Unicornus varius, 1491
Woodcut of a kneeling woman petting a unicorn. First mentioned by the ancient Greeks, it became the most important imaginary animal of the Middle Ages and Renaissance when it was commonly described as an extremely wild woodland creature, a symbol of purity and grace, which could only be seen and/or captured by a virgin. It has been described in European folklore as resembling a white horse with a large, pointed, spiraling horn projecting from its forehead, and sometimes a goat's beard and cloven hooves. At at other times described as resembling a small horse but with a long, straight horn growing out of its forehead having the legs of a deer and the tail of a lion. In alchemy the unicorn represented the Moon. Many believed that a unicorn's horn had the ability to neutralize poisons. Accounts of unicorns and their magical properties are found in literature, art, and legend. An animal mentioned in the Bible, Deuteronomy 33:17: (mistranslation in the Authorized Version of the original Hebrew) now believed by some to be a description of a wild ox or rhinoceros
