The Weird Mythological Creatures of Medieval Art

Hochelaga offers a handy visual and audio field guide to some of the weirdest zoological creatures of medieval art, many of which are completely mythical. This includes griffin claws, basilisks, unicorn horns, barnacled geese, sea monsters, dog-headed Cynocephaly (due to a misunderstanding of the word Canaan), the horribly inaccurate portrayals of Blemmyes, and other grotesque animal combinations.

Medieval zoology is bizarre. Mostly because half of the creatures don’t even exist. And those that do look very, very strange!…we’ll be exploring some of the weirdest and wildest mythical beasts and legendary creatures of the European Middle Ages. From basilisks to blemmyes, and everywhere in between. It’s a world where biology and mythology blend together.