Monopods (also called sciapods, skiapods, skiapodes) were mythological dwarf-like creatures with a single, large foot extending from a leg centred in the middle of their bodies. The names ''monopod'' and ''skiapod'' (σκιάποδες) are both

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

, respectively meaning "one-foot" and "shadow-foot".

Ancient Greek and Roman literature

Monopods appear in

Aristophanes Aristophanes (; ; ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek Ancient Greek comedy, comic playwright from Classical Athens, Athens. He wrote in total forty plays, of which eleven survive virtually complete today. The majority of his surviving play ...

' play '' The Birds'', first performed in 414 BC. They are described by

Pliny the Elder Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/24 79), known in English as Pliny the Elder ( ), was a Roman Empire, Roman author, Natural history, naturalist, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the Roman emperor, emperor Vesp ...

in his ''

Natural History Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

'', where he reports travelers' stories from encounters or sightings of Monopods in India. Pliny remarks that they are first mentioned by

Ctesias Ctesias ( ; ; ), also known as Ctesias of Cnidus, was a Greek physician and historian from the town of Cnidus in Caria, then part of the Achaemenid Empire. Historical events Ctesias, who lived in the fifth century BC, was physician to the Acha ...

in his book ''

Indika Indika may refer to: * An alternate name of Megasthenes' Indica, Megasthenes' ''Indica'' * Indika (video game), an adventure video game developed by Odd-Meter People * Indika Anuruddha, Sri Lankan politician * Indika Bandaranayake (b. 1972), Sri L ...

'' (India), a record of the view of Persians of India which only remains in fragments. Pliny describes Monopods like this:

Philostratus Philostratus or Lucius Flavius Philostratus (; ; 170s – 240s AD), called "the Athenian", was a Greek sophist of the Roman imperial period. His father was a minor sophist of the same name. He flourished during the reign of Septimius Severus ...

mentions Skiapodes in his ''

Life of Apollonius of Tyana ''Life of Apollonius of Tyana'' (), also known by its Latin title , is a text in eight books written in Ancient Greece by Philostratus (c. AD 170 – c. AD 245). It tells the story of Apollonius of Tyana (c. AD 15 – c. AD 100), a Pythagorean ph ...

'', which was cited by

Eusebius Eusebius of Caesarea (30 May AD 339), also known as Eusebius Pamphilius, was a historian of Christianity, exegete, and Christian polemicist from the Roman province of Syria Palaestina. In about AD 314 he became the bishop of Caesarea Maritima. ...

in his ''Treatise Against Hierocles''.

Apollonius of Tyana Apollonius of Tyana (; ; ) was a Greek philosopher and religious leader from the town of Tyana, Cappadocia in Roman Anatolia, who spent his life travelling and teaching in the Middle East, North Africa and India. He is a central figure in Ne ...

believes the Skiapodes live in India and Ethiopia, and asks the Indian sage Iarkhas about their existence. St. Augustine (354–430) mentions the "Skiopodes" in ''The City of God'', Book 16, Chapter 8 entitled "Whether Certain Monstrous Races of Men Are Derived From the Stock of Adam or Noah's Sons", and mentions that it is uncertain whether such creatures exist.

Medieval literature

Reference to the legend continued into the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

, for example with

Isidore of Seville Isidore of Seville (; 4 April 636) was a Spania, Hispano-Roman scholar, theologian and Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Seville, archbishop of Seville. He is widely regarded, in the words of the 19th-century historian Charles Forbes René de Montal ...

in his ''Etymologiae'', where he writes: The

Hereford Mappa Mundi The Hereford Mappa Mundi (, map of the world) is the largest medieval map still known to exist, depicting the known world. It is a religious rather than literal depiction, featuring heaven, hell and the path to salvation. Dating from AD, the m ...

, drawn c. 1300, shows a sciapod on one side of the world, as does a world map drawn by Beatus of Liébana (c. 730 – c. 800).

Einfœtingr of Canada

A race of the "One-Legged", or the "Uniped" () was allegedly encountered by Thorfinn Karlsefni and his group of Icelandic settlers in North America in the early 11th century, according to ''

Eiríks saga rauða The ''Saga of Erik the Red'', in (), is an Icelandic saga on the Norse exploration of North America. The original saga is thought to have been written in the 13th century. It is preserved in somewhat different versions in two manuscripts: ''H ...

'' (''Saga of

Erik the Red Erik Thorvaldsson (), known as Erik the Red, was a Norse explorer, described in medieval and Icelandic saga sources as having founded the first European settlement in Greenland. Erik most likely earned the epithet "the Red" due to the color o ...

''). The presence of "''unipedes maritimi''" in Greenland was marked on

Claudius Clavus Claudius Clavus (Suartho) also known as ''Nicholas Niger'', (), (born 14 September 1388), was a Danish geographer sometimes considered to be the first Nordic cartographer. It is believed that he was born in the village of Salling on the Dani ...

's map dated 1427. According to the saga, Karlsefni

Thorvald Eiriksson Thorvald Eiriksson ( ; Modern Icelandic: ) was the son of Erik the Red and brother of Leif Erikson. The only Medieval Period source material available regarding Thorvald Eiriksson are the two '' Vinland sagas''; the '' Greenland Saga'' and the ...

and others assembled a search party for Thorhall, and sailed around Kjalarnes and then south. After sailing for a long time, while moored on the south side of a west-flowing river, they were shot at by a one-footed man (''einfœtingr''), and Thorvald died from an arrow wound. The saga goes on to relate that the party went northward and approached what they guessed to be Einfœtingaland ("Land of the One-Legged" or "Country of the Unipeds").

Origin

According to

Carl A. P. Ruck Carl Anton Paul Ruck (born December 8, 1935, Bridgeport, Connecticut) is a professor in the Classical Studies department at Boston University. He received his B.A. at Yale University, his M.A. at the University of Michigan, and a Ph.D. at Harvar ...

, the Monopods' cited existence in India refers to the

Vedic upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the '' Atharvaveda''. The Vedas ( or ; ), sometimes collectively called the Veda, are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed ...

Aja Ekapad ("Not-born Single-foot"), an epithet for Soma. Since Soma is a botanical deity the single foot would represent the stem of an

entheogen Entheogens are psychoactive substances used in spiritual and religious contexts to induce altered states of consciousness. Hallucinogens such as the psilocybin found in so-called "magic" mushrooms have been used in sacred contexts since ancie ...

ic plant or fungus.

John of Marignolli Giovanni de' Marignolli (;. ), variously anglicized as John of Marignolli or John of Florence, was a notable 14th-century Catholic European traveller to medieval China and India. Life Early life Giovanni was born, probably before 1290, to the ...

(1338–1353) provides another explanation of these creatures. Quote from his travels from India:

Fiction

''Chronicles of Narnia''

C. S. Lewis Clive Staples Lewis (29 November 1898 – 22 November 1963) was a British writer, literary scholar and Anglican lay theologian. He held academic positions in English literature at both Magdalen College, Oxford (1925–1954), and Magdalen ...

features monopods in the book ''

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader ''The Voyage of the Dawn Treader'' is a portal fantasy novel written by British author C. S. Lewis, published by Geoffrey Bles in 1952. It was the third published of seven novels in ''The Chronicles of Narnia'' (1950–1956). Macmillan US p ...

'', a part of his children's series ''

The Chronicles of Narnia ''The Chronicles of Narnia'' is a series of seven portal fantasy novels by British author C. S. Lewis. Illustrated by Pauline Baynes and originally published between 1950 and 1956, the series is set in the fictional realm of Narnia (wor ...

''. In the story, a tribe of foolish dwarves known as Duffers inhabit a small island near the edge of the Narnian world along with a magician named

Coriakin Coriakin is a fictional character in C. S. Lewis's '' Chronicles of Narnia''. He appears in '' The Voyage of the Dawn Treader''. Fictional character biography Coriakin was originally a star, who, as reparation for past misdeeds was charged by A ...

, who has transformed them into monopods as a punishment. They have become so unhappy with their appearance that they have made themselves invisible. They are (re)discovered by explorers from the Narnian ship, the ''

Dawn Treader ''The Voyage of the Dawn Treader'' is a portal fantasy novel written by British author C. S. Lewis, published by Geoffrey Bles in 1952. It was the third published of seven novels in ''The Chronicles of Narnia'' (1950–1956). Macmillan US p ...

'', which has landed on the island to rest and resupply, and at their request

Lucy Pevensie Lucy Pevensie is a fictional character in C. S. Lewis's ''The Chronicles of Narnia'' series. She is the youngest of the four Pevensie children and the first to find the Wardrobe entrance to The Chronicles of Narnia, Narnia in ''The Lion, the Witc ...

makes them visible again. Through confusion between their old name, "Duffers", and their new name of "Monopods", they become known as the "Dufflepuds". According to Brian Sibley's book ''The Land of Narnia'', Lewis may have based their appearance on drawings from the ''

''.

''Baudolino''

Umberto Eco Umberto Eco (5 January 1932 – 19 February 2016) was an Italian Medieval studies, medievalist, philosopher, Semiotics, semiotician, novelist, cultural critic, and political and social commentator. In English, he is best known for his popular ...

in his novel ''

Baudolino ''Baudolino'' is a 2000 in literature, 2000 novel by Umberto Eco about the adventures of a man named Baudolino in the known and mythical Christianity, Christian world of the 12th century. ''Baudolino'' was translated into English in 2001 by Wil ...

'' describes a sciapod named Gavagai. The name of the creature "Gavagai" is a reference to Quine's example of

indeterminacy of translation The indeterminacy of translation is a thesis propounded by 20th-century American analytic philosopher W. V. Quine. The classic statement of this thesis can be found in his 1960 book ''Word and Object'', which gathered together and refined much of Q ...

''The Name of the Rose''

's novel ''

The Name of the Rose ''The Name of the Rose'' ( ) is the 1980 debut novel by Italian author Umberto Eco. It is a historical fiction, historical murder mystery set in an Italian monastery in the year 1327, and an intellectual mystery combining semiotics in fiction, ...

'', the abbey's chapter house is decorated with carvings of "the inhabitants of unknown worlds," including "sciopods, who run swiftly on their single leg and when they want to take shelter from the sun stretch out and hold up their great foot like an umbrella."

Explanatory notes

References

;Citations

External links

{{Commons category, Sciapod * http://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/monster_list.html * http://www.henry-davis.com/MAPS/EMwebpages/207.1mono.html * http://www.westgallerychurches.com/Suffolk/indexsflk.html * https://web.archive.org/web/20061205213734/http://www.kunst.no/mono/panot/utgivelser.htm Mythic humanoids Fantasy creatures Greek legendary creatures Medieval European legendary creatures Mythological peoples Legendary tribes in classical historiography Legendary creatures with absent body parts Indian characters in Greek mythology Ethiopian characters in Greek mythology