Blemmyes: The Headless Men of Ancient and Medieval Mythology

The Blemmyes are an example of various species of bizarre creatures rumored, in antiquity and later, to inhabit remote parts of the world, from dog-headed humanoids to strange men with a single large foot, and many other weird and wonderful beings. Many such odd creatures are currently being explored at The Morgan Library & Museum’s exhibition, “Medieval Monsters: Terrors, Aliens, Wonders,” on view until Sept. 23, 2018. The Blemmyes origins began as a tribe inhabiting the lower parts of Nubia, but later became fictionalized as a race of creatures believed to be acephalous (headless) monsters who had eyes and mouths on their chest.

The Blemmyes were first described 2,500 years ago in The Histories, written by the 5^th century BC Greek historian, Herodotus: “headless creatures with eyes in their chests (at least, that is what the Libyans say)”. According to Herodotus, these creatures inhabit the western part of Libya, which is supposed to be “very hilly and thickly wooded, and teems with wildlife”. In addition to these headless creatures, this part of the world is said to be the home of such strange creatures as enormous snakes, donkeys with horns and dog-headed creatures, all of which, the historian tells his audience, are “not merely the stuff of fables”. Herodotus, however, does not give these headless creatures of Libya a name.