PANOTIOI

Greek Name Πανωτιος Πανωτιοι Transliteration Panôtios, Panôtioi Latin Spelling Panotius, Panotii Translation All-Ears (pan, ous, ôtos)

Panotus from the Nuremburg Chronicle (1493)

THE PANOTIOI (Panotii) were a tribe giant-eared men native to the cold islands of the far north who slept snuggled up inside the flaps of their gigantic ears. According to some they also used these wing-like appendages to fly.

Another tribe of giant-eared men were the similarly named Pandai of India.

CLASSICAL LITERATURE QUOTES

Pliny the Elder, Natural History 4. 94 (trans. Rackham) (Roman encyclopedia C1st A.D.) :

"Crossing the Ripaean Mountains [probably the Carpathians in central Europe] must coast to the left along the shore of the northern ocean until we reach Gadis. In this direction a number of islands are reported to exist [perhaps in the Baltic Sea] . . . [and] the Hippopodes on which people are born with horses' feet, which gives them their Greek name; there are others called the Panotiorum (All-Ears Islands) in which the natives have very large ears covering the whole of their bodies, which are otherwise left naked."

SOURCES

ROMAN

Pliny the Elder, Natural History - Latin Encyclopedia C1st A.D.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

A complete bibliography of the translations quoted on this page.