Table of contents:
Video: Did dragons, basilisks, unicorns, and other animals mentioned in the Bible actually exist?
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
Unicorns, basilisks, dragons - those with whom Harry Potter was friends or fought, those mythical, fabulous creatures that are mentioned in the legends of different nations, deserve close attention and study - because at least some of them appear in no less Holy Scripture. Does this mean that they existed in reality, and then disappeared for some unknown reason? Or is there another explanation?
Basilisks and dragons
That's right: in the biblical texts, this seemingly mythical snake, capable of killing with a glance (as an option, also with poison and smell), really appears. The basilisk is discussed in Psalm 90 (“you will step on the asp and the basilisk; you will trample the lion and the dragon” - 1.13), in the Book of Isaiah, in Deuteronomy. In biblical texts, the basilisk is a rather unpleasant creature, associated primarily with dangers and troubles. It is mentioned along with the asp, so if the basilisk existed in reality, it would probably have to be attributed to the family of asps, poisonous snakes, to which the cobra also belongs.
Greek mythology tells about the basilisk: this snake, small in length, is supposed to have arisen from a drop of blood of the slain Gorgon Medusa, which also had miraculous powers in the sense of sight. Following the Greeks, the Romans also believed in the existence of the basilisk, and the Egyptians believed that this snake, in addition to everything, was immortal. The myth happily survived the Middle Ages, supplementing the stories about the basilisk: it allegedly hatches from an egg laid by a rooster. Among the Slavs, by the way, the basilisk itself looks like a rooster - with dragon wings, tiger claws, a lizard's tail and an eagle's beak, covered with black scales, with a red crown on its head.
The crown here is not accidental, the very name "basilisk" is derived from the Greek "king". This, by the way, made it possible to propose candidates from the real animal world who could become a prototype for this biblical snake. One of them is a horned viper, on the head of which there are growths that vaguely resemble a crown.
Of the close-minded "relatives" of the basilisk mentioned in the Bible, it is worth mentioning the dragon - almost three dozen times his name is found in the Holy Scriptures. The dragon is also a serpent, it personifies evil, deceit, destruction. In general, a serpent, a basilisk, a dragon - all this is quite close to a concept that is not directly mentioned in the Bible: it is "one who cannot be called" in the guise of a reptile, which is reproduced in modern literature by the English writer.
Of the same "breed" of biblical animals - Leviathan, which is referred to in the Book of Job, the Book of Psalms and the Book of Isaiah, as a sea monster and a "bending serpent". By the way, Leviathan, according to the Old Testament texts, is a being without a pair, since its presence would create an even greater danger for humanity and for the world.
Unicorns and hippos
Another animal that is paradoxically mentioned in the pages of biblical texts is the unicorn. In the Scriptures, it is referred to as a real-life beast, however, the description of the unicorn is not given there. For modern man, as, indeed, for many generations of his ancestors, a unicorn is a horse, usually white, with a long horn on its forehead. The biblical texts report about the unicorn only in the context of his actions, or the actions of a person in relation to him. ("Will the unicorn want to serve you and sleep at your manger?" - Job, 39). The unicorn chose to leave Eden with Adam and Eve, although he had the opportunity to stay in the Garden of Eden. Something similar happened to another animal, which, however, is not mythical for the Russian-speaking reader. This is a hippopotamus, first mentioned in the Bible.
Generally speaking, it is not known who exactly was discussed in the book of Job - again, this is just the name of the “beast,” an animal, without any positive or negative connotation. The one who all over the world bears the name of hippopotamus, “river horse” from Greek, is also called hippopotamus in Russian, in other languages this word refers only to the biblical text and does not have the usual meaning.
Did they exist or not?
How did it happen that the text, which is considered the main one in the history of mankind, contains indications of the same animals that appear in children's fairy tales and fantasy novels and whose real existence is not supported by any evidence? Or are medieval authors right - considering all these creatures once existed in reality?
The Bible really mentions a multitude of animals - no wonder that in the several thousand years that have passed after the creation of the Old and New Testaments, the fauna of the Earth has undergone changes and some of the species of animals, reptiles, birds have become extinct, remaining unknown to modern man. And yet, the real reason that unicorns, basilisks and others got into sacred texts is different. Most of the Bible texts are known in translation made into Greek in the 3rd - 1st centuries. BC. ("Septuagint") and in Latin in the IV-V centuries. ("Vulgate"). There, in translations, one can find those initial mentions of mythical animals, which later turned out to be in subsequent translations, already from Greek and Latin.
Perhaps, when reading texts in Hebrew, the authors of the translations associated what was written with those animals that they knew about from their own cultural experience, and given that in ancient Greece they quite confidently told stories about Medusa and a basilisk, they considered not only horses with a horn in the middle of their foreheads to really exist, but also flying, and even with a human torso, the choice of the wording seems more understandable. In addition, in cases where, for artistic reasons, it was required to describe an animal not just terrible, but terrible, not just dangerous, but personifying all the evil of the world, it was not enough to mention, for example, a crocodile - no, a dragon or a leviathan was required.
In later translations, Bible texts often no longer contained references to "mythical" fauna. The unicorn disappeared, instead of it we began to talk about the "bison", and the "hippopotamus" was replaced by the "beast". Symbols and allegories did not disappear - they were simply brought into conformity with the new well-known ideas about the world around us. The text, once recorded through the prism of ancient mythology and the Middle Ages, has undergone changes, which is not surprising.
Continuing the theme of mythical animals, the story of where did the myth of the unicorn come from, and why the mysterious animal turned pink.
Recommended:
What do scientists know about the gardens of Semiramis: Did there ever exist someone who created them and other facts about one of the wonders of the world?
Which of the wonders of the ancient world are usually called on the fly, without preparation? It is unlikely that all seven, but in the first place on the list, most likely, will be the pyramid of Cheops, and in the second or third, certainly ahead of the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus and the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, the Gardens of Semiramis will appear. And how can one forget this - a huge green mountain with terraces on which pear and pomegranate, grapes and figs grow, and all this is in the city in the middle of the desert! The history of these gardens, however, is vague: it is very likely that both they and themselves
Did fighting dolphins actually exist in the USSR and what did they do?
Battle dolphins are not a myth at all. In the Soviet years, such animals really "served" in the Navy. They were trained to detect saboteurs and mines, to patrol the territory. A secret base for training dolphins has successfully existed in Sevastopol for decades. After the collapse of the USSR, the training of animals and the study of their unique abilities had to be curtailed. Now the training of fighting dolphins has been resumed
10 sunken cities that, unlike Atlantis, actually exist
When it comes to sunken cities, most people immediately think of Atlantis. Although today scientists have not come to a consensus on whether there was an Atlantean civilization, there are many other sunken cities on the planet that are absolutely real. In this review, the sunken cities that can be seen in the depths of the sea
Why did the Bear actually steal Masha and other secrets of folk tales about girls in the forest?
Wherever the forest grows, girls of different nations live. But not all peoples have a fairy tale about a girl (or rather, a very young girl) in the forest. There is a theory that such tales appeared where women in society were more or less significant, visible and active - after all, this is a tale about initiation, and a trip to the forest is a form of initiation, which emphasizes that a girl should be able to act independently. In other cases, tales are told about girls in a tower or a mansion - such an initiation is popular with
Father and son paint wild animals: lions, bears, wolves and other animals on the canvases of animal painters
The world of wild nature is mysterious and unique, and we know about it only thanks to the painstaking work of its researchers. Father and son Montana animal artists, Daniel and Adam Smith, also contribute to the wild animals that live in the wild. Their art carries not only artistic value, but also raises topical environmental issues