Not all fantastic creatures live only in fairy tales. Ancient scholars have repeatedly described such strange tribes that the stories are hard to believe. People without heads, satyrs, psoglavtsy - before you really strange creatures that may have existed in reality.
Blemmi
The Greek historian Herodotus was sure that tribes of headless people lived in Libya in the 5th century BC. Their mouths, eyes and noses were supposedly located directly on the chest. 400 years later, the Roman philosopher Pliny the Elder also told the public about them. The English explorer Anatol Ferms assured that he personally met representatives of the Blemmi tribe in Ethiopia. Surprisingly, in the 17th century, similar evidence emerged from Sir Walter Riley, a renowned and respected scholar.
Calistria
Stories about psoglavtsy are generally quite common. The ancient Greek traveler Ctesias claimed that he met the Calistrian tribe in the mountains of India. 200 years later, they were met by another Greek named Megasthenes (and in the same place). During the Tang Dynasty, stories about the Psoglawites were also common, although here they were called Supans. And, finally, the most amazing thing in this series is a message from Marco Polo, who seems to have met the Calistria on the island of Angman.
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Fusan
In 500 BC, the Chinese missionary Hei Shen arrived at the emperor's court with a story about the unprecedented kingdom of Fusan, inhabited only by women. It is possible that they were talking about the Amazons.
Arimaspi
Arimaspes, one-eyed people, according to some historians became the prototype of the mythical Cyclops. Moreover, most likely there was nothing fantastic in this nationality in principle. The name “Zoroastrians” was simply distorted in the course of retelling and transformed into a Greek word that can be translated as “one-eyed”.
Makilhee
This is a very real nationality that once inhabited the northern part of Ethiopia. The ancient Greeks, and then the Romans, for some reason were sure that all Makilhi were hermaphrodites. Aristotle, for example, argued that the Makilchs have one female breast on the right side of the body. He was later echoed by the Roman writer Kallifanes, who even insisted that the Makilhi "unite two sexes in one." Modern historians do not find any evidence for this amazing evidence.
Astomoi
According to the Greek travelers, the whole world in ancient times was inhabited by extremely strange tribes. The traveler Megasthenes, for example, vividly described the tribe of Astomoi that he met, who did not have mouths and fed on smells. Surprisingly, similar testimonies about a strange tribe are found in a much later period of the Middle Ages: John Mandeville assured that the Astomoi's face had only eyes and a small hole through which they suck food.
Satyrs
Roman and Greek writers were piously convinced of the existence of satyrs - semi-humans with goat legs. Herodotus insisted that he personally knew one such. Pliny the Elder briefly mentions that satyrs live in Ethiopia, Plutarch says that his student saw a satyr in the territory of modern Albania. Of course, no half-goats can exist in nature. It is likely that the ancient philosophers are talking about some kind of barbarian tribe, whose members wore trousers with fur outside.
