Manticore

The English-language term manticore comes via Latin mantichorāsKarl Ernst Georges: Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch. 8th ed., Hannover, 1918, vol. 2, col. 802, s.v. mantichorās. ([http://www.zeno.org/Georges-1913/A/mantichoras])Félix Gaffiot: Dictionnaire latin-français. 1934, p. 974. ([http://micmap.org/dicfro/introduction/gaffiot] → [http://micmap.org/dicfro/search/gaffiot/mantichoras]) from Ancient Greek {{lang|grc|μαρτιχόρας}} (martikhórās).Cf. Henry George Liddell & Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, {{LSJ|martixo/ras|μαρτιχόρας}} This in turn is a transliteration of an Old Persian compound word consisting of martīya 'man' and x^uar- stem, 'to eat' (Mod. {{langx|fa|{{linktext|مرد}}}}; mard + {{lang|fa|{{linktext|خوردن}}}}; khordan);{{efn|Early Middle Persian {{lang|pal|مارتیا}} {{transliteration|pal|mardya}} "man" (as in human) and {{lang|pal|خوار}} {{transliteration|pal|khowr-}} "to eat"}}<Old Persian martijaqâra according to the NED, apud {{harvp|McCulloch|1962}}, p. 142 n103 i.e., man-eater.

An early account of the manticore and of its naming occurs in Indica by Ctesias,

{{cite book

|last1 = Khanna

|first1 = Rakesh

|last2 = Bhairav

|first2 = J. Furcifer

|year = 2023

|orig-date = 2020

|title = Ghosts, Monsters and Demons of India

|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=ACq6EAAAQBAJ

|publication-place = London

|publisher = Watkins Media Limited

|isbn = 9781786788306

|access-date = 26 May 2025

|quote = Ctesias wrote about the Manticore in his book Indica. He claimed to have seen a live, caged specimen that was brought by an Indian dignitary from his homeland and displayed at court in Persepolis [...].

}}

a Greek physician of the 5th century BC who worked at the Persian court during the Achaemenid dynasty. Ctesias based his report on the testimonies of his Persian-speaking informants who had travelled to India. He recorded the Persian-language name of the beast as martichora ({{lang|grc|μαρτιχόρα}}), which translated into Greek as androphagon or anthropophagon ({{lang|grc|ἀνθρωποφάγον}}), i.e., "man-eater".{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"| Edward Topsell noted in 1607 that mantichora, otherwise known as martiora, "in the Persian tongue signifieth a devourer of men".{{sfnp|White [1954]|1984|p=48n}} (for further information on Topsell's manticore, cf. infra.}} But the name was mistranscribed as 'mantichoras' in a faulty copy of Aristotle, through whose works the legend of the manticore was perpetuated across Europe.

Ctesias was later cited by Pausanias regarding the martichoras or {{transliteration|grc|androphagos}} of India.

{{anchors|origins}}

An account of the manticore was given in Ctesias's lost book Indica ("India"), and circulated among Greek writers on natural history, but has survived only in fragments and epitomes preserved by later writers.{{sfnp|Nichols tr.|2013|p=11}}

Photius's Myriobiblon (or Bibliotheca, 9th century) serves as base text, but Aelian (De Natura Animalium, 3rd century) preserves the same information and more:

{{block indent|1=(Paraphrase) The martichora was allegedly a blue-eyed, human-faced wild beast of India. It was the size of the largest lion, with cinnabar-red fur. It has three rows of teeth, feet and claws like lions.{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|name="ctesias-kinnabari"}}{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|name="pliny-sanguineo"}} It also had a scorpion-like tail with a (main) terminal sting that measured over 1 cubit, plus two rows of auxiliary stings, each a Greek foot long. The sting was instantly fatal. The stings could be fired sideways, forward, or backward, by orienting the tail accordingly, up to a 1 plethron distance range, and these stings regenerated afterwards. Only the elephant was immune to the poison.{{harvp|Nichols tr.|2013|pp=48–49}}. Ctesias Indica Frag. 45, Photius. Bibliotheca 72. And it overcomes every beast except the lion.}}

Aelian, citing Ctesias, adds that the Mantichora prefers to hunt humans, lying in wait and even taking down even two or three men at a time. The Indians, he continues, take the young captive and disable the tail by crushing it with a stone before the sting begins growing.

Pliny described the "mantichora" in his Naturalis Historia (c. 77 AD){{L&S|mantichora|mantĭchō^ra|ref}} lists Plin. 8, 21, 30, § 75; 8, 30, 45, § 107. So the same passage may be designated variously as 8.21 (30), or 8.30 or 8.75 depending on the editor. having relied on a faulty copy of Aristotle's natural history that contained the misspelling ("martikhoras").

Pliny also introduced the confused notion that the manticore might occur in Africa, because he had discussed this and other creatures (such as the yale) within a passage on Aethiopia.{{sfnp|Nichols tr.|2013|p=142}}{{efn|Carl (Karl) Mayhoff (ed., 1857. Plinius Hist. Nat. viii.21., i.e.. {{harvp|Mayhoff ed.|1875}}, 8.21 (30) §75, p. 74) proposed an emendation of the text {{lang|la|{{linktext|eosdem}}}} "the same" to {{lang|la| {{linktext|apud |Indos |dein}} which would qualify the statements to be about India.}}}} But he also described the crocotta and the mantichora of Aethiopia together, and while the crocotta imitated the voices of men{{efn|And considered to be based on the [laughing] hyena.Bostock, John ed. "[http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0978.phi001.perseus-eng1:8.45 Chap. 45. The Crocotta. The Mantichora]}} the mantichora of Aethiopia too also mimicked human speech, on authority of Juba II, with a voice like the pipe (panpipe, fistula) mixed with trumpet.

Ctesias purportedly saw a martichora presented to the Persian king by the Indians. The Romanised Greek Pausanias was skeptical and considered it an unreliable exaggerated account of a tiger. Apollonius of Tyana also dismissed the mantichore as a tall tale, according to the biography by Philostratus (c. 170–247).{{sfnp|Nigg|1999|p=79}}

Pliny did not share Pausanias' skepticism. And for 1500 years afterwards, it was Pliny's account, also copied by Solinus (2nd century), which was held to be authoritative on matters of natural history whether real or mythological. In the advent of Christianity, writings in the Holy Scripture combined with Plinian-Aristotelian learning gave rise to the Physiologus (also c. 2nd century), which later evolved into the medieval bestiaries some of which contained entries on the manticore.

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| image1 = Bodleian Library-MS Bodl 764-fol 025r-manticore.jpg

| alt1 = Manticore in Bodleian Library MS 764

| caption1 = Manticore from Bodl. MS. 764, fol. 25r (c. 1225–1250){{right|{{small|―© Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford}}}}

| image2 = Manticore - British Library Royal 12 F xiii f24v (detail).jpg

| alt2 = Manticore from Rochester Bestiary

| caption2 = Manticore from the Rochester Bestiary (c. 1230–1240)

| image3 = Manticore 3244.jpg

| alt3 = Manticore in British Library, Harley MS 3244

| caption3 = Manticore in the bestiary bound in a theological miscellany, British Library Harley MS 3244, ff 36r–71v (early 13th century)

| image4 = BnF Latin 6838 B, fo.010r-manticora.jpg

| alt4 = Manticore in Bibliothèque nationale fond Latin 6838 B

| caption4 = Manticore in BnF Latin 6838 B, fo.010r

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The manticore has been included in some medieval bestiaries, with accompanying illustrations, though not all.

The thick-maned (and long-bearded) manticore wearing a Phrygian cap is a commonplace design (fig., top left).{{Refn|{{harvp|McCulloch|1962|p=142}}: "more usual is its depiction as a heavily maned beast having a man's face topped by a Phrygian cap .."; {{harvp|Wiedl|2010}}: "mid thirteenth-century Salisbury bestiary with its pointed Phrygian hat, long beard and grotesque profile", citing Higgs Strikland, Debra (2003) Saracens, Demons, & Jews, 136, figure 60 and pl.3; Pamela Gravestock, "Did Imaginary Animals Exist?," The Mark of the Beast, p. 121. Both name Bodl. 764 as example.}}

In most instances, the manticora is "coloured red or brown and has clawed feet".{{sfnp|George|Yapp|1991|p=53}} Artists took the liberty of coloring the manticore blue at times. One example is depicted "as a long-haired blond" (fig., top right).{{Refn|Roy.12 F xiii{{sfnp|George|Yapp|1991|p=51}}}} Another has the face of a woman and the body of a blue manticore (fig., bottom right) .{{Refn|BnF Latin 6838 B}}

Most manuscripts do not bother detailing the scorpion tail{{sfnp|McCulloch|1962|p=142}} and simply draw a long cat's tail,{{sfnp|George|Yapp|1991|p=53}}

but in Harley MS 3244 the manticore has an "oddly pointed tail"{{sfnp|McCulloch|1962|p=142}} or an "extraordinary spike on the end" of it,{{sfnp|George|Yapp|1991|p=53}} and a tail covered in spikes from end to end is shown on the manticore in several other second family manuscripts.{{Refn|University College Library (Oxford), MS. 120, Ashmole 1511, fol. 22v., Douce 151, ol. 18v.}}{{sfnp|George|Yapp|1991|p=53}}

The three-rows of teeth are not faithfully represented except in some third family examples.{{sfnp|George|Yapp|1991|p=53}}

;Second Family

The manticore ({{langx|la|manticora}}) occurs in about half of the Second Family Latin bestiaries.{{sfnp|George|Yapp|1991|p=51}} The specific source used in this case was probably Solinus (2nd century),{{harvp|Clark|2006|p=26}}. Due to the "three Solinus hybrids" being clustered into successive chapters. More on their interrelationships below.{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|In the base MS. Add. 11283, the manticore (fol. 8r) and the other hybrids around it has scholia marked "Solinus Cap. 65, p. 244". But these are presumbly later scribal additions, not disclosure of source by the original creators.}}

The text here describing the beast{{Refn|name="BL-Add11283-tr-Clark"}} differs little from Pliny's Latin version in language,By comparison of Latin texts or the Greek version in content (paraphrased above).By comparison of English translations This is naturally the case, since much of Solinus was recopied out of Pliny.{{sfnp|Clark|2006|p=26}}{{sfnp|McCulloch|1962|p=28}} The manticora is here described as "bloody-colored"{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|name="pliny-sanguineo"|Pliny has "eyes light-blue, blood-colored body like a lion {{lang|la|{{linktext|oculis |glaucis}}, {{linktext|colore |sanguineo}}, {{linktext|corpore |leonis}}}}".}} rather than "red like cinnabar".{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|name="ctesias-kinnabari"|Greek, "red like cinnabar {{lang|grc|{{linktext|ἐρυθρός |ὡς |κιννάβαρι}}}}"; "light-blue eyes {{lang|grc|{{linktext|ὀφθαλμοὺς |γλαυκοὺς}}}}".}}{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|While McCulloch translates literally as "bluish eyes, a lion's body the color of blood", Clark gives the freer translation "green eyes, a russet color lion".}}

The text concludes by stating that the manticore "seeks human flesh, is active, and leaps so that neither large spaces nor broad obstacles can delay it{{harvp|McCulloch|1962}} "Manticore", pp. 142–143 (neither the broadest space nor the widest barrier can hinder it)".{{Refn|name="BL-Add11283-tr-Clark"|{{harvp|Clark|2006}}. "XXIII De manticora/Chapter 23 Manticor", p. 139 (Latin text and English tr.). The base text is British Library MS Add. 11283, dated to 1180s by Clark.}}

;H text

Actually there are two candidate sources given for the passage, "Solinus 52.37" and "H iii.8";{{sfnp|McCulloch|1962|pp=142–143}} this "H" being the pseudo-Hugh of Saint Victor De bestiis et aliis rebus, edited by Migne,{{sfnp|McCulloch|1962|p=31}} but this source has been regarded circumspectly as the "problematic De bestiis et aliis rebus" by Clark.{{sfnp|Clark|2006|p=13}}

;Transitional

The manticore also occurs in the earliest "Transitional" First Family bestiary (c. 1185),{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Morgan Library, MS M.81 (The Worksop Bestiary)] (c. 1185). Recognized in Badke's mss. containing the manticore. Note it is not older than the early Second Family Additional MS 11283.}}{{sfnp|George|Yapp|1991|p=51}} and some Third Family codices as well, whose illustrations attempted to reproduce some of the finer details given in its text.{{sfnp|George|Yapp|1991|p=53}}

As aforementioned, the manticore is one of three hybrids from Aithiopia described together by Solinus,{{harvp|Clark|2006|p=26}}: "three Solinus hybrids" appearing in (nearly) successive chapters of the bestiary.{{Refn|{{harvp|Clark|2006}}, "XXI De leucrotar/Chapter 23 Manticor", p. 139; "XII De crocodrillo/Chapter 22 Crocodile", p. 140; "XXIII De manticora/Chapter 23 Manticor", p. 141; "XXIV De parandro/Chapter 24 Parandrus", p. 141.}}{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|XXII. De Cocodrillo (crocodile) intervenes (but this is probably not a hybrid).}} This created the groundwork for the beasts in adjacent chapters being confounded or amalgamated through scribal errors, as described below in the cases of bestiaries produced in France.

The manticore is basically absent from the French bestiary of Pierre de Beauvais,{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|For Pierre de Beauvais's bestiary (in French), the probable direct source was Honorius Augustodunensis which derived from Pliny and Solinus.{{sfnp|McCulloch|1962|p=191, n205}}}} which exist in the short versions of 38 or 39 chapters, and the long version of 71 chapters. Instead, there is a Chapter 44 on the "centicore" (or santicora, var. ceucrocata{{sfnp|McCulloch|1962|p=191, n205}}), which suggests manticore in name, but which is nothing like the standard manticore.{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Standard manticore, i.e., such as described in the pseudo Hugo de St. Victor, McCulloch's so-called "H" text, cf. explanatory note, supra.}}{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|At least in the Pierre mss. known in France. But the manticore is included in the Vatican codex of Pierre de Beauvais (longer version) according to Badke.}} The name is thought to have arisen from misspellings of leucrocotta, compounded by the suffix replaced by -cora by scribal error.{{Refn|The "leucrocota" is given written "ceucocroca" by Honorius, aforementioned as Pierre de Beauvais's source. The ceu- being misread as "cen- in a manuscript" is "not improbable". "And doubtless the ending -ticora was the result of a scribe's attention dropping down a few lines in his source to the word manticora".{{sfnp|McCulloch|1962|p=191, n205}}}} Due to further mistransmission, "centicore" became the French misnomer for the yale (eale), a mythic antelope which should be a separate entry in the bestiaries.{{Refn|As according to George C. Druce (1911) McCulloch explains that Gauthier (Gossouin de Metz), in his Image du Monde gave the name "centicore", "leucrota", followed by a chapter on the yale but leaving out a name. This later caused a merge of "centicore" with description of the yale.{{sfnp|McCulloch|1962|p=191}}}}

Neither manticore nor leucrotta ({{langx|fr|lucrote}}) appears in Philippe de Thaun's bestiary in Anglo-Norman verse.{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Even though Badke lists Philippe de Thaun (MS Cotton Nero A V) as well as a manuscript of Image du Monde (the aforementioned testament to "centicore") as including manticore.}}

File:Animal drawings collected by Felix Platter, p2 - (45).jpg. Prepared for Felix Platter's Historiae animalium (1551–1558).]]

File:ManticoraTHoFFB1607.png's The Historie of Foure-footed Beastes (1607){{harvp|White [1954]|1984|p=48}} Fig. "The Mantichora".{{Refn|name="topsell-1658-reprint"|Topsell (1658) is a two volume in one reprint, with the "§ Mantichora" text and woodcut reprinted in pp. 343–345}}]]

Edward Topsell, in 1607, described the manticore as:

{{blockquote|bred among the Indians, having a treble rowe of teeth beneath and above, whose greatnesse, roughnesse, and feete are like a Lyons, his face and eares like unto a mans, his eies grey, and collour red, his taile like the taile of a Scorpion of the earth, armed with a sting, casting forth sharp pointed quills, his voice like the voice of a small trumpet or pipe, being in course as swift as a Hart; His wildnes such as can never be tamed, and his appetite is especially to the flesh of man. His body like the body of a Lyon, being very apt both to leape and to run, so as no distance or space doth hinder him,.. {{Refn|{{cite book |first=Edward |last=Topsell |author-link=Edward Topsell |title=The Historie of Foure-footed Beasts |location=London |year=1607 |page=442 }}, quoted from this edition (partly omitted in middle) by Diekstra (1998).}}{{Refn|name="topsell-1658-reprint"}}}}

Topsell thought the manticore was described by other names elsewhere. He thought that it was the "same Beast which Avicen calleth Marion, and Maricomorion" and also, the same as the "Leucrocuta, about the bigness of a wilde Ass, being in legs and Hoofs like a Hart, having his mouth reaching on both sides to his ears, and the head and face of a female like unto a Badgers".{{Refn|name="topsell-1658-reprint"}}{{sfnp|White [1954]|1984|p=48n}}

And Topsell wrote that in India they would "bruise the buttockes and taile" of the whelp or cub they captured, causing it to be incapable of using its quills, thus removing the danger.{{Refn|name="topsell-1658-reprint"}} This differs somewhat from the original sources which stated that they would crush the tail with stone to make them useless.

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| image1 = William Hastings, 1st Baron Hastings.jpeg

| alt1 = Tusked manticore on heraldic badge of William, Lord Hastings, c. 1470

| caption1 = Manticore/mantyger badge of William, Lord Hastings, c. 1470. This version has tusks.

| image2 = Dewalden(1904)-0212-Lord Fitzwater-babyon-detail.png

| alt2 = A man-tyger (manticore), Lord Fitzwater's banner

| caption2 = A man-tyger (manticore), Lord Fitzwater's (Radcliffe's) banner.

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The likeness of manticore or similar creatures by another name (i.e. mantyger) have been used in heraldry, spanning from the late High Middle Ages into the modern period.

The mantyger is glossed as merely a variant reading of manticore in the OED, though the 17th century heraldry collector Randle Holme made a fine distinction between manticore and mantyger. Holme's description of the manticore seems to derive directly from naturalist Edward Topsell (cf. above),{{blockquote|[The manticore has] the face of a man, the mouth open to the ears with a treble row of teeth beneath and above; long neck, whose greatness, roughness, body and feet are like a Lyon: of a red colour, his tail like the tail of a Scorpion of the Earth, the end armed with a sting, casting forth sharp pointed quills.{{cite book |first=Randle |last=Holme |author-link=Randle Holme#Randle Holme III (1627–1700) |chapter=Second book, Chapter X, LIII |title=The Academy of Armorie and Blazon |place=Chester |year=1688 |chapter-url=https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/A44230.0001.001/1:11.9?rgn=div2;submit=Go;subview=detail;type=simple;view=fulltext;q1=mantiger |page=212 }}, quoted in {{harvp|Dennys|1975|p=115}}.}} while he describes the mantyger as having {{blockquote|the face and ears of a man, the body of a Tyger, and whole footed like Goose or Dragon; yet others make it with feet like a Tyger,}}etc., and also noting that they may be horned or unhorned.{{harvp|Holme|1688}}, [https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/A44230.0001.001/1:11.8.10?rgn=div3;submit=Go;subview=detail;type=simple;view=Tyger Second book, Chapter IX, XVII-XIX], p. 175, quoted in {{harvp|Dennys|1975|p=115}}.

The manticore first appeared in English heraldry in c. 1470, as a badge of William Hastings, 1st Baron Hastings; and in the 16th century.{{sfnp|Dennys|1975|pp=115–116}}

The mantyger device was later used as a badge by Robert Radcliffe, 1st Earl of Sussex, and by Sir Anthony Babyngton.{{sfnp|Dennys|1975|pp=115–116}} The Radford[e]'s device was described as "3 mantygers argent" by one source, c. 1600. Thus in heraldic discourse the term "manticore" became usurped by "mantyger" during the 17–18th centuries, and "mantiger" in the 19th.{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|The corruption of amalgamation of man and tiger suggests false etymology.}}

It is noted that the manticore/mantiger of heraldic devices has a beast of prey body as standard, but sometimes chosen to be given dragon feet. The Radcliffe family manticore appears to have human feet, and (not so surprisingly), a chronicler described as a "Babyon" (baboon) the device by John Radcliffe (Lord Fitzwater) accompanying Henry VIII into war in France.{{Refn|Cott. MS. Cleop. C. v. fol. 59.}} It has also been speculated the Babyngton device is intended to represent the "Babyon, or baboon, as a play upon his name", and it too also has characteristically "monkey-like feet".{{sfnp|Dennys|1975|p=116}}{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Related to the topic of the heraldic manticore/mantiger exhibiting "baboon" feet, it should be mentioned that there emerged a term "mantegar" meaning a "type of baboon", first attested in 1704. This is also conjectured to derived from corruption of "manticore". As a consequence, the term "mantyger" became an ambiguously variant of "manticore" or "mantegar", after c. 1704, assuming that is the correct approximate dating when the word in that sense was coined. }}

The typical heraldic manticore is supposed to have not only the face of an old man, but spiraling horns as well,{{sfnp|Dennys|1975|pp=114–117}} although this is not really ascertainable in the Radcliffe family badge, where the purple manticore is wearing a yellow cap (cap of dignity ).

Gerald Brenan linked the manticore to the mantequero, a monster feeding on human fat in Andalusian folklore.Al Sur de Granada, pages 190-193, Gerald Brenan, 1997, Fábula - Tusquets Editores. Originally South from Granada, 1957

The Hindu god Narasimha is often referred to as a Manticore. Narasimha, the man lion, is the fourth avatar of Vishnu and is described as having a man’s torso and the head and claws of a lion.

Dante Alighieri, in his Inferno, depicted the mythical Geryon as having a similar appearance to a manticore, following Pliny's description where it has the face of an honest man, the body of a wyvern, the paws of a lion, and the stinger of a scorpion at the end of its tail.{{Cite book|title=La Divina commedia di Dante Alighieri|last1=Dante Alighieri|last2=Grandgent|first2=C. H. |date=1933|publisher=D.C. Heath and Co.|location=Boston; New York|language=it|quote=Dante's image was profoundly modified, however, by Pliny's description – followed by Solinus – of a strange beast called Mantichora (Historia Naturalis, VIII, 30) which has the face of a man, the body of a lion, and a tail ending in a sting like a scorpion's|oclc = 1026178}}

File:Kilpeck church stone carvings - geograph.org.uk - 875590.jpg, Herefordshire (12th century)]]

The heraldic manticore influenced some Mannerist representations of the sin of Fraud, conceived as a monstrous chimera with a beautiful woman's face – for example, in Bronzino's allegory Venus, Cupid, Folly and Time (National Gallery, London),{{cite journal |first=John F. |last=Moffitt |title=An Exemplary Humanist Hybrid: Vasari's "Fraude" with Reference to Bronzino's "Sphinx" |journal=Renaissance Quarterly |volume=49 |issue=2 |year=1996 |pages=303–333 |doi=10.2307/2863160|jstor=2863160 |s2cid=192984544 }} traces the chimeric image of Fraud backwards from Bronzino. and more commonly in the decorative schemes called {{lang|it|grotteschi}} (grotesque). From here it passed by way of Cesare Ripa's Iconologia into the seventeenth- and eighteenth-century French conception of a sphinx.

In some modern depictions, such as in the tabletop role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) and the card game Magic: The Gathering, manticores are depicted as having wings.{{cite book|last=Wood |first=Juliette |author-link=Juliette Wood |date=2018 |chapter=Ch. 1: When unicorns walked the earth: A brief history of the unicorn and its fellows |title=Fantastic Creatures in Mythology and Folklore: From Medieval Times to the Present Day |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=48tjDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA44 |page=44 |isbn=978-1-3500-5925-2}} They are more specifically given "wings of a dragon" in the implementation of D&D′s 5th edition, according to the Monster Manual (2014),{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Color illustration of the manticore by Jack Stella.{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://criticalrole.miraheze.org/wiki/Manticore |title=manticore |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Exandria |date=2 August 2022 |access-date=2023-04-25}}}}{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Another embellished feature of this D&D version is that a "bristling mane stretches down [its] back".}} though an earlier version of the manual described them as "batlike wings".

In the animated sitcom television series Krapopolis, the character of Shlub is depicted as a "mantitaur" which is a half-centaur, half-manticore creature where he was the result of a union between a female centaur and a male manticore. In this show besides the fact that the manticores are depicted with dragon-like wings like other depictions of them, the manticores are shown to have dragon-like horns on their head.{{cite web |last=Bennett |first=Tara |title= Krapopolis Review: Beware of Greeks bearing too many poop jokes. |website=IGN |date=September 23, 2023 |url= https://www.ign.com/articles/krapopolis-review-dan-harmon-hannah-waddingham |quote= the monster mantitaur – that’s half manticore, half centaur, so human plus lion plus scorpion plus horse – Shlub }}

• Chimera (mythology)
• {{c|Mythological lions |Mythological lions}}

{{notelist}}

Citations

{{reflist|25em|refs=

{{harvp|Nichols tr.|2013|pp=61–62}}. Ctesias Indica Frag. 45dβ Aelian, NA 4.21;

Scholfield, A. F. (tr.) (1918) {{URL|1=https://topostext.org/work/560#4.21 |2=Characteristics of Animals}} (Loeb Classical Library); {{URL|1=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0545.tlg001.perseus-grc1:4.21 |2=Greek text}}.

{{cite web|url=https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/faeff7fb-f8a7-44b5-95ed-cff9a9ffd198/surfaces/9ca0503b-705c-46d9-b561-11d4d7c50b17/ |title=Oxford, Bodleian Library MS. Ashmole 1511, fol. 22v (manticora) |website=Digital Bodleian |publisher= |date=2017-04-12 |access-date=2022-09-24}}

{{cite web|last=Badke |first=David |author= |url=https://bestiary.ca/beasts/beastmanu177.htm |title=Manuscripts: Manticore |website=The Medieval Bestiary: Animals in the Middle Ages |date=26 August 2022 |access-date=2022-09-06}}

{{cite book|editor1-last=Baring-Gould |editor1-first=Sabine |editor1-link=Sabine Baring-Gould |editor2-last=Twigge |editor2-first=Robert |editor2-link= |chapter= |title=An Armory of the Western Counties|publisher=J.G. Commin |year=1898 |page=89}}, for "Radforde"

{{cite web|url=http://access.bl.uk/item/viewer/ark:/81055/vdc_100055965341.0x000001 |title=British Library Add MS 11283 |website=Bodleian Library MS. Bodl. 764|access-date=2022-09-06}}. "leucrota (alias lecrocuta)" fol. 7v; "cocodrillus" "manticora" fol. 8r; "parandrum" fol. 8v. Marginal notes indicate Solinus as source.

{{cite web|url=https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/ecf96804-a514-4adc-8779-2dbc4e4b2f1e/surfaces/ee2bf789-7152-449b-9760-fa864718e2d0/ |title=Bodleian Library MS. Bodl. 764 |website=Oxford University, the Bodleian Libraries |access-date=2022-09-09 }}, fol. 025r.

{{cite book|author=Thomas Evelyn Scott-Ellis Baron Howard de Walden |author-link=Thomas Scott-Ellis, 8th Baron Howard de Walden |title=Banners, Standards, and Badges: From a Tudor Manuscript in the College of Arms |location= |publisher=De Walden Library |year=1904 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T-cLAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA212 |pages=211–212}}

{{cite book|last=Diekstra |first=Frans N.M. |author-link= |title=Book for a Simple and Devout Woman: A Late Middle English Adaptation of Peraldus's Summa de Vitiis Et Virtutibus and Friar Laurent's Summa Le Roi : Edited from British Library Mss Harley 6571 and Additional 30944 |location= |publisher=Egbert Forsten |year=1998|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zacQAQAAIAAJ&q=mantichora |page=528 |isbn=9789069801155}}

{{cite journal|last=Dines |first=Ilya |author-link= |title=A hitherto unknown bestiary (Paris, BnF, MS Lat. 6838 B) |journal=Rivista di studi testuali |volume=7 |date=2005 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZIgpAQAAIAAJ&q=%22blue+manticore%22 |page=96}}

{{cite web|url=https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/fa655313-7834-4776-9b26-bc8296811b48/surfaces/288b6bce-0533-44aa-b997-25d448c82574/ |title=Oxford, Bodleian Library MS. Douce 151, fol. 18v (manticora) |website=Digital Bodleian |publisher= |date=2018-01-08 |access-date=2022-09-24}}

{{cite book|last=Enenkel |first=Karl A. E. |author-link=:de:Karl A. E. Enenkel|chapter=Chaper 2: The Species and Beyond: Classification and the Place of Hybrids in Early Modern Zoology |editor1-last=Enenkel |editor1-first=Karl A. E. |editor1-link=:de:Karl A. E. Enenkel |editor2-last=Smith |editor2-first=Paul J. |editor2-link= |title=Zoology in Early Modern Culture: Intersections of Science, Theology, Philology, and Political and Religious Education: Intersections of Science, Theology, Philology, and Political and Religious Education |location= |publisher=BRILL |year=2014 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KQoSBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA68 |pages=68–70, Fig. 2.4 |isbn=9789004279179}}

"[https://books.google.com/books?id=z9gMsCUtCZUC&pg=PA318 Manticora]" s.v., Eberhart, George M. Mysterious Creatures: A Guide to Cryptozoology. Volume 1: A-M. ABC-Clio/Greenwood. 2002. p. 318. {{ISBN|1-57607-283-5}}

{{cite journal|last=George |first=Wilma |author-link= |title=The Yale |journal=Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes |volume=31 |date=1968 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pHYNAQAAMAAJ&q=mantissera |page=424 |doi=10.2307/750650 |jstor=750650|s2cid=244492082 |url-access=subscription }}

{{cite book|author=Académie des inscriptions & belles-lettres (France) |author-link=Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres |chapter=Titulus I. De Digitatis viviparis Feris. Caput. 1 De Leone. |title=Histoire littéraire de la France |volume=34 |location=Paris |publisher=Imprimerie nationale |year=1914|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TgBYAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA385 |pages=385–389}}

{{cite book|author=Pseudo-Hugo de St. Vicotor |author-link=Hugh of Saint Victor |editor-last=Migne |editor-first=J.P. Felix |editor-link=Jacques-Paul Migne |chapter=De bestiis et aliis rebus III.viii De Manticora |title=Sæculum XI Hugonis de S. Victore.. Opera omnia |volume=3 |location=Paris |publisher=Apud Garnieri Fratres |year=1854 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JrjUAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA85 |page=85 |series=Patrologiæ cursus completus}}

{{cite book|last=Jonston|first=Johannes |author-link=Johannes Jonston |others=engraved by Matthäus Merian |chapter=Titulus I. De Digitatis viviparis Feris. Caput. 1 De Leone. |title=Historiae naturalis de quadrupetibus. Liber 3. De Quadrupedibus Digitatis Viviparis |location=Francofuerti ad Moenum|publisher=Impensis hæredum Math. Meriani |year=1650 |chapter-url=https://catalog.lindahall.org/discovery/delivery/01LINDAHALL_INST:LHL/1286247090005961#page=209&zoom=page-width,-63,741 |at=pp. 114–124 (p. 124a Tab. LII)}}

{{cite book|editor-last=Crawford |editor-first=Jeremy |editor-link=Jeremy Crawford |others=Co-lead design by Mike Mearls |title=Monster Manual: Dungeons & Dragons Core Rulebook |edition=5 |publisher=Wizards of the Coast |date=July 2003 |url=https://archive.org/details/dnd-5e-handbooks/Monsters%20Manual%205e/page/213/mode/2up |page=213 |isbn=978-0-7869-6561-8}}

{{cite book|last=Gygax |first=Gary |author-link=Gary Gygax |title=Monstrous Manual |edition= |publisher=TSR |date=1993 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nnVWAAAAYAAJ&q=manticore |page=246 |isbn=9781560766193 |quote=The manticore.. with a leonine torso and legs, batlike wings, am man's head, a tail tipped with iron spikes,.. stns 6 feet at the shoulder and meausres 15 feet in length. It has a 25-foot wingspan}}

{{cite web|url=https://www.themorgan.org/collection/worksop-bestiary/43 |title=Workshop Bestiary MS M.81 fols. 38v–39r |website=Morgan Library and Museum |date=27 February 2018 |access-date=2022-09-09}}

{{OED|manticore}}; Murray, James A. H. ed. (1908) A New Eng. Dict. VI, s.v."[https://books.google.com/books?id=iakjAQAAMAAJ&pg=RA2-PA138 manticore]"

{{OED|mantegar}}; Murray, James A. H. ed. (1908) A New Eng. Dict. VI, s.v."[https://books.google.com/books?id=iakjAQAAMAAJ&pg=RA2-PA137 Mantegar]".

{{OED|mantyger}}; Murray, James A. H. ed. (1908) A New Eng. Dict. VI, s.v."[https://books.google.com/books?id=iakjAQAAMAAJ&pg=RA2-PA141 mantyger]", variant of [https://books.google.com/books?id=iakjAQAAMAAJ&pg=RA2-PA137 Mantegar], Manticore.

{{harvp|Nichols tr.|2013|pp=62–63}}. Ctesias Indica Frag. 45dγ. Pausanias 9.21.4.;

Jones, W.H.S.; Ormerod, H.A. (tr.), (1918) {{URL|1=https://topostext.org/work/213#9.21.4 |2=Description of Greece, 9.21.4}}; {{URL|1=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-grc1:9.21.4 |2=Greek text}}

Flavius Philostratus, The Life of Apollonius of Tyana, translated by F. C. Conybeare, volume I, book III. Chapter XLV, pp. 327–329.{{blockquote|And inasmuch as the following conversation also has been recorded by Damis as having been held upon this occasion with regard to the mythological animals and fountains and men met with in India, I must not leave it out, for there is much to be gained by neither believing nor yet disbelieving everything. Accordingly Apollonius asked the question, whether there was there an animal called the man-eater (martichoras); and Iarchas replied: "And what have you heard about the make of this animal? For it is probable that there is some account given of its shape." "There are," replied Apollonius, "tall stories current which I cannot believe; for they say that the creature has four feet, and that his head resembles that of a man, but that in size it is comparable to a lion; while the tail of this animal puts out hairs a cubit long and sharp as thorns, which it shoots like arrows at those who hunt it."}}

{{cite book|author=Ctesias |author-link=Ctesias |editor-last=Baehr|editor-first=Johann Christian Felix |editor-link=Johann Christian Felix Baehr |chapter=IV Ἐk tων του αυτου: Κτησίου Ἰνδικων Ἐκλογαι (Ex Photii Patriarchae Bibliothec. LXXII, pag. 144 seqq.) |title=Ctesiae Cnidii operum reliquiae |location= Francofurti ad Moenum |publisher=In Officina Broenneriana |year=1825 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0ElfAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA248 |pages=248–249}}

{{harvp|Nichols tr.|2013|p=63}}. Ctesias Indica Frag. 45dδ. Pliny 8.75;
Alternatively cited as {{URL|1=https://topostext.org/work/148#8.30 |2=Pliny NH 8.30}}{{=}}{{cite wikisource|ref={{SfnRef| Rackham tr.|1938}} |author=Pliny |author-link=Pliny the Elder |translator1-last=Rackham |translator1-first=Ha. |translator1-link= |translator2-last=Jones |translator2-first=W.H.S. |translator2-link=William Henry Samuel Jones |translator3-last=Eichholz |translator3-first=D.E. |translator3-link= |title=Natural History. Book 8 |year=1938 |wslink=Natural History (Rackham, Jones, & Eichholz)/Book 8}};

{{harvp|Mayhoff ed.|1875}}, {{URL|1=https://books.google.com/books?id=h7BRzCFQnpoC&pg=PA74 |2=Latin text, p. 74}} {{=}}{{URL|1=http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0978.phi001.perseus-lat1:8.34 |2=e-text}}@Perseus Project

Pliny 8. 107;
Alternatively {{URL|1=https://topostext.org/work/148#8.45 |2=Pliny NH 8.45.1}}{{=}}{{cite wikisource|ref={{SfnRef| Rackham tr.|1938}} |author=Pliny |author-link=Pliny the Elder |translator1-last=Rackham |translator1-first=Ha. |translator1-link= |translator2-last=Jones |translator2-first=W.H.S. |translator2-link=William Henry Samuel Jones |translator3-last=Eichholz |translator3-first=D.E. |translator3-link= |title=Natural History. Book 8 |year=1938 |wslink=Natural History (Rackham, Jones, & Eichholz)/Book 8}};

{{harvp|Mayhoff ed.|1875}}, {{URL|1=https://books.google.com/books?id=h7BRzCFQnpoC&pg=PA82 |2=Latin text, p. 82}} {{=}}{{URL|1=http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0978.phi001.perseus-lat1:8.47 |2=e-text}}@Perseus Project

{{cite journal|last=Robinson |first=Margaret |author-link= |title=Some Fabulous Beasts |journal=Folklore |volume=76 |number=4 |date=Winter 1965 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pHYNAQAAMAAJ&q=mantissera |pages=274, 277–278 |doi=10.1080/0015587X.1965.9717018 |jstor=1258298|url-access=subscription }}

{{cite book|last=Rothery |first=Guy Cadogan |author-link= |title=A. B. C. of Heraldry |location=London |publisher=Stanley Paul & Co. |year=1915 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ry_QAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA74 |page=74}}

{{cite book|last=Rowland |first=Beryl |author-link=Beryl Rowland |editor1-last=Clark |editor1-first=Willene B. |editor1-link= |editor2-last=McMunn |editor2-first=Meradith T. |editor2-link= |chapter=1. The Art of Memory and the Bestiary |title=Beasts and Birds of the Middle Ages: The Bestiary and Its Legacy |location=London |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |year=2016 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wVErEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA16 |page=16 |isbn=1512805513}}

{{cite book|last=Stoneman |first=Richard |author-link= |title=The Greek Experience of India: From Alexander to the Indo-Greeks |location= |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=2021|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Mx4OEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA101 |pages=100–101 |isbn=9780691217475}}

{{cite book|author=Philip de Thaun |author-link=Philip de Thaun |editor-last=Wright |editor-first=Thomas |editor-link=Thomas Wright (antiquarian) |chapter=The Bestiary of Philipee de Thaun |title=Popular Treatises on Science Written During the Middle Ages: In Anglo-Saxon, Anglo-Norman and English |location=London |publisher=Historical Society of Science |year=1841 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-RYJAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA74 |pages=74–131}}. For example, "[https://books.google.com/books?id=-RYJAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA74 Cocodrille, p. 85]" corresponds to folio 50r of [http://access.bl.uk/item/viewer/ark:/81055/vdc_100062419814.0x000001 Cotton MS Nero A V] digitized @ British Library.

{{cite book |first=Edward |last=Topsell |author-link=Edward Topsell |title=The History of Four-footed Beasts and Serpents..|location=London |publisher=E. Cotes, for G. Sawbridge [etc.] |year=1658 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/151513#page/360/mode/1up |pages=343–345}}

{{void|

{{cite book|last=Tulin |first=Melissa S. |author-link= |title=Aardvarks to Zebras: A Menagerie of Facts, Fiction, and Fantasy about the Wonderful World of Animals |location= |publisher=MJF Books |date=1998 |orig-date=1994 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NKaSlgXd4jkC&q=manticore |page=73 |isbn=9781567312430}}

}}

{{cite book|last=Uhl |first=Patrice |author-link= |title=La constellation poétique du non-sens au moyen âge: onze études sur la poésie fatrasique et ses environs|location= |publisher=l'Harmattan |year=1999|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wHBcAAAAMAAJ&q=manticore |page=73 |isbn=9782738483485 |language=fr}}

{{cite web|url=https://www.univ.ox.ac.uk/news/ms-120-bestiary/ |title= MS 120: Bestiary |website=News & Features |publisher=University College Oxford |date=14 October 2016 |access-date=2022-09-24}} With illustrations of siren and manticore.

{{cite book|last=Wiedl|first=Birgit |author-link= |chapter=Chapter 9. Laughing at the Beast: The Judensau |editor-last=Classen |editor-first=Albrecht |editor-link= |title=Anti-Jewish Propaganda and Humor from the Middle Ages to the Early Modern Period |location= |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |date=2010 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LbsYEHV1CmsC&pg=PA333 |page=333|isbn=9783110245486 }}

}}

Bibliography

{{refbegin}}

• {{cite book|last=Clark |first=Willene B. |author-link= |title=A Medieval Book of Beasts: The Second-family Bestiary : Commentary, Art, Text and Translation |location= |publisher=Boydell Press |date=2006 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0olPRmCoE8MC |page=|isbn=9780851156828}}
• {{cite book|last=Dennys |first=Rodney |author-link=Rodney Dennys |title=The Heraldic Imagination |place=London |publisher=Barrie & Jenkins |year=1975 |isbn=9780214653865 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f2KgAAAAMAAJ&q=manticore}} [https://books.google.com/books?id=xNdOAAAAMAAJ&q=manticore American edition], Clarkson N. Potter, Inc. 1976
• {{cite book|last1=George |first1=Wilma B. |author1-link= |last2=Yapp |first2=William Brunsdon |author2-link=William Brunsdon Yapp |title=The Naming of the Beasts: Natural History in the Medieval Bestiary |publisher=Duckworth |date=1991 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qtoPAQAAMAAJ&q=manticora |pages=51–53 |isbn=9780715622384}}
• {{cite book|ref={{SfnRef|Nichols tr.|2013}}|author=Ctesias |author-link=Ctesias |translator-last=Nichols |translator-first=Andrew |translator-link= |title=Ctesias: On India |location= |publisher=A&C Black |year=2013 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hVYBAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA48 |pages=48–49 |isbn=9781472519979}}, Aelian, [https://books.google.com/books?id=hVYBAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA61 pp. 61–62]; Pausanias, [https://books.google.com/books?id=hVYBAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA61 pp. 62–63]
• {{cite book|last=Nigg |first=Joe |author-link= |title=The Book of Fabulous Beasts: A Treasury of Writings from Ancient Times to the Present |place= |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1999 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qonfAAAAMAAJ&q=manticore |isbn=9780195095616}}
• {{cite book|last=McCulloch |first=Florence |author-link= |title=Mediaeval Latin and French Bestiaries |location=Chapel Hill |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |year=1962 |orig-year=1960 |edition=revised |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YJzfAAAAMAAJ&q=manticore |isbn=9780807890332 }}; [ Reprint], C. N. Potter, 1976
• {{cite book|ref={{SfnRef|Mayhoff ed.|1875}}|author=Pliny |author-link=Pliny the Elder |translator-last=Mayhoff|translator-first=Carolus |translator-link=:de:Karl Mayhoff |chapter=Liber VIII. §75 |title=Naturalis historiae libri XXXVII 21. (39) |location=Lipsiae |publisher=In aedibus B.G. Teubneri |date=1875 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h7BRzCFQnpoC&pg=PA74 |pages=}}

{{void|* {{cite book|last=Tisdall |first=M. W. |author-link= |title=God's Beasts: identify and understand animals in church carvings |location=Plymouth |publisher=Charlesfort Press |year=1998 |isbn=9780953265206 |pages=165–66 }}}}

• {{cite book|ref={{SfnRef|White [1954]|1984}} |editor-last=White |editor-first=T. H. |editor-link=T. H. White |title=The Book of Beasts: Being a Translation from a Latin Bestiary of the Twelfth Century |location= |publisher=Dover |date=1984 |orig-date=1954 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ihy4APkOjioC&pg=PA48 |pages=48, 51–52, 247, 261 |isbn=9780486246093}} Translated from the Latin (Cambridge Univ. Library MS. Ii.4.26).

{{refend}}

{{Portal|Asia|Animals}}

{{commons category}}

• {{cite web|url=http://bestiary.ca/beasts/beast177.htm|publisher=The Medieval Bestiary|title=Manticore}}
• {{cite web|url=https://www.theoi.com/Thaumasios/Mantikhoras.html|publisher=Theoi Project|title=Mantikhoras}}

{{Heraldic creatures}}

Category:Heraldic beasts

Category:Mythological lions

Category:Persian legendary creatures

Category:Human-headed mythical creatures

Category:Sphinxes