 An artist's impression of a peryton | |
| Creature information | |
|---|---|
| Other name | Winged stag |
| Grouping | Fantasy creatures |
| Sub grouping | Hybrid |
| Similar entities | Furfur, Hippogriff, Pegasus |
| Folklore | Fakelore |
| Origin | |
| First attested | 1957 |
| Country | Atlantis (fictional origin) |
| Region | Fictional |
| Habitat | Fictional lands, Atlantis, Fantasy realms |
| Details | A fictional hybrid combining the features of a stag and a large bird. Said to cast a human shadow until it kills a person, whereupon it begins casting its own shadow. |
The peryton is a fictional hybrid animal combining the physical features of a stag and a bird. The peryton was invented by Jorge Luis Borges in his 1957 Book of Imaginary Beings, using the fictional device of a supposedly long-lost medieval manuscript.
Precursors
Some historical versions of the heraldry of King Charles VI of France featured winged stags as heraldic supports,1 as did some versions of the late medieval battle standard of the Dukes of Bourbon.2
Characteristics
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 human until it kills one during its lifetime, at which time it starts to cast its own shadow. Some descriptions of the peryton allege that a sibyl once prophesied that the perytons would lead to the downfall of Rome.3
In science
Radio astronomer Sarah Burke-Spolaor gave the name Peryton to a class of radio signals of terrestrial origin that mimic fast radio bursts – pulses that appear to originate outside our galaxy. The signals Burke-Spolaor observed demonstrated some properties that appeared man-made and some that appeared natural.4 These perytons were found to be the result of premature opening of a microwave oven door, which released a frequency-swept radio pulse, which mimicked a fast radio burst, as the magnetron turned off.5
In popular culture
A version of the peryton appears in the tabletop game Dungeons & 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.6
A variation on the peryton menaces the protagonists of So You Want to Be a Wizard, a 1985 Diane Duane novel. She credits Borges in a 2021 essay.7
The peryton features in John and Carole Barrowman's novel Hollow Earth.8
Perytons appear in Across the Green Grass Fields, the 6th of the Wayward Children series by Seanan McGuire.9
A group of perytons appear in the fourth Fablehaven book by Brandon Mull, Fablehaven: Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary.10
See also
See also
- Hybrid (mythology) – Mythological creature combining body parts of more than one real speciesPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
- Furfur – Goetic demon
References
References
- "Armes du roi Charles VI. Cerfs ailés ou cerfs volants, supports des armoiries royales". 6 October 2013.
- Wise, Terence: Medieval European Armies, Oxford: Osprey Publishing 2004, colour plate H1 & p. 39 (= Men-at-Arms Series, vol. 50).
- Nigg, Joseph (2002). The Book of Dragons & Other Mythical Beasts (1st ed.). Hauppauge, NY: Barron's. p. 91. ISBN 9780764155109.
- 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.
- Niles, Douglas (February 1989). Darkwell. ISBN 978-0-88038-717-0.
- Duane, Diane (21 March 2021). "Borges and the Peryton". Retrieved 11 March 2025.
- 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.