The Monstrous Race - Sciapodae by @aleilam (Aleister Lam)

When you first heard of the phrase, 'able to leap tall building in a single bounce' you'll probably think of Superman but I realised that in medieval times, this phrase is most suited to a race at the far corners of the world with this ability to leap at a long distance and would probably be as fast as a locomotive if it were to exist then, with just one foot. This strange race is known as the Sciapodae.

Ctesias, the Greek historian described a monstrous race of men with only one foot, they are called Sciapodae which is Greek gord that means making a shadow with his foot. The Sciapodae lived right at the edge of India where the weather is very hot and the mid-day sun would scorched the earth; causing it to be as hot as a frying pan which is unbearable for humans to walk on. The Sciapodae have a thick and seasoned layer of protective skin at the base of their feet which enable them to leap around the heated ground without any footware needed. When relaxing, these Sciapods would lay on their backs and hold their foot above themselves acting as parasols shielding their body from the intense heat of the sun.

The Sciapodae is the first of the series of pictures which I did on the monstrous race that probably existed in the far East along time ago, because many famous scholars and travellers from Pliny to Marco Polo mentioned their existence and even pin-point where they might be located in medieval maps like the Hereford Mappamundi. Artwork © Copyright 2002 Aleister Lam