The Anthropophage are a type of monstrous humanoid found in Greek mythology and folklore, while the name lives on in infamy as another term for "cannibal" the actual folkloric monster is surprisingly less known and depictions are lacking in many media outside their native folklore.
History[]
The Anthropophage are a monstrous tribe of cannibals described in Greek folklore who, while largely humanoid in appearance, were considered aberrations who lived in a state of savagery with no law beyond that of violence.
Anthropophage were greatly feared due to their ravenous hunger for human flesh as well as barbaric rituals such as drinking blood out of the skulls of victims. In later tales, they would become less human in appearance and began to become confused with other monsters from myth such as the Blemmyes.
In modern times the word Anthropophage is often used to describe cannibals as a whole and the myth of the Anthropophage likely arose from encounters with warlike tribes or civilizations that became the stuff of legends as time went by, much as ogres in medieval Europe were also largely a symbolism for the taboos of cannibalism and fears of the unknown.
See Also:
Anthropophagist Monster ; a larger group of monsters that are linked by cannibalistic tendencies, of which the Anthropophage is among the most infamous.