceros horn, as it is called, is such a protuberance, though it does not exceed a few inches in height, and is far from agreeing with the descriptions of the horn of the unicorn. The nearest approach to a horn in the middle of the forehead is exhibited in the bony protuberance on the forehead of the giraffe; but this also is short and blunt, and is not the only horn of the animal, but a third horn, standing in front of the two others.

Other believes that the narwhales, along with the Indian Rhinoceros (which only has one ‘horn’) are creatures that, through travelers’ exaggerations, became the fabled unicorn. The narwhale is a whale that has a single tusk protruding from its forehead. One can admire two carved narwhal horn in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and in the National Museums and Galleries on Merseyside (NMGM); the two are thought to be a pair. The horn is 110 cm long with a diameter of 5.2 cm tapering to 2.5 cm.

The Oryx, a desert antilope, is also a potential candidate.

 

Powers
It was traditionally believed that a virgin who was naked sitting beneath a tree could only catch the delicate unicorn. The unicorn, who craves purity, would be irresistably drawn to the girl and lie down with his head in her lap. While it slept, the hunter could capture it. If, however, the girl was merely pretending to be a virgin, the unicorn would tear her apart.

Throughout the stories of the unicorn, its horn, the alicorn, is said to have great medicinal powers. In Ctesias’ writings, the dust filed from the horn was supposed to protect against deadly diseases if mixed into a potion. Or, if you drank from the horn, you would be protected against any poison.

Often, a narwhale tusk was sold as an alicorn, and it was often ground up and used for its magical properties.

 

Symbol
Its white coloring made it a natural symbol for purity, chastity and virginity. The horn of the unicorn was the weapon of the faithful and of Christ.

The mythological unicorn was a symbol of chivalry with qualities befitting this status, proud and untamable.

The legend of the hunter and virgin bait became an allegory of the Incarnation of the Christ and was later forbidden by the Council of Trent because of the lack of real unicorns in the present world.

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 gryphon

Description
The griffin or gryphon is a mythical quadruped with the foreparts of an eagle and the rear, tail and hindquarters of a lion. 

Its eagle-like head had pointed, upstanding ears like those of an ass. Feathers grew upon its head, neck and chest and the rest of the griffin’s body was covered in leonine fur, subtly colored in shades of tawny brown.

Aelian said the wings of griffins were white and their necks were variegated in colour with blue feathers. The griffin claws were especially valuable as they were reputed to change color in the presence of poison, which is why they made useful drinking vessels.  At times, it is portrayed with a long snake-like tail. In some traditions, only the female has wings. Its nests are made of gold and its eggs resemble agates. It is supposed to be of gigantic proportions, the morphology being left to our own deduction after we have been informed that one claw is the size of a cow's horn.

 

There are a number of different types of griffins;

the snake-griffin has a lion’s body, a snake’s head and a bird’s legs;
the lion-griffin is lion-like but has hind legs shaped like those of a bird.
The hippogryph, living far beyond the seas in the Rhiphaean Mountains, is the result of the rare breeding of a male gryphon and a filly. It has the head, wings and front legs of a gryphon, and the back and hind legs of a horse. It is a large powerful creature that can move through the air more swiftly than ligthning. It figured in several of the legends of Charlemagne as a mount for some of the knights. The Hypogriffin is a mix of a griffin and a horse.
Origin
The Griffin was known in Egypt before 3300 BC and is possibly more ancient still.

Pliny believed griffins came from Northern Russia; Aeschylus thought they originated in Ethiopia; and Bulfinch wrote that their native country was India. Herodotus said that legends of griffins came from the Issedonians who lived beyond the Oural Mountains. Biedermann wrote later that it has typological antecedents in ancient Asia, especially in the Assyrian k'rub, which is also the source of the Hebrew cherub.

 

Role
Because of the griffin's strength and powers of sight, it was believed to guard hidden treasures and in particular the vast gold mines of India and Scythia. The Arimaspians, a bold, one-eyed race of humans, constantly tried to steal their treasure and eventually drove the griffins away the mountains.  Because of its association with the Holy Grail, one of the treasures most commonly guarded by griffins was emeralds.

Other popular treasures guarded by griffins were the Tree of Life, knowledge, and the roads to salvation. Greeks and Romans used griffin images to guard tombs.

The griffin also became the adversary of serpents and basilisks, both of which were seen as embodiments of satanic demons.

 

Powers
In its body, the griffin is blessed with the speed, flight, and penetrating vision of the eagle and the strength, courage, and majesty of the lion.

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 Kraken

  Description
Probably no legendary creature was as horrifying as the Kraken, a giant sea monster. According to stories this huge, many armed, creature looked like an island when motionless and could reach as high as the top of a sailing ship's main mast with its arms deployed. 

When the Kraken attacked a ship, it wrapped its arms around the hull and capsize it. The crew would drown or be eaten by the monster. Kraken were mostly noticed  in the seas of Scandinavia. Fishermen said that huge amounts of fishs gravitate around Kraken and the boat that succeeds to fish around the monster without awaking it will take more than possible to carry aboard.

 

Origin
The Kraken of legend is probably what we know today as the giant squid or cephalopod. Though they are considerably less then a mile and a half across, they are large enough to wrestle with a sperm whale.

Stories
Early stories about Kraken, from Norway in the twelfth century, refer to a creature the size of an island. Even in 1752, when the Bishop of Bergen, Erik Ludvigsen Pontoppidan, wrote his Natural History of Norway he described the Kraken as a "floating island" one and a half miles across. He also noted: "It seems these are the creatures's arms, and, it is said, if they were to lay hold of the largest man-of-war, they would pull it down to the bottom."

Later Kraken stories bring the creature down to a smaller, but still monstrous size and assimilated it as a giant octopus.

On at least three occasions in the thirties they attacked a ship. While the squids got the worst of these encounters when they slid into the ship's propellers, the fact that they attacked at all shows that it is possible for these creatures to mistake a vessel for a whale.

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centaur

Description
The centaur is a mythological creature. Its head, arms, and chest are those of a human and the rest of its body, including four legs, hindquarters, and a tail is like that of a horse.

There are also deer-centaurs, dog-centaurs, and the Gaelic androcephalous or man-headed horse. Both Greeks and Etruscans sometimes painted a centaur-like animal with the entire body of a human rather awkwardly attached in various ways to the lower or back parts of a horse.

 

Origin
Presence and illustrations of centaurs date back to Assyria (2000 BC) and India (3000 BC). Some have traced the Greek centaur origins back to the Gandharvas who in Vedic mythology drove the horses from the Sun but it is now accepted that they were a primitive and rough population of horsed shepherds from Thessalony. According to Greek tradition, there are two families of centaurs. The more numerous and unruly centaurs are those born of the union of Ixion, King of the Lapithae and a cloud which Zeus disguised as his own wife, Hera, whom Ixion had bragged of having relations with.

Chiron who was the like the above centaurs in appearance only fathered a different race of centaurs, sober, learned and studious. His father was Cronus, the Titan and his mother was Philyra, an Oceanid (or ocean nymph). He was a famous physician and teacher and was renowned for his skill in hunting, medicine, music, and the art of prophecy. Taught by Apollo and Diana, Chiron went on to tutor the greatest Greek warriors, Aesculapius, Jason, Hercules, and Achilles.

Powers
Centaurs lived in herds on Mt. Pelion in Thessaly, Greece, and were a plague to the people around them. They went about drunk, eating raw flesh, trampling crops, and raping female humans. The intellectual parts they inherited from humankind left them ignorant and yet cunning.

 The Centaurs were creatures that were sometimes very hostile towards humans. They were always involved in brawls and battles. Often Zeus would send the Centaurs to punish gods and humans who had offended him. The hostility between man and Centaurs is said to have originated when the Centaurs were invited to their stepbrother's (Pirithous), wedding celebration. At the feast Eurytion, one of the Centaurs, becoming intoxicated with the wine, attempted to offer violence to the bride; the other Centaurs followed his example, and a dreadful conflict arose in which several of them were slain. This is the celebrated battle of the Lapithae and Centaurs, a favorite subject with the sculptors and poets of antiquity.

 

Symbol
The wicked centaurs are the antithesis of the knight and the horseman. Instead of mastering or taming their instincts, these centaurs are ruled by them. They symbolize violent lust, adultery, brutality, vengefulness, heretics, and the Devil. They represent the struggle within each heart between good and evil, moderation and excess, passion and propriety, forgiveness and retaliation, belief and unbelief, god and beast.

Centaurs may be seen in pictures of St. Anthony Abbot who met both a centaur and a satyr when searching for St. Paul the Hermit in the desert. According to some legends, this centaur was the Devil himself.

Chiron is known as the wisest of all Centaurs. He did not depict the regular character of a Centaur; he just had the same body of those creatures. To the Greeks he was a close representation of a saint. He was a father figure to many of the gods' children. They were given to him so he could teach them great knowledge of the world. Chiron represents the positive combination of man's animal and spiritual natures. As early Christians strove to modernize ancient pagan symbolism with Church teaching, the combination of the spiritual and the animal natures in the centaur-archer caused this image of Apollo and the sun to become a representation of Christ, the God-Man.

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Cerberus

Description
According to Horace, Cerberus possessed one hundred heads. Hesiod wrote that he had fifty, while most sources agree to only three. The center head was in the shape of a lion, while the other two were in the shape of a dog and a wolf, respectively. He also had a dragon's tail and a thick mane of writhing snakes.

Origin
It is generally thought that Cerberus was born to Echidne, a half-woman, half-serpent, and Typhon, the most fierce of all creatures.

Cerberus has a brother, Orphus, which is also a monstrous dog with two heads.  Cerberus’ Egyptian correspondent is Anubis, the dog who guarded the tombs and conducted the souls to the underworld.

A similar dog, Garm, is guarding the house of deaths in the Norse mythology. These monsters were probably inspired from the dogs that haunted the battlefields in the dark of the night, feasting on the bodies of the fallen warriors.
Symbol
The three heads relate to the threefold symbol of the baser forces of life. They represent the past, the present and the time yet to come. Dante described Cerberus as “il gran vermo inferno” thus linking the monsters with the legendary worms and orms.

Role
Cerberus is the watchdog of Hell. He is often pictured with Hades, his master. He can be found on the banks of the river Styx, where he had the task of eating any mortals who attempted to enter, and any spirits who attempted to escape.

 

Magic
As Cerberus vehemently resisted Heracles, barking furiously, his saliva dripped on the ground, giving birth to a poisonous plant called aconite; thus named because it flourishes on bare rocks. It is also known as 'hecateis,' because Hecate was the first to use it. Medea tried to poison Theseus with it, and the Thessalian witches used it in preparing the ointment that enabled them to fly. The modern name for aconite is wolfsbane.

 Ancient Greeks and Romans placed a coin and a small cake in the hands of their deceased. The coin was meant as payment for Charon who ferried the souls across the river Styx, while the cake helped to pacify Cerberus. This custom gave rise to the expression 'to give a sop to Cerberus,' meaning to give a bribe or to quiet a troublesome customer.

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Siren

Description
The Sirens or Mermaids  were odd looking creatures who had features of a bird from the waist down and a body of a woman from the waist up. The Sirens were thought to be three in number, but that is not certain. The most common names were Teles, Raidne, Molpe,Thelxiope, Aglaophonus, Parthenope, Ligeia, and Leukosia.

It is said that the Sirens induced by Hera competed with the Muses in a singing contest and lost. The Muses plucked the Sirens of their feathers and wore them as a trophy. With their feathers plucked the Sirens were no longer able to fly and turned half of their body into a fish tail.

Half-woman and half-dolphin or fish depiction's today are more common than the early sixteenth century part woman, dolphin and lion. The fish tail was thought to be shed when needed to make the mermaid more attractive to men. There is a theory that mermaids were actually misidentified sea-cows, mamals or porpoises.

 

Place
Sirens lived then on an island, called Anthemoessa, in the sea between Sicily and Italy. Huge boulders surrounded their island where ships would be destroyed if they ventured too closely.

 

Role
The Sirens sang songs to sea travelers to lure them to their deaths. Their songs were enchanting and would make sailors forget their sense of direction. The sailors would steer straight toward the island and crash into the rocks that surrounded it.

The island grew white with bleaching bones, from which the Sirens would make musical instruments. According to Appolodorus, the talented Sirens boasted not only a vocal trio, but a small instrumental ensemble, two accompanying the third on lyre and flute.

Powers
Also known as 'Sea Sirens', the personality and appearance is most commonly known to be that of a seductive temptress. Her beauty has been said to reflect the wondrous treasures and power of the sea itself.

The sound of the mermaid singing was once thought to be a reason for sailors meeting disaster, as the haunting lilting voice was said to be heard coming from the waves forecasting bad weather.

Mixed omens surround the stories of their sudden appearance being feared but also known to have saved the lives of sailors who had fallen overboard. Women saw them as enemies, as they were often thought to seek out men as partners, getting married, turning their partners into 'mermen'. Medieval engravings have shown the mermaid to carry a small hand-mirror, which is the attribute of the prostitute.

Rejecting the approach of a mermaid was thought to bring severe misfortune to the man, and if she was injured a period of misfortune would meet a crew or coastline. Yet despite all this, the mermaid is currently viewed as a gentle creature kind in nature

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basilisk

The name basilisk comes from the Greek basileus, which means king. The basilisk was the King of the snakes and the most poisonous creature on earth. His appearance has always been a matter of dispute since there is no way to see a basilisk and survive. Looking at it, according to legend, brings death.

The basilisk was depicted in a few illuminated manuscripts in the Middle Ages but appeared much more often as an ornamental detail in church architecture, adorning capitals and medallions. The best representation of the basilisk is found in the decorative field of heraldry where the basilisk had the head and legs of a cock, a snake-like tail, and a body like a bird’s. It seems that the wings could be depicted as either being covered with feathers or scales.

 

Description
The antique Romans called him "regulus" or little king, not only because of his crown, but because he terrorized all other creatures with his deadly look and poison. His color was yellow, sometimes with a kind of blackish hue. Plinius mentioned a white spot on his head, which could be misinterpreted as a diadem or a crown. Others speak of three spikes on his forehead.

Regarding his dangerousness rural legends distinguishes three main types. All three had a deadly breath, which could even make rocks crumble.

-The golden basilisk poisoned everything by his mere look.
-The evil-eye basilisk terrorized and killed every creature by his third eye on the top of a golden head.
-The sanguineness basilisk sting made the flesh fall off the bones of his victim
 

 

The basilisk serpent
It is a native of the province of Cyrenaica, not more than 12 inches long, and adorned with a bright white marking on the head like a sort of diadem.

It routs all snakes with its hiss, and does not move its body forward in manifold coils like the other snakes but advancing with its middle raised high. It kills bushes not only by its touch but also by its breath, scorches up grass and bursts rocks.

Its effect on other animals is disastrous: it is believed that once one was killed with a spear by a man on horseback and the infection rising through the spear rising not only the rider but also the horse.

  

Origin
Most authors agree, that Africa was his homeland. The basilisk is always found in a desert. This is not because he enjoys living there, but because its breath and sight are so destructive that it turns any landscape in a sand desert.

The special characteristics of the Basilisk have led many to believe that the monster has arisen from nothing more than the tales of the Egyptian cobra, whose characteristics have, from oral transmission, been exaggerated. This cobra has a white marking on its head, powerful venom that he spits without the need to bite, and the ability to move with its head held upright. The mongoose, rather like a weasel, can kill cobras.

 

Symbol
It is almost always an icon of fear. In alchemical writings the basilisk played many roles. Sometimes it would fall into the realm of the fabulous salamander where it would be used to symbolize the destructive fire that preceded the transmutation of metals. In other works, the elixir, or Philosopher’s Stone, a potent and mysterious catalyst that was said to turn whatever it touched to gold, cure all ills, and confer eternal life was called the basilisk or cockatrice.

During the Renaissance, Christianity rediscovered the creature in the context of the Old Testament and used it sparsely as an emblem of the devil and sin.

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pegasus

Description
Pegasus is a winged white horse. Most often described as a large white stallion with wings, they have been a mainstay of fantasy art for generations.
Origin
Pegasus sprang from the blood of the Gorgon Medusa when the hero Perseus beheaded her.

 Role
Pegasus is the one that brings the thunder to Zeus.

Symbol
Pegasus' story became a favourite theme in Greek art and literature, and in late antiquity Pegasus' soaring flight was interpreted as an allegory of the soul's immortality; in modern times it has been regarded as a symbol of poetic inspiration.

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Phoenix

Description
There are many, many descriptions of this legendary bird. Al-Jili considers the phoenix a prime example of unseen things (such as God), which can only be understood through their names and attributes.

Some describe the phoenix as an eagle-sized bird; half eagle and half pheasant. Others say it is heron-like or a conglomeration of the most beautiful parts of all the birds in the world.

Its name comes from the Greek word for "purple" because the phoenix is associated with fire and the sun. It has been described as golden or multicolored. Some say it never eats. Others say it eats only dew. Most believe there is only one of its kind and it lives alone in Arabia or Ethiopia. All agree it is a bird of great beauty.

 

Powers
The Phoenix enjoys immortality, which had to be renewed with fire every 300 to 500 years. When the end of its life cycle drew near, the phoenix would gather aromatic herbs, woods, and spices from around the world with which to build its own funeral pyre or nest.

Sitting in the nest, and having turned to face the rays of the sun, beating its wings, it deliberately fans the flames for itself and is consumed in the fire. Once the old body was consumed, the phoenix would be reborn from a worm, its marrow, or an egg found among the ashes and would embark on another 500 years of life.

According to some legends, the renewed phoenix carried its old bones to the City of the Sun in Egypt where they were disposed of with special funeral rites.

 

Symbol
Wherever it is found, the phoenix is associated with resurrection, immortality, triumph over adversity, and that which rises out of the ashes. Thus it became a favorite symbol on early Christian tombstones.

In chapters 25-26 of his letter to the Corinthians, St. Clement, Bishop of Rome, upheld the legendary phoenix as an evidence of Christ's ability to accomplish the resurrection of the faithful. He quotes Job as saying, "Thou shalt raise up this flesh of mine, which has suffered all these things."

In numerous ways, the phoenix was found to be a symbol of Christ. In most countries, it was believed that only one phoenix lived at a time. It was born from itself without following the natural laws of reproduction. During the Middle Ages, it was believed to rise from the dead after three days.

Often, as an emblem of Christ, it was found with the palm tree (another symbol of resurrection) or carrying a palm branch (a symbol of triumph over death), or carrying an olive branch (a symbol of God's peace offered to humans).

The Phoenix is symbolic of rebirth, hope, purity, chastity, marriage, faith, constancy, summer, eternity, immortality, and light.

It is an image of the cosmic fire some believe the world began and will end in. The Taoists called it the "cinnabar bird." Romans placed the phoenix on coins and medals as an emblem of their desire for the Roman Empire to last forever.

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Werewolf

In popular folklore, a man who is transformed, or who transforms himself, into a wolf in nature and appearance under the influence of a full moon. The werewolf is only active at night and during that period, he devours infants and corpses. According to legend, werewolves can be killed by silver objects such as silver arrows and silver bullets. When a werewolf dies he is returned to his human form.
Origin
The word is a contraction of the old-Saxon word wer (which means "man") and wolf -- werwolf, manwolf. A Lycanthrope, a term often used to describe werewolves, however, is someone who suffers from a mental disease and only thinks he has changed into a wolf.

The concept of werewolves, or lycanthropes, is possibly based on the myth of Lycaon. He was the king of Arcadia, and in the time of the ancient Greeks notorious for his cruelty. He tried to buy the favor of Zeus by offering him the flesh of a young child. Zeus punished him for this crime and turned him into a wolf. The legends of werewolves have been told since the ancient Greeks and are known all over the world. In areas where the wolf is not so common, the belief in werewolves is replaced by folklore where men can change themselves in tigers, lions, bears and other fierce animals.

History
In the dark Middle Ages, the Church stigmatized the wolf as the personification of evil and a servant of Satan himself. The Church courts managed to put so much pressure on schizophrenics, epileptics and the mentally disabled, that they testified to be werewolves and admitted to receive their orders directly from Satan. After 1270 it was even considered heretical not to believe in the existence of werewolves.

The charge of being a werewolf disappeared from European courts around the 17th century, but only for the lack of evidence. The belief in werewolves, however, did not completely disappear. In Europe after 1600, it was generally believed that if there were no werewolves, then at least the wolf was a creature of evil. This resulted in an unjustified and negative image of the wolf; an image that most people still have today.

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Manticore

Description
Physically, the manticore was know as having the body of a red lion, the face and ears of a blue eyes human and a tail ending in a sting like that of a scorpion. The mouth contains three rows of teeth and poisoned spines along the tail could be shot, like arrows in any direction.

The manticore was also attributed with having a voice that was the mixture of pipes and a trumpet. The beast is very swift and makes very powerful leaps.

The manticore is reputed to roam in the jungles of India, and is known to have an appetite for humans. Like its cousin, the Sphinx, it would often challenge its prey with riddles before killing.

 image, image

 

Origin
The earliest accounts seem to be from Persian legend. The name itself is from the Old Persian martikhoras meaning 'man-eater'.

The earliest accounts of the existence of the manticore come from the Persian courts in the fifth century B.C., documented by Ctesias, a Greek physician at the Persian court. Greek and Roman authors (Aristotle, Pliny) described the beast the same way the Persians had.

 

Symbol
In the middle ages, the manticore was the emblem for the prophet Jeremia because the manticore lives in the depths of the earth and Jeremiah had been thrown into a dung pit.

At the same time, the manticore became the symbol of tyranny, disparagement and envy, and ultimately the embodiment of evil. As late as the 1930s it was still considered by the peasants of Spain, to be a beast of ill omen.
 
 
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Minotaur

 

Description
In Greek mythology, the Minotaur is a monstrous double, sometimes with the head of a bull and the body of a man or, conversely, with the body of a bull and the head of a man.

 Origins
This creature was born of Pasiphae, Minos' wife, the king of Crete and a white bull sent by Poseidon who was angry with Minos. Minos was so disgusted and embarrassed by his wife and the Minotaur that he ordered Daedalus to hide them. Daedalus built a maze called the Labyrinth where they were to live and never escape.

One of Minotaur's half brothers ordered that seven youths and seven maidens from Athens be let into the maze every ninth year to feed the Minotaur. The Minotaur survived by capturing and eating these youngsters because they could not find their way out of the maze.

The Minotaur is linked to the cult of the bull and the double axe in the primitive tribes of Crete.

Symbol
The myth of the Minotaur centers on the white bull, imprisoned in the labyrinth at Crete, which was created from the sea by Poseidon. Being neither fully human, animal, or god, the ambiguity of the figure of the Minotaur placed it outside the conventional bounds of norms of morals and reason. The monstrous double became important to the European surrealist movement because its mythology inscribed both the violence of the last sacrificial rites and cultural alterity (part bull/part man) as the foundational text of western society.

Albert Skeer's review, Minotaure, which appeared from 1933 to 1939, was not only an extraordinary demonstration of the surrealist imagination, but, in its privileging of the mythic figure of the minotaur as the principal theme of its covers (by Derain, Bores, Duchamp, Ernst, Miro, Dali, Matisse, Magritte, Masson, and Rivera).

Story
Theseus was aided by one of Minos' daughters, Ariane, who gave Theseus a magical ball of thread, made by Daedalus, to retrace his path once he found and killed the Minotaur.

Theseus was successful in his attempt in killing the Minotaur and escaping the Labyrinth. On the way back, Theseus abandoned Ariane on Naxos Island and provoked the death of his father, Egeus, because he forgot to put a white sail on his boat. Seeing a black sail, the king believed that his son has failed and been killed and in sign of despair throw himself into the sea.

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Sphinx

Description
There are three types of sphinx.

The androsphinx, the typical lion with a human face/head
The criosphinx, a ram-headed lion.
The hierocosphonx has the body of a lion and the head of a hawk.
Rarely was the Egyptian sphinx portrayed as a female. When it was, it symbolized Isis and/or the reigning queen. In Egypt the intellectual faculties ennobled the bestial traits present in the physical makeup of this creature.

But, in early Greek mythology, the bestial nature warped the mind and spirit of this being and it was portrayed as an unhappy monster, a symbol of the 'terrible mother'; the monster of death bringing extreme bad luck and the perversion of the intellect, womanhood, and power.

The Greek sphinx had the bust and head of a lady, the wings of an eagle, the body and legs of a lioness, and the tail of a snake or dragon. Sometimes it was portrayed with the body of a bull and the legs of a lion. Like many other fabulous beasts, the Greek sphinx was thought to live in the Ethiopian mountains.

The Assyrian sphinx looked quite different from the Egyptian one. It had a human head, wings, and the parts of a bull and a lion. Sometimes it had five legs instead of the usual four.

The Roman sphinx was a simple solar symbol.
 Nomadic Arabs, coming across the Great Sphinx in the Egyptian desert, referred to it as the "Father of Terrors."

Origins
The Sphinx is a legendary creature made up of both human and animal parts. This figure originated in Egypt and then spread, with many modifications, throughout the ancient world. Its name comes from the Greek "sphingo" which means "to strangle."

 

Role
The Egyptian androsphinx guarded pyramids, tombs, and sacred highways.

The Phoenicians and Syrians linked the sphinx to the guardian spirit lamassu and made it a symbol of rulership and the guardian of temples and palaces.

Symbol
The Egyptian androsphinx is a symbol of abundance, power, wisdom, mysteries, riddles, truth, unity, and secrets. Sometimes a pair of sphinx was pictured with the tree of Life as a symbol of fertility and conception. As a solar symbol, the sphinx is often associated with the sun god Ra; Horus in the Horizon; and Harmakhis, the Lord of the Two Horizons, who represents the rising and setting sun, rebirth, and resurrection. Androsphinx usually bear the face of the pharaoh who ordered their construction and symbolize the divine power and wisdom he used to rule and protect his people.

Since its form combines human and animal parts into one body, the sphinx usually symbolizes the union of mind and body or intellectual, spiritual, and physical strengths with varying results. It is also, when composed of four animals including a human, a symbol of the four elements - earth, wind, fire, and water. The Druids counted a many-breasted sphinx among their fertility and maternal symbols.

As the Lord of the Two Horizons, the androsphinx's dual nature came to reflect the dual nature of Christ who was both human and divine. Like many other solar symbols, the androsphinx was placed in or near early Christian graves as a representation of the divine Light of the World.

Sphinx composed of a man's head and chest, eagle's wings, a bull's hindquarters, and a lions' forequarters became symbols of the Biblical tetramorph and the four living creatures of Revelation. [Ezek 1:5-14; Rev. 4:6-8] These in turn represent the cherubim; the four Evangelists and their Gospels - Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John; the four kings of the created world - the lion (king of the jungle), the eagle (king of the air), the bull (king of the farm), and man (king of creation); and, according to St. Jerome, Christ's Incarnation (the man), His Passion (the bull), His Resurrection (the Lion), and His Ascension (the eagle).

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Yeti

The Abominable Snowman of the Himalayas. In 1951, an expedition found a track on the Menlung Glacier between Tibet and Nepal, at an altitude of 6000 meters. The footprints they saw were 33 cm by 45 cm and were made by a foot which has 5 toes of which the inner toes were larger than the others. The heel was flat and exceptionally broad. The track itself appeared to be fresh so the footprints were not enlarged by melting snow. This was clearly shown by the many photographs they took. Although there were many doubts about these photographs, if they were believed to be true at all. But those who did belief were certain that was not made by any known animal.

Origin
The people of Nepal call it a "rakshasa" which is Sanskrit for "demon". According to them, stories of its existence date back to the 4th century BCE; references to the Yeti are found in a poem called 'Rama and Sita'. It has regularly been sighted since 1832. Yeti means "magical creature". The name 'The Abominable Snowman' however, was given to it by western newspapers who wanted to give their readers the feeling of terror which the creature supposedly causes in the valleys, crevices and glaciers of the Himalayas.

According to legends, there are three species: the Rimi (some 2,5 m), the Nyalmot (4,5 m) and the Raksi-Bombo (1,5 m). In spite of differences in size, the species have a general resemblance. The Yeti has reddish hair (although others claim it is gray), smells terrible and it is very strong (it throws boulders as if they were pebbles). It makes an ululating or whistling sound, and is sometimes heard roaring like a lion. The Yeti is rumored to be very fond of strong alcoholic drinks.

There are many uncertainties about its origin, whether it exists or not. Some say that the Yeti is a descendant of a race of giant apes, the 'gigantophitecus' who retreated into the Himalayas some 500.000 years ago. Another theory is that the Yetis are descendant of the A-o-re, an ancient people that fled into the mountains to escape their enemies. In the following millennia, they degraded to a race of monstrous creatures. Skeptics say that the tracks were made by ordinary animals like a bear or an ape.

Expeditions
Of the many expeditions set out to find it, was also that of Sir Edmund Hillary, the first ever to climb the Mount Everest. He funded this expedition himself, for he and his guide Tenzing Norgay had seen footprints of a Yeti on a previous expedition. Unfortunately, his expedition was as unsuccessful as those who had gone before. However, he brought back with him a borrowed artifact: the upper half of the skull of a Yeti. This scalp came from the Khumjung Gompa (monastery) in Nepal where it is kept as a relic. It is some 300 years old, 20 cm high and has a circumference of 65 cm. Scientists said it belonged to a serow (mountain goat) which lives in eastern Asia.

There have been many other expeditions, but on none of those they got so much as even a glimpse of the creature. However, just like the 1951 expedition, they found tracks of the Yeti, and made casts of its footprints. The lack of evidence did not keep the government of Nepal from officially declaring the Yeti to exist in 1961. It became their national symbol, and an important source of income. There are even stamps of the creature.

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