The Manticore

The manticore is one of those mythic beasts whose origins sit on the edge between ancient zoology and nightmare. Its earliest known mention comes from Persian mythology, under the name “martikhora” (or mardyakhor), meaning “man-eater.” This word was adopted into Greek as mantikhoras and then Latinized to manticora or mantichora.

The Persians imagined it as a monstrous predator of the eastern wilderness, described as having the body of a lion, the face of a man, and a tail armed with deadly spines or venomous stingers that it could shoot like arrows. It devoured its victims whole, leaving no bones behind. In Persian lore it was less a chimera of moral symbolism than a monstrous beast of the wilds; a literal man-eater lurking at the fringes of the empire.