Of all the mythical beasts conjured up by the creative minds of history, few are as well known as the unicorn. With the body of a horse and a large horn in the middle of an elegant head, the unicorn is a favorite in mythology. And while they do not actually exist, almost everyone knows what they are.

The unicorn first appears in the art of ancient Mesopotamia some time after 3000 B.C., possibly having been borrowed from the Indus River civilization nearby. An ancient Greek writer named Ctesias wrote a natural history text on the civilizations of India, in which he says the unicorn is “fleet of foot, having a horn a cubit and a half in length, and coloured white, red and black.” The better-known Roman writer Pliny the Elder speaks of a beast called the “monokeros,” or “one horned,” saying it “has the head of the stag, the feet of the elephant, and the tail of the boar, while the rest of the body is like that of the horse; it makes a deep lowing noise, and has a single black horn, which projects from the middle of its forehead, two cubits in length.” He also tells us the creatures spend a great deal of time wallowing in mud and slime, and that they are impossible to capture.

Sadly, the unicorn had but a very limited appearance in the Bible. We read in the Book of Numbers that the evil King Balak calls on the prophet Balaam to curse the Israelites, but Balaam comes out with a prophesy that exclaims the glory of what God has done with the Israelites, saying, “God brought them out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn” (Numbers 23:22). Again, in the Book of Deuteronomy, when Moses blesses the Israelite hosts, he speaks of the glory of God which has done great things, in particular for the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, saying of God, “His glory is like the firstling of his bullock, and his horns are like the horns of unicorns: with them he shall push the people together to the ends of the earth: and they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh” (Deut 33:17).

Both of these citations are from the King James Bible of 1611, and unfortunately for the translators did not understand the Hebrew word used here was “re’em” which means a great horned ox, or possibly a rhinoceros. Later translations have sadly not repeated the mistake, and so we search in vain for biblical unicorns today.

In the second century A.D., a Christian writer produced a text called the “Physiogus,” which gave rise to the production of medieval books called bestiaries, which cataloged all manner of beasts known by Europeans, and this included the unicorn. From these manuscripts we learn that the horn of the unicorn could turn poisoned water pure. We are also told that the unicorn was strong and fierce, but that it could be captured by a virgin girl, because the unicorn would meekly place its head on her lap and become calm and docile. One wonders what Dr. Freud would say about that legend.

To the medieval mind, the association of purity and virginity with the unicorn made it an obvious link to Christ and the Virgin Mary. The unicorn soon appears in Christian art as a symbol of chastity and loyalty. From the 15th century onward, the unicorn begins to appear in heraldry, often with a broken chain around its neck to represent its ferocity. To this very day, the unicorn is on the coat of arms of the Kingdom of Scotland. With the unification of England and Scotland in 1707, the lion and the unicorn began to appear together with the coat of arms of the monarch, to represent England and Scotland ruled together.

Beginning in the 18th century, the voyages of discovery led to the increasing belief that unicorns were only legendary because no matter how far and wide the explorers went, no actual unicorns turned up.

It was the discovery of the narwhal, the small horned whale of northern Canada, that led to a great deal of enterprise because the skeletal bones could be produced. The horns of the narwhal were sold on the market as unicorn horns by less-than-scrupulous merchants. The ground powder of the narwhal “unicorn” horn was touted as a cure for a number of maladies, including the plague, fevers, gout, epilepsy and impotence. Queen Elizabeth I was given a narwhal tusk as a gift from a donor who paid 10,000 pounds for it, or the price of a castle. The queen had the horn made into a drinking cup, since everyone knew unicorn horns purified liquids from their poison with a mere touch.

A group of unicorns is called a “blessing.” Although the blessings of unicorns have vanished into the realm of mythology, in Scotland to this day, April 9 is recognized as National Unicorn Day, and it is a good excuse for unicorn-themed decorations and parties. Yours truly will doubtless be celebrating it this year.

Gregory Elder, a Redlands resident, is a professor emeritus of history and humanities at Moreno Valley College and a Roman Catholic priest. Write to him at Professing Faith, P.O. Box 8102, Redlands, CA 92375-1302, email him at gnyssa@verizon.net or follow him on Twitter @Fatherelder.