SCIENCE & PHILOSOPHY

HOGENDIJK_f2_1-13.indd 1 7/19/2007 4:02:06 PM LUDOVICO DE VARTHEMA AND THE UNICORNS IN 1504

Willem Pieter Gerritsen

Ludovico de Varthema (or Barthema), a native of , was one of the first Christians to visit Mecca. The year was probably 1504, possibly 1503. Disguised as a soldier, he walked around in the town, observing the holy places and the dense throngs of pilgrims. Behind the great mosque, he chanced upon a grated enclosure in which he perceived two unicorns. This is how he described the animals in the account of his travels which was first published in 1510 and soon turned out to be a European bestseller. They [the unicorns] were shown to the people as creatures astounding on account of their rarity and strange nature, and this not without reason. One of them, which is much higher than the other, is similar to a foal of thirty months of age. On its forehead grows a single horn, which is straight and four cubits long. The other animal is much younger, about a year of age, and like a young foal; this one’s horn being of a length of four hand- spans. The colour of this animal is like that of a dark horse; its head resem- bles that of a stag, but it has no long neck, its thin mane hanging down on one side. Their legs are thin and slender, like that of deer. The hoofs of the fore-legs are cloven, like the feet of a goat. The back of their hind legs is thickly covered with hair. This animal certainly seems to be very wild and fierce, although its wildness is mitigated by a certain comeliness. These unicorns were presented to the Sultan of Mecca as a most precious and rare gift. They were sent to him from Ethiopia by a king of that country who wished to propitiate the Sultan towards him.1

1 Ludovico de Varthema, Reisen im Orient, transl. by F. Reichert (Sigmaringen, 1996), pp. 77–79 (my translation of Reichert’s German version, which is based on Ramu- sio’s edition of Varthema’s work). Earlier editions of Varthema’s works: The Travels of Ludovico di Varthema in , Syria, Arabia Deserta and Arabia Felix, in Persia, , and Ethiopia, A.D. 1503 to 1508. Translated from the original Italian edition of 1510, with a preface by J.W. Jones, and edited, with notes and an introduction, by G.P. Badger. Works issued by the Hakluyt Society I; 32 (London, 1863), and The itinerary of Ludovico di Varthema of Bologna from 1502 to 1508, as translated by John Winter Jones in 1863 for the Hakluyt Society. With a discourse on Varthema and his travels in Southern Asia, by R.C. Temple (London, 1928).

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