Myth
Just how odd can animals be, before the line crosses from real to imaginary? With beasts as strange as platypuses, flying fish, and long eared bats, it can be hard to tell actual animals from flights of imagination. Early natural historians often did not distinguish between legendary and real creatures, including them all in early zoologies. Even animals like the rhinoceros could be portrayed oddly, perhaps the result of descriptions that grew farther from the truth with each telling. Some mythical creatures, like the unicorn, remain part of popular knowledge and are still found centuries later in storybooks and artists’ notes. Others, like the cacodemon, are virtually unknown to modern audiences.
Sea monsters, similar to the dolphins shown elsewhere in this exhibit, were often used in early map decorations to symbolize the dangerous and unchartered nature of the oceans.
Sea monster
Sea monster
Dragons can be found across almost all cultures, but their characteristics differ widely. Although almost always reptilian, dragons can look like snakes or lizards, have wings or not, have zero, two, or four legs, breathe fire or live under water, represent evil or wisdom-with this kind of creative license, who wouldn’t want to draw dragons?
The cacodemon—whose name marks it as an evil demon as opposed to a good demon(agatheodaemon)—has largely faded from modern imagination, with one notable exception. The video game franchise Doom revived cacodemons in the 1990s, with a different visual depiction.
Unicorn
Manticore
Box 9, G. William Patten papers, MS2003-042
Unicorn
Box 9, G. William Patten papers, MS2003-042
Harpy
Box 9, G. William Patten papers, MS2003-042
Centaur
Box 110, Alfred Noyes papers, MS2006-054
Phoenix
Box 110, Alfred Noyes papers, MS2006-054
Pegasus
