Peryton
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The peryton is a mythological hybrid animal combining the physical features of a stag and a bird. The peryton was first named by Jorge Luis Borges in his 1957 Book of Imaginary Beings, using the fictional device of a supposedly long-lost medieval manuscript.
Mythology[edit]
The peryton is said to have the head, neck, forelegs and antlers of a stag, combined with the plumage, wings and hindquarters of a large bird, although some interpretations portray the peryton as a deer in all but coloration and bird's wings.
According to Borges, perytons lived in Atlantis until an earthquake destroyed the civilization and the creatures escaped by flight. A peryton casts the shadow of a man until it kills one during its lifetime, at which time it starts to cast its own shadow. A sibyl once prophesied that the perytons would lead to the downfall of Rome.[1]
Some historical versions of the heraldry of King Charles VI of France featured winged stags as heraldic supports,[2] as did some versions of the late medieval battle standard of the Dukes of Bourbon;[3] Borges is thus clearly not the inventor of the concept, though the name 'Peryton' may be his addition.
In popular culture[edit]
Perytons are found or used in modern literature and games.
- The creatures appear in Darkwell, a book in The Moonshae Trilogy, where a flock of perytons are among an army of evil monsters summoned by the book's main antagonist.[4]
- The peryton features in John and Carole Barrowman's novel Hollow Earth.[5]
- Perytons appear in Across the Green Grass Fields, the 6th of the Wayward Children series by Seanan McGuire.[6]
- A group of Perytons appear in the fourth Fablehaven book by Brandon Mull, Fablehaven: Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary.[7]
Science[edit]
The term peryton is also used for radio signals of terrestrial origin that mimic fast radio bursts, pulses that appear to be coming from outside of our galaxy.[8] These perytons were found to be the result of premature opening of a microwave oven door, which releases a frequency-swept radio pulse, which mimics a fast radio burst, as the magnetron turns off.[9]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ Nigg, Joseph (2002). The Book of Dragons & Other Mythical Beasts (1st ed.). Hauppauge, NY: Barron's. p. 91. ISBN 9780764155109.
- ^ "Armes du roi Charles VI. Cerfs ailés ou cerfs volants, supports des armoiries royales". La France pittoresque. Histoire de France, Patrimoine, Tourisme, Gastronomie (in French). 1999-11-29. Retrieved 2023-10-27.
- ^ Wise, Terence: Medieval European Armies, Oxford: Osprey Publishing 2004, colour plate H1 & p. 39 (= Men-at-Arms Series, vol. 50).
- ^ Niles, Douglas (February 1989). Darkwell. ISBN 978-0-88038-717-0.
- ^ Kelly, Charles (26 January 2011). "Hollow Earth - A Great Read and Brilliant Promotion for Cumbrae". S1millport.com. Retrieved 27 January 2011.
- ^ Tammy (January 16, 2021). "ACROSS THE GREEN GRASS FIELDS By Seanan McGuire – Review". Books, Bones & Buffy.
- ^ Sowder, Jessica (June 8, 2010). "Fablehaven, Book 4: Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary". A Book and a Hug.
- ^ Sarah Burke-Spolaor; Matthew Bailes; Ronald Ekers; Jean-Pierre Macquart; Fronefield Crawford III (2010). "Radio Bursts with Extragalactic Spectral Characteristics Show Terrestrial Origins". The Astrophysical Journal. 727 (1): 18. arXiv:1009.5392. Bibcode:2011ApJ...727...18B. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/727/1/18. S2CID 35469082.
- ^ Emily Petroff; E. F. Keane; E. D. Barr; J. E. Reynolds; J. Sarkissian; P. G. Edwards; J. Stevens; C. Brem; A. Jameson; Sarah Burke-Spolaor; S. Johnston; N. D. R. Bhat; P. Chandra; S. Kudale; S. Bhandari (2015). "Identifying the source of perytons at the Parkes radio telescope". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 451 (4): 3933–3940. arXiv:1504.02165. Bibcode:2015MNRAS.451.3933P. doi:10.1093/mnras/stv1242.