Mythozois. History and biography of mythical animals. Ivik O.

The first evidence of the existence of mythical animals belong to the era of the upper paleolithic - it is at this time that people begin to draw them on the walls of the caves. Stories about them are preserved in epic legends. Ancient authors wrote about fantastic creatures, travelers and pilgrims met them during their wanderings. In the Middle Ages, heraldists willingly portrayed them and described writers in their bestiaria. Then the interest in mythical animals fell, and people had to meet with them less and less - only the sailors sometimes saw them emerging from the sea abyss. But the 20th century unexpectedly stirred the hobby with fantastic creatures, for which biologists have now come up with a special term - “mythozois”. About mythosaians - ancient and modern, about their relationships with people and the history of their study is told by the book of two culturalists working under the common pseudonym Oleg Ivik.