Manticore facts for kids
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Manticores (from Greek martikhoras, meaning man-eater) were creatures in Greek mythology. They had the body of a lion, a human head, and three rows of teeth similar to sharks. Although it changes from story to story, they also often had the tail of a dragon or a scorpion. Sometimes they could shoot poisonous spines from their tails. When early Greeks noticed that someone had gone missing, some said this as proof that manticores were real.
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Name
The term "manticore" descends via Latin mantichora from Ancient Greek μαρτιχόρας（martikhórās) This in turn is a transliteration of an Old Persian compound word consisting of martīya 'man' and xuar- stem, 'to eat' (Mod. Persian: مرد; mard + خوردن; khurden).
The ultimate source of manticore was Ctesias, Greek physician or the Persian court during the Achaemenid dynasty, and is based on the testamants of his Persian-speaking informants who had travelled to India. Ctesias himself wrote that the martichora (μαρτιχόρα) was its name in Persian, which translated into Greek as androphagon or anthropophagon (ἀνθρωποφάγον), i.e., "man-eater". But the name was mistranscribed as 'mantichoras' in a faulty copy of Aristotle, through whose works the notion of the manticore was perpetuated across Europe.
Ctesias was also later cited by Pausanias regarding the martichoras or androphagos of India.
Heraldry
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The likeness of manticore or similar creatures by other names have been used in heraldry, spanning from the late High Middle Ages into the modern period.
The manticore first appeared in English heraldry in c. 1470, as a badge of William Hastings, 1st Baron Hastings; and in the 16th century.
The manticore device was later used as a badge by Robert Radcliffe, 1st Earl of Sussex, and by Sir Anthony Babyngton. Radcliffe's device was described as "3 mantygers argent" by one source, c. 1600. Thus in heraldic discourse the term "manticore" became usurped by "mantyger" during the 17–18th centuries, and "mantiger" in the 19th.
It is noted that the manticore/mantiger of heraldic devices has a beast of prey body as standard, but sometimes chosen to be given dragon feet. The Radcliffe family manticore appears to have human feet, and (not so surprisingly), a chronicler described as a "Babyon" (baboon) the device by John Radcliffe (Lord Fitzwalter) accompanying Henry VIII into war in France. It has also been speculated the Babyngton device is intendented to represent the "Babyon, or baboon, as a play upon his name", and it too also has characteristically "monkey-like feet".
The typical heraldic manticore is supposed to have not only the face of an old man, but spiraling horns as well, although this is not really ascertainable in the Radcliffe family badge, where the purple manticore is wearing a yellow cap (cap of dignity ).
Popular culture
In some modern depictions, such as in the tabletop role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons and the card game Magic: The Gathering, manticores are depicted as having wings.
Two manticores appear in My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. They both have a lion head, dragon wings and a scorpion tail.
A manticore is the main antagonist of the concept album Tarkus by Emerson, Lake and Palmer.
A manticore appears in the Dark Souls DLC, Artorias of the Abyss, as the name "Sanctuary Guardian".
The BBC 2010 Merlin season 3 episode 9 entitled "Love in the Time of Dragons" features a CGI animated manticore.
Images for kids
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Woodcut from Edward Topsell's The Historie of Foure-footed Beastes (1607)
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A manticore and a crocotta. Prepared for Felix Platter's Historiae animalium (1551–1558).
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Manticore at the Church of St Mary and St David, Kilpeck, Herefordshire (12th century)
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Manticore in British Library Royal MS 12.C.xix (1200–1210)
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See also
In Spanish: Mantícora (mitología) para niños
