Manticore

Today we will present you a creature most of you probably have never heard of, even though it has often been depicted in modern novels etc., such as J.K. Rowlings ‘Harry Potter’ series, ‘The last unicorn’, which has been made into a popular animation movie, and in the second novel of the ‘Deptford Trilogy’. Our creature has even more appearances in role-playing and video games, such as Dungeons and Dragons. I'm talking about the manticore.

The manticore has the head of a human, with 3 rows of sharp, shark-like iron teeth, the body of a lion, in a blood-like colour, and for his tail – depending on the depiction – either that of a scorpion or a lion's tail with lots of poisonous spikes like porcupine quills. Sometimes the manticore also has wings of some kind. It can shoot the spikes on his tail like arrows, making it a lethal predator, and it eats his victims – humans – whole, not leaving a single bone. Its voice sounded like a mixture of pipe and trumpet, deceptively beautiful, so that it lured many men into their ceratin death. The only animal who has reportedly survived being hit with one of the manticore’s tail spikes is the elephant, which is why humans always rode elephants on their hunts for manticores.

During the middle ages, the manticore was seen as a symbol of the prophet Jeremiah, however not for a long time. Its terrifying appearance and ferocious behaviour quickly made it a symbol of evil. Seeing a manticore meant bad luck, and that there would be a great evil to come. Some even called the manticore a creature of the devil, which is why it never rose to popularity in heraldry.

So what do you think? Could this creature have its roots in greek mythology?