The Unicorn: III. The Unicorn In Archaic Art

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SECTION III.

THE UNICORN IN ARCHAIC ART.

A UNICORNIC animal frequently appears in archaic art, but whilst asserting that all non-natural animal-figures or partly human figures when used in a religious connexion are symbolical, I do not for a moment contend that all unicornic animal-figures represent the moon; but merely that the creature whose form is familiar to us in heraldry, a kind of horse-stag or antelope, is a lunar emblem. Thus on a Babylonian Cylinder 1 representing Bel encountering Tiamat, who, whatever else she may represent, is the Dragon of Chaos, the monster who rises on her hind legs, has a beak, crest, wings and a single horn; and is altogether very similar to one of the Seven Wicked Spirits that make war against the Moon-god Sin, as the representative of kosmic order. 2 This latter

1 Tiamat herself is elsewhere represented as two-horned. 2 The horn has various meanings in symbolism, 3 the majority of which are not of a lunar character. But the following examples of the Unicorn, its allies, and opponents, are, in my opinion, certainly more or less connected with lunar symbolism;—

I. On an Assyrian sardonyx Seal in the Louvre Museum, 4 is represented a crowned personage, behind whom is a serpent erect on its tail; his right hand grasps a dagger, and his left the horn of a Unicorn-goat, standing on its hind legs with the fore legs bent and head turned from him, the mouth touching the conventional Tree; above the animal, the crescent moon. The King (?) is about to slay the Unicorn, beneath the fore legs of which is a lozenge. With this design must be considered;—

II. Another Babylonian Gem figured by Lajard, 5 on which is shown the king in the same attitude,

1 towards the Tree, as in No. I. The goat's two horns are close together so as to form but one, and beneath its fore legs is a figure composed of two crescent moons addorsed and fastened together. All the animals are salient. With both these designs let us consider;—

III. An Assyrian Cylinder 2 of great interest, said to portray 'Merodach, or Bel, armed for the conflict with the Dragon;' but which I prefer to call 'The Sun-god and the Moon-god arranging the preservation of Kosmic Order.' On each side of the representation is a palm-tree; in front of the one on the right hand Merodach ('the Brilliance-of-the-Sun') stands fully armed, on a leopard-like animal, 3 and

1 by what seem to be handles. Beyond the Unicorns is a second Palm-tree. The unarmed Moon commissions the warrior Sun to go forth to the great contest.

In all three instances we find the Unicorn, the Crescent-moon, and the Tree. 2 In the first two representations the Unicorn is being attacked and overcome by a personage whose crown and attire are very similar to those of Merodach. The type is evidently a familiar one; the Unicorn's horn in each case almost touches the Tree, to which its head always turns. In No. II. the Man-goat strives with the Man; the Goat, the reduplication of the former, does not: there is sometimes peace between the Unicorn and its assailant, and sometimes war. In No. III. the Leopard, which, as it could be trained to hunt, was a fit type of

1 His right hand grasps the wrist of an androkephalik winged animal rampant, with human hands but lion's feet; his left hand grasps the right fore foot of a winged Unicorn, rampant, with hoofs. 2

V. Variant phase. 3 A similar personage, but without wings, stands in the same attitude between two semi-human, Dagonic (semi-piscine) figures, one of which has a large eye, the other has apparently its cap drawn down over the eye. To the right is the winged circle (not solar), the familiar type of the head of the Assyrian Pantheon. 4

1 A similar personage between two androkephalik, winged, rampant animals. To the right the Moon-god in his crescent boat above the Sacred Tree. 2 The helmet of the creature next the Moon-god is horned.

In this representation I think we have the Demiurge Bel, whose eldest son in the formal Pantheon is Sin, the Moon-god, making a covenant between the Sun and Moon for the preservation of kosmic order. 3 The second creature in No. VI. is a reduplication of the Moon-god, whose introduction in his crescent 4 gives the key to the symbolism, whilst preserving the secret of it. The Moon-god, as 'Lord of growth,' 5 is stationed immediately over the Tree of Life. Both Sun and Moon are sea divinities as in No. V. 6 If this interpretation be correct we have the lunar Unicorn (No. V.) as the equivalent of the lunar fish and the lunar androkephalik animal.

1 is represented the sun radiate, a large crescent moon, and between the two a small circle—perhaps the planet Venus, whilst below are two rude heads of a unicorn bull and cow. 2

VIII. A Unicorn-bull stands near the Sacred Tree, on the other side of which is a priest with a knife. 3

IX. The well-known bas-relief at Persepolis called 'Lion devouring a Bull,' is in reality 'Lion attacking a Unicorn.' The latter animal, semi-rampant and regardant, and with only one large horn, is seized behind by the lion. On this group Professor Rawlinson remarks;—

'This is a representation of a lion seizing and devouring a bull; the latter animal is evidently powerless to offer any resistance to the fierce beast which has sprung upon him from behind. 4 In his agony the bull rears up his fore-parts, and turns his head feebly towards his assailant. . . .This favourite group, which the Persian sculptors repeated without the slightest change from generation to generation.' 5 The design was favourite because highly archaic and symbolical. No man has ever seen a lion attack a unicorn, but the contest between sun and moon, between day and night, was watched from the first with the closest interest. Sun and moon may equally combine

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X. A Persian Cylinder 2 shows the Unicorn-goat held in the arms of a divinity; 3 opposite is the sun radiate.

XI. Another Assyrian scene from Layard 4 shows a man adoring a winged Unicorn-bull, above which appear the sun radiate, the crescent moon, and also the seven planets. It will be remembered that the Unicorn-stag is the creature which I regard as especially lunar; the representation shows how familiar is the idea of a Unicorn.

XII. 'Tree of Life, between two Gryphons.' 5 This cylinder-scene represents the Sacred Tree 6 between two winged Unicorns (not Gryphons) rampant, each turned towards it. The Tree is of the archaic palm-type. With this may be compared the two Unicorns and the Palm in No. III.

XIII. 'Cow 7 and calf before a tree; over them the Sun and Planets. The representation of the animal presents a striking analogy to that of the bull

1 The seal in question shows the Unicorn-cow (or bull) with the usual prominent (lunar) eye, before the tree; and, as frequently, regardant. 2 The horned moon it will of course be remembered, is frequently connected with the bull or cow, indeed more frequently than with the Unicorn; and the Bull and Cow, emblems of increase, are also connected with Night as a period of growth. The nocturnal Sun, too, is at times bovine; in contradistinction to the diurnal and leonine Sun. 3 We must expect to find frequently a mixture of ideas in a symbolical representation. This Unicorn-cow (if a cow it be) seems, as shown by the calf, to be kosmogonic as well as lunar; but the old attitude of the head, the prominent eye, the single horn and the tree are still preserved. 'The maiden unicorn' can have no calf; but the Old Moon is at times seen in the Young Moon's arms, 4 i.e., when in addition to the sun-lit portion of the moon, the obscure portion is faintly visible on account of the reflection of the 'earth-shine;' called lumen incinerosum, a Cinderella-moon.

XIV. It is convenient to notice next the archaic coinage of Sybaris referred to by Mr. King. Sybaris was colonised from Achaia, B.C. 721, and the coins in question may be placed prior to B.C. 600. Leake

1 As in previous instances no attention is paid to the circumstance that the animal, whatever else it may be, is a unicorn, in this case a unicorn-bull. I do not absolutely assert that it is a lunar emblem; but it is certainly a link in the chain of unicornic representations, and has faithfully preserved the regardant attitude. As one of a series it is quite unconnected with the river Crathis, a circumstance also shown by the fact that this class of symbolical river-representations were not unicornic but purely bovine with respect to the head, such as that of the Acheloös, one of whose horns was broken off in his contest with Heraklês. 2

XV. The demi-Unicorn-bull alone, and also the heads of the Lion and Unicorn-bull fronting each other, as if combatant, appear on coins of Kypros. Archaic coins of Sardis also show the Demi-lion and Demi-bull (not Unicorn-bull), the same type, combatant. On another coin of Sardis the demi-Unicorn-bull appears alone. 3

XVI. Another Sardian coin shows the heads of the Lion and Unicorn-bull addorsed and joined at the neck, a fore foot of each being added. This type, is almost certainly borrowed from Persia; at Persepolis the double Unicorn-bull-capital appears, the bodies of the

1 This is probably ornamentation as distinct from symbolism.

XVII. Unicornic monsters are also shown on Persian gems, cylinders, and sculptures. These creatures, however, are not lunar, but reproductions of the Akkadian and Assyrian evil-spirits, Tiamat and her brood, who often attack the Moon-god. 'One of them has the griffin head, a feathered crest and neck, a bird's wings, a scorpion's tail, 2 and legs terminating in the claws of an eagle.' 3

XVIII. A very interesting Assyrian or Babylonian Cylinder given by Creuzer 4 from Ker Porter and Guigniaut, shows above in the centre the Supreme Divinity, having the crescent moon and seven planets on his right hand, and the eight-rayed radiate sun on his left. Beneath the crescent stands the Moon-god armed, 'auf ein ungeflügeltes Einhorn [Unicorn] tretend.' 5 Before him stands the figure of a votary, behind whom and beneath the Divinity is the Sacred Tree, beyond which and beneath the sun is the figure of the Sun-god armed, and holding over the Tree what is apparently a necklet. A cuneiform inscription

1 he stands upon his crescent.

XIX. The Assyrian sculptures show many representations of unicornic animals, e.g.:—

1. Assurnatsirpal hunting Wild Bulls (about B.C. 884), North West Palace, Nimrud. Two bulls are represented, each with a single large horn.

2. Assyrian Oxen (Koyunjik). 2

3. The Ibex or Gazelle. 3

4. The familiar representation of a small Fallow-deer, carried by a branch-bearing divinity. This treatment is apparently partly conventional, but I do not think with Sir G. Wilkinson 4 that the sculptors represented under the form of the Unicorn-bull the Rhinoceros of which they had only heard, since widely different animals are so portrayed. Some representations show the two horns of the Ibex.

XX. A Cylinder, 'found on the site of Nineveh,' 5 shows above the emblem of divinity, sun, crescent-moon, and seven planets, as in No. XVIII. Below, a

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2. The head of a Unicorn-bull at the end of a chariot-pole, on which are also carved two winged Unicorn-bulls respectant. 2

3. A Unicorn-ibex above a lotus-flower, from the royal cylinder of Sennacherib.

XXII. D’Hancarville 3 and Taylor the Editor of Calmet's Dictionary of the Bible, 4 give the following unicornic coin-types, said to be Mardian;— 5

1. A coin from Hunter's collection. A composite animal with one horn, a bull's body and legs, wings, and human head, upon which the modius (corn-measure), a usual adjunct of Serapis, whose cult was introduced into Egypt from Sinope. 6 Rev. The Triquetra.

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XXIII. Lion pulling down a Unicorn-bull. 2 Calcedony. Of this example Mr. King remarks, 'The technique of this intaglio is altogether Assyrian, and the subject justifies the conclusion that it is of Phoenician workmanship.'

XXIV. 'The conjoined fore-quarters of two Winged [Unicorn-] Bulls.' 3 Mr. King adds, 'Probably to be understood as an astrological talisman, allusive to the Sign Taurus. Sard scarabeus.' The zodiacal Taurus, however, is not unicornic, and the type is the same as that of the Persepolitan capitals, which are certainly not zodiacal. It is singular how rarely those who reproduce these representations have noticed their unicornic character.

XXV. The coins of Samos show a very interesting type;—A lion's scalp, lion's head, or lion's head with open mouth. Rev. (of the first type) Demi-unicorn-bull.

1 'the Gaper,' a solar divinity like the Apollôn Kechenôs of Elis; 2 the open-mouthed Lion being a type of the raging, devouring Sun, Athamas. 3 The coin-type thus represented Day and Night, the Lion and the Unicorn, or the Sun and Moon.

XXVI. The Unicorn-bull, in one instance regardant, appears also upon some Kretan coins. 'The circumstance of a single horn [as shown on various coins] perplexed the learned medallist Pelerin, who remarked it, without being able to offer any explanation of it.' 4 Kretan coins show various Semitic types, e.g., 'l’arbre cosmique, identique à l’arbre de vie.' 5

XXVII. On the cup of Kourion 6 in Kypros are shown, amongst other devices, two unicorn-goats, each standing on one side of some conventional object, and with one fore foot resting upon it. The twisted horn in each case is near the Tree, whose type is well reproduced at the present time by the trees in toy Noah's arks.

XXVIII. The Unicorn also occurs in 'early [Egyptian] paintings;' but, according to Sir G. Wilkinson,

1 Yet at the same time we find a Unicorn-antelope depicted, 2 the animal couchant, the horn long and straight, and the tail standing straight up in an unnatural manner, in exactly the same way as the tail of the Kamic Gryphon is represented, 3 an additional circumstance in illustration of the fact that the representation is symbolical. The sound of the Unicorn-ideograph is given as 'St., Typhon,' and that of the Gryphon as 'Baru, Baal; Set, Typhon.' Now 'Set ou Soutekh personnifie l’ardeur et la force redoutable du soleil'—Gryphon; but as the 'meurtrier d’Osiris, il est le dieu du mal et personnifie les ténèbres,' 4 and may thus be connected with the nocturnal unicorn. Sir G. Wilkinson observes, 'Many animals are introduced in the sculptures, . . . some of which are purely the offspring of disordered imagination; and the winged quadrupeds, sphinxes, or lions, with the head of a. hawk or of a snake, and some others equally fanciful and unnatural, can only be compared to the creations of heraldry.' 5 A 'disordered imagination' should be the last thing appealed to in explanation of such creations; in the abstract the same explanation might be given of the forms of the gods; and it is much more probable to suppose that some reason, symbolical or otherwise, underlies the efforts of the artist.

1 is shown the familiar Unicorn-cow or Ox, in duplicate, as usual regardant, and each with a calf; but, as has sometimes been remarked on similar representations, no udder is shown. 2 The design is evidently symbolical, though it is by no means improbable that by the time it got as far west as Mykênê the original meaning was forgotten or unknown. But we have already met on Assyrian ground 3 with the peculiar type of two Unicorns standing opposite each other with reverted heads, and the circumstance is a link between the art of Mykênê and that of the non-Aryan East. We must, in accordance with previous interpretation, regard the two calves as representing the new moon and the full moon, which draw their strength from the decreasing and increasing crescent moon, the animal being represented as male in accordance with the sex of the Moon-god.

XXX. Another remarkable gold ornament is described by Schliemann as 'two stags lying down, with long three-branched horns, leaning with the necks against each other, and turning the head in opposite directions [like the Assyrian Unicorn-goats in No. III.], but so that the horns of both touch each other, and seem intended to form a sort of crown.' 4 Here again

1 The eye, too, is very prominent. 2

XXXI. Another example given by Schliemann 3 shows two spotted, couchant, bull-like, prominent-eyed Unicorns, the horn in each case being treated exactly as in the last example, their necks touching, but the head of each reverted in the usual special manner.

XXXII. The next example from Schliemann 4 shows a queer-looking animal with the head of an ass, and bear's paws, and one long horn with several tines. It is described as 'a Stag, of an alloy of silver and lead.'

XXXIII. Lion and Unicorn fighting (?). 5

The above instances by no means exhaust the appearances of the Unicorn in archaic art, and at the same time show that the idea of such a creature was familiar in Babylonia, Assyria, Egypt, Asia Minor and Greece. Many points in the representations will become more suggestive in the course of the enquiry; meanwhile it may be noticed as a general result that;—

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Footnotes

14:1 Smith, C.A.G. 109.

14:2 For a comparison between the Babylonian and Norse ideas on this subject, vide R. B. Jr., R.M.A., sec. xiv. The Seven Wicked Spirits of the Babylonian myth may be paralleled exactly with Seven Evil Personages of the Norse mythology, thus;—

BABYLONIAN.	NORSE.
Scorpion-of-rain.	Midhgardhsormer (the World-encircling Serpent, primarily cast from heaven as rain).
Thunderbolt.	Angurbodha ('Messenger of fear'). Leopard.	Fenrir (the nocturnal Wolf).
Serpent.	Nidhoggr ('Gnawing-serpent').
Watch-dog.	Garmr ('Swallower,' the hell-hound).
Tempest.	Beli ('Roarer')-Loki (Fire).
Evil-wind.	Egdir ('Eagle.' Aquila-aquilo).

I am unable here to pursue this very interesting subject (vide Lenormant, Les Origines, 520; Smith, C.A.G., 99 et seq.).

15:1 Smith, C.A.G. 101.

15:2 Ibid. 114.

15:3 Vide R. B. Jr., G.D.M., cap. IX. sec. iii., Taurokerôs.

15:4 Vide Lajard, Culte de Mithra, pl. xlvii.

15:5 Apud Inman, Ancient Faiths, i. 150.

16:1 I do not always use this term in its strictest sense, i.e., looking towards the sinister.

16:2 C.A.G. 112.

16:3 This animal may be one of the hunter-god's 'four divine dogs,' Ukkumu ('Despoiler'), Akkulu ('Devourer'), Iksuda ('Capturer'), and Iltebu ('Carrier-away'). For the Sun-god to be dog-attended is no novelty. Vide the Vedic Yams (R. B. Jr., R.M.A., Appendix C. 5). It is to be observed that this conventional position, standing on an animal, reappears further west, e.g., at Pterion, in Asia Minor (vide Waring, Ceramic Art in Remote Ages, pl. xxxix, fig. 16), where a figure said to be the goddess Anaitis, holding a crescent-topped staff and accompanied 17:1 As to the triple aspect of the moon, vide secs. VI., IX.

17:2 For the connexion between the Unicorn and the Tree, vide sec. XII., subsec. 3.

18:1 No. III.

18:2 C.A.G. 35.

18:3 Lajard, Culte de Vénus, pl. xxii. fig. 3. A. carnelian cylinder.

18:4 Vide Prof, Rawlinson, A.M. ii.

19:1 A cylinder (ap. King, A.G.R. vol. ii. pl. ii. fig. 6).

19:2 Vide sec. XII. subsec. 3.

19:3 Vide No. III.

19:4 Vide a similar figure in Prof. Rawlinson's A.M. ii. 16.

19:5 The Akkadian Enzuna, the waxing-moon. Cf. Deut. xxxiii. 14; 'The precious things put forth by the moon.'

19:6 Cf. the solar voyager Kibirra-Izdubar, the golden Phoenician Chrysôr, who 'was the first man who fared in ships;' Melqarth, the solar Tyrian hero, who sails to the farthest regions of the West (vide G.D.M. cap. XI. sec. i.); the Aryan Fish-sun (Apollôn Delphinios), Frog-sun, etc. So 'when the sun had set Oannês used to retire again into the sea, and pass the night in the deep' (Alexander Polyhistor, ap. Cary, Ancient Fragments, 56). The Zodiacal Capricorn, which appears portrayed much as at present on a uranographic Babylonian stone of the twelfth century B.C. now in the British Museum (vide Professor Rawlinson, A.M. ii. 574), originally represented the Fish-sun climbing goat-like up the eastern steep.

20:1 Lajard, Culte de Vénus, pl. iii. fig. 8.

20:2 Vide No. XXII. 2.

20:3 Layard, ap. Inman, Ancient Faiths, vol. i. fig. 66.

20:4 Vide sec. XII. subsec. 2.

20:5 A.M. iii. 339-40.

21:1 This contest between Day and Night, is shown farther west on coins of Akanthos, where the lion-sun seizes the bull of night which is apparently unicornic. In later idea the design embraces the contest between the principles of destruction and renewal (vide G.D.M. i. 387).

21:2 A.M. 354.

21:3 Vide No. XIX. 4.

21:4 Ap. King, A.G.R. vol. ii. pl. i. fig. 1.

21:5 Ibid. fig. 7.

21:6 Perhaps this tree may, as Mr. King suggests, have been also originally connected with the cult of the Vedic Soma, the Iranian Haoma, the Omomi of Plutarch, and the Horn of Anquetil du Perron (vide R. B. Jr., G.D.M. cap. IX. sec. ii. Theoinos).

21:7 On the question whether a cow or a bull is represented, and why, vide No. XXIX.

22:1 King, A.G.R. vol. ii. pl. ii. fig. 4.

22:2 Vide Nos. II. III. IX.

22:3 Vide G.D.M. cap. IX. sec. iii. Taurokerôs.

22:4

'Late late yestreen I saw the new moone
Wi’ the auld moone in hir arme.'
(Ballad of Sir Patrick Spens, 7.)

23:1 Numismata Hellenica, ii. 144.

23:2 Vide G.D.M. i. 388.

23:3 Vide Humphrey, Coin Collectors’ Manual, pl. i. figs. 2, 4, 5. He well observes, 'the type of the bull and lion would appear to have been derived from Persia or Assyria' (vol. i. 13).

24:1 Vide Rawlinson, A.M. iii. fig. 87, p. 305.

24:2 This is a specially interesting feature; the Scorpion, as I have shown elsewhere (The Archaic Solar-Cult of Egypt), was originally a type of darkness. The darkness in archaic idea first stings the Sun to death, and then when kosmic order is realised, guards it. This is the basis of the Akkadian myth of the giant 'Scorpion-men' found by Izdubar. 'At the rising of the sun and the setting of the sun, they guard the sun' (Izdubar Tablets, No. ix., ap. Smith, C.A.G. 250).

24:3 Rawlinson, A.M. iii. 334.

24:4 Symbolik, vol. v. fig. 8.

24:5 Vide p. 16, note 3.

25:1 Vide a Cylinder (A.M. ii. 16).

25:2 Ibid. i. 351.

25:3 Ibid. i. 521.

25:4 Rawlinson, Herod. ii. 225.

25:5 Rich, Second Memoir on Babylon, fig. 11.

26:1 Rawlinson, A.M. i. 265.

26:2 Ibid. 408.

26:3 Recherches, vol. i. pl. xv.

26:4 Vol. v. In voc. Taurus.

26:5 Vide R. B. Jr., G.D.M. i. 390. The Mardians were a Persian tribe (Herod. i. 125), whose name, according to Sir H. C. Rawlinson, signifies 'heroes,' and who occupied the mountain range south of Persepolis (vide Prof. Rawlinson, Herod. i. 345).

26:6 Vide G.D.M. ii. 122 et seq. In voc. Serapis.

27:1 Vide sec. IX.

27:2 A.G.R. vol. ii. pl. liii, fig. 1.

27:3 Ib. pl. xvi. fig. 1.

28:1 Aelianus, Peri Zôôn, vii. 48.

28:2 Clem. Alex. Protrept. ii. 38.

28:3 As to Athamas, vide G.D.M. i. 247 et seq. Sir G. W. Cox, whose candour is equal to his ability, now agrees with me that Athamas is identical with Tammuz (Introd. 67, note 2). M. Darmesteter connects the name with an Aryan root ath, whence Athênê, etc. (O et A. 55, note 2). The incidents of the myth will serve to solve philological doubts.

28:4 Taylor, in Calmet's Dict., vol. V. xxii.

28:5 Lenormant, Les Origines, 570; vide sec. XII. subsec. 3.

28:6 Ap. Clermont-Ganneau, L’Imagerie Phénicienne et la Mythologie Iconologique chez les Grecs, 1880, pl. iv.

29:1 Vide Rawlinson, Herod. ii. 225.

29:2 Bunsen, Egypt's Place, i. 526.

29:3 Ibid. 568.

29:4 Pierret, Essai sur la Mythologie Égyptienne, 70.

29:5 Ancient Egyptians, edit. 1878, vol. ii. p. 93.

30:1 M. & T. fig. 175, p. 112.

30:2 Vide Ibid. fig. 315, p. 202.

30:3 Vide No. III.

30:4 M & T. fig. 264, p. 170.

31:1 Vide No. XIX.

31:2 Vide No. XIII.

31:3 M. &. T. fig. 264, p. 175.

31:4 Ibid. fig. 376, p. 257.

31:5 Ibid. fig. 470, p. 309; vide sec. XII., subsec. 2.

32:1 Ancient Faiths, i. 376.