#ichtyocentaur

[pieniebootekent]

Mermay day 29: ichtyocentaur

Prompt list by @crypticsketchpad

Horse anatomy is so confusing :') but I think I did ok

[chimeride]

Ichtyocentaur, the seventy-seventh Known One.

[mediumaevum]

Here be Medieval Sea Monsters

This sea pig, which was compared to heretics that distorted truth and lived like swine, lived in the North Sea on Olaus Magnus’s 1539 Carta Marina, a lushly illustrated map that inspired many after it.

An ichthyocentaur (parts human, horse and fish) plays a viol on a map of Scandinavia from the 1573 edition of Ortelius’s Theatrum orbis terrarum. The sea surrounding Scandinavia showed sailing ships and this traditionally peaceful ichthyocentaur, perhaps suggesting safe passage.

Polypus (meaning “many-footed”) was used to describe many animals, from the lobster to the centipede to the octopus. While Olaus Magnus (1539) drew a giant lobster here, his text describes an octopus, showing the true confusion about what lived in the sea.

Two whales attack a ship as sailors try to scare them away by tossing barrels and playing a trumpet on Olaus Magnus’s 1539 Carta Marina.

[whitebalverines]

a sketch of my horse-fish-ram-thing bae :0

i think it turned out really nicely and these are probably the best horse legs I’ve ever drawn lol

[marzipanrose]

I sure hope that icthyocentaurs are included in Draw a Centaur day. other wise he would just feel silly.