The Animal in Me Trivia Quiz

Answer: part human, half goat

Associated with untamed nature, as well as shepherds and their flocks, the god Pan appears as a figure with the upper body of a man (generally bearded and somewhat aged) and the horns, legs and hindquarters of a goat. Its Roman counterpart was Faunus, whose daughter, Fauna, was a nature deity whose name has come to denote all the animal life of a particular region or time. Pan's worship began in the Greek mountain region of Arcadia, which has become synonymous with harmonious nature: being a god of the rustic wilderness, Pan was not worshipped in temples, but rather in natural settings such as caves or wooded groves. Like his lookalikes, the satyrs, Dionysus' lustful companions, Pan was also associated with fertility and sex; many of the myths about him concern his pursuit of nymphs, or even the moon goddess Selene. Another of Pan's associations is with pastoral music: variations on the instrument known as the Pan flute (also Pan pipes or syrinx), made of reeds of varying lengths, are found all over the world. According to the myth, Pan created the instrument after Syrinx, one of the nymphs he lusted after, was turned into a reed while trying to escape the god's pursuit.

The word "panic" comes from the Greek expression "panikon deima" ("terror of Pan"), related to the fright caused to travellers by the god's sudden appearance in the woods. Pan's powerful voice was also said to have frightened even the Titans in their fight against the Olympians.

Answer: winged human body with some eagle features

Described as the king of birds, and associated with the sun, Garuda is pictured in various ways - either as a giant, eagle-like bird, or as a man with large, golden-yellow wings and some bird features, such as an eagle's beak or clawed feet, occasionally even an eagle's head. In Hindu mythology, he is the "vahana" (vehicle or mount) of Vishnu, the preserver god; he is also venerated in Buddhism and Jainism. In Hindu iconography, Garuda is often shown carrying Vishnu (and occasionally his consort, the goddess Lakshmi) on his back, or kneeling with his hands in the "namaste" posture. This divine being is considered a protector figure, often characterized as the arch-enemy of Nagas (snakes).

Images of Garuda are found in temples throughout South and Southeast Asia. In 2018, a huge statue of Garuda with Vishnu riding on his back was inaugurated in Garuda Wisnu Kencana Cultural Park, a tourist attraction on the Indonesian island of Bali (whose population is mostly Hindu). Garuda is also the national symbol of Thailand and Indonesia (whose airline is called Garuda), and appears on both countries' coats of arms, as well as on the emblem of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia's capital city.

Answer: human head, lion body, scorpion tail

The original Persian name of the manticore was "mardykhor" (meaning "man-eater"), which became "martichoras" in Greek, and "mantichora" in Latin. This terrifying creature, believed to live deep in the Indian jungle, was first mentioned in a book by Ctesias, a Greek physician and historian who lived in the 4th century BC, and who claimed to have seen one of these beasts in the flesh. Ctesias described the manticore as a creature with the face and ears of a man, a triple row of teeth, a blood-red lion's body, and a scorpion-like tail. Other authors, such as Pliny the Elder in his "Natural History", also mention the monster's trumpet-like voice. All these descriptions emphasize the manticore's insatiable appetite for human flesh, so great that a single man was not enough to sate it. The creature is also described as near-invincible, especially as its tail - besides delivering a sting - could shoot venomous spines like arrows that could kill any animal except the elephant.

Images of the manticore often appear in medieval bestiaries; in Dante Alighieri's "Inferno", the monster Geryon in Canto XVII is described as very similar to Ctesias' and Pliny's manticore, though with added serpent-like features.

Answer: half human, half horse

Though a centaur, Chiron was quite different from the rest of his kind, even in terms of appearance. In fact, in Ancient Greek vase painting, the centaur is shown with human front legs, rather than with the entire lower body of a horse as in traditional depictions of centaurs, and often also wearing clothes - a symbol of civilization, in contrast with the other centaurs' untamed, bestial nature. Chiron's lineage was also different, as he was the son of the Titan Cronus and the Oceanid nymph Philyra, while the other centaurs had been sired by Ixion upon Nephele, a cloud made to look like the goddess Hera. Fostered by Apollo, Chiron was taught the arts of music, medicine, hunting, gymnastics and prophecy by the god and his twin sister, Artemis. The centaur developed a reputation for wisdom as well as healing, and many distinguished heroes of Greek myth were believed to have been his pupils. Achilles' father, Peleus, had once been rescued by Chiron, who also helped him to win the hand of the goddess Thetis; Achilles, who had already shown great promise, was entrusted to the care of Chiron as a child.

Being a god's offspring, Chiron - the "wisest and justest of his kind", as Homer calls him in the "Iliad" - was immortal. Wounded by accident by a poisoned arrow, he was unable to heal himself, and his suffering was such that he willingly gave up his immortality. His half-brother, Zeus, placed him among the stars: he is identified with the constellation Centaurus, occasionally also with Sagittarius. Chiron's name comes from the Greek "cheiron", meaning "hand" - a likely reference to his skill as a healer: he was the foster-father and mentor of Asclepius, the son of Apollo who became the god of medicine.

Answer: scarab head, human body

Many Egyptian deities are pictured with the head of animals that had a particular significance for that ancient civilization. The scarab, or dung beetle, was associated with the sun because of its habit of laying its eggs into balls of dung, which they roll along towards their burrow. The young beetles hatch from those dung balls, emerging fully formed, as if created from nothing. This was seen by the Egyptians as a symbol of creation, while the act of rolling dung balls represented the sun being pushed across the sky in the early morning. Khepri, depicted as a scarab, or as a man with a scarab head, was an aspect of the sun god Ra, the divine manifestation of the of the rising sun, which was also seen as a symbol of rebirth; his name, meaning "to emerge" or "to come into being", was also used as the name of the scarab hieroglyph.

Khepri is also mentioned in the "Book of the Dead": many scarab-shaped objects have been found in in Egyptian tombs, most of them amulets that were often placed on the heart of mummies to facilitate the dead's transition to the afterlife.

Answer: winged bull or lion with human head

The Lamassu (also known as "shedu") was originally a Sumerian female deity named Lama, who during the Neo-Assyrian Empire (9th-7th century BC) came to be depicted as a largely male supernatural creature, with some of the characteristics of angels. Those who have visited the Louvre in Paris or the British Museum in London may be familiar with the image of these colossal winged bulls (or lions) with the head of a man, wearing a tall headdress and the elaborate, curly beard characteristic of Mesopotamian civilizations. Female lamassu came later to be known as "apsasu". Regarded as guardians against evil, statues of lamassu were generally placed at gates or doorways; they were represented with five legs, striding forward if viewed from the side, and standing firmly if viewed from the front. Lamassu can also be seen in the Gate of All Nations in the ruins of Persepolis, the former capital of the Achaemenid Empire.

The combination of human, eagle and bull (or lion) has been interpreted to mean intelligence (human), freedom (eagle) and strength (bull/lion): this combination is also represented by the symbols of the four Evangelists, which may have been influenced by the lamassu. In modern times, the lamassu has been featured on the insignia of the British 10th Army and the logo of the United States Forces - Iraq.

Answer: half human, half snake

In Greek literature, the genealogy of Echidna ("she-viper") is rather unclear, as different authors give her different sets of parents, generally of divine or semi-divine origin. As her name implies, Echidna was depicted as a creature with the upper body of a woman (generally a beautiful, alluring one), and the lower body of a huge, coiling snake. In literary texts, she is often called a "drakaina" (she-dragon), and portrayed as dwelling underground, in a cave or similarly gloomy, swampy surroundings. According to Hesiod's "Theogony", she was the consort of another monstrous being, the gigantic, dragon-like Typhon (or Typhoeus), and bore him a number of equally terrifying children: among them, the three-headed dog Cerberus, the multi-headed Lernean Hydra (later killed by Heracles), and Chimera, the fire-breathing monster killed by Bellerophon. Other authors also mention the Sphinx, the Nemean lion and other fearsome creatures as Echidna and Typhon's offspring. Unfortunately, no images of Echidna in Ancient Greek art have survived.

The egg-laying mammal of Australia and New Guinea (Tachyglossus sp.) was named "echidna" because - like the Greek monster - it has characteristics of both mammals and reptiles.

Answer: human with a stag's antlers

Hardly anything is known about Cernunnos from written sources: his name only appears once on a Gallo-Roman monument known as the Pillar of the Boatmen (1st century AD), located in Paris. His image, however, is found on at least 50 artifacts, mostly from the Gallo-Roman period. This mysterious deity, whose name is probably rooted in the Celtic word for "horn" or "antler" (a cognate of Latin "cornu"), is generally depicted as an antlered man sitting cross-legged, holding or wearing a torc (a rigid neck-ring). The best-known Cernunnos figure is the one depicted on the magnificent Gundestrup Cauldron, a large, decorated silver vessel from the European Iron Age. On the basis of the iconography, Cernunnos has been described by scholars of Celtic culture as a god of animals and hunting; other sources have interpreted him as a god of commerce and material wealth. In any case, horned deities are common to many of the world's ancient religions; they have often been interpreted as shamanic figures, and associated with nature and fertility (as is the case of Pan in Q.1).

Even though Cernunnos' real nature still remains a mystery, he has become popular in modern times as one of the deities revered by adherents of various forms of Neopaganism, such as Wicca. In her 1931 book "The God of the Witches", anthropologist and historian Margaret Murray identified Herne the Hunter, a ghostly, antlered figure from English folklore mentioned in William Shakespeare's "The Merry Wives of Windsor", with a local aspect of Cernunnos.

Answer: half human, half bird

Often depicted in beautiful statues, reliefs and paintings that adorn Buddhist temples in South, East and Southeast Asia, kinnaras and kinnaris (their female counterparts) are semi-divine creatures with the upper body of a human and the wings and lower body of a bird, often a swan. They usually go in pairs, representing ideals of mutual love and devotion; they also share some of the characteristics of fairies and angels - namely their beauty and grace, and their benevolence towards humans, whom they are said to protect in times of trouble. Kinnaras and kinnaris are also noted for their skill in music, dance and poetry. Kinnaris are often depicted with bare breasts, especially in Thailand. In Myanmar, these graceful beings are the symbol of the Karenni ethnic group, and the image of a kinnara appears on the flag and seal of Kayah State, inhabited mostly by Karenni.

In the Hindu epic "Mahabharata", Kinnaras are instead portrayed as half-human, half horse creatures, members of a tribe living in a territory of the Himalayas named Kinnara Kingdom.

Answer: half human, half fish

Originally, Dagon (or Dagan) was a god of fertility and agriculture, and his name is believed to come from a Semitic word meaning "grain". However, in more recent times this ancient deity came to be pictured as a merman figure, like the Greek Triton and the Hindu Matsya (one of Vishnu's avatars). This association with fish was due to the similarity of his name with the Canaanite (Phoenician) word "dâg" (fish), and the fact that he was particularly revered in maritime cities. Dagon has also been identified with a fish-tailed human figure of Babylonian myth named Oannes; merman motifs also occur in Assyrian and Phoenician art.

In the Hebrew Bible, Dagon is mentioned as the chief god of the Philistines, whose temple was pulled down by Samson. John Milton mentions Dagon as a fish-tailed deity in Book 1 of "Paradise Lost". However, the most famous appearance of Dagon as a fish-related being is in two short stories by H.P. Lovecraft - "Dagon" (1917) and "The Shadow Over Innsmouth" (1931).