The image of the unicorn is firmly entrenched in modern society as a symbol of cuteness, magic and children's birthdays.
However, this was not always the unicorn! For the first time this beloved character of instabloggers and five-year-old girls was mentioned already in the 4th century BC - and then he was not at all cute. Since then, he has evolved from a bloodthirsty monster into a cute animal that brings peace and serenity, and then into a symbol of Jesus Christ.
Over the centuries, the meaning and image of the unicorn image has undergone many changes and has survived. But how did this happen?
Ferocious beasts and where do they come from
The first written mention of unicorns is found in the Indica, a book written by the Greek historian Ctesias in 398 BC, in which he described Indian monsters, large as a horse, and with one horn on their forehead.
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There are assumptions of researchers that Ctesias described Indian rhinos. The unicorn horn, he wrote, became a panacea for those who regularly drank from it.
In the first century AD, referring to Ctesias, the Roman philosopher and naturalist Pliny (Natural History, 77 AD) wrote that the unicorn is the most ferocious monster in India - with the body of a horse, the head of a deer, the legs of an elephant, the tail a wild boar and one horn growing from its forehead.
Pliny also supplemented the description of the animal with a quality that acquired incredible importance in the Middle Ages: it is impossible to catch it alive.
A century later, the Roman scholar Elian compiled a book on animals based on the writings of Pliny. In his book On the Nature of Animals, Elian wrote that the unicorn becomes very affectionate to his chosen one during the mating period.
The sudden tremor of a unicorn that arises next to the chosen female became an important feature of this animal for the authors and artists of the Middle Ages: they believed that only a virgin could catch a unicorn.
Despite detailed descriptions by the Greeks and Romans, very little was known about unicorns until the Middle Ages. To appear before the general public, the creature had to go beyond the libraries and begin to figure in everyday events and popular culture, that is, to take its place in Christianity.
Lost in translation
In the third century AD, the unicorn finally appeared in religious texts, albeit by accident.
Somewhere between 300 and 200 A. D. 70 Greek scholars came together to translate the Old Testament into Koine (a common form of Greek). In the process of translation, scientists confused two Hebrew words: "ox" and "unicorn", as a result of which the biblical references to the ox turned into references to the unicorn.
The appearance of unicorns in a text of this meaning has led to a massive obsession with the creature, which has been reflected in literary and visual art from the early Middle Ages to the present day.
By the 12th century, the one-horned animal began to be associated with the description given in the "Bestiary" - a collection of cautionary stories about monsters. One of the most popular books of the Middle Ages, The Bestiary often associated Christ with the unicorn.
Illustrations referring to textual references to the unicorn in the Bible and medieval bestiaries often used this animal as an allegory.
For example, instead of portraying Jesus Christ as a man, artists painted horses and goats with one horn sticking out of their heads. Thus, this medieval legend became the starting point from which the intricate myth of the one-horned animal began to travel around Europe.
Modern images of the unicorn have undergone minor changes since the Middle Ages. So, for example, the image of the unicorn from the tapestries "Lady with the Unicorn", which are in the State Museum of the Middle Ages in Paris, is similar to Rarity and Princess Celestia from the cartoon My Little Pony.
Images of unicorns continued to appear in literature, film and television throughout the 20th century, but interest in them increased markedly in the 2010s.
Instagram star
Social networks helped lure the magical creature into reality - the one-horned horse looks great both as emoji and among rainbows on Instagram. And even in 2015, National Unicorn Day was established - April 9.
Unicorns as a search term peaked in April 2017, at the same time Starbucks introduced the Unicorn Frappuccino and thus launched the trend of adding glitter and rainbow colors to food and drinks.
Now unicorns are sold to children and adults in the form of images on cups and T-shirts, key rings and stuffed toys. Modern social media platforms like Instagram make us show prettier, retouched versions of our lives - and the unicorn with his bio is a great symbol for this ideology.