Wonders of the East

That colony is five hundred of the smaller miles, which are called stadia, and three hundred
and sixty-eight of the greater, which are called leagues, away from Antimolima. On that
island there is a great host of sheep. And it is a hundred and sixty eight of the lesser miles,
stadia, and a hundred an fifteen of the greater miles, called leagues, from there to
Babylonia.

That colony is full of merchants. There sheep are born as big as oxen and they live there up
to the city of the Medes. The name of that city is Archemedon, and it is the greatest city
next to Babylonia. To there from Archemedon it is in the lesser miles, stadia, three hundred
and in the greater, called leagues, two hundred.

There are the great wonders, the works that the great Macedonian Alexander ordered to be
built. That land is two hundred of the lesser miles, stadia, and of the greater, called leagues,
one hundred and thirty and a half miles in length and in breadth. There is a certain place, as
one travels towards the Red Sea, which is called Lentibelsinea, where hens like our own red
hens are born. If any person wishes to take hold of them or ever touches them, they at once
burn up all of his body. Those are inconceivable witchcrafts.

Wild beasts are also born there. When they hear the voice of a person, the beasts flee far.
Those beasts have eight feet and the eyes of Valkyries and two heads. If any person wishes
to seize them, they set fire to their bodies. They are inconceivable beasts.

This place has serpents. The serpents have two heads and eyes that shine at night as
brightly as lanterns. In a certain land, in the greatest wilderness in the southern half of
Babylonia, asses are born which have horns as big as oxen’s. they live next to the Red Sea
because in those places there is a multitude of serpents called Corsias. They have horns as
big as rams’. If they strike any person or ever touch him, he dies at once.

There is an abundance of pepper in those lands. The serpents zealously guard that pepper.
One takes the pepper by lighting that place on fire: the snakes then flee down into the
earth. Because of that the pepper is black. It is eight hundred of the lesser miles, which are
called stadia, and six hundred and twenty-three and a half of the greater miles, which are
called leagues, from Babylonia to the city of Persia, where the pepper grows. That place is
barren because of the multitude of serpents.

And there half-hounds, which are called Conopenas, are also born. They have horses’ manes
and boars’ tusks and dogs’ heads, and their breath is like fire. These lands are near the cities
that are filled with all worldly wealth; that is in the south half of the Egyptian land.

In a certain place people are born who are six feet tall. They have broad beards down to
their knees and hair to their heels. They are called Homodubii, that is, “doubtful people”,
and they live on raw fish, which they eat.

In that same place, which is called Gorgoneus, that is, Valkyrie, the river is called Capi. There
ants as big as dogs are born. They have [feet] like grasshoppers’. They are red and black. The

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ants dig gold up from the earth from before night until the fifth hour of the day. People who
are bold enough to take that gold lead with them camel mares with their foals and stallion.
They tie up the foals before they travel over the river. They load the gold on the mares and
seat themselves, and they leave the stallion there. When the ants find them, while the ants
are busy with the stallion, the people with the mares and with the gold travel over the river.
They travel over the river so quickly that people imagine that they are flying.

Between these two rivers is a settlement called Locotheo, set between the Nile and the
Bryxontes. The Nile is the chief of full rivers, and it flows from the land of the Egyptians.
They call that river Archoboleta, that is, “great water”. In these [places] a great multitude of
camels is born.

There people are born who are fifteen feet tall, and they have white bodies and two noses
on one head, very red feet and knees, long noses and dark hair. When they wish to
reproduce, they travel on ships to India, and there they bring their progeny into the world.

That land is called Ciconia, in Gallia. There people are born in three colors: their heads are
maned like lions’ heads and they are twenty feet tall and they have a great mouth like a fan.
If they perceive or see any person in those lands or if any person is following them, they flee
far, and they sweat blood. These are imagined/transformed people.

Beyond the river Brixontes, east from there, big and tall people are born. They have feet and
legs twelve feet long, and sides with breasts seven feet long. They are called Hostes. 1
Certainly, any person they catch, they eat.

Then there are wild beasts which are called Lertices. They have ass’s ears and sheep’s wool
and bird’s feet. Then there are other islands south from the Brixontes on which exist
[people] without heads. They have their eyes and mouth on their breasts. They are eight
feet tall and eight feet broad. There [dragons] are born. They are a hundred and fifty feet
long. They are as massive as great stone pillars. Because of the abundance of dragons, no
person can easily travel in that land. In the lesser miles, called stadia, three hundred and
twenty-three and in the greater, called leagues, two hundred and fifty-three, plus one, from
this place, there is another kingdom in the south half of the sea. There Homodubii is born,
which are [doubtful people]. They have human shapes up to the navel and below that they
are like an ass, and they have long legs like birds and gentle voices. If they perceive or see
any person in those lands, they flee far.

Then there is another place in which there are barbarous people, and they have kings under
[them], of whom it is reckoned there are one hundred. Those are the worst people and the
most barbarous. And there are two lakes. One is the lake of the sun, and the other of the
moon. The lake of the sun is hot by day and cold by night, and the lake of the moon is hot by
night and cold by day. They are two hundred of the lesser miles, stadia, and one hundred
thirty two and a half of the greater, called leagues, broad.

1
From Latin hostes, literally meaning “enemies”.

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In this place there are trees that are similar to laurel and to olive trees. From those trees,
balsam, the most precious oil, is produced. That place is a hundred and fifty-one of the
lesser miles, called stadia, and fifty-two of the greater, which are called leagues.

Then there is a certain island in the Red Sea where there is a race of people that is, among
us, called Donestre. They are grown like soothsayers from the head to the navel, and the
other part is like a human, and they know human speech. When they see a person of foreign
race they call out to him and his kinsmen the names of familiar men and with false words
they seduce him and seize him and after that they eat him, all except the head. And then
they sit and weep over that head.

Then east from there people are born that are fifteen feet tall and ten feet broad. They have
a great head and ears like fans. They spread one ear over themselves at night, and they
cover themselves with the other. there ears are very light, and their bodies are white as
milk. If they see or perceive anyone in that land, they take their ears in their hands and flee
so quickly that one might imagine they were flying.

Then there is a certain island on which people are born whose eyes shine as brightly as if
one lit up a great lamp in the dark night. Then there is a certain island that is in length and in
breadth three hundred and sixty of the lesser miles, called stadia, and a hundred and ten of
the greater, called leagues. There, in the days of Beles and Job, a temple was built from iron
works and pressed glass. And in that same place, at the rising of the sun, is the place of
Quietus, the most gentle bishop, who would taste no other food but sea oysters and who
lived on them.

Then, at the rising, there is a golden vineyard which has hundred and fifty-foot berries. From
those berries precious gems are produced.

Then there is another kingdom in the lands of Babylon. There is the greatest mountain
between the mountains of the Medes and Armenia. [There are proper men who have] the
Red Sea as a kingdom and dominion. There Sarogi are produced.2

Around this place women are born who have beards down to their breasts, and they put on
horse hides as clothing. They are called very great huntresses, and instead they raise tigers
and lions and lynxes that are the boldest beasts. And they hunt for all kinds of wild beasts
that are born on that mountain with their… Then there are other women who have boar’s
tusks and hair to their heels and ox’s tails on their loins. These women are thirteen feet tall,
and their bodies are the color of marble, and they have camel’s feet and ass’s teeth.
Because of their greatness, they were killed by the great Macedonian, Alexander. He killed
them when he could not capture them alive, because their bodies are shameless and
contemptible.

By the sea there is a species of wild beasts that are called Catinos. There are very beautiful
beasts, and there are men who live on raw flesh and honey.

2
MK 69 n.60: “Although we have attempted to present a translation that follows the test of Vitellius closely,
here we supply the phrase in square brackets suggested by Tiberius. Orchard, Pride and Prodigies, 198,
suggests that ‘sarogi’ may be expanded to ‘sarogimmas’ [precious gems].”

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In the left part of the kingdom where the Catinos are, there are hospitable men, kings who
have many tyrants under them. From there, from the left-most side, there are many kings.

This race of men lives many years, and they are generous men. If anyone comes to visit
them, they give him a woman before they let him go. The Macedonian Alexander, when he
came to them, wondered at their humanness. He did not wish to kill them or do them any
harm.

Then there is a kind of tree on which the most precious stones are produced and on which
they grow. There the race of people is of a dark color. One calls them Sigelwara.3

Sources:
Mittman, Asa Simon, and Susan M. Kim, Inconceivable Beasts: the Wonders of the East in the
Beowulf Manuscript (Tempe, AZ: Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies,
2013), pp. 57-72.

Manuscript source: Cotton Vitellius A. xv, fols. 98v-106v.

3
Sigelwara probably literally means “sun-dwellers”. It is frequently used in Old English to translate the Latin
Aethiopes