What is a Cornucopia? - The Infinite Spider The Infinite Spider A Science and Nature Blog for Naturalists and Educators Menu Cornucopia (Photo: Saratica Cornucopia, Flicker Sharing). Explaining the Mythic Origin of The Cornucopia It's nearing Thanksgiving and suddenly you start seeing see pictures of tables decorated with turkeys, vegetables, sweet potato pies, fall leaves. All that's fine, but then there's a thing that thing that looks like a woven basket with fruit and nuts spilling out. How the heck did that make it onto the table? Where did it come from? Sure, it looks like a horn or some such but what is it? It's called a cornucopia, but the thing is, its symbolism is much, much older than European settlers and Thanksgiving, in fact, it's quite ancient and pagan. The term cornucopia comes from the Latin of cornu copiae or "horn of plenty." When you see it on Thanksgiving tables or in illustrations you may see depictions of a woven funnel, often with at least one twist to the end and spiraling to a narrow point. This is meant to mimic a goat's horn.

Cornucopia as often depicted in drawings (Photo: Wiki Commons). Here you can see the slightly turned out horns of a nanny goat (Photo: Wiki Commons). So, how exactly did a goat's horn end up on our Thanksgiving tables stuffed with fruit and nuts? You have to admit, it's a little weird. For the answer to that you have to go back to Greek mythology, constellations, classical paintings, and a great imagination. First, let's look at the Greek mythology and constellations. These stories date back to around the third century B.C. The story of the cornucopia can be traced to the earliest Greek gods, and in particular Zeus. Cronus (or Kronos) was the leader of the Titans, the descendants of Uranus and Gaia. The Titans ruled the cosmos during the "Golden Age" of Greece. After Cronus defeated his father Ouranos (the sky) a prophesy came down. It said that he, Cronus, would be overthrown by his own son, much like he overthrew his father (the Greeks really liked payback stories). To prevent being overthrown Cronus swallowed all of his children when they were born to his wife Rhea.

Now Rhea, being a smart lady, saved her youngest child (Zeus) by wrapping a stone in swaddling and giving it to Cronus to swallow instead of the infant (ever get that heavy feeling after a dinner?). Zeus was then hidden by Rhea and his grandmother Gaia on Mount Ida on the island of Krete. This is where the horn image comes in. Rhea couldn't be seen going off and nursing a baby, because Cronus would catch on. So, she gave Zeus into the care and keeping of the Kouretes. The Kouretes were armed dancers (or attendants) who bore Zeus away on their shields to the island. The Kouretes stood about the alter of Zeus and danced, beating their shields, bronze clappers, and symbols to prevent Cronus from hearing baby Zeus crying or making sounds. The Kouretes dancing around Zeus (Photo: Wiki Commons) Dancing is good and all, but Zeus needed food, so the Kouretes were joined on the island by the nurse-maid-she-goat called Amaltheia (A-mal-thee-ah).

The origin and meaning of the name are given mixed attribution in ancient literature, being derived either from the verb amaltheuein, meaning to nourish/enrich or amale and theia, which relates to the "divine goat" or "tender goddess." Zeus suckled from the pap or teat of the goat, and she was a protectoress for him. There are different versions of the myth as to how the Amaltheia's horn was detached from her head. Some say she caught her horns in the branches of a tree, and other say the baby Zeus became a bit frisky with his new-found strength and broke off her horn. Regardless, the horn then would provide bountiful food for anyone who possessed it from then on. Eventually the she-goat died and Zeus made a powerful shield from her hide, and called it a "thunder-shield" or aigis (nothing says love like making a shield out of your nanny). Amaltheia's image was placed in the sky, as the goat constellation of Capra. This appears as a cluster of stars on the constellation of Auriga the Charioteer.

If you're curious it's is mostly seen during the winter in the Northern Hemisphere, between Gemini and Perseus, look for the major star Capella (see chart below). The Auriga constellation (Photo: Wiki Commons). If you're ever looking for a really interesting website, visit the Constellation of Words website . It explores the etymology and origin of constellation. Their authors explain, "Auriga is associated with Erichthonius, and the alpha star of this constellation, Capella , is associated with Amaltheia ( Amalthea ) the nanny-goat, who suckled the infant Zeus. The stars zeta, Hoedus 1 , and eta, Hoedus 11 are her Kids which she put aside in order to suckle the baby Zeus, as a wet-nurse would do. The Kids, two stars in Auriga, were treated as a separate constellation by Manilius.

A nanny is a person who rears children other than her own, as Amalthea raised Zeus, and Erichthonius was raised by Athena." ( From Constellation of Words) Here you can see the Nanny coat, resting on teh arms of hte charioteer, and her two kids that were "set aside" so that she could suckle Zeus (Photo: Constellation of Words) Now back to the horn. Often it is associated with the Greek goddess Demeter, the goddess of corn, grain, fertility, agriculture, and the harvest. She was also the daughter of Cronus and Rhea, and Zeus' sister. By the way, Zeus did defeat Cronus and made him vomit alive all his grown children, including Demeter. Nothing says "I love you sis" like a rescue and regurgitation. Roman tile mosaic of man with cornucopia (Photo: Manuel, Flicker Sharing). The Romans really liked using the imagery of the cornucopia or the "horn of plenty" too. Roman deities associated with harvest and peace were often shown with a cornucopia.

Like North America is now, Rome was a very prosperous country, filled to excess with good foods, so they wanted to show the rest of the world that not only were they politically and militarily mighty, they were able to feed themselves lavishly. "The Origin of the Cornucopia" a painting by the Flemish artist Abraham Janssens (Photo: Seattle Art Museum). Many classic art works depict the cornucopia, ranging from the walls of Pompeii to the painting of the Roman goddess Abundantia by Rubens or the artwork entitled, The Origin of the Cornucopia by Abraham Janssens, a Flemish artist (c. 1575-1632). Aside from the myth of Zeus, some Greek artworks feature the alternative myth of Heracles wrestling the river god Achelous and ripping the god's horn off. Regardless, you always see a horn involved somewhere. Heracles removing the horn of the river monster (Photo: Wiki Commons). In modern times you're likely to find the cornucopia on Thanksgiving tables as a woven basket. It still represents harvest, abundance, and plenty. I always wondered why a woven horn stuffed with fruit, grains, and nuts sat on Thanksgiving tables.

I know I was never taught why in school, just given the instruction to color, cut, felt, or paste together a centerpiece for the family. I love digging up little historical and mythical treasures like this. They make traditions seem much deeper, richer, and more meaningful...if slightly more pagan too. Statue of child with cornucopia (Photo: Wiki Commons). Cornucopia: Horn of Plenty - Circle Sanctuary Cornucopia: Horn of Plenty Cornucopia: Horn of Plenty by Selena Fox The Cornucopia is also known as the Horn of Plenty. Its name comes directly from Latin -- Cornu (horn) Copiae (abundance, plenty). As a symbol, a Cornucopia is typically depicted as a horn shaped receptacle overflowing with fruits, grains, flowers, and/or vegetables. The word Cornucopia also is commonly used to signify abundance. Legends about the origins of the Cornucopia come from ancient Greek mythology. One story connects it with the infancy of Zeus, the chief God of Pagan Greece.

After giving birth to Zeus, His mother, the Goddess Rhea, and His grandmother, the Goddess Gaea, placed Him in the care of the nymphs Adrasteia and Ida, daughters of Melisseus, king of Crete. They fed Zeus on the milk of the wondrous goat Amalthea. Later, in appreciation to His wet-nurse goat, Zeus placed Amalthea among the constellations in the heavens. To the nymphs, Zeus gave one of Amalthea's horns and conferred on it the magic of perpetually becoming filled with whatever sustenance the possessor of the horn might want. Another account links the origins of the Cornucopia with the legends of Herakles (Hecules), the son of Zeus and the princess Alcmena. Herakles and the River God Achelous fought each other over Deianeira, daughter of the God Dionysius. In an attempt to win this contest, Achelous shapeshifted into the form of a bull. However, Herakles defeated him and tore off one of his horns. Naiads, who were Water nymphs, took this horn, consecrated it, and filled it with fragrant flowers.

The Goddess of Plenty then adopted the horn, and making it Her own, called it Cornucopia. The Cornucopia came to become a sacred symbol associated with a variety of Pagan deities. In the Roman religion, this included Fortuna, the Goddess of Luck and Fortune; Plutus, God of Wealth; Concordia, Goddess of Peace and Harmony; and Flora, Goddess of Flowers. The Romano-British and Celtic Horse Goddess Epona sometimes was depicted in the form of the Great Mother carrying a Cornucopia. Nantosuelta, Goddess of the Winding Stream, appeared with a Cornucopia on some ancient monuments, as was Persephone, Greek Goddess of the Underworld. As a ritual tool, the Cornucopia has taken a variety of forms in ancient and contemporary times. Originally, it was in the form of an actual curved horn, reflecting its legendary roots. Over the ages, Cornucopias have been fashioned out of other materials as well, including wicker, wood, paper, stone, metal, and ceramics. Today, most Cornucopias are in the form of curved horn-shaped baskets.

In my own collection, my Cornucopia baskets range in size from 6 inches to more than 2 feet in length. I use the smaller ones on my personal altar and the bigger ones for large group rituals and festival community altars. You can purchase Cornucopia baskets at a variety of places, including gift stores, crafts shops, flea markets, garage sales, and garden centers. After obtaining a Cornucopia, cleanse and consecrate it as you would any newly acquired ritual tool. One way to do this is by blessing it with tools of each of the Elements of Nature: Touch it with a bit of salt or soil (Earth). Annoint it with spring water (Water). Smudge it with incense (Air). Pass it over a candle flame (Fire). And, finally, using a quartz crystal, blessing wand, or other tool of Spirit, dedicate it to its intended purpose and align it with your spiritual practice and the form(s) of the Divine you work with.

Here are some ways to work with a Cornucopia as a ritual tool: Fall Equinox Offerings: As part of a Fall Equinox ritual, ceremonially fill one or more Cornucopias with assorted vegetables, fruit, herbs, nuts, and other produce offerings as an expression of thanksgiving for agricultural bounty and/or the "harvest" of abundance in various aspects of life. In a personal rite, speak a thanksgiving as you place each item in the Cornucopia. In group rituals, each participant can verbally or silently express thanks while placing an offering item in the Corncuopia. After the ritual, leave the ritually filled Offering Cornucopia in a natural place overnight and later return to the Earth whatever contents have not already been consumed by wild creatures and Nature Spirits. In addition to serving as an offering receptacle during a ritual, the Cornucopia used in this way can also serve as a symbol of the harvest for the rest of the festival celebration. See the photograph on this page and the one on the cover of this issue for examples of Fall Equinox Offering Cornucopias. Sign of the Season: A Cornucopia can be used not only at Fall Equinox, but throughout the year to celebrate the seasons.

Fill your Cornucopia with natural materials and symbols associated with a particular seasonal festival or sabbat. Some suggestions are included in the box on this page. As you fill your Cornucopia with associated seasonal symbols, spiritually attune it, yourself, and your home to the season, and then place the Cornucopia as a sacred seasonal decoration on your personal altar or elsewhere in your home. You also can use a Sign of the Season Cornucopia as a seasonal focal point on a festival altar and/or feast table. If you work with a Sign of the Season Cornucopia year round, the act of changing its contents can aid you in aligning yourself and your home with seasonal changes. Ritual Feasting: Fill the Cornucopia with a particular type of edible ingredients, such as apples, berries, popcorn, crackers, chocolates, or other food to be served at a feast within or after a ritual. Set the filled Cornucopia in the center of the feast table not only as a decoration but also as a serving container. For juicy or sticky food, line the Cornucopia with lettuce, comfrey, other broad-leafed greens, tissue or wax paper.

Cornucopia for All Seasons Include one or more of the suggested items in a Cornucopia to use it as a Sign of the Season. Samhain: fill with colored leaves, acorns, apples, pomegranates, gourds, miniature pumpkins Yule: fill with evergreen branches, pine cones, mistletoe, holly, shiny balls, pomanders Imbolc: fill with unlit votive candles or with acorns or use as a Brigid's Bed Spring Equinox: fill with seed packets or colored hard-boiled eggs or jelly beans Beltane: fill with freshly cut flowers of a variety of colors Summer Solstice: fill with herbs, flowers, grasses, sun symbols Lughnassad: fill with herbs, corn, grain, and first of harvest Fall Equinox: fill with fruit, nuts, grains, herbs, flowers, vegetables Prosperity Magic: Place a Cornucopia on your personal altar as part of prosperity rituals. Fill it with dried sprigs of sage, cinquefoil, rosemary, thyme, mugwort, parsley, and/or other sacred plants, such as acorns, associated with well-being, prosperity, and good fortune.

Dedicate the Cornucopia as a tool of abundance, and then place deep with it a written wish for a particular type of abundance. Envision the wish coming true. After the ritual has ended, keep the Cornucopia in a protected, yet visible place so that you see it every day. Follow-up by taking actions that can help your wish come true. After you have achieved your goal, give thanks by offering the contents to a sacred fire or by burying them in the ground. Deity Invocation: Use a Cornucopia as an invoking tool in calling and/or aspecting a Goddess and/or God during a ritual. A Cornucopia is a suitable tool for working with various deities associated with Abundance, Good Fortune, Agriculture, Crops, Harvest, and Plants. In using your Cornucopia for Deity work, first fill it with associated vegetation and symbols. For example, for work with Flora, fill the Cornucopia with fresh flowers and for work with Pomona, fill it with fruit. House Blessing: You can use a Cornucopia to bless your home or the home of a loved one.

Fill a Cornucopia with herbs, flowers, fruit, vegetables, crystals, and other items associated with well-being and a happy home. After spiritually cleansing the home with incense and other tools, carry the filled Cornucopia clockwise around each room of the house as you focus on well-wishes. Then, place the Cornucopia in the main room of the home for at least a day and a night. After they have lost their freshness, bio-degradable ingredients can be removed and returned to Nature. The Cornucopia later can be used in other sacred ways in the home, such as a Sign of the Season or for Prosperity Magic. References: Funk & Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology, and Legend, edited by Maria Leach. New York: Funk & Wagnalls Publishing Company, 1972. page 252, 246. Dictionary of Classical Mythology, by J. E. Zimmerman. New York: Bantam Publishing, 1971. pages 70, 18-19 [keep] Bulfinch's Mythology. Feltham, Middlesex, UK: The Hamlyn Publishing Group, 1964.

pages 127-129. The New Book of Goddesses and Heroines, by Patricia Monaghan. St. Paul, Minnesota: Llewellyn, 1997. pages 126-127. Man, Myth & Magic: an illustrated Encyclopedia of the Supernatural, edited by Richard Cavendish. Volume 4. New York: Marshal Cavendish Corporation, 1970. page 518. Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods & Heroes, by Edith Hamiliton. New York: New American Library, 1953, page 287. New Century Dictionary of the English Language, edited by H. G. Emery & K. G. Brewster. Volume 1. New York: D. Appleton-Century Company, 1946. page 327. New Larousse Encyclopedia of Mythology, edited by Felix Guirand; translated by Richard Aldington & Delano Ames. New York: The Hamlyn Publishing Group -- Prometheus Press, 1968. pages 91, 149, 154, 158.

Selena Fox is high priestess of Circle Sanctuary. This article is part of a work in progress and reflects her work in combining classical and contemporary Paganis. She began exploring Pagan cultures as a teenager and was a high school and college honors student in Latin and the classics. She led her first public ritual in 1971 as president of Eta Sigma Phi, the Classics honor society at the College of William and Mary in Virginia. She is interested in hearing from others who use a Cornucopia as a ritual tool. Contact her: Selena Fox, Circle Sanctuary, P.O.Box 9, Barneveld, WI 53507; (608) 924-2216; circle@circlesanctuary.org .; home page: Profile of the Greek God Zeus Profile of the Greek God Zeus Profile of the Greek God Zeus Sky and Thunder God By N.S. Gill Updated August 24, 2016. The Greek god Zeus was the top Olympian god in the Greek pantheon.

After he took credit for rescuing his brothers and sisters from their father Cronus, Zeus became king of heaven and gave his brothers, Poseidon and Hades, the sea and the underworld, respectively, for their domains. Zeus was the husband of Hera, but he had many affairs with other goddesses, mortal women, and female animals. Zeus mated with, among others, Aegina, Alcmena, Calliope, Cassiopea, Demeter, Dione, Europa, Io, Leda, Leto, Mnemosyne, Niobe, and Semele. In the Roman pantheon, Zeus is known as Jupiter. Family Zeus is father of gods and men. A sky god, he controls lightning, which he uses as a weapon, and thunder. He is king on Mount Olympus , the home of the Greek gods . He is also credited as the father of Greek heroes and the ancestor of many other Greeks. Zeus mated with many mortals and goddesses but is married to his sister Hera (Juno). Zeus is the son of the ​​ Titans Cronus and Rhea .

continue reading below our video 4 Tips for Improving Test Performance He is the brother of his wife Hera, his other sisters Demeter and Hestia , and his brothers Hades and Poseidon . The Roman name for Zeus is Jupiter and sometimes Jove. Jupiter is thought to be made up of a Proto-Indoeuropean word for god, *deiw-os, combined with the word for father, pater, like Zeus + Pater. Attributes Zeus is shown with a beard and long hair. His other attributes include scepter, eagle, cornucopia, aegis, ram, and lion. The cornucopia or (goat) horn of plenty comes from the story of his Zeus' infancy when he was nursed by Amalthea.​ Powers of Zeus Zeus is a sky god with control over weather, especially of rain and lightning. He is King of the gods and a god of oracles -- especially in the sacred oak at Dodona . In the story of the Trojan War , Zeus, as a judge, listens to the claims of other gods in support of their side. He then renders decisions on acceptable behavior.

He remains neutral most of the time, allowing his son Sarpedon to die and glorifying his favorite, Hector . Etymology of Zeus and Jupiter The root of both "Zeus" and "Jupiter" is in a proto-Indo-European word for the often personified concepts of "day/light/sky". Zeus Abducts Mortals There are many myths about Zeus. Some involve demanding acceptable conduct of others, whether human or divine. Zeus was enraged with the behavior of Prometheus . The titan had tricked Zeus into taking the non-meat portion of the original sacrifice so that mankind could enjoy the food. In response, the king of the gods deprived mankind of the use of fire so they wouldn't be able to enjoy the boon they'd been granted, but Prometheus found a way around this, and stole some of the gods' fire by hiding it in a stalk of fennel and then giving it to mankind. Zeus punished Prometheus with having his liver pecked out every day. But Zeus himself misbehaves -- at least according to human standards. It is tempting to say that his primary occupation is that of seducer. In order to seduce, he sometimes changed his shape into that of an animal or bird.

When he impregnated Leda, he appeared as a swan [see Leda and the Swan ]. When he abducted Ganymede, he appeared as an eagle [see Zeus and Ganymede ] in order to take Ganymede to the home of the gods where he would replace Hebe as cupbearer; and when Zeus carried off Europa, he appeared as a tempting white bull [see Europa and Zeus ] -- although why the Mediterranean women were so enamored of bulls is beyond the imaginative capacities of this urban-dweller -- setting in motion the quest of Cadmus and the settling of Thebes . The hunt for Europa provides one mythological version of the introduction of letters to Greece. The Olympic Games were initially held to honor Zeus. 10 Unicorns Around The World You Might Not Know Of - Listverse 10 Unicorns Around The World You Might Not Know Of Caroline Blaha-Black December 30, 2015 When someone says the word “unicorn,” most people conjure up an image of a white horse with a golden horn growing in the middle of its forehead. Perhaps they see it frolicking in a medieval garden or sitting in the lap of a flaxen-haired maiden.

However, this mythical beast was not always portrayed as a peaceful, horselike creature. 10 Ki’lin Or Kirin Photo via Wikimedia Ki’lin in China and Kirin in Japan and Korea are closely related. Kirin was a fearsome animal that punished the wicked and was said to appear at the birth of a great ruler or a sage, such as Confucius. Resembling a dragon, he was often drawn with scales and with clouds surrounding him. Ki’lin is the combined name of a male unicorn (ki) and a female unicorn (lin). He’s often described as an animal with the body of a deer, the tail of a cow, and the hooves of a horse, although descriptions seem to vary . He is sometimes associated with zhi, a one-horned goat that lived during the time of Emperor Shun (2255–2205 BCE), who formulated the first code of law. Gao Yao, the emperor’s adviser, had a wise goat (zhi) that assisted in judicial proceedings.

9 Karkadann Photo credit: Farcry via Wikia The karkadann (aka the “Lord of the Desert”) is a Persian or Arabic unicorn with strong ties to the rhinoceros . The karkadann was described by the scholar Al-Biruni, who was a native of Uzbekistan, as a dangerous, strong animal with the build of a buffalo and a horn that bent upward, even though the descriptions of the horn and its shape vary. The Persian physician and scholar Al-Qazwini claimed that the karkadann’s horn could cure lameness and epilepsy, among other ailments, and that it was used in the manufacture of knife handles. Later Muslim writers also claimed that the animal’s horn would sweat in the presence of a poison, even though Al-Biruni had never said this. On an interesting note, the karkadann’s mortal enemy was the elephant, and the only thing that could soothe the karkadann’s terrible temper was the song of a ringdove.

8 One-Horned Wild Ass Photo via Wikimedia One of the earliest people to describe the unicorn was Ctesias, a Greek physician who traveled to Persia in 416 BC to serve as the court physician to Darius II. During his travels in Persia and India, Ctesias described an animal with a white body, a brown head, and dark blue eyes. Its single horn was pure white with a black middle and a vivid crimson point. Supposedly, a beaker made from such a horn had the ability to ward off all poisons, and finely ground powder from this horn could help with convulsions or epilepsy. According to Ctesias, this animal was so fast that nothing could overtake him. The Greek explorer Megasthenes, who was in India as an envoy for Seleucus I, also wrote about the unicorn. Although Megasthenes didn’t see the beast, he included accounts of it in his books. However, it is clearly a secondhand description of a rhino . 7 Amaltheia Photo credit: Nicolas Poussin In Greek legends, Amaltheia was the nurse goat of the infant Zeus, even though some of the stories also claim that she was a nymph.

When Zeus was born, his mother, Rhea, hid him in a cave in Mount Ida, so his father, Cronus, couldn’t find him and devour him. Apparently, Cronus didn’t want to be a father because he ate all his other children. Amaltheia nursed the infant Zeus. According to one legend, they were playing one day when Zeus accidentally broke off one of her horns, making Amaltheia a unicorn. Zeus felt bad, so he blessed her horn and it became associated with the horn of plenty , or cornucopia. This horn could be filled with anything a person desired. For her services to Zeus, Amaltheia was placed among the stars as the constellation Capra (the “goat”) when she died. 6 Orongo Photo credit: Philip Sclater These small, fast antelopes originated in Mongolia and Tibet and are described with either two horns or one. Odell Shepard, a well-known authority on unicorns, described the orongo in his book The Lore of the Unicorn.

Major Latter, who was stationed in Tibet and quoted in Quarterly Magazine in 1820, called the orongo a “ one-horned tso’po ” and was sure that the unicorn had been found in Tibet at last. Colonel Nikolay Mikhaylovich Przhevalsky, a Russian geographer and renowned explorer of Central and East Asia, described these animals in his book Mongolia. He claimed that they were sacred to the Mongols and that the lamas would not eat their meat. Supposedly, the animals’ horns could foretell the future. Pieces of the horns were sold at high prices and carried to other parts of the world by travelers, further propagating the unicorn myth . 5 Biblical European Unicorn A creature of God associated with Christ’s purity, the essential unicorn as we know him is a pure white horse with a golden spiral horn that has the power to purify water and detect poisons. Commonly, a narwhal’s tusk was sold as an alicorn (unicorn’s horn) to unsuspecting buyers in Medieval Europe, who often paid big money for a fake horn. In the King James Version of the Bible, the unicorn is mentioned multiple times.

In Isaiah 34:7, for example, the passage is especially cryptic: “And the unicorns shall come down with them, and the bullocks with the bulls; and their land shall be soaked with blood, and their dust made fat with fatness.” Scholars now consider the word previously translated as “unicorn” to refer to a type of wild ox, but the mistranslation likely helped the legend grow. A medieval story tells us that when Adam and Eve were expelled, the unicorn decided to follow them into the world instead of staying where he was comfortable. For this reason, unicorns seemed to be interested in human affairs . 4 Elasmotherium Photo credit: Boris Dimitrov A “real” unicorn came from the genus Elasmotherium, though it is now extinct. It was a rhinolike mammal that lived during the late Pleistocene period. About 5 meters (16 ft) long, he was a herbivore that frequented areas in what is now Russia, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. Despite the existence of many cranial remains, scientists cannot agree on the size and shape of his horn. The horns were made of keratin, which doesn’t preserve as well as bone.

On the bone of the animal’s skull, there was a round dome where the horn was located on the best-preserved remains. Elasmotherium’s front feet were larger than the rear ones. The larger feet would have reduced ground pressure, helping the animal to deal with snowy conditions. There were three species of this prehistoric creature , with the first one appearing in the late Pliocene. He is sometimes associated with the karkadann. 3 Camphur Photo credit: Ulysses Aldrovardi Out of all the unicorns, the camphur is probably the most mind-blowing. Not much material is out there on this amphibious unicorn , which was described as having a horse’s mane, hoofed front feet, webbed rear feet, and a single horn. Pierre Pomet, a French physician and pharmacist to Louis XIV, showed a drawing of a camphur in his book Histoire generale des drogues (“General History of Drugs”). Pomet also cited another author, Ambroise Pare, a surgeon who served several kings of France. Pare claimed that this unicorn lived in the Arabian Desert and that its horn could cure poisoning .

Later in his texts, however, Pomet noted that much of what was sold as a unicorn’s horn (alicorn) was really the tusk of a narwhal , an animal found off the coast of Greenland. Nevertheless, he still believed in unicorns. 2 Khutu Photo via Wikia There is a lot of confusion surrounding the khutu. For starters, the spelling for khutu can be ku-tu-si (Chinese), hutu, or chutww. The scholar Al-Biruni claimed that the khutu’s horn sweated in the presence of a poison. The description of this unicorn varied from a bull to a bird. Some Chinese writers even postulated that the khutu was a 1,000-year-old snake . To complicate things further, the horn had different colors on it, such as white and black, and the curved variety was preferred to the straight variety. These pricy horns were often cut into tiny pieces to be sold and may have been the tusks of walrus and narwhals, as Chris Lavers postulated in his book The Natural History of Unicorns.

These pieces may also have come from a bird, such as a hornbill, which had a horny crest above its beak. 1 Unicornfish Photo via Wikimedia The unicornfish, Naso unicornis, has a single, hornlike protrusion in the middle of its forehead between its eyes, which makes it look like it has a funny little face. They can be found in the Indian and Pacific Oceans and in the Red Sea. They live mostly in coral reefs and tropical areas of the ocean, although some are also found near Japan and Hawaii. These fish are mainly active in the daytime. The horn is slightly larger in males than in females. The scientific community is not clear on the horn’s function, but unicornfish do not use it for fighting. They are related to tangs and surgeonfish . They get along with most other fish and like algae . Caroline Blaha-Black lives and writes in Denton, TX. She’s currently working on a urban fantasy about ghouls. More Great Lists Cornucopia Symbolism - PaganSquare - PaganSquare - Join the conversation! Bookmark | With Thanksgiving around the corner, I thought it would be fun to explore one of the ubiquitous symbols of the season: the cornucopia.

From the Latin words cornu (horn) and copiae (plenty or abundance), cornucopia’s other namesake is quite literally this interpretation: horn of plenty. We often see this woven, hollow centerpiece festooned with flowers of orange, red and yellow—along with grapes, sheaves of wheat, apples and other fruit. As I dug deeper into the symbolism of the cornucopia, I was surprised at the variety of goddesses (and gods) associated with this motif. The most common mythos originates from Greece. Zeus, suckled by a she-goat named Amalthea (tender goddess), sought to honor his wet-nurse by turning one of her great horns into the cornucopia. One story goes that he broke one of her horns while playing, but then promised its perpetual overflow with her favorite fruits. However, in her book The Element Encyclopedia of Secret Signs and Symbols , Adele Nozedar states that Zeus rewarded Amalthea the brimming cornucopia for feeding him “a drink of goat’s milk” as an infant. He further honored his foster mother by turning her into the constellation Capra (she-goat).

As you might expect, the Romans then turned the story into the cornucopia of Copia, the goddess of abundance. Then, the magic horn became a source of untold wealth, grains and fruits. In his book Signs, Symbols & Omens , Raymond Buckland notes that this Roman goddess of plenty connected to the Greek goddess Tyche, saying that this magical horn “provided everything its owner desired”. Sort of like a magic lamp, but with unlimited wishes! Ray says several deities are depicted holding a cornucopia, including Banda, Cernunnos, Eirene, Fortuna (Rome’s “Lady Luck”), Pax, Rosmerta, Tutela and Virtus. In her book The Element Encyclopedia of Witchcraft , Judika Illes adds Demeter, Persephone, Fauna, Flora and Epona, remarking that “deities who carry implicitly promise peace and prosperity”. Since modern, decorative cornucopias serve as centerpieces made from wicker or paper, most forget that its abstract crescent shape directly correlates to an actual animal horn.

While the myth of Zeus connects to the horn of a goat, Barbara Walker observes in her book The Woman’s Dictionary of Symbols and Sacred Objects that the cornucopia “was originally the horn of the Great Mother in her cow or goat incarnation, as Io, Ceres, Hera, Hathor, and other versions of the sacred cow…” Another Roman goddess, Abundantia, was also associated with the cornucopia. Often depicted on 3rd century coins, she was usually posed beside a cornucopia—but some images actually show her sitting on a throne fashioned as a cornucopia. In her book The Element Encyclopedia of Witchcraft , Judika Illes details some fascinating information about this goddess of abundance: “When Christianity became Rome’s official religion, Abundantia was outlawed with other Pagan spirits. Some devotees were ambivalent about banishing prosperity and so Abundantia went underground, eventually re-emerging in medieval Europe as Dame Abundance. During the Middle Ages, she was worshipped only in secret and, finally, only by witches.

(By definition, if you worshipped her, you were a witch.) The Inquisition accused Dame Abundance, a night-rider, of leading the Wild Hunt and witches’ nocturnal jaunts. According to the testimony of accused witches, Dame Abundance visits the homes of her devotees at night, bringing good luck and prosperity with her.” Wow, these cornucopia associations are getting dicey! If Christians only knew what they were putting on their puritanical Thanksgiving tables this year… But I digress! The most fascinating horn of plenty association, for me, was discovering several pieces of ancient Greek pottery—including an amphora and a plate—showing Hades (Invisible), god of the underworld, carrying a cornucopia (usually with Persephone, but sometimes with Demeter). I searched my books but couldn’t find mentions of Hades holding a cornucopia.

However, online at this link , I did find reference to the a more beloved counterpart to Hades, Pluto/Plouton (Wealthy One), and how he might connect with abundance: “The name Ploutōn was frequently conflated with that of Plutus (Πλοῦτος,Ploutos), a god of wealth, because mineral wealth was found underground, and because as a chthonic god Pluto ruled the deep earth that contained the seeds necessary for a bountiful harvest. Pluto and Hades differ in character, but they are not distinct figures and share their two major myths.” Aha! So the type of abundance that Pluto symbolizes connects more with the deep, dark soil and its potential for bounty—as well as the mineral and metal deposits that translate into major wealth. It could be said that Persephone is the personification of vegetation (being kidnapped/held by Hades for six months because of eating six or so pomegranate seeds). Even to this day, pomegranates symbolize abundance, fertility and good luck—especially in Greek households. Thus, Hades with Persephone and a cornucopia signifies major themes of fertility, wealth, prosperity and fortune.

Who knew that the lowly cornucopia—ever-present in Thanksgiving decorations—had such a rich symbolic history! I’ll never see this symbol the same now. May you and yours be blessed this Thanksgiving and all through the year—with unseen bounties deep from within overflowing to the material realm.

Question: From which type of animal did the mythical Cornucopia, or Horn of Plenty come?
Answer: A GOAT