Lost Cryptids from the Roman Empire

The Roman Empire is one of the most influential civilizations to ever exist, influencing our governments, customs, and way of life centuries after its collapse. Given just how much land the empire controlled over the years, with its borders constantly shifting, Roman citizens would witness a Europe rich with marvelous creatures, some that have either gone extinct in the region or unfortunately had gone extinct as a species. But as Romans had their knowledge of animals, some of them are not like any animals that we know of today, cryptids from an old world. Welcome to Cryptid Corner, the series All Things Cryptids and today we are going to look into cryptids from ancient Rome. Before we start this video, this is focused on cryptids, animals that are thought to exist but are not recognized by science and not mythical creatures per se like dragons and unicorns, although some of these entries are going to blur the lines between reality and fantasy. Our first mystery creatures from the ancient world are shown on a complex mosaic known as the Nile Mosaic of Palestrina. The mosaic was originally displayed in a grotto in the town of Palestrina in Italy and is thought to have been created around the year 100 BC. As its name suggests, this piece depicts a voyage up the river Nile, going through Egyptian territories and ending as Ethiopian hunters can be seen as the Nile fades out of view. The mosaic is quite large, standing 14 feet tall and 19 feet wide, giving room for great detail in the piece, showing scenes of different peoples and labeled animals who lived along the Nile. Animals such as hippos, crocodiles, birds, dogs, lions, camels, snakes, and even a rhino can be spotted, but as you look closer at the creatures of Upper Egypt, they begin to become unfamiliar. One of the oddest of these creatures is known as Zyphus, a creature with a bovine-like body but a crocodilian head with a long snout full of sharp teeth. Oddly, this inscription ascribed to the animal is gibberish, likely being part of a longer inscription that was either unfinished or faded away over time. One may assume that this creature could have been a poor depiction of a rhino or a hippo, but both animals can be found on this mosaic in fine detail. Another Nile art piece, however, this time found in the house of the physician in Pompeii depicts a bizarre scene showing pygmies hunting odd creatures, along with one standing atop a creature similar to Zyphus in appearance as it is eating a fellow hunter. Many theories have popped up over the identity of Zyphus, some believing it to be the sarcophagus taurus or the carnivorous buffalo, an odd beast described from the Greek historian Agapharcones of Cnidus after his journey to Ethiopia. Zyphus also resembles Ahmet, an Egyptian goddess with the head of a crocodile, the forelimbs of a lion, and the hind legs of a hippo, who is tasked with devouring the souls of those unfit for the afterlife. The appearance of Zyphus is also similar to an entelodont, a long extinct family of large pig-like artiodactyls who like modern pigs were omnivorous, but taking into account their sheer size and their dentition, they likely lean towards predation and scavenging quite a bit more. But on the note of pigs, it is more likely that Zyphus was a warthog, possibly even a giant forest hog, who can still be found in Ethiopia today but would have been far more common in the region in the past. And although Zyphus in the mosaic clearly isn't a hippo, I would be far more inclined to believe that the creature in the painting is a hippo given just how off everything else is, like are these crocodiles, lizards, or some sort of Dimetrodon, like what are these things? But if we just look to the bottom right of Zyphus, we will find yet another unusual animal on the mosaic labeled as Curipithecus, a snouted quadrupedal creature. Unlike Zyphus, Curipithecus, which roughly translates to pig, ape, or pig-faced baboon, is a creature that was mentioned outside of the mosaic, as Aristotle would mention the creature when describing the face of a chameleon, although the exact translation is a little bit iffy. With this in mind, it is pretty easy to conclude that this is a depiction of a baboon, albeit a pretty bad one, but the exact species of baboon is up for debate. The peoples of Egypt, Greece, and Rome would be familiar with baboons, specifically the Hamadryas baboon, which would appear in Egyptian artwork and would even be imported into Rome for all of those who want to observe the Mancha in its greatness. Instead, it is thought that Curipithecus was a separate species of baboons that the Romans would be unfamiliar with, such as the Chacma baboon, who better fits the description of the creature, although it might be a bit too far out of Roman territory as they are found in southern Africa. Despite this, sparse yet present trade with the peoples of southern Africa could lead to a Chacma baboon being brought up, either alive or taxidermized or maybe just as a weird pelt. For the last creature that we will examine on this mosaic, which can be found straight up from Curipithecus, is a wolf-like animal known as Krokata. Krokata is described as a canid, resembling a mix of a dog and a wolf, that can be found from India to Ethiopia. And like Curipithecus, it was also mentioned outside of the mosaic. The Greek geographer Strabos would mention Krokata, or as he would call them, Krokuras, describing them as wolf dogs, and more notably, Pliny the Elder, a well-renowned Roman writer, would describe the Krokata as a mix between a lion and a hyena, which let's be real, we all were thinking, oh yeah dude, this thing is obviously a hyena. But unlike many Chimeras, Pliny claims that these creatures are born from Ethiopian lions and that they possess the ability to mimic human speech. Krokata would be recorded throughout Roman and even medieval history, often being mentioned alongside hyenas. Striped hyena would be a type of hyena that Romans would be very familiar with, with a range that spans from Northern Africa into India. Unlike the other mosaic cryptids, this mystery can be solved just by looking at the creature who bears the name Krokuta, the spotted hyena. Spotted hyenas are typically found in Sub-Saharan Africa, just along the edges of the Roman Empire, making them a bit more rare, and unlike the striped hyena, spotted hyenas are known for their infamous laughter, which can be mistaken for human mimicry. Details such as them being born from lionesses and being found in India are simple misconceptions, as Romans would mix up these hyenas quite often, and those familiar with the Pliny the Elder would know that he can spin quite a yarn that Pliny. Though to summarize the cryptids of the Nile Mosaic, Zyphus is a hog, Chiropithecus is a baboon, and Krokata is simply a spotted hyena. Likely looking so absurdly different on this mosaic, it refers to the artist not actually seeing these animals in person and working purely off of description from second hand testimony. It is important to note that the mosaic isn't 100% realistic, as you can find some mythological creatures on here, such as a sphinx over here, which I didn't really cover because, again, I want to focus on the cryptids and not the mythological creatures, but that is definitely worth noting. Of course, I can't get away with doing one of these videos without bringing up an aquatic cryptid, or rather a sea serpent in this case. The Scolopendra is a sea cryptid that is said to inhabit the Mediterranean throughout Greco-Roman history, and generally they are thought of as a centipede-like creature with countless legs, or rather fins, running down its body along with other odd abilities. According to both Aristotle and Pliny the Elder, if a fisherman's hook snags one, the Scolopendra will turn itself inside out until the hook is dislodged, and Aristotle also notes that they kill their prey through contact with their skin similar to a jellyfish. And it seems like many other creatures of the ocean, the size of Scolopendra can vary, as Greek poet Antipater of Sidon told of a man named Hermonix, who came across the corpse of a Scolopendra, estimating it to be about 50 feet long. In another description of Scolopendra from Roman writer Eleon describes them as one of the largest creatures in the ocean, comparable in size to a trireme, large warships which at largest could clock in at about 135 feet long and 20 feet wide. Eleon would also describe their behavior, rising to the surface and breaching with their immense heads as they swam by rowing their thousand legs similar to how many rowers of a trireme would row their ships forward with many oars. And given their size, the Scolopendra were violent, attacking and sinking ships with ease. The Scolopendra is an interesting cryptid, as similar creatures matching their appearance, size, and aggression have been reported across the world, such as the Konzith of Vietnam, the Mukade Kujira of Japan, and the sea serpent that attacked the HMS Narcissus off the coast of Algeria back in 1899. These types of sea serpents are often categorized as many-finned sea serpents or sea centipedes, although not all of them are described as arthropods. There have been several theories behind these creatures, from them being some old remnant from the past like an evolved eurypterid or some sort of plesiosaur, or perhaps even some kind of arthropod that evolved in coastal caves and were unleashed upon the ocean. Personally, I think the Scolopendra is not a single creature, but multiple, a whole colony of organisms to be exact. I believe that the sightings stem from early encounters with mainly Apolemia Iveria, also known as the string jellyfish, which obviously is not a jellyfish, but also according to Wikipedia, the long stringy stingy thing. Despite only being a few inches in diameter, these siphonophores are extremely long, typically growing to 98 feet in length, but some colonies have been found measuring over 390 feet in length, which is just ridiculous to think about. There are several other species of siphonophore that even closer resemble centipedes with their almost hair-like structures, but the reason I landed on the stringy stingy things is, well, they're stringy stingy things, which are venomous and do serve the same purpose as a jellyfish's stingers. The detail of the hooks being released from the creature by them turning inside out could be either the colony being ripped apart by the fishermen, or just the colony detaching, which sadly results in death of half of the organisms. The detail of them destroying ships is likely an old sailor story, which would be rather effective as marine biology wasn't a strong area of knowledge in the Roman world, as large creatures like whales were merely believed to be sea monsters, no different from the serpents of legend. It is also important to mention that these reports given from Aristotle, Pliny, and the rest of them are all from second hand sources, often documenting stories from sailors and people living near the water, not all that different from cryptozoologists of today. He's trying to document some cool thing in the ocean and trying not to get trolled by some random sailor who just wants a good laugh. Our next cryptid takes us to the year of 256 BC, as the first Punic war was raging on. The empires of Rome and Carthage would battle for control over the islands of Sicily, Sardinia, and Corsica, which were strategic locations for both empires, and whoever gained control of them would be established as a powerhouse in the region. At this point, the war had waged on for about 8 years, and Rome had set its eyes on an invasion of Carthaginian North Africa, in an effort to end the conflict swiftly. So, in 256 BC, Roman forces would land on the Cape Bon Peninsula of what is now Tunisia, and one of the generals who led this effort was Marcus Attilus Regulus, who had captured Aspis and Tunis, putting pressure on Carthage, whose capital city was a mere march away. But before Regulus and his men set to cross the Bagrada river, now known as the Medgerda, they would be met with a powerful force, although this force was no army, but instead a massive beast. At their camp that was set up near the river, men would go down to grab some water, but they would not return. This would become a great concern, and as Regulus had took to the water with armed men, they would come face to face with their culprit, a giant serpent measuring 120 feet in length, which would attack the army, devouring men caught in its jaws, and swiping away forces with its powerful tail. Arrows, swords, and spears did little to damage the beast, so Regulus ordered that heavy stones be gathered from demolished walls, and launched at the serpent from Ballistae, which managed to finally do in this great monster. As much as this account sounds like something straight out of the Odyssey, Roman historians treat this story as an actual wartime incident, adding that the skin and even part of the serpent's head was sent back to Rome and displayed with pride. Modern historians, however, are not easily sold that some draconic giant went head to head with thousands of Roman soldiers, with most believing this to be a tall tale made up to maintain morale. You see, following this supposed incident, Regulus would see more success throughout the rest of the year, but in the spring of 255 BC, forces launched from Carthage, aided by Spartan mercenaries, would clash with the Roman forces in the Battle of Bagrada River, which would see Regulus's 15,500-man force reduced to a mere 2,000. And at the end of the battle, Regulus was not among the 2,000, instead captured by Carthage as a prisoner of war, with him dying in starvation in captivity, as his remaining men were forced to pull out of Africa with what little they had left. Given this, the story of the serpent is fought to make for a kind of an excuse as to why Regulus experienced such a humiliating loss. After all, losing doesn't sound so bad when you had beat a whole-ass dragon before having to take on a force with eight times your cavalry and a hundred war elephants in the great kryptonite of Rome's early days. Despite this, Roman historians rarely ever include things such as giant serpents in documenting wars, tending to be more analytical and as realistic as possible, focusing on the logistics. Given this, it is still thought that a large reptile had actually raised concern in the Roman camps at the river, although it was greatly exaggerated. Given Africa has plenty of large reptiles combined with Rome's pretty poor knowledge of Africa's fauna at this point in history, we aren't void of culprits. The Nile crocodile is a pretty easy pick as they are known to reach gargantuan sizes, exceeding lengths of 20 feet and weighing well over a ton. This would also make a lot of sense as to how the soldiers would have a rough time fighting it. Nile crocodiles are not common in Tunisia, although long ago their range was far greater, being found across Tunisia. So with this in mind, an abnormally large man-eating croc would be snatching off-guard soldiers at the base of the camp, and when the men came to investigate, they were cautious to approach it guns blazing with swords hacking and slashing and raining down arrows, so instead they pelted it with large rocks until it died, with this account later being embellished either as a cope to justify the loss, or more likely as just a tall tale. But if you do want to take the serpent interpretation literally, then look no further than the African rock python, which is capable of reaching lengths of over 20 feet and clocking in at over 175 pounds. Rock pythons are not endemic to Tunisia either, which would make it even more odd of an encounter, although I don't really think besting one would be as Herculean as an effort as besting a Nile crocodile. The last of the cryptids that we're going to go over today were spotted by the most famous Roman of all time, Julius Caesar, during his conquest of Gaul, a region of Europe which contained modern France, Belgium, and Luxembourg, along with parts of Switzerland, Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands. The Gallic Wars would show the military genius of Caesar, as in just 8 years he would defeat the Gallic tribes, who could collectively rival Rome, vastly expanding Rome's territory, influence, wealth, and security, while also giving Caesar such wealth and influence that he rivaled the power of the Roman Senate, leading to an end of the Roman Republic and the beginning of the Roman Empire. And it is during Caesar's campaign that he would arrive in the Hercenian forests of what is now Germany, and in Book 6 of the Gallic Wars, he would document three mysterious creatures that call this land home, one of which resembles one of the most famous mythical creatures of them all. The first of these creatures we will look at is the Uri, which is described as an enormous bull that is only slightly smaller than an elephant. According to Caesar, the Uri were well-renowned for their speed, strength, and enormous horns, which young men of Germany would take pride in hunting, with the horns both being shown off as trophies and used as cups. The Alcius is described as a large deer-like animal, although they are devoid of antlers, and also unlike deer, the Alcius are said to lack knees and are unable to lie down or get back up if they fall down. Due to this, they will lean against trees in order to rest. Hunters take advantage of this by partially chopping trees that the Alcius frequent during sleep, making it super easy for them to be farmed as a food source as they'll just fall over along with the tree. The last and most interesting of the animals is simply referred to as the one-horned stag, or more commonly, Caesar's unicorn. The animal is described as having the body of a deer with the head of an ox, with a single horn in the middle of its head. The horn is long and narrow, yet ends in branching patterns like the branches of a palm tree. Also, females of this species are described as equal in appearance to males, including the horn. These creatures are said to inhabit the woodland of Germany, which paint a fascinating picture of this ancient land that would have been alien to even well-traveled Romans of the time. Despite this, all of these animals have plausible explanations, including the unicorn. The Uri is the easiest creature to identify as today they are known as the Uris, or more commonly known, the Aurochs. The Auroch is a giant species of wild cattle that are the ancestor of domesticated cows, possessing huge curved horns and being far larger and bulkier than modern cattle. Today, the Aurochs is sadly extinct, but long ago, they were very widespread, being found across Eurasia and into northern Africa. For all though Romans would have been familiar with the Aurochs of southern Europe, the Aurochs of Germany and Denmark were significantly larger, standing up to 6 feet tall at the shoulder and weighing up to 2,200 pounds, which yeah, at that size you'd only be smaller than elephants. The Alces as well is pretty easy to identify, as in Italian, Alces translates to Elk, although in America we call them Moose, but in Spanish I'm pretty sure just translates to Moose. But at the same time, Caesar mentions features that are not found in Moose, such as a lack of antlers and kneeless legs, along with them leaning against trees to rest. Now, when I described the Alces, most of you probably thought that it just sounded a bit odd, but if you are familiar with fearsome critters, this description almost perfectly matches the Hooghag, who, exactly like Caesar's description, is a kneeless, moose-like animal that has to lean against trees in order to rest, with hunters partially chopping these trees that they frequent in an effort to topple these beasts. The only difference between them and the Hooghag is I think they have backwards feet along with a long upper lip, but looking even further into this, Pliny the Elder describes an animal known as Diatulus, which is literally the same as Caesar's description, but it had the detail of the long upper lip. This blew my mind, leaving me to wonder if lumberjacks in the 1800s had seemingly invented the same creature thousands of years later after Pliny the Elder and Caesar did, or perhaps these lumberjacks, more realistically, brought a copy of the Gallic Wars into the American Old Grove forests, repurposing the mythical beast into a fearsome critter. Addressing the odd details of Caesar's Alces though, the lack of antlers is pretty simple as it could have just meant that the moose shed the antlers or that Caesar had seen the female moose, but the detail of the kneeless legs is quite odd as they do clearly have knees and lie down when they get tired. But this wouldn't be the only animal that Romans referred to as being kneeless as they thought that elephants didn't have knee legs either. Romans also didn't have many interactions with elephants and they would have typically only knew about them through word of mouth and artistic depictions, same as the moose. So given this, it's pretty easy to assume that it's just a moose, but what about this unicorn? The description of the creature possessing an ox-like head doesn't really mean much as the word used, bos, is basically used to describe any cattle from domestic cows to buffalo to yaks and even the aurochs. But given this, it is pretty easy to assume that the creature that Caesar had witnessed was a reindeer. Reindeer are stockier than most deer and have a more cow-like head, and atop their heads they can sport some beautiful branching antlers, similar to the narrow horn that Caesar described. But what about this detail of a single horn? Deer have been found with single antlers, either through it breaking off, damage to the deer's pedicle, or it just being some sort of genetic condition. So it could be possible that he was just observing a reindeer with a single damaged antler from the side. But with that being said, he did make it clear that the horn, or really in this case an antler, came from the middle of the creature's head. Well, some deer actually have been found with a central antler, including the reindeer. Reindeer are also very unique, as unlike other deer species, both males and females grow antlers. And although reindeer are not found in this region today, long ago they were found here, and you know, it is still possible that reindeer could have wandered into this region. So, in conclusion, the Uri was an aurochs, the Alces was a moose, and the Unicorn was simply a reindeer with a horn condition. And the reason that they were described as such different, mainly the Alces and the Unicorn were described as such different, is because Caesar and the rest of the Romans were not familiar with these animals. So they had different interpretations of them and remembered them differently from single encounters. Which really is just kind of the story of this video. Perhaps cryptid encounters in general. And that is going to do it for the cryptids of the Roman Empire. This was such a fun video to research. Of course, you know, we just got done with the spooky season over here on Cryptid Corner. So, I figured, let's start off the longer videos with a pretty cool one. And that's looking into the cryptids of not only an old civilization, not only the cryptids of old, but the Roman Empire. You know, I thought it was really interesting to look into this. And of course, you know, there was a lot of Greek and Latin. So, I was bound to butcher multiple things in this video. So, be ready to correct me on that. Of course, you know, one pretty notable Roman cryptid, Porphyrios, is not here. But I do have a whole video on that if you haven't watched that yet. Definitely do. It's a fun video too. But yeah, this started because I was recommended Zyphus as a cryptid to cover. Then I was like, well, I might as well just cover Roman cryptids in general. That got me thinking. What kind of cryptids, not mythical creatures, but cryptids from Rome are there? How many are there? Because I briefly knew about the Bagrada dragon. So, I put it all together. I was like, okay, this might take a little bit to make. But then I noticed that Zyphus is part of this mosaic. And this mosaic is loaded with stuff. So, I'm like, oh, this is going to be a long video. So, yeah, this is definitely a longer video. I know you all have wanted longer videos. So, I went ahead and cooked this one up. And just judging off of how long the voice files were, yeah, it's going to be a big one. All of you all asking for the long videos, definitely your prayers have been heard. And I'm going to work on more longer videos too. Probably not for the next one. The next two uploads, they're probably just going to be typical cryptid corners. And then I'll start on another long one. That's how I want to pace it out. Because I don't want to only focus on the week-long ones, the ones that takes a week to make. I want to kind of do a long one and then a couple smaller videos. So, it doesn't feel like you all have to go super long without content. Even though it's just a week. A lot of YouTubers go off of a week. But I definitely have a faster rate of production. But what did you think about the Roman cryptids? Did you think that a lot of them were plausible? Do you not like Scolopendra because they're narrow and it's not a big, super cool thing? Let me know down in the comments down below. If I got anything wrong as well, make sure to correct me, historians. Cryptozoological historians. That'd have to be a really interesting field. But again, I'd like to thank you all for watching. If you like this video, leave a like. If you like this content, make sure to subscribe and ring that notification bell so that you are informed on every single upload the second it goes out. And if you really like this content, consider becoming a member. Members get early access to videos, priority recommendations, and a spot here on the member shoutout. And like all of you who made it this far in the video, you are confirmed a real one. But again, thank you for watching. I'll see you in the next one and goodbye. Like Rome, I'm out.