Discover with us the Manticore. A legendary creature represented in various forms in many cultures, a mythological icon.
what is a Manticore?
A Manticore is a mythological creature that was said to be invincible. The mighty beast is best known for its strange but magnificent features. It is often said that the beast had the head of a man, the body of a lion and the tail of a scorpion. They are believed to be one of the most powerful beasts and were capable of devouring all jungle animals except elephants. There is no explanation given as to why these creatures were unable to defeat the elephants, only documentation that for some reason the elephants seemed to be able to evade even the most powerful of the manticores.
Origins of the Manticore
Deep in the Indian jungles, a creature lurks, hungry for prey. Its head is that of a man with a long beard, but its body is that of a mighty lion. The mighty beast has a magnificent tail that extends behind it. The tail resembles that of a scorpion and has many stings which it uses as arrows to render its prey helpless. This terrible beast hides in the reeds and appears to its victims like an old man until it is too late. When it attacks, no evidence is left behind. It is the mighty Manticore.
Etymology
The word manticore itself is an adaptation of the Persian name for the beast – martichoras. This is thought to loosely translate into ‘man-eater’. According to Persian lore, the creature was capable of devouring any beast (except elephants, of course) without leaving any remains. However, despite its dominance in the jungle, the manticore had a particularly intense hunger for human flesh.
It was said to pay one man if that was all that was available, but it preferred rather to lie in wait for a minimum of two or three men and devour them all. It was rumored that the manticore was capable of killing three men at a time with no problem and could probably take more than that number if the opportunity presented itself.
The Manticore according to legend
The beast was seen as an apex predator that could not be matched by man. The beast was supposed to have incredible speed with which even the fastest man could not compete in a chase. Moreover, the body of a manticore was similar to that of a lion. This meant that the beast also had long, sharp claws that it could use to tear its victims apart if the opportunity arose. The beast was supposedly capable of tearing a man apart with a swipe of its powerful paws.
Although the beast’s claws were undoubtedly intimidating, many recorded accounts suggest that the manticore rarely relied on them. The beast’s tail resembled that of a scorpion and had several large “stings” protruding from the sides and one resting on the tip of the tail. These stings were poisonous and could be used to sting a victim if he was nearby.
Distance, however, did not bring much more safety to a potential victim of the manticore. The powerful beast was said to have the ability to shoot these stings from its tail like arrows. When a sting had been fired, it was replaced by another that could be fired at the target until the beast succeeded. These stings injected the victim with venom and caused paralysis. The beast was then free to devour the victim without a fight.
Hungry
The Manticore was famous for eating its victims whole and leaving nothing behind. While many other forest beasts are capable of devouring the entire human body, the manticore took its feast a step further. In addition to eating all the remains of its victims, it also ate their clothes, money and other possessions.
Because of this, there was often little evidence that the manticore had left behind traces of blood. This is also part of the reason the beast was feared by many. Whenever a person disappeared and the records returned no trace of their body or belongings, the person’s loss was attributed to a manticore attack.
Attraction
The manticore was said to attract people by placing it in tall grass or on reeds. This would hide its magnificent body and only show the head of what appeared to be a bearded man. It is said that many victims ventured too close to the beast, only to be devoured by its three rows of sharp teeth. It was thought that those who ventured too close to the beast missed several key signs.
Most notable of these signs was the sound of music. It was thought that the manticore could not speak in human tongues, but had a voice similar to that of a trumpet. Because of this, the sound of music was often seen as a warning that a manticore was nearby. Other signs included location (seeing a manticore’s head in the tall grass) or the appearance of the man they thought they were approaching. It is often said that a manticore’s head looked like a bearded man with blue or gray eyes. It is safe to say that few of those who saw the color of the beast’s eyes lived to tell the story later.
can a Manticore be tamed or killed?
However, there were measures that could be taken to ensure that these beasts could not become predators that were impossible to escape from. Records show that it was believed that a manticore could be hunted when young to prevent the development of one of its most fearsome attributes: its tail. Supposedly, skilled hunters were able to track young manticore pups because their tails had not yet developed the deadly stings. It was thought that if one could capture a manticore and stomp on the tail hard enough, the tail would deform and not be able to grow the deadly stings that left villagers and travelers defenseless against the beast.
Apart from this, fighting the manticore was thought to be futile. It was believed that the manticore’s skin was impenetrable and that any weapon used against the beast’s body would be in vain. Although there are no known records to support this idea, some have hypothesized that the only place a manticore was vulnerable was in its mouth. However, even if a manticore could be killed with a fatal blow to the mouth, it is believed that the creature would simply be resurrected as it is believed to have mythical powers.
The Manticore according to ancient Greece
Although there is no evidence of a manticore to be seen in modern days, the beast is reported to have been captured on at least one occasion and presented to the then king of Persia as a gift. The manticore was given to King Artaxerxes II while Ctesias was serving in his court as a physician. It was through this exchange and Ctesias’ witnessing of the creature that the legend of the manticore was able to spread to the rest of the world, especially Greece.
Once the legend of the manticore spread to Greece, it was met with mixed reactions. A famous Greek author named Pausanias wrote about the ‘martichoras’ with great skepticism in his book, ‘Description of Greece’. In his opinion, the great martichora was nothing more than a tiger.
He hypothesized that the additional details that spoke of the famous beast’s three rows of teeth and its scorpion tail were nothing more than exaggerations used to express the extreme terror felt by anyone unfortunate enough to encounter one of the beasts. Pliny the Elder (another Greek writer famous for his work) did not share Pausanias’ opinion. He included the martichoras in his writing Natural History along with many animals known to exist today.
Physical appearance
Many people it is often described as a powerful beast with fearsome features. The head of the beast is often said to be similar to that of a man. In most accounts, the head is also bearded and has blue or gray eyes. From a distance, a manticore’s head is not a frightening sight. It is not until the victim is close enough to the beast to see its gaping mouth and three rows of sharp teeth that the true nature of the beast becomes known.
There is also great emphasis given to the body of the beast. The manticore’s body is always described as similar to that of a lion, but has a bright red hue (often recorded as scarlet). The manticore’s body is often much larger than that of a normal lion and is capable of impressive feats. The most notable of these feats is perhaps the surprisingly fast and agile speed.
It is said that not even the fastest man can match the speed of a manticore when chasing prey. In addition, the beast’s claws are known to be extremely sharp. With one swipe of its powerful paw, a manticore can easily tear a man apart.
Wings
There are also some versions of the manticore that describe the beast as having a pair of powerful wings that allow it to fly in pursuit of its prey at terrifying speeds. These accounts usually describe wings that are similar to those of a dragon.
Last but not least is the fearsome tail of the mighty beast. The manticore’s tail is said to resemble that of a scorpion and has several stings that are poisonous to all creatures except elephants. If the manticore is very close to its prey, it can use these stings to stab its prey. It is important to note, however, that distance does not limit the use of this impressive feature.
If a manticore is far away from its prey, it has the option of firing these stings at its victim similar to the way arrows are shot from a bow. Each sting that is fired from the creature’s tail is quickly replaced by another so that the manticore can continue its attack until it succeeds and has rendered its prey defenseless.
It is also important to note that although the manticore has a human head, it is not capable of speaking human languages. Instead, the creature is said to have the voice of a trumpet. This was considered one of the biggest warnings that the creature was on the hunt. Any sound of melody in the forest was considered the sign of a manticore.
Common Manticore Practices
The manticore is extremely cunning and often noted for its impressive appetite. The beast is often said to use clever tactics to lure groups of people within its reach to pounce on them and devour their entire being. One of the most common tactics said to be employed by the manticore was to lie down in the tall grass so that only its human head was visible to anyone passing by.
The seemingly harmless appearance of the head often enticed people to approach, allowing the manticore to quickly strike and devour. There are also many accounts of the creature that suggest it was greedy for human flesh. While the manticore would take any human prey it found, it was said to prefer to lie in wait for groups of people traveling together to satisfy its extreme hunger.
Possible inspiration for the Manticore
There are some mythological beings that served as inspiration for this creature, according to some legends these may be:
Chimera
Chimera was one of the most feared monsters in Greek mythology and was believed to be the offspring of Typhon and Echidna. The beast was often described as a lion with the head of a goat rising from the back of the creature and a tail ending with the head of a serpent. However, there are variations of the beast that say Chimera had a lion’s head and the body of a goat.
The chimera was known to bring disaster and was believed to be capable of breathing fire. Any sighting of the creature was considered a bad omen. Eventually, the name “Chimera” came to be used to describe any type of animal that had the characteristics of at least two animals combined.
Sphinx
The sphinx appears in both Egyptian and Greek mythology. The creature is often depicted as having a human head and a lion’s body. The sphinx also has the wings of an eagle and the tail of a snake. The creature is considered feminine because its head often resembles that of a woman.
The sphinx was known for posing riddles to anyone it encountered. If a person struggled to answer the riddle or could not answer correctly, the victim was devoured by the sphinx. In Egyptian mythology, a sphinx was often used to protect sacred places to ensure that only those with a worthy heart could enter.
Explanation of the myth
Many who study the story of the manticore are inclined to dismiss the beast as a tiger like Pausanias. It is believed that the story was used to describe the largest and most powerful of the tigers that inhabited the jungles of India. This best is likely that the story also originated to explain the many missing persons who ventured into the jungle and never returned.
It was probably easier to dismiss the disappearance of their loved ones as being in the hands of an unconquerable beast rather than a wild forest animal. These stories probably helped save some of the population by keeping too many inexperienced travelers or hunters from going too far into the forest alone, as well as curbing the curiosity of young children.
