Xix 12001/9/2024 The confusion between the basilisk and the cockatrice came from a translation issue. According to the 12th-century text De naturis rerum by Alexander Neckam, you’d get a basilisk if a rooster laid an egg which was incubated by a toad. Though the cockatrice didn’t turn people to stone with its stare. I can’t help thinking there’s something of the Medusa myth about this part. Alternatively, you could kill it by showing it its reflection. That said, you could defeat a cockatrice by letting it hear a rooster crow, since it would die instantly. Right.Ī cockatrice as architectural embellishment, part of a transom over a doorway at Belvedere Castle in New York. So manticores can’t kill elephants, and a cockatrice can’t kill a weasel. Only weasels were immune to the cockatrice death glare. Its breath was apparently so venomous it would kill vegetation. Others thought it needed to touch or breathe on them. Some thought a cockatrice needed only to look at them. People feared the cockatrice for its ability to kill people with ease. They were popular in Elizabethan dramas and Shakespeare references them. Some descriptions add bat wings, a tail complete with a sting, and a forked tongue. The cockatrice boasts a serpent’s body and tail, with the head, wings, and legs of a rooster. With the opening up of forests and jungles, cautionary tales became less necessary. Yet unlike the dragon, griffin, or unicorn, the manticore has never really attained any kind of popularity. Medieval writers used the manticore to represent the Devil. It was occasionally confused with another creature, the mantyger, which had tusks and the feet of a monkey. Like other creatures from ancient mythology, the manticore made its way into medieval bestiaries from Pliny the Elder’s work. He thus included them in his Naturalis Historia.Īn engraving of a manticore, Jonstonus, Joannes (1678) Naturally, Pliny the Elder considered they were real. The claims about its three rows of teeth and stinging tail was added as a way to share their fear of the big cats. He believed tales of the manticore actually described a tiger. In Aelian’s description, he also claimed people would hunt young manticores to crush their tails, preventing the growth of the dangerous stings (1959: 233-237).Ī later Greek writer, Pausanias, was far more skeptical. Referencing Ctesias, wherever the stings landed, more manticores would spring up. Only the elephant seemed impervious to its sting, while the manticore couldn’t bring down a lion. In his description, the manticore can shoot the venomous spines from its tail as if they were arrows. The Manticore StrikesĪelian claimed the manticore came from India. He apparently saw one when it was captured and presented to the king of Persia. Many of the stories came from our old friend Ctesias, who also introduced his readers to the unicorn and the dog-headed man. The manticore became a cautionary tale to keep people out of the woods. However, this part of the legend was used to explain the disappearance of those who entered the jungle and didn’t return. Clearly the answer was to avoid bearded men who hung out in long grass. Other people would come close, and the manticore would strike. Its favourite method of hunting was to lie in long grass so that only its human head was visible. When they did dine on people, they left nothing behind – not even clothes. According to the legends, manticores preferred human flesh. Its name translates as ‘man-eater’, referencing its favourite food. Manticore from the Rochester Bestiary (Royal 12 F xiii), British Library
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