From above, a man from below is a goat, as they say. Goatee: mockery or fashion element? See what "Satyr" is in other dictionaries

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I already once in a column told you about even gave exhaustive proof in the form of photographs in this article. Why am I talking about mermaids yes, because mermaid- This is a mythical creature found in many stories, fairy tales. And this time I want to talk about mythical creatures that existed at one time according to legends: Grants, Dryads, Kraken, Griffins, Mandrake, Hippogriff, Pegasus, Lernean Hydra, Sphinx, Chimera, Cerberus, Phoenix, Basilisk, Unicorn, Wyvern. Let's get to know these creatures better.

Video from the channel "Interesting facts"

1. Wyvern

Wyvern-This creature is considered a "relative" of the dragon, but it only has two legs. instead of the front - bat wings. It is characterized by a long snake neck and a very long, mobile tail, ending in a sting in the form of a heart-shaped arrowhead or spear. With this sting, the wyvern manages to cut or stab the victim, and under appropriate conditions, even pierce it right through. In addition, the sting is venomous.
The wyvern is often found in alchemical iconography, in which (like most dragons) it personifies primary, raw, unrefined matter, or metal. In religious iconography, it can be seen in paintings depicting the struggle of Saints Michael or George. Wyverns can also be found on heraldic coats of arms, such as the Polish coat of arms of the Latskis, the coat of arms of the Drake family, or the Feuds of Kunwald.

2. Asp

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Asp- In the ancient ABC books there is a mention of an asp - this is a serpent (or snake, asp) "winged, has a bird's nose and two trunks, and in which land it is rooted, it will make that land empty." That is, everything around will be destroyed and devastated. The famous scientist M. Zabylin said that, according to popular belief, the asp can be found in the gloomy northern mountains and that he never sits on the ground, but only on a stone. It is possible to speak and kill the serpent - the destroyer - only with a "trumpet voice", from which the mountains are shaking. Then the sorcerer or medicine man grabbed the stunned asp with red-hot tongs and held it "until the snake died"

3. Unicorn

Unicorn- Symbolizes chastity, and also serves as the emblem of the sword. Tradition usually represents him in the form of a white horse with one horn coming out of his forehead; however, according to esoteric beliefs, he has a white body, a red head and blue eyes. In the early traditions, the unicorn was depicted with the body of a bull, in later ones with the body of a goat, and only in later legends with the body of a horse. Legend claims that he is insatiable when he is pursued, but dutifully lie down on the ground if a virgin approaches him. In general, it is impossible to catch a unicorn, but if you succeed, you can only keep it with a golden bridle.
“His back was curved and his ruby eyes shone, at the withers he reached 2 meters. A little higher than his eyes, almost parallel to the ground, his horn grew; straight and thin. eyelashes cast fluffy shadows on pink nostrils. (S. Drugal "Basilisk")
They feed on flowers, they especially like rosehip flowers, and well-fed honey, and they drink morning dew. They also look for small lakes in the depths of the forest in which they bathe and drink from there, and the water in these lakes usually becomes very clear and has the properties of living water. In Russian "alphabet books" of the 16th-17th centuries. the unicorn is described as a terrible and invincible beast, like a horse, all the strength of which lies in the horn. Healing properties were attributed to the horn of the unicorn (according to folklore, the unicorn purifies water poisoned by a snake with its horn). The unicorn is a creature of another world and most often portends happiness.

4. Basilisk

Basilisk- a monster with the head of a rooster, the eyes of a toad, the wings of a bat and the body of a dragon (according to some sources, a huge lizard) that exists in the mythologies of many peoples. From his gaze, all living things turn to stone. Basilisk - is born from an egg laid by a seven-year-old black rooster (in some sources from an egg hatched by a toad) into a warm dunghill. According to legend, if the Basilisk sees his reflection in the mirror, he will die. Caves are the habitat of the Basilisk, they are also its source of food, since the Basilisk only eats stones. He can leave his shelter only at night, because he cannot stand the cock crow. And he is also afraid of unicorns because they are too "clean" animals.
"It moves its horns, its eyes are so green with a purple tint, the warty hood swells. And he himself was purple-black with a spiked tail. A triangular head with a black-pink mouth opened wide ...
His saliva is extremely poisonous, and if it gets on living matter, then carbon will immediately be replaced by silicon. Simply put, all living things turn into stone and die, although there are disputes that petrification also comes from the look of the Basilisk, but those who wanted to check it did not come back .. ("S. Drugal "Basilisk").
5. Manticore

Manticore- The story of this terrible creature can be found in Aristotle (4th century BC) and Pliny the Elder (1st century AD). The manticore is the size of a horse, has a human face, three rows of teeth, a lion's body and a scorpion's tail, and bloodshot red eyes. Manticore runs so fast that he overcomes any distance in the blink of an eye. This makes it extremely dangerous - after all, it is almost impossible to escape from it, and the monster feeds only on fresh human meat. Therefore, on medieval miniatures, you can often see the image of a manticore with a human hand or foot in its teeth. In medieval works of natural history, the manticore was considered to be real, but living in deserted places.

6. Valkyries

Valkyries- beautiful warrior maidens who fulfill the will of Odin and are his companions. They invisibly take part in every battle, granting victory to the one to whom the gods award it, and then carry away the dead warriors to Valhalla, the castle of heavenly Asgard, and serve them at the table there. Legends also call the heavenly Valkyries, which determine the fate of each person.

7. Anka

Anka- In Muslim mythology, wonderful birds created by Allah and hostile to people. It is believed that anka exist to this day: there are simply so few of them that they are extremely rare. Anka is in many ways similar in its properties to the phoenix bird that lived in the Arabian desert (it can be assumed that the anka is the phoenix).

8. Phoenix

Phoenix- In monumental statues, stone pyramids and buried mummies, the Egyptians sought to gain eternity; it is quite natural that it was in their country that the myth of the cyclically reborn, immortal bird should have arisen, although the subsequent development of the myth was carried out by the Greeks and Romans. Adolf Erman writes that in the mythology of Heliopolis, the Phoenix is the patron of anniversaries, or great time cycles. Herodotus, in a famous passage, recounts with marked skepticism the original version of the legend:

“There is another sacred bird there, her name is Phoenix. I myself have never seen her, except as painted, because in Egypt she rarely appears, once every 500 years, as the inhabitants of Heliopolis say. According to them, she arrives when she dies father (that is, she herself) If the images correctly show her size and size and appearance, her plumage is partly golden, partly red. Her appearance and size resemble an eagle.

9. Echidna

Echidna- half-woman half-snake, daughter of Tartarus and Rhea, gave birth to Typhon and many monsters (Lernean hydra, Cerberus, Chimera, Nemean lion, Sphinx)

10. Sinister

Sinister- pagan evil spirits of the ancient Slavs. They are also called kriks or khmyrs - swamp spirits, which are so dangerous that they can stick to a person, even move into him, especially in old age, if a person did not love anyone in life and he had no children. Sinister has a not quite definite appearance (she speaks, but is invisible). She can turn into a little man, a small child, a poor old man. In the Christmas game, the villain personifies poverty, poverty, winter darkness. In the house, the villains most often settle behind the stove, but they also like to suddenly jump on the back, shoulders of a person, "ride" him. There may be several bad guys. However, with some ingenuity, they can be caught by locking them up in some kind of container.

11. Cerberus

Cerberus One of Echidna's children. A three-headed dog, on whose neck snakes move with a formidable hiss, and instead of a tail he has a poisonous snake .. Serves Hades (the god of the Kingdom of the Dead) stands on the eve of Hell and guards its entrance. He made sure that no one left the underground kingdom of the dead, because there is no return from the kingdom of the dead. When Cerberus was on earth (This happened because of Hercules, who, on the instructions of King Eurystheus, brought him from Hades), the monstrous dog dropped drops of bloody foam from his mouth; from which the poisonous herb aconite grew.

12. Chimera

Chimera- in Greek mythology, a monster that spewed fire with the head and neck of a lion, the body of a goat and the tail of a dragon (according to another version, the Chimera had three heads - a lion, a goat and a dragon) Apparently, the Chimera is the personification of a fire-breathing volcano. In a figurative sense, a chimera is a fantasy, an unrealizable desire or action. In sculpture, images of fantastic monsters are called chimeras (for example, chimeras of Notre Dame Cathedral), but it is believed that stone chimeras can come to life to terrify people.

13. Sphinx

sphinx s or Sphinga in ancient Greek mythology, a winged monster with the face and chest of a woman and the body of a lion. She is the offspring of the hundred-headed dragon Typhon and Echidna. The name of the Sphinx is associated with the verb "sphingo" - "compress, suffocate." Sent by the Hero to Thebes as a punishment. The Sphinx was located on a mountain near Thebes (or in the city square) and asked each passerby a riddle (“Which living creature walks on four legs in the morning, two in the afternoon, and three in the evening?”). Unable to give a clue, the Sphinx killed and thus killed many noble Thebans, including the son of King Creon. Dejected with grief, the king announced that he would give the kingdom and the hand of his sister Jocasta to the one who would save Thebes from the Sphinx. The riddle was solved by Oedipus, the Sphinx in despair threw herself into the abyss and crashed to death, and Oedipus became the Theban king.

14. Lernaean Hydra

lernaean hydra- a monster with the body of a snake and nine heads of a dragon. The hydra lived in a swamp near the city of Lerna. She crawled out of her lair and destroyed entire herds. The victory over the hydra was one of the exploits of Hercules.

15. Naiads

naiads- Each river, each source or stream in Greek mythology had its own boss - a naiad. No statistics covered this cheerful tribe of patronesses of waters, prophetesses and healers, every Greek with a poetic streak heard the carefree chatter of naiads in the murmur of the waters. They refer to the descendants of Oceanus and Tethys; number up to three thousand.
“None of the people can name all their names. Only those who live nearby know the name of the stream.

16. Ruhh

Ruhh- In the East, they have long been talking about the giant bird Ruhh (or Hand, Fear, Foot, Nagai). Some even dated her. For example, the hero of Arabian fairy tales Sinbad the Sailor. One day he found himself on a desert island. Looking around, he saw a huge white dome without windows and doors, so big that he could not climb on it.
“And I,” says Sinbad, “walked around the dome, measuring its circumference, and counted fifty full steps. Suddenly the sun disappeared, and the air darkened, and the light was blocked from me. And I thought that a cloud had found a cloud in the sun (and it was summertime), and I was surprised, and raised my head, and saw a bird with a huge body and wide wings that flew through the air - and it was she who covered the sun and blocked it over the island . And I remembered a story long ago told by people wandering and traveling, namely: on certain islands there is a bird called Ruhh, which feeds its children on elephants. And I made sure that the dome, which I went around, is a Ruhh egg. And I began to marvel at what Allah the great had created. And at that time, the bird suddenly landed on the dome, and embraced it with its wings, and stretched out its legs on the ground behind it, and fell asleep on it, praise be to Allah, who never sleeps! And then, having untied the turban, I tied myself to the feet of this bird, saying to myself: “Maybe it will take me to countries with cities and populations. It will be better than sitting here on this island. "And when the dawn rose and the day rose, the bird took off from the egg and flew up into the air with me. And then it began to descend and landed on some land, and, reaching the ground, I quickly got rid of her legs, afraid of the bird, but the bird did not know about me and did not feel me.

Not only the fabulous Sinbad the Sailor, but also the very real Florentine traveler Marco Polo, who visited Persia, India and China in the 13th century, heard about this bird. He said that the Mongol Khan Kublai once sent faithful people to catch a bird. The messengers found her homeland: the African island of Madagascar. They did not see the bird itself, but they brought its feather: it was twelve paces long, and the feather core was equal in diameter to two palm trunks. It was said that the wind produced by the wings of Ruhh knocks a person down, her claws are like bull horns, and her meat restores youth. But try to catch this Ruhh if she can carry a unicorn along with three elephants strung on her horn! the author of the encyclopedia Alexandrova Anastasia They also knew this monstrous bird in Rus', they called it Fear, Nog or Noga, giving it even new fabulous features.
“The leg-bird is so strong that it can lift an ox, it flies through the air and walks on the ground with four legs,” says the ancient Russian Alphabet Book of the 16th century.
The famous traveler Marco Polo tried to explain the secret of the winged giant: “They call this bird on the islands Ruk, but in our opinion they don’t call it, but that’s a vulture!” Only ... greatly grown up in the human imagination.

17. Khukhlik

Khukhlik in Russian superstitions, the water devil; disguised. The name khukhlyak, khukhlik, apparently, comes from the Karelian huhlakka - "to be weird", tus - "ghost, ghost", "strangely dressed" (Cherepanova 1983). The appearance of Khukhlyak is unclear, but they say that it is similar to Shilikun. This unclean spirit appears most often from water and becomes especially active during Christmas time. Likes to play pranks on people.

18. Pegasus

Pegasus- V Greek mythology winged horse. Son of Poseidon and the Gorgon Medusa. He was born from the body of a gorgon killed by Perseus. The name Pegasus received because he was born at the source of the Ocean (Greek "source"). Pegasus ascended to Olympus, where he delivered thunder and lightning to Zeus. Pegasus is also called the horse of the muses, as he knocked Hippocrene out of the ground with a hoof - the source of the muses, which has the ability to inspire poets. Pegasus, like a unicorn, can only be caught with a golden bridle. According to another myth, the gods gave Pegasus. Bellerophon, and he, taking off on it, killed the winged monster Chimera, which devastated the country.

19 Hippogriff

hippogriff- in the mythology of the European Middle Ages, wanting to indicate the impossibility or inconsistency, Virgil speaks of an attempt to cross a horse and a vulture. Four centuries later, his commentator Servius states that vultures or griffins are animals in which the front part of the body is eagle and the back is lion. To support his assertion, he adds that they hate horses. Over time, the expression "Jungentur jam grypes eguis" ("to cross vultures with horses") became a proverb; at the beginning of the sixteenth century, Ludovico Ariosto remembered him and invented the hippogriff. Pietro Michelli notes that the hippogriff is a more harmonious creature, even than the winged Pegasus. In Furious Roland, a detailed description of the hippogriff is given, as if it were intended for a textbook of fantastic zoology:

Not a ghostly horse under the magician - a mare
Born into the world, his vulture was his father;
In his father, he was a wide-winged bird, -
In the father was in front: like that, zealous;
Everything else, like the uterus, was
And that horse was called a hippogriff.
The limits of the Riphean mountains are glorious for them,
Far beyond the icy seas

20 Mandragora

Mandrake. The role of Mandragora in mythopoetic representations is explained by the presence of certain hypnotic and stimulating properties in this plant, as well as the similarity of its root with the lower part of the human body (Pythagoras called Mandragora “a human-like plant”, and Columella called it “half-human grass”). In some folk traditions, the type of Mandragora root distinguishes between male and female plants and even gives them the appropriate names. Old herbalists depict Mandragora Roots as male or female forms, with a tuft of leaves sprouting from the head, sometimes with a chained dog or an agonizing dog. According to beliefs, the one who hears the groan emitted by the Mandrake when it is dug out of the ground must die; to avoid the death of a person and at the same time satisfy the thirst for blood, allegedly inherent in Mandrake. When digging up the Mandrake, a dog was put on a leash, which, as it was believed, died in agony.

21. Griffins

Griffin- winged monsters with a lion's body and an eagle's head, guardians of gold. In particular, it is known that they protect the treasures of the Riphean mountains. From his cry, flowers wither and grass withers, and if there is someone alive, then everyone falls dead. The eyes of a griffin with a golden tint. The head was the size of a wolf's head, with a huge, intimidating beak a foot long. Wings with a strange second joint to make it easier to fold them. In Slavic mythology, all approaches to the Iry garden, the Alatyr mountain and the apple tree with golden apples are guarded by griffins and basilisks. Whoever tries these golden apples will receive eternal youth and power over the Universe. And the very apple tree with golden apples is guarded by the dragon Ladon. There is no passage here for foot or horseback.

22. Kraken

kraken is the Scandinavian version of the Saratan and the Arabian dragon or sea serpent. The back of the Kraken is a mile and a half wide, and its tentacles are capable of embracing the largest ship. This huge back protrudes from the sea, like a huge island. The Kraken has a habit of darkening the sea water by spewing some kind of liquid. This statement gave rise to the hypothesis that the Kraken is an octopus, only enlarged. Among the youthful writings of Tenison, one can find a poem dedicated to this remarkable creature:

For centuries in the depths of the ocean
The bulk of the Kraken sleeps soundly
He is blind and deaf, on the carcass of a giant
Only at times a pale beam glides.
Giants of sponges sway over him,
And from deep, dark holes
Polypov innumerable choir
Extends tentacles like arms.
For thousands of years the Kraken will rest there,
So it was and so it will continue,
Until the last fire burns through the abyss
And heat will scorch the living firmament.
Then he wakes up from his sleep
Before angels and people will appear
And, surfacing with a howl, he will meet death.

23. Golden dog

golden dog.- This is a dog of gold that guarded Zeus when Kronos pursued him. The fact that Tantalus did not want to give up this dog was his first strong offense before the gods, which the gods later took into account when choosing a punishment.

“... In Crete, the homeland of the Thunderer, there was a golden dog. Once she guarded the newborn Zeus and the wonderful goat Amalthea who fed him. When Zeus grew up and took power over the world from Kron, he left this dog in Crete to guard his sanctuary. The king of Ephesus, Pandareus, seduced by the beauty and strength of this dog, secretly came to Crete and took her away on his ship from Crete. But where to hide a wonderful animal? Pandarey thought about this for a long time during his journey by sea and, finally, decided to give the golden dog to Tantalus for safekeeping. King Sipila hid a wonderful animal from the gods. Zeus was angry. He called his son, the messenger of the gods Hermes, and sent him to Tantalus to demand from him the return of the golden dog. In the twinkling of an eye, swift Hermes rushed from Olympus to Sipylus, appeared before Tantalus and said to him:
- The king of Ephesus, Pandareus, stole a golden dog from the sanctuary of Zeus in Crete and gave it to you to keep. The gods of Olympus know everything, mortals cannot hide anything from them! Return the dog to Zeus. Beware of incurring the wrath of the Thunderer!
Tantalus answered the messenger of the gods thus:
- In vain you threaten me with the wrath of Zeus. I did not see the golden dog. The gods are wrong, I don't have it.
Tantalus swore a terrible oath that he was telling the truth. With this oath, he angered Zeus even more. This was the first insult inflicted by tantalum on the gods...

24. Dryads

Dryads- in Greek mythology, female spirits of trees (nymphs). they live in a tree that they protect and often died with this tree. Dryads are the only nymphs that are mortal. Tree nymphs are inseparable from the tree they inhabit. It was believed that those who plant trees and those who care for them enjoy the special protection of the dryads.

25. Grants

Grant- In English folklore, a werewolf, who is most often a mortal disguised as a horse. At the same time, he walks on his hind legs, and his eyes are full of flames. Grant is a city fairy, he can often be seen on the street, at noon or closer to sunset. Meeting with a grant portends misfortune - a fire or something else in the same vein.

For many people, the goatee is a symbol of protest, even though it's just a convenient decoration for facial hair. While facial hair has dwindled over the centuries, the current fashion for mustaches and beards looks pretty amazing. At all times, celebrities wore a goatee, which is now back again and has become an element of style and fashion for young guys.

A goat's beard is considered to be when part of the face is clean-shaven, with the exception of the chin. A short beard is called "van Dyck style", while a longer and more pointed beard is called "imperial".

The history of the goatee is quite interesting. The name apparently comes from the long tuft of fur under the goat's chin. As a result, the half-man, half-goat Greek god Pan is usually depicted with such a beard. Pan was the god of the shepherds and the symbol of the wild. After the introduction to Christianity, the beard from the goat-like Pan passed to Satan, and therefore for a long time people did not wear it.

The goat beard took root in Europe in the 17th century thanks to the Flemish painter Antonis van Dyck (Antoon van Dyck). Van Dyck was a hugely successful painter commissioned for portraits by dukes, princesses, kings and queens.

He also painted many self-portraits, in which the author has a small, pointed beard and a gracefully curved mustache. King Charles I of England wore the same beard. Van Dyck's paintings and portraits of Charles quickly spread throughout Europe, and the two's beard style became very popular.

Despite its popularity, the goatee almost disappeared from high society in the 18th and 19th centuries, and became strongly associated with soldiers, in particular the famous French musketeers. In those years, it was believed that the beard is associated with a very strong, assertive person.

Facial hair fashion has been changing in waves throughout the 20th century. The 1920s and 1930s were the years of beardless men. Jazz musicians of the 1940s have a goatee, including a goatee. 1950s were clean-shaven, and the protest 1960s became a decade of diversity and beard freedom. In the 1970s, the mustache trend was replaced by the popular stubble of the 1980s. In the 1990s, a neat goatee and an “island” under the lower lip were fashionable.

Why is the goat beard so popular? Already in late adolescence, when you want to decorate your face with manly hair, they grow most densely above the upper lip and chin. And often this is not enough for a full beard.

And if a hundred years ago a man had a beard, he kept it for life, it was an integral part of him. Nowadays, with rare exceptions, the beard is a fashionable element, it is grown or shaved without regret in the name of beauty and masculinity, depending on the season or simply at the request of the girlfriend.

Lenin, Dzerzhinsky, Boris Grebenshchikov and many other celebrities had a beard like a goat. There are integers , and all of them confirm the thesis that .

Legends and traditions of many peoples of the world are important topics for the study of folk art. They tell about the heroic history of peoples, contain a number of interesting facts around which there is a lot of controversy. Artists, sculptors and architects immortalize heroes in stone and on canvas, while writers, poets and playwrights play with stories in their works.

Mythical creatures, fabulous animals and monsters

Ancient man was in fear of the power of the forces of nature. These forces embodied various images of monsters and beasts, which were a product of the imagination of man.

As a rule, such creatures combined parts of the body of a person and an animal. Tails of fish and snakes, wings and beaks of birds, hooves, tails and horns of domestic animals emphasized the hideousness of monsters. Most of them were inhabitants of the seabed, marsh mud, dense forests. These habitats personified their dark essence.

But not all monsters are terrible, among them there are quite beautiful inhabitants of fantastic worlds. Mostly they are half-humans, but sometimes there are absolutely fantastic creatures among them, unlike either an animal or a person.

Half-man, half-goat from antiquity

The largest number of such demihumans is typical for them. They were endowed with superpowers and attributed to them various deceit.

Pan - good forest god

Initially, the god Pan was one of the most ancient Greek gods. Lord of the forests, shepherds and protector of cattle breeders. Despite the fact that Pan was honored in Argos and Arcadia, where animal husbandry was actively developed, he was not included in the pantheon of the Olympic gods. Over time, he becomes just a patron of wildlife.

His father was the powerful Zeus, and his mother was the nymph Dryope, who fled when she saw her son of unusual appearance. Half-man-half-goat Pan was born with goat hooves and a beard, and they were surprised and laughed when they saw the son of Zeus on Olympus.

But the god Pan is kind. To the sound of his flute, herds graze peacefully and nymphs dance merrily. But there are a lot of rumors about him. Tired after round dances, it is better not to wake him up, because Pan is quick-tempered and can frighten a person or send him a deep sleep. Greek shepherds and pastoralists honored Pan and coaxed him with gifts of wine and meat.

satires

A satyr is outwardly half-human, half-goat. An athletic creature with goat legs, hooves, tail and horns. In Greek mythology, he personifies the forest lord of fertility.

Who does the half-man, half-goat look like? Photos of paintings by famous artists depict satyrs surrounded by forests, playing the flute. They were considered the embodiment of male power. They get drunk, chase the forest nymphs and seduce them.

Half-man, half-goat is endowed with the strength of wild animals, and human morality and rules are alien to him. They could often be seen surrounded by Dionysus, and having fun.

In the legends of other peoples, there is also a half-man-half-goat. What is the name of the creature and what does it represent?

Ochokochi

In Georgian folk tales, there is a story about a hunter who met a humanoid creature at night in the forest. They call him Ochokochi. This is an evil deity, the worst enemy of hunters and gatherers.

Ochokochi is a huge evil monster covered with thick red hair. From his chest protrudes a sharp hump in the form of an ax, with which he cuts opponents. Ochokochi was immortal and no hunter could kill him. In some Georgian families, naughty children are still frightened by this character.

Krampus

This is a half-man-half-goat in Western European mythology. He is a Christmas hero and the antipode of Santa Claus, a frequent visitor of the winter holidays, who punishes naughty children. This creature is often used to frighten children today.

Legends about Krampus are associated with the onset of cold weather and shortening of daylight hours. Most often, stories about these evil and insidious creatures can be heard in Germany, Austria and Hungary. The image of Krampus, despite the formidability and frightening appearance, is associated with the Christmas holidays.

In Western Europe, this deity even came up with a whole holiday - "Krampusin". This fun and kind action sets people in a good festive mood. People dressed in horned Krampus skins appear on the streets. They are hung with all sorts of loud attributes - bells and pieces of iron, make noise, play with children and adults.

Half-man-half-goat in mythology - is this the devil?

In the Christian religion, the image of a creature with the features of a goat is considered the personification of the devil and the most negative qualities are attributed to him. During the Middle Ages, the image of a satyr was transformed into the image of a devil. Ancient artists portrayed these creatures as musicians picking grapes and making wine.

The image of a half-man-half-goat has smoothly migrated to modern fairy tales and legends. And it is associated not only with evil and negativity, but also with fertility and fun.

Mythical creatures, fabulous animals and monsters

Ancient man was in fear of the power of the forces of nature. These forces embodied various images of monsters and beasts, which were a product of the imagination of man.

Half-man, half-goat from antiquity

The largest number of such demi-humans is characteristic of Greek mythology. They were endowed with superpowers and attributed to them various deceit.

Pan - good forest god

His father was the powerful Zeus, and his mother was the nymph Dryope, who fled when she saw her son of unusual appearance. Half-man-half-goat Pan was born with goat hooves and a beard, and the Olympian gods were surprised and laughed when they saw the son of Zeus on Olympus.

satires

A satyr is outwardly half-human, half-goat. An athletic creature with goat legs, hooves, tail and horns. In Greek mythology, he personifies the forest lord of fertility.

Half-man, half-goat is endowed with the strength of wild animals, and human morality and rules are alien to him. They could often be seen surrounded by Dionysus, the god of winemaking and fun.

In the legends of other peoples, there is also a half-man-half-goat. What is the name of the creature and what does it represent?

Ochokochi

In Georgian folk tales, there is a story about a hunter who met a humanoid creature at night in the forest. They call him Ochokochi. This is an evil deity, the worst enemy of hunters and gatherers.

Krampus

Half-man-half-goat in mythology - is this the devil?

The image of a half-man-half-goat has smoothly migrated to modern fairy tales and legends. And it is associated not only with evil and negativity, but also with fertility and fun.

Images of gods with zoomorphic and anthropogenic features - the heads of animals and human bodies - are found among different peoples.

A joint Australian-American expedition that studied the rock paintings of primitive people in Australia and South Africa discovered more than five thousand images of the Stone Age, among which there are sketches of half-humans, half-animals - with the body of a lion and the head of a man or with the head of a bull and a human torso. The drawings of unknown creatures discovered by the expedition were made at least 32 thousand years ago. Cambridge anthropologist Christopher Chippendale and Sydney historian Paul Tacon, who studied ancient petroglyphs, came to the conclusion that primitive artists painted mysterious creatures "from life", that is, depicted what they saw with their own eyes. It is noteworthy that prehistoric Australians and Africans, who lived on different continents, decorated their caves with drawings of the same creatures.

In Australia, scientists have found images of centaurs, although it is reliably known that horses were not found on this remote mainland. How the Australian aborigines managed to depict a horse with a human torso is unknown. It remains to be assumed that in ancient times on our planet, hybrids of people and animals really existed.

Probably, all these mysterious creatures are the result of alien genetic experiments. Moreover, the hybrids created in the "test tube" were intelligent. For example, the god Thoth was considered by the Egyptians to be a scientist:

The son of the god Kron and Philyra, the centaur Chiron, trained by Apollo and Artemis in hunting, healing, music and divination, was the teacher of the heroes of Greek myths - Achilles, Asclepius, Castor, Polideukos, Jason.

Centaurs in Greek mythology are creatures with a horse's body and a human torso (there are also images of hybrids with a man's torso and the body of a bull, donkey, sheep or goat).

According to Greek tradition, the centaurs lived in the mountains of Thessaly and Arcadia and were, with the exception of Chiron and Foul, wild and violent creatures. One of the most famous deeds of the centaurs is an attempt to kidnap Hippodamia, the bride of the Lapith king Pirithous. In the battle with the Lapiths, they were defeated. Legends say that horse people came to Greece from the mountains, but because of their excessive craving for alcohol, they were expelled from Hellas by people.

On a superbly preserved Mayan fresco, discovered in one of the temples of the city of Bonampak in the Mexican state of Chiapas, you can see strange gods with mandibles instead of mouths and crocodile faces. Similar images are found among the Olmecs, Toltecs, Aztecs.

Before the creation of man, hybrids of man-beasts or animals endowed with reason were a kind of attendants of the gods and performed some economic functions. In Egypt, near the village of Deir el-Medina, a settlement of builders of the Theban necropolis was opened. Among them were scribes and artists who painted the walls of the tombs. The ancient Egyptian masters left rough sketches and sketches of drawings made on clay fragments or limestone tiles, later called "ostracons" by the famous French Egyptologist Gaston Maspero. During the excavations, about 5 thousand drawings depicting scenes from the life of the Egyptians were discovered. Many of them baffle scientists. For example, an Egyptian papyrus in the British Museum depicts jackals guarding goats. Both "shepherds" walk on their hind legs, carrying baskets behind their backs. The procession is closed by a jackal playing a flute. Ahead of the whole group, a cat stands on its hind legs and drives geese with a twig. Another drawing even shows a "chess tournament" between a lion and a gazelle: they are sitting in chairs in front of the board; the lion grinned, as if saying something, making a move; the gazelle "spread its hands" and released the figure.

François Champollion, who was the first to decipher and read Egyptian hieroglyphs, believed that such drawings were a kind of political satire. But there is no evidence of the existence of this literary genre among the ancient Egyptians.

Some figurines depict mysterious animals that command people or dictate something to scribes.

People with a dog's head were also depicted on old Orthodox icons - Saint Christopher

Pliny, Paul the Deacon, Marco Polo, Adam of Bremen wrote about people with dog or jackal heads as real beings. Anubis, in the beliefs of the ancient Egyptians, originally the god of death, the patron of the dead, as well as necropolises, funeral rites and embalming, was usually depicted in the guise of a wolf, a jackal, or a man with a jackal's head. The god of wisdom Thoth was depicted as a man with the head of an ibis or baboon, the goddess Sokhmet as a woman with the head of a lioness, etc. The killing of a sacred animal was punished by death among the Egyptians. Sacred animals and birds were embalmed after death and buried in special cemeteries.

In the early 1960s, during the construction of a highway in the Crimea, a bulldozer turned a stone “box” onto the surface of the earth. The workers opened the lid of the sarcophagus: it contained a human skeleton with a ram's head, and the skeleton was solid, the head was one with the skeleton. The roadmaster called archaeologists whose expedition was working nearby. Those, looking at the bones, decided that the road builders had played a trick on them, and immediately left. Convinced that the find did not represent any historical value, the workers razed the sarcophagus to the ground.

Archaeologists sometimes find ancient burials in which the bones of animals and humans are mixed, as well as the skeletons of various animals, and often the grave does not contain a human head or there is an incomplete set of animal bones. It is believed that these are the remains of sacrificial gifts. But it is quite possible - these are hybrids created by aliens.

Unusual artifacts are found in various parts of the world. Not far from Glauberg, in 1997, a Celtic settlement of the 5th century BC was discovered. e. There, in a mound plundered in the Middle Ages, German archaeologists found a statue of a Celtic leader 1.8 meters high. The warrior is depicted in chain mail, with a Roman-style shield. And the head of the leader is decorated with huge "hare" ears.

It is curious that images of people with long ears are found quite often, and in areas that are significantly remote from each other. There are similar drawings on a rock near the Jordan River, on a burial box found in the Altai Mountains. Huge ears crown the heads of "stone women" in the Krasnoyarsk Territory and Khakassia, as well as Chinese figurines of demons.

Myths about anthropoid animals have been preserved among many peoples. In Greek mythology, the Minotaur, a monster with a human body and the head of a bull, was born by Pasiphae, the wife of King Minos, from a bull sent by Poseidon to Crete for slaughter. Minos refused to sacrifice the bull, then Poseidon inspired Pasiphae with an unnatural passion for the animal. The fruit of their relationship, the Minotaur, was imprisoned in an underground labyrinth built by Daedalus. Every year, seven young men and women were sacrificed to him, sent by the Athenians as a tribute to Minos and as atonement for the murder of Minos' son in Attica. A terrible monster devoured the unfortunate. The Athenian prince Theseus voluntarily went to Crete among those destined to be devoured by the Minotaur, killed the monster and, with the help of the thread of the royal daughter Ariadne, who was in love with him, got out of the labyrinth.

Especially often images, reliefs and statues of bulls with human heads are found among the Assyrians and Persians.

Aliens conducted experiments on the hybridization of a variety of animals. The historian Eusebius, based on more ancient sources, describes the monsters created by the gods in ancient times:

Human beings with goat thighs and horns on their heads; others are half human, half horse (centaurs); bulls with human heads; dog-like creatures with fish tails; dog-headed horses and other dragon-like creatures.

In 1850, the famous French archaeologist Auguste Marryat discovered huge vaulted crypts (the so-called crypts) in the area of the Saqqara pyramid, in which hundreds of sarcophagi carved from solid pieces of granite were preserved. Their dimensions surprised scientists: length - 3.85 meters, width - 2.25 meters, height - 2.5 meters, wall thickness - 0.42 meters, cover thickness 0.43 meters; the total weight of the "coffin" and the lid was about 1 ton.

Inside the sarcophagi were crushed animal remains, mixed with a viscous liquid similar to resin. In some burials, small figurines with images of ancient gods were found. After examining the fragments of the bodies, Marryat came to the conclusion that they were hybrids of a wide variety of animals. The ancient Egyptians believed in life after death and were convinced that a living being could be reborn only if its body was embalmed and retained its appearance. They were afraid of the creatures created by the gods and, in order to prevent the resurrection of monsters in a new life, they dismembered their bodies into small pieces, placed them in coffins, filled them with tar, and covered them with massive lids on top.

During excavations in the Gobi desert, the Belgian scientist Friedrich Meissner discovered a human skull with horns. At first, he suggested that the horns were somehow cut into the skull, that is, they were transplanted, but the pathologist's studies showed that these were natural formations: they formed and grew during the life of this creature.

Several human skulls with horns, like this one, were discovered in a burial mound in Bradford County, Pennsylvania, in the 1880s. With the exception of bony protrusions located about two inches above the eyebrows, the people to whom the skeletons belonged were anatomically normal, although they were seven feet tall. The bodies were estimated to have been buried around A.D. 1200. The bones were sent to the American Research Museum in Philadelphia, where they vanished, never to be seen again.

Similar skulls were found by an Israeli archaeological expedition led by Professor Chaim Rasmon during excavations of the ruins of Subeyt. In the lowest cultural layers dating back to the Bronze Age, archaeologists have discovered human skeletons, whose skulls were crowned with horns. They were held in the skulls so firmly that experts could not come to an unambiguous conclusion whether the horns grew naturally or were somehow “implanted”. Images and reliefs of people with horns are also found in other regions of the world, for example, in Peru.

Doctor of Biological Sciences P. Marikovsky, studying rock paintings of the Stone Age in the western spurs of the Dzungarian Alatau in the territory of Mesopotamia, discovered images of obvious mutants: mountain goats with two heads; goats with long tails, like wolves; unknown animals with straight, stick-like horns; horses with humps, like a camel; horses with long horns; camels with horns; centaurs.

Rock paintings, reliefs, sculptures depicting hybrid animals can be seen in different parts of the globe among different peoples. Especially common are images of the sphinx - a creature with a human head and the body of an animal (lion, snake, dog, etc.), sometimes with the wings of an eagle. The Egyptians depicted three types of sphinxes: with the head of a man and the body of a lion, with the head of a ram and with the head of a falcon. The ancient Greeks created images of half-maiden-half-lions.

Perhaps the aliens carried out genetic experiments to create humanoids, as well as various hybrids of people and animals in the Middle Ages. The annals of the Mongols preserved curious evidence of unusual children:

To a khagan named Sarva, who was the son of Kushal, the khagan of the Indian Magada, the youngest of five sons was born with turquoise hair, his arms and legs were flat; his eyes were closed from the bottom up...

Since Duva Sohor had a single eye in the middle of his forehead, he could see at a distance of three nomads.

Medieval scientists reported on the birth of various freaks: A Pare, U. Aldrovandi, Lykosfen. There is information about the birth of children with the head of a cat, dog, and also with the body of a reptile.

Currently, the media provides numerous reports of the birth of ugly children with gills, with cat-like, vertical pupils, Cyclopes with one eye in the forehead, with webbed fingers and toes, with green or blue skin. In March 2000, a message appeared that in India, in one of the hospitals in the city of Pollachi (Tamil Nadu), a “mermaid” was born - a girl with a fish tail instead of legs. She lived for a very short time, her body was transferred to one of the medical institutions for study. In March 2001, the Ananova news agency reported that in India, not far from Parappanangadi, a strange cub was born to an ordinary sheep. The unusual lamb had no hair on its body, and the nose, eyes, mouth, tongue and teeth were similar to human ones, and its entire muzzle as a whole resembled the face of a bald man in dark sunglasses. The mutant (or hybrid?) lived only a few hours after birth. Perhaps all these freaks are echoes of experiments conducted by aliens in the distant past on people. Another option is not ruled out - genetic experiments on our planet continue.

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