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[43]Mythical Creatures: The Headless Blemmyes

Although people living in medieval Europe knew a lot more of the wider
world than many initially think, with strong trade links in Asia and
northern Africa, they were still intrigued about what lay beyond the
land known to man, and stories of mythical creatures abounded. One such
creature which fascinated for centuries was the Blemmy (spelt variously
as Blemmy, Blemmyes, Blemmyae). These creatures were said to be a type
of man who lived in Africa but they did not have a head – rather, their
face appeared on their chest, their shoulders above them.

Fr._2810_Tav._29v
A Blemmy is seen on the left of this illustration from the Livre de
merveilles, Paris, c1410. [44]Wikicommons.

The Blemmyes were in fact a real African people, forming a nomadic
kingdom in northern Nubia between 600BC and 300AD. Even from their
early origins, however, stories were told of their headless nature.
Herodotus who lived between 484 and 425BC wrote in his Histories that
they were known as the akephaloi or those “without a head” and that
they lived on the eastern edge of Libya. A few centuries later in c.
45AD Mela, a Roman geographer, wrote that the Blemyae lived in Africa
and had their faces in their chests, and this was confirmed by Pliny
the Elder who said the tribe had “no heads, their mouths and eyes being
seated in their breasts” and located them in Ethiopia or Nubia.

433px-13th-century_painters_-_Bird_Book_of_Hugo_Fouilloy_-_WGA15857
Blemmyes and other creatures from the Bird Book of Hugo Fouilloy,
c.1280. [45]WikiCommons.

The stories of these strange headless men continued long after the real
Blemmye tribe was gone. In medieval Europe, drawings of these creatures
can be found in manuscripts and in the extremities of world maps,
charting the “unknown”. A drawing of a Blemmy features in an
Anglo-Saxon manuscript in the British Library dating to c.1025, and
Blemmyes are also found on the Hereford Mappa Mundi of 1300, the
largest medieval map to still exist. Isidore of Seville (560 – 636 AD)
explains in his [46]Etymologies: “People believe that, in Libya,
Blemmyae are born as trunks, without heads, and have their mouth and
eyes on their chest. Others, born without necks, have their eyes on
their shoulders”

blemmyae-wonders-of-the-east-cotton-tiberiusBV The Blemmy in the 11th
century Anglo-Saxon miscellany, British Library, [47]Cotton MS Tiberius
B V/1

blem Blemmyes on the Hereford Mappa Mundi, c.1300, via [48]WikiCommons.

As the centuries progressed, stories of the Blemmyes continued, and
they moved with the boundaries of exploration. In the late medieval
period, some are shown as being in India, such as on the 1436 Andrea
Bianco map. As the sixteenth century arrived and the “discovery” of the
Americas began, the Blemmyes moved across the seas. Ottoman admiral
Piri Reis placed a Blemmy on his 1513 world map near the coast of
Brazil and put a description next to the drawing. He said that Blemmyes
grew to around 5’ 3”, their eyes were close together, but that they
were harmless.

Misericord_in_Ripon_Cathedral A misericord in Ripon Cathedral dating to
the 15th century. [49]WikiCommons.

In 1596, Sir Walter Raleigh wrote a book about his journey to Guayana
where he [50]reports that there was “a nation of people whose heades
appeare not aboue their shoulders” who “are reported to haue their eyes
in their shoulders and their mouths in the middle of their breasts and
that a long train of haire groweth backward betwen their shoulders”.
Although Raleigh did not see these people for himself, he decided that
the stories were truthful as everyone he met there confirmed it.

437px-P._Gasparis_Schotti_Physica_curiosa,_sive_mirabilia_naturæ_et_art
is_Plate_V_p_451 P. Gasparis Schotti Physica curiosa, sive mirabilia
naturæ et artis Plate V p 451, 1662. [51]WikiCommons.

So why did people believe these stories for so long, and where did it
originate from? Numerous theories have centred on the idea that the
original Blemmy warriors may have carried shields with faces on, or
that they marched with their heads tucked close to their chests. Others
make links with how some types of ape, such as the Bonobo, sit with
their shoulders hunched up, head down, and suggest various
tribes-people may have sat similarly, or that the apes themselves were
the origin.

479px-Bonobos_Lana_&_Kesi_2006_CALVIN_IMG_1301 A bonobo sitting
hunched over, its shoulders above its head, similar to a Blemmy.
[52]WikiCommons.

Nuremberg_chronicles_-_Strange_People_-_Headless_(XIIr) Nuremburg
Chronicle, 1493. [53]WikiCommons.

The mythology of human creatures with their faces in their chests
spanned over one thousand years and found its way into many aspects of
culture in the West. From adorning maps and manuscripts and churches,
to being reported as scientific fact, to appearing in literature –
including Shakespeare – the Blemmy fascinated Europe. They were a
symbol of something “other” that could be found in the margins of the
civilised world, strange creatures on the edge of truth. And even now,
they continue to intrigue us today.

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[61]https://intothewonder.wordpress.com/2017/05/01/wondrous-tribes-blem
myes/

[62]https://www.ancient-origins.net/myths-legends-africa/blemmyes-headl
ess-men-ancient-and-medieval-mythology-003082

[63]http://patagoniamonsters.blogspot.com/2012/03/sir-wlater-raleighs-b
lemyes.html

[64]The Blemmyes: Headless Men Of Africa

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[65]http://theunexplainedmysteries.com/2020/01/29/blemmyes-headless-men
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April 22, 2020

[69]Mythical Creatures

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