Wild Man, Legendary Creature
The wild man is a mythical hairy woodland being that appears in the artwork and literature of medieval Europe. The medieval wild man concept drew on lore about similar beings from the Classical world such as the Roman faun and Silvanus. On top of mythological influences, medieval wild man lore also drew on the learned writings of ancient historians, though likely to a lesser degree. These ancient wild men were naked, covered in hair, generally lived in some faraway land. The first historian to describe such beings was Herodotus who wrote that they lived in western Libya alongside the men with no heads and with eyes in their chests and dog-faced creatures. Distorted accounts of apes may have contributed to both the ancient and medieval conception of the wild man. Woodcut from The Regal and Ecclesiastical Antiquities of England, new edition, London 1793, and Sports and Pastimes of the People of England, 2nd edition, London 1810
