unicorn, mythological animal resembling a or a with a single on its forehead. The unicorn appeared in early artworks, and it also was referred to in the ancient myths of and . The earliest description in of a single-horned (Greek monokerōs, Latin unicornis) animal was by the historian (c. 400 bce), who related that the Indian was the size of a horse, with a white body, purple head, and blue eyes, and on its forehead was a cubit-long horn coloured red at the pointed tip, black in the middle, and white at the base. Those who drank from its horn were thought to be protected from stomach trouble, , and . It was very fleet of foot and difficult to capture. The actual animal behind Ctesias’s description was probably the .Certain poetical passages of the refer to a strong and splendid horned animal called reʾem. This word was translated “unicorn” or “rhinoceros” in many versions of the Bible, but many modern translations prefer “wild ox” (), which is the correct meaning of the Hebrew reʾem. As a biblical animal, the unicorn was interpreted allegorically in the early church. One of the earliest such interpretations appears in the ancient Greek known as the , which states that the unicorn is a strong, fierce animal that can be caught only if a virgin maiden is placed before it. The unicorn leaps into the virgin’s lap, and she suckles it and leads it to the king’s palace. Medieval writers thus likened the unicorn to , who raised up a horn of salvation for mankind and dwelt in the womb of the . Other legends tell of the unicorn’s combat with the , whom it finally spears to death with its horn, and of the unicorn’s purifying of poisoned waters with its horn so that other animals may drink., The unicorn is a legendary creature that has been described since antiquity as a beast with a single large, pointed, spiraling horn projecting from its forehead., unicorn, mythological animal resembling a horse or a goat with a single horn on its forehead. The unicorn appeared in early Mesopotamian artworks, and it also was referred to in the ancient myths of India and China..