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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
editThe 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
editPerytons are found or used in modern literature and games.
- A monstrous version appears in the tabletop game Dungeons and Dragons and its derivative novel 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
editThe 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. This was assigned to this source type by the scientist that first identified them in the data, Sarah Burke-Spolaor, because they demonstrated some properties that appeared man-made and some that appeared natural[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
editReferences
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.