View source for Manticore

{{short description|Mythical lion beast in Persian folklore}}
{{distinguish|Manticora (disambiguation){{!}}Manticora}}
{{other uses}}
[[File:Martigora ca 1652 (21203315).jpg|thumb|Manticore or "Martigora" ― [[Johannes Jonston]] (1652), ''Historiae Naturalis''<br />Copperplate engraving by [[Matthäus Merian the Elder|Matthäus Merian]].]]

The '''manticore''' or '''mantichore''' ([[Latin]]: ''mantichorās''; reconstructed [[Old Persian]]: {{transliteration|peo|*martyahvārah}}; Modern {{langx|fa|مردخوار}} {{transliteration|fa|mardḫ(w)ār}}) is a [[legendary creature]] from ancient [[Persian mythology]], similar to the Egyptian [[sphinx]] that proliferated in Western European medieval art as well. It has the face of a human, the body of a [[lion]], and the tail of a [[scorpion]] or a tail covered in venomous spines similar to [[porcupine]] quills. There are some accounts that the spines can be launched like arrows. It eats its victims whole, using its three rows of teeth, and leaves no bones behind.

==Etymology==
The English-language term ''manticore'' comes via [[Latin]] ''mantichorās''<ref>[[Karl 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])</ref><ref>[[Félix Gaffiot]]: ''Dictionnaire latin-français.'' 1934, p. 974. ([http://micmap.org/dicfro/introduction/gaffiot] → [http://micmap.org/dicfro/search/gaffiot/mantichoras])</ref> from [[Ancient Greek]] {{lang|grc|[[wikt:en:μαρτιχόρας|μαρτιχόρας]]}} (martikhórās).<ref name="lsj-martichoras">Cf. [[Henry Liddell|Henry George Liddell]] & [[Robert Scott (philologist)|Robert Scott]], ''A Greek-English Lexicon'', {{LSJ|martixo/ras|μαρτιχόρας}}</ref> This in turn is a transliteration of an [[Old Persian]] [[compound word]] consisting of ''martīya'' 'man' and ''x<sup>u</sup>ar-'' stem, 'to eat' (Mod. {{langx|fa|{{linktext|مرد}}}}; ''mard'' + {{lang|fa|{{linktext|خوردن}}}}; ''ḫordan'');{{efn|Early [[Middle Persian]] {{lang|pal|مارتیا}} {{transliteration|pal|martya}} "man" (as in human) and {{lang|pal|خوار}} {{transliteration|pal|ḫ(w)ār-}} "to eat"}}<ref>&lt;Old Persian ''martijaqâra'' according to the ''[[New English Dictionary|NED]]'', apud {{harvp|McCulloch|1962}}, p. 142 n103</ref><ref name="OED"/><ref name="ebergart-manticora"/> i.e., man-eater.

An early account of the manticore and of its naming occurs in [[Indica (Ctesias) | ''Indica'']] by [[Ctesias]],<ref>
{{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 [...].
}}
</ref>
a Greek physician of the 5th century BC who worked at the Persian court during the [[Achaemenid Empire|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''<ref name="aelian"/> or ''anthropophagon'' ({{lang|grc|ἀνθρωποφάγον}}),<ref name="photius-baehr-ed"/> i.e., "man-eater".<ref name="stoneman2021"/><ref name="lsj-martichoras"/>{{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.<ref name="robinson"/>

Ctesias was later cited by [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] regarding the ''martichoras''  or {{transliteration|grc|[[Androphagi|androphagos]]}} of India.<ref name="pausanias"/>

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

[[Photios I of Constantinople|Photius]]'s ''Myriobiblon'' (or ''[[Bibliotheca (Photius)|Bibliotheca]]'', 9th century) serves as base text, but [[Claudius Aelianus|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 [[pous|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.<ref name="photius">{{harvp|Nichols tr.|2013|pp=48–49}}. Ctesias ''Indica'' '''Frag. 45''', Photius. ''[[Bibliotheca (Photius)|Bibliotheca]]'' 72.</ref><ref name="photius-baehr-ed"/> And it overcomes every beast except the lion.<ref name="aelian"/>}}

<ref name="photius"/><ref name="aelian"/> 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.<ref name="aelian"/>

=== Pliny's Aethiopian beasts ===
[[Pliny the Elder|Pliny]] described the "mantichora" in his ''[[Naturalis Historia]]''  (c. 77 AD)<ref>{{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.</ref> having relied on a faulty copy of [[Aristotle]]'s natural history that contained the misspelling ("martikhoras").<ref name="robinson"/>

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 (mythical creature)|yale]]) within a passage on [[Aethiopia]].{{sfnp|Nichols tr.|2013|p=142}}<ref name="george"/>{{efn|[[:de:Karl Mayhoff|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]].<ref>Bostock, John ed. "[http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0978.phi001.perseus-eng1:8.45 Chap. 45. The Crocotta. The Mantichora]</ref>}} the mantichora of Aethiopia also mimicked human speech, on authority of [[Juba II]],<ref name="pliny8.107"/> with a voice like the pipe ([[panpipe]], ''fistula'') mixed with trumpet.<ref name="pliny8.75"/>

=== Legacy ===
Ctesias purportedly saw a martichora presented to the Persian king by the Indians.<ref name="aelian"/> The Romanised Greek [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] was skeptical and considered it an unreliable exaggerated account of a [[tiger]].<ref name="pausanias"/><ref name="robinson"/>  [[Apollonius of Tyana]] also dismissed the mantichore as a tall tale, according to the biography by [[Flavius Philostratus|Philostratus]] (c. 170–247).<ref name="philostratus"/>{{sfnp|Nigg|1999|p=79}}

Pliny did not share Pausanias' skepticism.<ref name="robinson"/> And for 1500 years afterwards, it was Pliny's account, also copied by [[Gaius Julius Solinus|Solinus]] (2nd century), which was held to be authoritative on matters of natural history whether real or mythological.<ref name="robinson"/> 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 [[bestiary|bestiaries]]<ref name="robinson"/> some of which contained entries on the manticore.

== Medieval sources ==

=== Bestiaries ===
<!--[[File:Manticore - British Library Royal 12 F xiii f24v (detail).jpg|thumb|right|Manticore from the [[Rochester Bestiary]] (c. 1230–1240)]]
[[File:Manticore royal MS12.jpg|thumb|right|Manticore in [[British Library]] [[Royal manuscripts, British Library|Royal]] MS 12.C.xix (1200–1210)]]-->
{{multiple image
| align             = right
| total_width       = 400
| perrow            = 2
| header            = Manticores in bestiaries
| image1            = Bodleian Library-MS Bodl 764-fol 025r-manticore.jpg
| alt1              = Manticore in Bodleian Library MS 764
| caption1          = Manticore from [[Bodleian Library|Bodl.]] MS. 764, fol. 25r (c. 1225–1250)
| 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]] [[Harleian 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 [[Bibliothèque nationale de France|BnF]] Latin 6838 B, fo.010r
| footer            = 
}}

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<!--119/140-->.<ref name="wiedl"/> Both name Bodl. 764 as example.<ref name="Bodl764"/>}}

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.<ref name="rowland"/> 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<ref name="dines"/>}}

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 [[List of medieval bestiaries#Second_family|second family manuscripts]].{{Refn|University College Library (Oxford), MS. 120,<ref name="univcollege-oxford"/> Ashmole 1511, fol. 22v.,<ref name="Ashmole1511"/> Douce 151, ol. 18v.<ref name="Douce151"/>}}{{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}}

==== Manuscripts and text ====

;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),<ref>{{harvp|Clark|2006|p=26}}. Due to the "three Solinus hybrids" being clustered into successive chapters. More on their interrelationships below.</ref>{{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".<ref name="BL-Add11283"/> 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"}}<ref name="manticore-tr-mccullough"/> differs little from Pliny's Latin version in language,<ref>By comparison of Latin texts</ref> or the Greek version in content (paraphrased above).<ref>By comparison of English translations</ref> 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}}}}"<ref name="pliny8.75"/>.}} 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}}}}"<ref name="photius"/>.}}{{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<ref name="manticore-tr-mccullough">{{harvp|McCulloch|1962}} "Manticore", pp. 142–143</ref> (<!--manticor.. leaps so powerful that -->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 [[Additional manuscripts|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}}<ref name="hugo-ed-migne"/> 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).<ref name="Morgan-M.81"/> Recognized in Badke's mss. containing the manticore.<ref name="badke-mss-manticore"/> Note it is not older than the early Second Family Additional MS 11283.}}{{sfnp|George|Yapp|1991|p=51}}<ref name="badke-mss-manticore"/> 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}}

==== Confounding with other hybrid beasts ====
As aforementioned, the manticore is one of three hybrids from Aithiopia described together by Solinus,<ref>{{harvp|Clark|2006|p=26}}: "three Solinus hybrids"</ref> 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.

==== French mistransmission ====
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 [[Hugo de Folieto|pseudo Hugo de St. Victor]]<!--''Hist. Litt.'' '''34''':388, note (1): "{{lang|fr|..mais le description de la manticore, dans le faux Hugues de Saint-Victor, est très differénte de celle du Bestiaire de Pierre}}".-->, McCulloch's so-called "H" text, cf. explanatory note, ''supra''.}}<ref name="hist_litt_tome34"/>{{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.<ref name="badke-mss-manticore"/>}} 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 Augustodunensis|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 (mythical creature)|yale]] (''eale''), a mythic antelope which should be a separate entry in the bestiaries.{{Refn|As according to [[George Claridge Druce|George C. Druce]] (1911) McCulloch explains that [[Gautier de Metz|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 literature|Anglo-Norman verse]].<ref name="uhl"/><ref name="philip-de-thaun"/>{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Even though Badke lists Philippe de Thaun ([[List of manuscripts in the Cotton library#Nero|MS Cotton Nero A V]]) as well as a manuscript of ''Image du Monde'' (the aforementioned testament to "centicore") as including manticore.<ref name="badke-mss-manticore"/>}}

== Post-medieval natural history ==
[[File:Animal drawings collected by Felix Platter, p2 - (45).jpg|thumb|right|A manticore and a [[crocotta]]. Prepared for [[Felix Platter]]'s ''Historiae animalium'' (1551–1558).]]
[[File:ManticoraTHoFFB1607.png|thumb|right|Woodcut from [[Edward Topsell]]'s ''The Historie of Foure-footed Beastes'' (1607)<ref>{{harvp|White [1954]|1984|p=48}} Fig. "The Mantichora".</ref>{{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<ref name="topsell1658"/>}}]]

[[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,.. <!--and I take it to bee the same Beast which [[Avicenna|Avicen]] calleth ''Marion'', and ''Maricomorion'', with her taile she woundeth her Hunters whether they come before her or behind her, and presently when the quils are cast forth, new ones grow up in their roome, wherewithal she overcommeth all the hunters: and although India be full of divers ravening beastes, yet none of them are stiled with a title of ''Andropophagi'', that is to say, Men-eaters; except onely this ''Mantichora''. When the Indians take a Whelp of this beast, they all to bruise the buttockes and taile thereof, that so it may never be fit to bring sharp quils, afterwards it is tamed without peril.-->{{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).<ref name="diekstra1998"/>}}{{Refn|name="topsell-1658-reprint"}}}}

Topsell thought the manticore was described by other names elsewhere. He thought that it was the "same Beast which [[Avicenna|Avicen]] calleth ''Marion'', and ''Maricomorion''" and also, the same as the "''Leucrocuta'', about the bigness of a [[Asinus|wilde Ass]], being in legs and Hoofs like a [[Hart (deer)|Hart]], having his mouth reaching on both sides to his ears, and the head and face of a female like unto a [[Badger|Badgers]]".<!--Presumably Topsell meant female woman with badger-like resemblance (since he is equating it witha a manticore), It seems unlikely he is calling upon the reader to recognize the distinction between female and male badger, which would require considerable field guide expertise.-->{{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.

== Heraldry ==
<!--[[File:William Hastings, 1st Baron Hastings.jpeg|thumb|right|Manticore/mantyger badge of [[William Hastings, 1st Baron Hastings|William, Lord Hastings]], c. 1470. This version has a pair of tusks protruding up from lower jaw.]]
[[File:Dewalden(1904)-0211-Mayster Ratleffe-mantyger-detail.png|thumb|A man-tyger (manticore), Mayster Ratliffe's  banner.]]
[[File:Dewalden(1904)-0212-Lord Fitzwater-babyon-detail.png|thumb|A man-tyger (manticore), Lord Fitzwater's banner.]]
-->
{{multiple image
| align             = left
| total_width       = 320
| header            = Manticores in heraldry
| 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 Hastings, 1st Baron Hastings|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.<ref name="de_walden"/>
| footer            = 
}}

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 [[Oxford English Dictionary|OED]],<ref name="OED-mantyger"/> though the 17th century heraldry collector [[Randle Holme#Randle Holme III (1627–1700)|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.<ref>{{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}}.</ref>}} 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.<ref>{{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}}.</ref>

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.<ref name="baringould&twigge"/><ref name="OED"/> Thus in heraldic discourse the term "manticore" became usurped by "'''mantyger'''" during the 17–18th centuries, and "'''mantiger'''" in the 19th.<ref name="OED"/>{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|The corruption of amalgamation of ''man'' and ''[[tiger]]'' suggests [[false etymology]].<!--cn (mot stated in OED)-->}}

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.<ref name="OED"/> The Radcliffe family manticore appears to have human feet,<ref name="rothery"/> 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.<ref name="de_walden"/>}} 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.<ref name="OED-mantegar"/> This is also conjectured to derived from corruption of "manticore".<ref name="OED-mantegar"/> As a consequence, the term "mantyger" became an ambiguously variant of "manticore" or "mantegar",<ref name="OED-mantyger"/> 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,<ref name="OED"/><ref name="rothery"/>{{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<ref name="de_walden"/> (cap of dignity <ref name="rothery"/>).

== Parallels ==
[[Gerald Brenan]] linked the manticore to the ''[[mantequero]]'', a monster feeding on [[human fat]] in [[Andalusian folklore]].<ref name="Brenan">''Al Sur de Granada'', pages 190-193, [[Gerald Brenan]], 1997, Fábula - Tusquets Editores. Originally ''[[South from Granada (book)|South from Granada]]'', 1957</ref>

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.

== In fiction ==
[[Dante Alighieri]], in his ''[[Inferno (Dante)|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.<ref>{{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}}</ref>

== Fine art ==
[[File:Kilpeck church stone carvings - geograph.org.uk - 875590.jpg|thumb|right|Manticore at the [[Church of St Mary and St David, Kilpeck]], [[Herefordshire]] (12th century)]]
The heraldic manticore influenced some [[Mannerism|Mannerist]] representations of the sin of Fraud, conceived as a monstrous [[chimera (mythology)|chimera]] with a beautiful woman's face – for example, in [[Bronzino]]'s allegory ''[[Venus, Cupid, Folly and Time]]'' ([[National Gallery]], London),<ref>{{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.</ref> 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]].

== Popular culture ==
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.<ref>{{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=<!--1441130608, -->978-1-3500-5925-2}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://criticalrole.miraheze.org/wiki/Manticore |title=manticore |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Exandria |date=2 August 2022 |access-date=2023-04-25}}</ref>}}{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Another embellished feature of this D&D version is that a "bristling mane stretches down [its] back".<ref name="monster_manual_v5_2014"/>}}<ref name="monster_manual_v5_2014"/> though an earlier version of the manual described them as "batlike wings".<ref name="monstrous_manual1993"/>

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.<ref>{{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 }}</ref>

In the animated film ''[[Onward (film)|Onward]]'' Octavia Spencer plays "Corey" The Manticore, a manticore who is the proprietor of the Manticore's Tavern.<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|title='Onward': Meet the Voices Behind the Animated Characters |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/lists/onward-cast-meet-famous-voice-actors-1262379/ |website=www.hollywoodreporter.com|date=March 7, 2020 }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|title=Pixar's 'Onward' To Star Chris Pratt, Tom Holland, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Octavia Spencer |url=https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/pixar-onward-star-chris-pratt-173248836.html |website=www.yahoo.com|date=December 12, 2018 }}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Chimera (mythology)]]
* {{c|Mythological lions |Mythological lions}}

== Explanatory notes ==
{{notelist}}

==References==
'''Citations'''
{{reflist|25em|refs=
<ref name="aelian">{{harvp|Nichols tr.|2013|pp=61–62}}. Ctesias ''Indica'' '''Frag. 45dβ''' Aelian, ''NA'' 4.21;<br />
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}}.</ref>

<ref name="Ashmole1511">{{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}} </ref>

<ref name="badke-mss-manticore">{{cite web|last=Badke |first=David |author=<!--David Badke--> |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}}</ref>

<ref name="baringould&twigge">{{cite book|editor1-last=Baring-Gould |editor1-first=Sabine |editor1-link=Sabine Baring-Gould |editor2-last=Twigge |editor2-first=Robert |editor2-link=<!--Robert Twigge--> |chapter=<!--Harl. MS. 5827, and Cotton. MS. Faustina E. III.--> |title=An Armory of the Western Counties<!-- (Devon and Cornwall).: From the Unpublished Manuscripts of the XVI Century -->|publisher=J.G. Commin |year=1898 |page=89}}, for "Radforde"</ref>

<ref name="BL-Add11283">{{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.</ref>

<ref name="Bodl764">{{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.</ref>

<ref name="de_walden">{{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}}</ref>

<ref name="diekstra1998">{{cite book|last=Diekstra |first=Frans N.M. |author-link=<!--Frans N.M. Diekstra--> |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=<!--9069801159,  -->9789069801155}}</ref>

<ref name="dines">{{cite journal|last=Dines |first=Ilya |author-link=<!-- Ilya Dines--> |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<!--91–98-->}}</ref>

<ref name="Douce151">{{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}} </ref>

<ref name="ebergart-manticora">"[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}}</ref>

<ref name="george">{{cite journal|last=George |first=Wilma |author-link=<!--Wilma George--> |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<!--423–428--> |doi=10.2307/750650 |jstor=750650|s2cid=244492082 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

<ref name="hist_litt_tome34">{{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}}</ref>

<ref name="hugo-ed-migne">{{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}}</ref>

<ref name="monster_manual_v5_2014">{{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}}</ref>

<ref name="monstrous_manual1993">{{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=<!--1560766190, -->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}}</ref>

<ref name="Morgan-M.81">{{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}}</ref>
<ref name="OED">{{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]"</ref>
<ref name="OED-mantegar">{{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]".</ref>
<ref name="OED-mantyger">{{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.</ref> 

<ref name="pausanias">{{harvp|Nichols tr.|2013|pp=62–63}}. Ctesias ''Indica'' '''Frag. 45dγ'''. Pausanias 9.21.4.;<br />
[[William Henry Samuel Jones|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}}</ref>

<ref name="philostratus">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."}}</ref>

<ref name="photius-baehr-ed">{{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}}</ref>

<ref name="pliny8.75">{{harvp|Nichols tr.|2013|p=63}}. Ctesias ''Indica'' '''Frag. 45dδ'''. Pliny 8.75;<br /> 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=<!--Harris Rackham (vols. 1-5, 9)--> |translator2-last=Jones |translator2-first=W.H.S. |translator2-link=William Henry Samuel Jones<!--(vols. 6-8)--> |translator3-last=Eichholz  |translator3-first=D.E. |translator3-link=<!--D.E. Eichholz --> |title=Natural History. Book 8 |year=1938 |wslink=Natural History (Rackham, Jones, & Eichholz)/Book 8}};<br />
{{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<!--marked 8.34 however-->}}@Perseus Project</ref>

<ref name="pliny8.107">Pliny 8. 107; <br /> 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=<!--Harris Rackham (vols. 1-5, 9)--> |translator2-last=Jones |translator2-first=W.H.S. |translator2-link=William Henry Samuel Jones<!--(vols. 6-8)--> |translator3-last=Eichholz  |translator3-first=D.E. |translator3-link=<!--D.E. Eichholz --> |title=Natural History. Book 8 |year=1938 |wslink=Natural History (Rackham, Jones, & Eichholz)/Book 8}};<br />
{{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<!--marked 8.47 however-->}}@Perseus Project</ref>

<ref name="robinson">{{cite journal|last=Robinson |first=Margaret |author-link=<!--Margaret Robinson (historian)--> |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<!--273–287--> |doi=10.1080/0015587X.1965.9717018 |jstor=1258298|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

<ref name="rothery">{{cite book|last=Rothery |first=Guy Cadogan  |author-link=<!--Guy Cadogan Rothery--> |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}}</ref>

<ref name="rowland">{{cite book|last=Rowland |first=Beryl |author-link=Beryl Rowland |editor1-last=Clark |editor1-first=Willene B. |editor1-link=<!--Willene B. Clark--> |editor2-last=McMunn |editor2-first=Meradith T. |editor2-link=<!--Meradith T. McMunn--> |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<!--12–25--> |isbn=1512805513<!--, 9781512805512-->}}</ref>

<ref name="stoneman2021">{{cite book|last=Stoneman |first=Richard |author-link=<!--Richard StonemanGuy Cadogan Rothery--> |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=<!--0691217475, -->9780691217475}}</ref>

<ref name="philip-de-thaun">{{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.</ref>

<ref name="topsell1658">{{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}}</ref>
{{void|
<ref name="tulin">{{cite book|last=Tulin |first=Melissa S.  |author-link=<!--Melissa S. Tulin--> |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=<!--1567312438, -->9781567312430}}</ref>
}}
<ref name="uhl">{{cite book|last=Uhl |first=Patrice |author-link=<!--Patrice Uhl--> |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=<!--2738483488, -->9782738483485 |language=fr}}</ref>

<ref name="univcollege-oxford">{{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.</ref>

<ref name="wiedl">{{cite book|last=Wiedl|first=Birgit |author-link=<!--Birgit Wiedl--> |chapter=Chapter 9. Laughing at the Beast: The ''Judensau'' |editor-last=Classen |editor-first=Albrecht |editor-link=<!--Albrecht Classen--> |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<!--325/364-->|isbn=<!--3110245485, -->9783110245486 }}</ref>

}}

'''Bibliography'''
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book|last=Clark |first=Willene B. |author-link=<!--Willene B. Clark--> |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=<!--0851156827, -->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=<!--Wilma B. George--> |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=<!--0715622382, -->9780715622384}}
* {{cite book|ref={{SfnRef|Nichols tr.|2013}}|author=Ctesias |author-link=Ctesias |translator-last=Nichols |translator-first=Andrew |translator-link=<!--Andrew G. Nichols, Visiting Lecturer in Classics, University of Florida--> |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=<!--1472519973, -->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=<!--Joe Nigg--> |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=<!--0195095618, -->9780195095616}}
* {{cite book|last=McCulloch |first=Florence |author-link=<!--Florence McCulloch--> |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<!--Karl Friedrich Theodor 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=<!--M. W. Tisdall--> |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=<!--0486246094, -->9780486246093}} Translated from the Latin (Cambridge Univ. Library MS. Ii.4.26).
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{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]]