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Virgins, Unicorns and Medieval Literature (2017)

10 points by mooreds

by CGMthrowaway

2 subcomments

Author suggests unicorns were after African/Asian rhinos, but there is another genus that better fits the description "forest-dwelling creatures with this monstrous four-foot long horn that they used to stab the wombs of elephants, and they were regarded as the most dangerous beast in the forests” and may have existed alongside humans- https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2018-11-27-extinct-siberian-unicor...

by geerlingguy

0 subcomment

As a Catholic, the part discussing Mary's role in the story is quite at odds with what I read, both from medieval times and more modern.
I wonder if the perspective in the article comes more from a Protestant understanding of Mary?
In Catholic teaching at least, Mary's "fiat" ("Yes") was one of the most pivotal moments in salvation history, and Mary is regarded as the "Queen" of all saints, for her role and her personal decision to say yes.

by lobo_tuerto

0 subcomment

I think Dungeon Soup nailed it with their unicorn video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vulJTr8u2gc

by 52-6F-62

0 subcomment

This is a strange article to show up on the front page of hacker news.
A couple of paragraphs on a profound subject and reductionists feel the need to talk over it as if they have a better idea.
If this stuff interests you, get out of the shallow end of the pool.
https://archive.org/details/loreofunicorn00shep
https://archive.org/details/oakkinghollyk00will
https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.283172/page/n1...
There's no map, just fields of doors. You get nowhere by arguing about the look of the doorknobs.
One thing is for certain: there are no unicorns in Silicon Valley, no matter how much it has loved to profess as much.