Panotti

Like the Sciapods, the Panotti solve some of the essential problems of everyday life through the absurdity of their bodies. Pliny tells us that ‘islands [which he locates somewhere around the Black Sea] are also mentioned as those of the Panotii, the people of which have ears of such extraordinary size as to cover the rest of the body, which is otherwise left naked’ (Natural History). Their huge, Bassett Hound-esque ears make superb blankets to keep them warm on chilly evenings in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, and thus they are a counterpart to the desert-dwelling, sun-dodging Sciapods.

Incredibly, belief in Panotti has cognates in Chinese and Papua New Guinean traditions. For one reason or another, the Panotti’s homeland was relocated in medieval and Early Modern maps to Southern Asia (perhaps they just emigrated). On Henricus Matellus’s world map of 1491 produced in Florence – so detailed that it is believed to have been used by Christopher Columbus – recently uncovered text describes the Asian Panotti using their ears like sleeping bags, so it seems their method of keeping warm had altered with their change of address. Later accounts also state that the shy Panotti use their ears like wings.

Panotti are fairly common as decoration on medieval churches and cathedrals, which suggests their function as monsters on both maps and ecclesiastical architecture is simply to signify the profane things that live away from the known, Christian world. Their nudity (ears notwithstanding) and shyness suggest they may serve as an example of despairing sinners who incorrectly believe that they cannot be saved. Alternatively, they could just make up part of God’s Word as expressed through the language of the natural world: Adam and Eve, having eaten the forbidden fruit, after all fled from God, ashamed of their nakedness.