What was a unicorn?
Old Greek and Roman myths tell of a strange beast with the head and body of a horse, the tail of a lion, and the beard of a goat. It was called a “unicorn.” A unicorn had a single long, twisted horn sticking out of its forehead. Those who drank from a cup made of a unicorn’s horn were said to be protected from poison.
The idea of unicorns may have started with the tales told by early travelers—tales which probably described the rhinoceros or the oryx, a long-horned antelope. The tales grew more marvelous each time they were told. – Dick Rogers