Liber Monstrorum

From the anonymous 8th-century Liber Monstrorum , we learn about the following:

Astomori: “The accounts of the Greeks say that there are also men devoid of a mouth, unlike all the others, and thus they allegedly cannot eat anything: according to the sources, moreover, they stay alive only by breathing through their nostrils.”

Cynocephali: “In India there live the Cynocephali, dog-headed creatures that cannot say a single word without breaking off to bark, thus mixing baying and discourse. And, in eating raw flesh, the do not imitate men, but animals.”

Sciapods: “Mention is also made of a race of men known by the Greeks are Sciapods, since they shelter from the blazing sunshine by lying down supine in the shadow of their own feet. They are truly very fase and have only one foot and one leg: the knee, rigid at the joint, can in no wise be flexed.”