Editing Unicorn (section)

=== Biblical ===
[[File:Ur-painting.jpg|right|thumb|The [[aurochs]]]]
[[File:San Giovanni Evangelista in Ravenna, unicorn.jpg|right|thumb|Unicorn [[mosaic]] on a 1213 church floor in [[Ravenna]]]]
An animal called the ''[[re'em]]'' ({{langx|he|רְאֵם}}) is mentioned in several places in the [[Hebrew Bible]], often as a metaphor representing strength. The allusions to the ''re'em'' as a wild, untamable animal of great strength and agility, with mighty horn or horns<ref>[[Book of Job|Job]] 39:9–12; [[Psalms]] 22:21, 29:6; [[Book of Numbers|Numbers]] 23:22, 24:8; [[Deuteronomy]] 33:17; compare Psalms 112:11</ref> best fit the [[aurochs]] (''Bos primigenius''); this view is further supported by the Assyrian cognate word ''rimu,'' which is often used as a metaphor of strength, and is depicted as a powerful, fierce, wild mountain bull with large horns.<ref>{{Cite web|last1=Hirsch|first1=Emil G.|last2=Casanowicz|first2=I. M.|title=Unicorn|url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/14584-unicorn|website=Jewish Encyclopedia|access-date=26 October 2022}}</ref> This animal was often depicted in ancient [[Mesopotamia]]n art in profile, with only one horn visible.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/unicorn|title=Unicorn|date=29 August 2022|website=Britannica|publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=26 October 2022}}</ref>

The translators of the [[Authorized King James Version]] of the [[Bible]] (1611) followed the Greek [[Septuagint]] (''monokeros'') and the Latin [[Vulgate]] (''unicornis'')<ref>Psalms 21:22, 28:6, 77:69, 91:11; [[Book of Isaiah|Isaiah]] 34:7. The Latin ''rhinoceros'' is employed in Numbers 23:22, 24:8; Deuteronomy 33:17, Job 39:9–10</ref> and employed ''unicorn'' to translate ''re'em'', providing a recognizable animal that was proverbial for its untamable nature. The [[American Standard Version]] translates this term "wild ox" in each case.

The classical Jewish understanding of the Bible did not identify the ''Re'em'' animal as the unicorn. However, some rabbis in the [[Talmud]] debate the proposition that the ''[[Tahash]]'' animal (Exodus 25, 26, 35, 36 and 39; Numbers 4; and Ezekiel 16:10) was a domestic, single-horned [[kosher]] creature that existed in Moses' time, or that it was similar to the ''keresh'' animal described in [[Marcus Jastrow]]'s Talmudic dictionary as "a kind of antelope, unicorn".<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://halakhah.com/shabbath/shabbath_28.html|title=Babylonian Talmud: Shabbath 28|website=halakhah.com}}</ref>