Keywords: Konrad von Megenberg (or Conrad von Megenberg) Monstrous races in art, Plinian races, India, Das Buch der Natur That all races, ethnicities, man and woman belong to the same species sounds like a truism. However, this idea of human universalism was a point of contention during the sixteenth century. The discussion surrounding non-European foreigners… Continue reading The Monstrous Races of Konrad von Megenberg’s Das Buch der Natur
Keywords: Human-animal hybrids, Monstrous Races, Monstrous Births, Wild Man, Werewolves Representations of human-animal hybrids and the concept of shape-shifting in both literary sources and the visual arts captured the early modern European imagination. This is particularly evident in the prevalence of pictorial prints featuring these creatures dated in the late fifteenth and sixteenth centuries that… Continue reading Representations of Monsters in German Renaissance Prints
Keywords: Monstrous Races, Cynocephali, Muslims, Jews, Stereotypes The earliest sources of monstrous races, including the dog-headed cynocephali, derived from Greek geographers such as Megasthenes (c.350-290 B.C.), who travelled to India and reportedly witnessed monstrous races firsthand (Williams, 1996, p. 13). The Greek explorer and ethnographer was sent as an ambassador to the court of Sandracottus… Continue reading Cynocephali – The Dog-Headed Race: A Brief Introduction
Dana K Rehn 