Naturalis Historia: Volume III

Mythical Beasts: Monsters or Real Animals?

Throughout time, animals have made a presence in various legends as strange, mythical beasts that often were dangerous to humans. Some were man-eaters, with parts of several animals, and some were gigantic with special powers to make them menacing and hideous. Every culture had their own “monster”, the creature that lurked in the forest, lake, or cave after dark and hunted humans. But these creatures were just myths. Or were they? Maybe there was some connection between these mythical monsters and real animals.

Pre-Historic Fears
» Perhaps the reason why people have mythicized certain animals is because of our close proximity with them. In earlier times, back when these myths were created, people lived right among wild animals such as bears, wolves, lion, and tigers. It was dangerous to be out alone while these animals were roaming. Creating mythical monsters was a way of making people careful to stay away from dangerous predators. This fear of being hunted goes back even further, to the days of our hominid ancestors. These hominids not only hunted for food, but were also possibly prey for leopards. In fact, many of the early hominid fossils were found in caves where the bones had been dropped from the trees where leopards carried their kill. Our early ancestors (by early I mean approx. 200,000 years ago) had the fear of being hunted for food. They feared the dark because that was when these predators would attack. This fear has not left our genes, and we are still afraid of dark places for no apparent reason. No animals naturally hunt us for food now, but we still fear the unexpected chance that maybe some creature is lurking in the dark. This fear, which helped our ancestors to survive, now creates mythical creatures and stories. Even in present day, many people still live right beside wild predators. Tribal peoples of Africa, India, and Asia, all have their own traditional religion which includes scary animal-like beasts that attack people. Perhaps this is to protect people from being killed by lions, leopards, or tigers, which frequently stalk these peoples’ villages.

From Dragons to Unicorns
» There are many famous monsters present in stories. But are there any real zoological basis to these creatures? Could they in fact be real animals that just became mythicized? In the Anglo-Saxon epic poem Beowulf, for example, Grendel was a hideous and vicious beast that killed and ate men. Beowulf was sent by Hrothgar King of the Danes to slay the beast – a classic example of heroism associated with mythical beasts. Beowulf did in fact slay the beast, and also the mother of the beast. But just what exactly was Grendel?? Maybe a cannibalistic humanoid? Well he is described as being large, with talons and claws, so he is probably more beast than human. Actually the story of Grendel might have been inspired by another mammal — the Cave Bear (Ursus spelaeus). This bear is now exctinct, but survived in Britain until A.D. 1200 and Scandinavia until the Middle Ages. The fossils remains of this large ursid, even though it was a herbivore, might have led to some scary mythmaking by the people of the region. In fact, Beowulf’s name is ‘bee-wolf’, the word for ‘bear’ in Anglo-Saxon.
» Dragons, on the other hand, are no bears. They are large, reptilian creatures with flames as breath. Various cultures had stories about these creatures. In the Orient, dragons were mainly thought of as good and graceful creatures, symbolizing renewal, wisdom, and enlightenment. However, in Europe, dragons were violent, greedy, and harmful monsters. In Austria, one ancient legend in a riverside town held that the floods and drownings suffered there where caused by a dragon that lived nearby. Onward came the paladin Knights, who tied a bull to the end of a chain to lure the dragon out, and slayed the dragon. In the 14th century, fossil evidence of this ‘dragon’ was found as a cranial fragment from some skull. The fossil was put on display at the town hall as a remnant of the conquered dragon. Then, in 1840, a visiting paleontologist recognized it as the cranium of an extinct wooly rhinoceros. Oops. I guess that wasn’t a dragon afterall. There actually is a real-life, rather large reptilian dragon that does exist. Its only found on the island of Komodo. This monitor lizard, commonly called the Komodo Dragon (Varanus komodoensis), might have inspired a couple of dragon stories when western travelers found bone remains or perhaps even saw one. These lizards have been known to attack and eat humans, although not regularly. Of course, dragon stories in Europe have been around before any traveler made it to Komodo, but it still could have lead people to believe dragons existed. That heroic Saint George was supposed to have killed a dragon, right? Actually, if he did exist, he probably killed a crocodile. In some accounts, Saint George slayed a dragon in Libya, where the creature lived in a lake or marsh and emerged to prey on sheep. Very similar to a crocodile.
» Greece, as you might know, had many mythical creatures, both odd and interesting. There are flying horses, minotaurs, Medusa, the Hydra, the Sphinx, chimeras, griffons, harpies, sirens, centaurs, satyrs…the list could go on. Now, I’m sure most of these were out of the imagination of Greeks, but some were recorded as being real animals. Rememeber the Roman, Pliny? He said basilisks were real. The Greek traveler, Aristeas of Proconnesus (700s B.c.) wrote about gold-gaurding griffons when he traveled to Scythia, a region that is now Ukraine and southern Russia. The Roman scholar Aelian reported that griffons were a quadruped (four-legged) like a lion, that it had claws of enormous strength, white wings, black feathers, and a beak like an eagle’s. A classical folklorist, Adrienne Mayor, deduced that the griffon legend may have originated from fossils of ceratopsian dinosaurs, since their fossils were found in Scythian gold-mines. These dinosaur fossils, which had beaked faces, might have been combined with bones from eagles, lions, and tigers, known to be living in Scythia in that time. Also, chimeras (fire-breathing lion/snake/goat hyrbid) and sphinxes (women-faced lions who ate people that couldn’t answer riddles) are similarly associated with lions. Perhaps there were rogue lions running around Greece, occasionally snacking on people.
» Unicorns, the beautiful one-horned horses representing purity. They were first described by the Greek physician Ctesias 2,000years ago. According to Ctesias, the unicorn was native to India. It was the size of a donkey, with a red head, white body, blue eyes, and a single horn on its head that was white at the base, black in the middle, and red at the tip. Its horn could be used in a potion to protect people from all sorts of poisons. The Roman naturalist Pliny (again!), wrote about unicorns in his Naturalis Historia. He added new details describing the unicorn as having a deer’s head, elephant’s feet, a boar’s tail, and a 3-foot long black horn. People have suggested that Pliny was actually describing an Indian rhinoceros, or perhaps a sighting of two-horned ungulates such as goats or ibex that were viewed from a profile or had a horn missing.
» As an added footnote, many of the animals that created mythical beasts were common in those regions in that time. Lions, leopards, and cave bears lived throught Europe including Greece and Macedonia. Lions, tigers, and leopards were also very common in India and Asia. However, these animals are now extinct in these regions (a very small group of lions now live in India). Perhaps killed from fear, or due to human population rises, in either case these animals, not the monsters, are only remembered in myths.

The Reasons for Mythical Beasts
In conclusion, mythical beasts are a fantastical glimsp into what the human mind can create by using imagination and real-life animals. These animals have inspired so many amazing stories, legends, and heroes. Here is a summary of some of the reasons why I think mythical beasts have been inportant throught time:
1. Our ancestors invented stories in order to protect themselves and their relatives from being killed by predators.
2. Therefore, this lead to a greater survival rate amongst peoples with a culture/mythology.
3. Stories of mythical beasts created a religion and belief system, which led to rituals, practices, prayers, and legends (a culture).
4. These stories created heroes that people admired and tried to live up to. They inspired children to become chivalrous and protect their homeland when in danger.
5. These stories also established morals. It taught people that mythical beasts, which are violent and greedy, are bad and the heroes that kill them are good. It taught people to value honor over greed.
6. This also led to, unfortunately, the bad reputations some animals get (like bears and wolves) and encourages people to hunt them.

References:
Quammen, David. 2003. Monster of God. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.
Mayor, Adrienne. 2000. The First Fossil Hunters. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton Univ Press.