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Greek Mythology >> Bestiary >> Legendary Tribes >> Hippopodes

HIPPOPODES

Greek Name

Ἱπποπους Ἱπποοποδες

Transliteration

Hippopous, Hippopodes

Latin Spelling

Hippopus, Hippopodes

Translation

Horse-Footed

Hippopod from the Nuremburg Chronicle (1493)
Hippopod from the Nuremburg Chronicle (1493)

THE HIPPOPODES were a tribe of horse-footed men who lived on the cold islands beyond Skythia in the far north. Their name means "Horse-Footed" from the Greek words hippos and pous.


CLASSICAL LITERATURE QUOTES

Pliny the Elder, Natural History 4. 94 (trans. Rackham) (Roman encyclopedia C1st A.D.) :
"Crossing the Ripaean Mountains [probably the Carpathians in central Europe] must coast to the left along the shore of the northern ocean until we reach Gadis. In this direction a number of islands are reported to exist [perhaps in the Baltic Sea] . . . [and] the Hippopodes on which people are born with horses' feet, which gives them their Greek name."


SOURCES

ROMAN

BIBLIOGRAPHY

A complete bibliography of the translations quoted on this page.