The Macrocephali (Ancient Greek: Μακροκέφαλοι; "long-headed people") were ancient tribes of Africans or Indians who performed artificial cranial deformation.[1][2]
Pliny the Elder, Pomponius Mela, and Scylax all mention a people by this name living northeast of the region of Pontus. While the writer of the Periplus of the Euxine Sea identifies the Macrocephali with the Macrones, but Pliny clearly considers them separate groups.[3]
Their cultural practice of artificially shaping the skulls of their children was mentioned by Hesiod, Hippocrates,[4][5]Pomponius Mela, Pliny the Elder, Valerius Flaccus, Xenophon, Strabo, and Eustathius.
Strabo mention that the Siginni (Σίγιννοι), a barbaric tribe living near the Caucasus Mountains, deliberately altered the shape of their heads to make them appear longer.[3]
References
edit- ^ "Macrocephali". Theoi Greek Mythology. Retrieved 2008-12-28.
- ^ Museum of Foreign Literature, Science and Arts. E. Littell. 1842. p. 612.
- ^ a b Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), Macrocephali
- ^ Hippocrates of Cos (1923) [ca. 400 BC] Airs, Waters, and Places, Part 14, e.g., Loeb Classic Library Vol. 147, pp. 110-111 (W. H. S. Jones, transl., DOI: 10.4159/DLCL.hippocrates_cos-airs_waters_places.1923, see [1]. Alternatively, the Adams 1849 and subsequent English editions (e.g., 1891), The Genuine Works of Hippocrates (Francis Adams, transl.), New York, NY, USA: William Wood, at the [MIT] Internet Classics Archive (Daniel C. Stevenson, compiler), see [2]. Alternatively, the Clifton 1752 English editions, "Hippocrates Upon Air, Water, and Situation; Upon Epidemical Diseases; and Upon Prognosticks, In Acute Cases especially. To which is added…" Second edition, pp. 22-23 (Francis Clifton, transl.), London, GBR: John Whiston and Benj. White; and Lockyer Davis, see [3]. All web versions accessed 1 August 2015.
- ^ Hippocrates, De aere aquis et locis, Charles Darwin Adams, Ed., 14