The Hellenic Museum is inviting young people aged 4–10 to celebrate National Unicorn Day on Wednesday 9 April with a fascinating new workshop, Hooves, Horns & Wings: The surprising ancient Greek connection to unicorns. Unicorns & Other Horsey Things.
The inspiration behind the workshop came from a Hellenic Museum volunteer who introduced the education team to some of the relatively unknown connections between ancient Greece and the unicorn, a mythical creature that has recently enjoyed a resurgence in popular culture.
Many people are familiar with famous mythical horses from Greek mythology, such as Pegasus, or know that Posideon also invented the horse. However, few people know that it was Ctesias, an ancient Greek physician and historian, who wrote the first known description of the unicorn in his work Indica (On India) in the 4th Century BCE (2,300 years ago).
Contemporary unicorns are often depicted as pure white, but Ctesias wrote that unicorns were “as large as horses, or even larger. Their body is white, their head dark red, their eyes
bluish, and they have a horn on their forehead about a cubit in length. ”
The workshop will also cover some of the more unusual horse hybrids that emerged from the fertile ancient Greek imagination including the Hippalectryon, a creature with the head of a horse and the wings, tail and backlegs of a rooster.
In addition to attending the mythological horse tour of the museum, participants will make a flip book featuring characteristics of each horse hybrid and some astounding facts. Children who would like to hear about unicorns in Greek are encouraged to book into the Greek language sessions on Saturday afternoons.
Hooves, Horns and Wings: Unicorns & Other Horsey Things is running on Saturday 5, Wednesday 9 & Saturday 12 April at the Hellenic Museum. For more information, session times and to book, visit hellenic.org.au/whats-on
