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Monsters and Fabulous
Beasts
from Ancient and
Medieval Cultures:

ENGLISH 199 STUDENTS:
For your annotated bibliography, you will pick one of the monsters below
to research. If you wish, I will attach your annotated bibliography
as a link to the monster, so that the entire class will have access
to your work. Those marked with asterisks are the ones that I suspect
will be easiest to research. Those students who wish to submit their
bibliographies for the website must send me a copy in electronic format.
Click here for some basic
research resources regarding medieval art, literature, history,
etc.
- Afrit
- (pl. Afriti. Also transliterated "Afreet/Afreeti"
and "Efreet/Efreeti") Arabic fire spirit.
- Alfar
- (see also Dockalfar and Liosalfar, see Elves):
Norse equivalent to Elves.
- Amphisbaena
- A two headed venomous serpent
- Ananta
- Anka
- (alias Angka) giant bird
- Anthropophagus
- (plural: Anthropophagi) Cannibal humanoids
thought to dwell in the East and in Africa.
- Ant-Lion
- (See Mermecolion)
- Arimaspians:
- a legendary one-eyed Scythian people who
would attempt to steal gold from Griffins in order to adorn their
hair.
- Aspidoceleon
- (also spelled Aspidochelone)--a sea-monster,
much like a whale, but having a turtle-shell and a snake-like head.
Cf. Leviathan. In various translations, rendered cethegrande (Middle
English) Cetus (Latin for whale), a grande (literally a "large"),
and even a "sea-pig" by one homilist.
- Ass Centaur
- (alias Onocentaur) A creature with the body
of a donkey and the waist, arms, and head of a human placed where
the donkey's head should be. They were notorious for drunkeness and
debauchery. In one version of the Physiologus, they are used as a
symbol of hypocritical churchmen.
- Astomi
- Barnacle-Goose
- (alias a carnard): Medieval bestiaries stated
that a species of goose existed that hatched out of barnacles. The
French word for a barnacle goose (canard) thus became a common
term for any false report.
- Basilisk
- (Compare with Cockatrice, below): A venomous
reptilian creature so lethal it had the power to turn people to stone.
- Bean Sidh
- (often spelled "Banshee," Irish
prophetic spirit)
- Blemiyeh
- (Headless men, also spelled Blemmyae)
- Brownie
- Bucentaur
- Caladrius (also spelled Charadrius,
see below)
- Callitrice
- Canocephalus,
- pl. Canocephali (also spelled Cynocephalus):
men with the heads of dogs. These dog-headed men were supposed to
live somewhere in the East. Purportedly, they sent a delegation to
the Pope in Avignon. In some accounts, they are carnivorous, and in
others they are vegetarians who model their lives on principles akin
to that of Beneditine monks. In many medieval legends, Saint Christopher
is a canocephalus.
- Capricorn:
- A fanciful beast with the body of a fish and
the head and forelimbs of a goat, precursor to the Zodiac symbol.
It may have originated in a Babylonian water-god, Ea, or the Indian
myth of the Makara.
- Caristae
- Catoblepas
- Cecrops
- Centaur,
- cf. Ichthyocentaur (sea-Centaur), Onocentaur
(Ass-Centaur), Bucentaur, etc.
- Cerberus (classical Greek)
- Charadrius
- Cheiron
- Chemosit
- Ch'i Lin (Oriental, see Ki-Lin, below)
- Chimera (Greek)
- Cinamon Bird (Cinomolgus in bestiaries)
- Criosphinx
- Crocotta, cf. Leucrotta
- Cockatrice Resembling a mixture of
rooster and serpent, a cockatrice was created when poisonous toad
sat upon an abandoned(See Basilisk)
- Cyclops. See also Arimaspians
- Cynocephali (see Canocephali):
-
- Demon
(Judeo-Christian examples: Asmodeus, Belial, Mamman, Grizzel Greediguts,
Acheron, Mephistopholes)
- Click here for Autumn Roger's bibliography
on demons.
- Dhampir (Serbian vampire)
- *Djinni
- (Arabic, also spelled genie) In the Arabian
Nights, lived in a rose-domed city called Shadukiam. The oldest
genie, by whom they swear, is named Kashkash. Ampharool is the genie
who can teach men the secret of flying, according to a medieval grimmoire
called The Book of Power.)
- Djinniyeh
- (Arabic, female djinn, see djinn)
- Domovoi
- *Dragon, Western
- A fire-breathing reptile of unusual size and
ferocity, often with a varying number of legs, sometimes winged. In
most versions it either breathes fire, has a venomous bite, gives
off noxious fumes, or some combination of these three traits. In Norse
and Anglo-Saxon legends, dragons have a lust for gold and often sleep
on huge piles of treasure in burial mounds. They are often linked
to greed. For instance, the dragon Fafnir was originally a dwarf who
killed his brothers to gain access to their treasure, and then over
the years of guarding and hoarding his treasure turned into a dragon
until Siegmund kills him. In Beowulf,
a dragon becomes enraged when a golden cup is stolen from his treasure
hoard and he goes on a rampage in King Beowulf's kingdom. In European
legends, the dragons often have a taste for the flesh of young virginal
princesses, and often have the loathsome habit of bathing in springs
or lakes and poisoning these waters with the pollution that comes
from their slimy bodies. Cf. Lung,
the Oriental Dragon
- Dragonhorse
- Dryad
- (cf. Hamaryad, Greek)
- *Dwarf (Norse)
- Short, stalky beings that resemble European
craftsmen. In Norse legends, when the Frost Giant Ymir died, his body
turned into the various parts of the universe. The dwarves were the
pale maggots that rose from his flesh. They are associated with the
earth, both in the sense of hidden treasure or secrets and the sense
of decay and death. Any hero that gains a sword from the dwarves in
Norse legend is almost certainly going to find the weapon is cursed
in some way, and if dwarves discover or create a magical item, it
will almost certainly lead to murder.
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- Echeneis
- (Greek, "ship-detaining")--a classical
and bestiary fish that can stop a ship going full sail by attaching
itself to the hull.
- *Echidna,
- the mother of Monsters (Greek)
- *Elf, Irish Tuatha de Dannan, Seelie
and Unseelie varieties.
- *Elf, Welsh
- Ekimmu (Mesopotamian)
- A bloodsucking ghost that resembles a pale
giant with a bull's head on its shoulders.
- Ercinee
- Bird of the Hercynian Forest, glows in the
dark.
- Ettin (Norse)
-
- *Faerie,
Fairies
- Click here for Annie Gately's student
bibliography on faerie beings.
- Faun (cf. Satyr)
- Fenris Wolf, the (Norse)
Finngálkin
Icelandic centaur-like creature that is part man, part horse.
- Frost-Giant (Norse)
- Fox-Maiden (medieval Japan)
- shapeshifting seductresses. One, Jewel Maiden,
Tamamo No Mae, fox-maiden who infiltrates Summer Palace of Emperor
Toba, the Mikado of Japan. Fox-maidens are masters of illusion, arson,
seduction; True reflection appears in water. No direct cognates appear
in European medieval lit, though there is Reynard the Fox as a trickster
in beast-fables.
-
- *Gargoyle (European architecture)
- Garm
- Garuda (giant bird, cf. Roc, griffin,
simurgh, and angka)
- Ghul (Arabic, modern Ghoul)
- *Giant Cf. Titan (Greek), cf. Frost-Giant
(Norse)
- Giant Ants of India (Greek legend,
described in Herodotus)
- Glaistig
- Glaucus
- *Golem (medieval Hebrew)
- *Gnome
- Griffin: (also Gryphon, Griffon):
- A large predatory composite monster with the
wings, forelimbs, and head of an eagle and the hind-parts and tail
of a lion. The eagle head also has strange, pointed, upstanding ears.
- *Grotesque (architectural monster)
- Gryllus
- Humorous monster in medieval manuscripts,
usually depicted with two legs, a head, a tail, and no body or arms.
Often furry or maned.
- Hags (Celtic legend)
- Hamadryad (see Dryad)
- Harpy
- Hea-bani
- Hengeyokai (Japanese shapeshifter)
- Hercynian stag--cf. Unicorn.
- Hieracosphinx
- Hippocampus
- Hippogriff (Renaissance invention in
Orlando Furioso)
- Hippopodes
- Hsien In Chinese mythology, angelic
"feathered folk" with winged or feathered images appearing
in Chou art. The book of Chuang-Tzu pictures hsien as
white-skinned, delicate superhuman beings: "These are divine
persons dwelling there, whose flesh and skin resemble ice and snow,
soft and delicate like sequestered girl-children; they do not eat
the five cereals; they suck the wind and drink the dew; they mount
on clouds and vapors and drive the flying dragons--thus they rove
beyond the four seas" (quoted in Schafer 63). See Schafer,
Edward H. Ancient China. Great Ages of Man: A History of
the World's Cultures. NY: Time Life Books, 1967.
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- *Hydrus, Hydra
- Hydrippus
-
- Ichthyocentaur (sea-Centaur)
- Incubus
-
- Jack-in-the-Green, the
- Jormungandr
-
- Kaliya
- Karkadann
- Kelpie
- Ki-Lin: Chinese equivalent to the Occidental
unicorn. See Unicorn.
- Ki-Rin: Japanese pronunciation of the
Chinese Ki-Lin
- Kobold
- Kraken
-
- Lamassu
- Lamia
- Leshy (Russian forest spirit)
- *Leprechaun
- Leucrotta
- Leviathan (Hebrew sea monster)
- Click here for Michael Zibelman's student
bibliography on sea-monsters.
- Lillith,
Mother of Demons (Hebrew) Adam's first wife, before Eve in the
Hebrew Midrash tradition.
- Click here for Catherine Anne Gunderson's
student bibliography on Lillith.
- Lilit
(pl. Lilitu: Hebrew succubi, the daughters of Lillith
- Click here for Catherine Anne Gunderson's
student bibliography on Lillith.
- Lindworm
- *Lung:
(Oriental Dragon)
- Click here for Jeremiah Mattson's student
bibliography on Lung.
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- Magyr--ugly mermaids with webbed hands,
deformed faces, double-chins, and fishy tales reported by Vikings
around Greenland.
- Malebranche Demon (Dante, Inferno)
- Manticore (alias Manticora, Tiger-Lion)
Medusa-snake-haired Gorgon from Greek
mythology
Melusinae--Paracelsus' term for water
spirits. The name comes from Melusine, a fairy-woman who turned into
a half-dragon or a mermaid, depending upon version of the legend.
- *Mermaid
- Mermicolion (Greek, Ant-lion, Latin,
Formicoleon)
- Midgard Serpent, the (Norse)
Sea-monster destined to kill Thor during the final battle of Ragnorok.
- Click here for Michael Zibelman's student
bibliography on sea-monsters.
- *Minotaur, the (Greek)
- *Monocerus (see Unicorn)
- Monkfish, the
- Monopod
(alias sciopod or skiapod): One of the oldest versions of the the monopod legend
appears in Pliny's Natural Histories, his series of Latin
books dealing with the wonders of the biological and geological world.
There, he describes how travellers have told him of the monopods,
which have a broad-toed foot, with the toes curled upward in a shape
reminiscent of a little boat. Their extraordinary method of resting
was lying flat on their backs with the single leg straight up in the
air like a parasol, protecting them from harsh sun or rain. They travelled
by hopping from place to place, and they apparently lived in the antipodes
(i.e., the southern hemisphere).
-
- Most mythological critters of this sort were probably transmitted
to medieval readers by Isidore of Seville, whose encyclopedic works,
the Etymologiae, included a compendium of strange words,
creatures, herbs, and gems, discussing their magical properties. Saint Augustine's discussion of them in The City of God also popularized them. The
legend did not spread very widely after the Renaissance, but the monopod was resurrected
in literature by C. S. Lewis' Christian fantasy series, The Chronicles
of Narnia. Naming the creatures Dufflepods, he places them on
the Island of the Voices, as reported in the Voyage of the Dawn
Treader. Aside from C. S. Lewis' book in English, most of the
medieval sources are in Latin, and they are not necessarily widely available in English
translation.
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- Naga (Medieval Hindu water spirit)
- Nag-Kanya (fish-tailed maiden in medieval
Hindu myth)
- Naiad (cf. Mermaid)
- Nasir (Arabic)
- Nemean Lion, the (Greek)
- Ness Monster, (driven off by St. Columba
in medieval legend, source of modern Loch Ness monster)
- Niluus
- *Nixie
- Nuckelavee
-
- Obour
- A short-lived Serbian vampire-spirit that
arises from the body of a slain spirit. It "lives" in undeath
for forty nights, during which time to smears dung on walls, vandalizes
property, and tears the udders of cows to drink the mixture of blood
and milk. It often appears as a blue ball of light or a shadow. At
the end of those forty nights, it will rise as a full-fledged vampire.
- Odontotyrannos
- huge one-horned beast in the Alexander
romance. Takes 1300 soldiers to drag its body it is so huge.
- Ogre, the (a specific monster in the
French legend)
- Ogre, generic (related to Giant)
- Onocentaur
- (see Ass-centaur)
-
- Pan, the deity
- Panther of the Fresh Breath (bestiaries)
- Pastinaca--gigantic fetid weasel, bigger
than an elephant, mentioned in medieval bestiaries.
- Pazuzu,
- the demon (Assyrian)
- Pegasies:
- Ethiopian bird with ears like horses. Pliny
discusses them. (Not be confused with Pegasus, below)
- *Pegasus
- A winged horse in Greek mythology, often associated
with poetry and inspiration. Bellerophon rides the Pegasus in order
to fight the Chimera (see above).
- Pennaglan
- Perryton
- *Phoenix
- Click here for Cassie Sorenson's
student bibliography on the phoenix.
- Pholos
- Piast
- enormous, lake-dwelling serpent in Irish legends
- Pirobolus, (pl. Piroboli)
- male and female burning rocks in the Physiologus.
- Pooka (Puka, var. spellings)
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- Rakasha (Indian)
- Roc (alias rukh, ruc) Arabic legend.
-
- Salamander
- *Satyr (cf. Faun)
- Sciopod (see Monopod): In classical
Greek and Latin, pronounced "Skee-oh-pod," and usually written out
with a masculine ending as "Sciopodius." In medieval Latin
or "church Latin," it would be pronounced with an initial
/s/ sound, as in "See-oh-pod," and medieval writers would
usually treat it as a neuter word, so it would end with the neuter
ending of "Sciopodium." Take your pick for pronunciation,
or if you focus on classical sources, use classical pronunciation,
and if you focus on medieval sources, use medieval pronunciation.
- Scorpion-men, (Mesopotamian)
- Sea-Bishop
- Sea-serpent.
Cf. Leviathan, Jormandgundr, Tiamat, etc. Olaus Magnus' map of Scandinavia
first incorporated them into artwork.
- Click here for Michael Zibelman's student
bibliography on sea-monsters.
- Senmurv--dog-headed, barking eagle
in Persian folklore.
- Serra--sea-monster based on biological
swordfish. In Philippe de Thaun's Bestiary, serra is a bird-lion-fish
similar to the Lion-of-the-Sea.
- Shang Yang (Oriental)
- *Silenus, pl. Sileni
- Simurgh (giant bird)
- Sin-you
- *Siren:
- face and breasts of a woman, but bodies ending
in either bird-like or fish-like shape, associated with their moon.
Their sweet singing lured men to leap overboard and drown, and then
the Sirens would devour their bodies. Thought to be daughters in Classical
mythology of the river-god Achelous, transformed into semi-human form
because of their pride in their own beauty.
- Skoffin:
- Icelandic analogue to basilisk (see above).
It could only be killed by the sight of another of its kind in early
Icelandic legend. In later versions, it was believed that a silver
bullet or the sign of the cross might also kill it.
- Sleipnir, the Horse (Norse)
- Odin's fantastic horse, which possesses eight
legs and can run as fast as the wind.
- Sphinx (Greco-Egyptian)
- Stymphalian Birds, the (Greek)
- *Succubus (Demonology)
- Sun-Lizard (alias "Sun-Eel," Bestiary)
-
- *Tarasque (French)
- Tengu (Bird Goblins).
- Playfully malicious Oriental spirits thought
to plague Buddhist monks with thefts and pranks. They often took the
form of crows or kites. "The Tengu road" refers to the path
taken by hypocritical priests. They steal children and molest woodcutters
in rural regions, but entertain some guests lavishly in their great,
gold-roofed palaces. They could take on human forms, but with unusually
long, beak-like noses.
- T'ien Kou (pronounced tee-en-go):
- Celestial dog-spirits. Flying creatures that
function as terrifying, meteoric omens of catastrophe in Chinese mythology.
- Typhon, the monster (Greek)
- Tragelaphs
- Triton, the demi-God (Greek)
- *Troll
(Norse/Scandinavian)
- Click here for Cheyl Haning's
student bibliography on trolls.
- Turtle-Asp Whale (See Aspidoceleon)
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- *Unicorn
(Western)
- Click here for Martine Evan's student
bibliography on unicorns.
- Urisk
- Urobus Worm (also spelled Ourobus)
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- *Vampire (eastern Europe)
- Vegetable Lamb (Odoric of Pordenone's
journal describes it)
- Vrykolakas (Greek, vampire)
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- Werewolf
(aka lycanthrope, Le Loup-Garou)
- Click here for Aaron Belloni and Jessica Wilcox's
student bibliography on werewolves.
- Wild-man (see Woose)
- Will-of-the-Wisp, the spirit (will
o' wisp)
- Woose (alias Woot, Wild-man)
- Woot (see Woose)
- Wyvern (also Wyver):
- a heraldic dragon or cockatrice that possesses
only two legs, but has wings.
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- Yale (heraldric, also appears in Pliny).
- Hippopotamus-sized creature with black fur,
elephant tail, boar-jaws, and movable horns that can point forwards
or backwards.
- Yllerion (alias Allerion, Ilerion,
Ylerion)
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