LIONS AND SATYRS AND DRAGONS, OH MY! – CAR BOOT SALES AND CRYPTOZOOLOGY #2

My Persepolis stone relief replica (Dr Karl Shuker)


I am very fond of modern-day replicas of ancient artwork that are popularly sold as tourist souvenirs at the sites in question (tragically, the multi-million-pound price tags of the originals place them a little outside my available budget right now!), and over the years I've been fortunate enough to acquire several interesting, good-quality examples at various car boot sales and bric-a-brac fairs, and which relate in some manner or other to mystery animals.

My most recent addition, purchased for just 50p (!) at a car boot sale three weeks ago and illustrated at the beginning of this ShukerNature blog post, is a large stone replica of a lion-depicting relief that appears on the left-hand staircase of Darius the Great's Apadana Palace at Persepolis in what is now Iran, and dating from the 6th Century BC - as I and several Facebook friends collectively discovered during some recent FB-mediated detective work (special thanks to Mandy Holloway, Penny Odell, and Kirst d'Raven!).

Specifically, the carving depicts two Elam tribesmen bringing a couple of lions as tributes to King Darius, as lions were sacred animals in the religion of Zoroastrianism that prevailed at Persepolis.

My replica relief and, superimposed, a section of the original version at Persepolis (Dr Karl Shuker and Wikipedia)


Curiously, however, even though the adult lion is evidently a female (she has teats) and the lion being carried is obviously only a cub (as evidenced by its small size), both are portrayed with luxuriant manes. Could this simply a stylistic convention? Yet if so, why are there normal, maneless lionesses depicted on various other Assyrian reliefs, such as the Royal Lion Hunt series from the North Palace at Ninevah (645-635 BC), now held at the British Museum? Alternatively, freak lionesses with manes have occasionally been confirmed both in the wild and in captivity, so such a specimen would not be unknown, though the maned cub remains unexplained.

A few months earlier, and at a separate car boot sale, I invested £4 in the purchase of this very different but equally interesting lion-depicting replica. A paperweight, it consists of a hefty lump of solid rock, one face of which has been sliced across, upon which a lion in mosaic-style has then been carved, after which the face's surface has been carefully smoothed to yield a highly-polished finish.

My unidentified lion paperweight (Dr Karl Shuker)

Although I have definitely seen photos of lions portrayed in a similar (if not identical) style, which may have been of ancient Greek or Roman provenance, I have so far been unable to trace any of them, so at present the identity of the original artwork upon which this modern-day replica is based remains a mystery to me. Consequently, if anyone reading this ShukerNature blog post recognises it, I would greatly welcome any pertinent information.

The same applies to this modern replica of an ancient stone bust of a satyr, which I purchased for £5 from a charity shop in King's Heath, Birmingham, last year. There is a label underneath, written in Greek, which correctly identifies it as a satyr (those half-human, half-goat entities from classical Greek mythology that spent their days liberally imbibing wine and libidinously fraternising with nymphs), and gives the date of the original bust as c.400 BC, but I haven't been able to identify or locate the latter so far. Once again, therefore, any pointers would be very gratefully received!

My Greek satyr bust replica (Dr Karl Shuker)

Yet another unsourced modern-day replica acquired at a car boot sale is this small but attractive wooden tableau depicting St George dispatching his pesky dragon foe. It greatly resembles various early Turkish portrayals of this famous, much-represented scene, but as yet I haven't encountered an exact match for it. So any thoughts or suggestions would indeed be most welcome!

My replica of a early Turkish (?) portrait of St George and the Dragon (Dr Karl Shuker)

THE STRANGE STORY OF THE SINGLE SATYR

Replica of Greek satyr bust from c.400 BC (Dr Karl Shuker)

A few months ago, I spotted in a charity shop the very unusual artefact depicted above at the beginning of this ShukerNature blog post; and after recognising what it was, I lost no time in purchasing it for the princely sum of just £5. It is a replica of a Greek stone bust dating from c.400 BC, which portrays the head of a satyr.

Today, the popular image of a satyr is that of a semi-human semi-goat entity, with hairy goat-legs and hoofed feet, a pair of short curly horns, and a very inconspicuous goat-tail.

'Satyr Among Roses' (Jade Bengco)

In classical Greek mythology, conversely, the satyr was originally represented with the long, profusely-haired tail of a horse, with pointed donkey-like ears rather than horns, a flattened nose, and the legs and feet of a normal human.

Lovers of wine, nymphs, and playing music with their panpipes, satyrs were disciples of a minor demi-god of fertility called Silenus, and, just like him, they were also enthusiastic followers of Dionysus, the Greek god of wine. As Silenus was commonly portrayed as an elderly man of typically inebriated aspect, old satyrs were duly referred to as sileni (young ones were known as satyrisci).

'Drunken Silenus', a 2nd-Century-AD Roman marble statue in the Louvre, Paris (public domain)

During Roman times, however, the image of the satyr became conflated and ultimately synonymised with that of a rustic Roman nature deity called Faunus. He was half-human, half-goat, as were his followers, known as fauns (though originally they were described as half-human, half-deer).

Statue of Faunus at the Fountain of Neptune in Florence, Italy, sculpted by Bartolomeo Ammanati (public domain)

Since then, satyrs and fauns have generally been treated as one and the same type of mythical entity. But just how mythical – or otherwise – are satyrs?

As described time and again in mythology and folklore, satyrs were infamously lewd and lustful, never happier than when, fuelled by copious quantities of wine, they were in lecherous pursuit of some hapless nymph to ravish.
Satyr statue by Frank (Guy) Lynch in Sydney Botanic Gardens, Australia, visited by me during autumn 2006 (Dr Karl Shuker)

In my book The Unexplained (1996), I documented a remarkable cryptozoologically-relevant link between these priapic satyrs of classical legend and certain forms of elusive man-beast being reported today – with the emphasis very definitely upon priapic. Here is what I wrote:

"In Greek mythology, satyrs were semi-humans with the hairy legs, hooves, tail, and short horns of goats - but did they have a basis in reality? This unexpected prospect was raised in a stimulating paper published in the scientific journal Human Evolution in 1994 by Dr Helmut Loofs-Wissowa from the Australian National University's Faculty of Asian Studies.

"In ancient classical art, satyrs were frequently portrayed with a prominently erect penis - even when engaging in non-sexual activity. Indeed, it was this characteristic that earned them their reputation for sexual licentiousness. However, Dr Loofs-Wissowa believes that this is all fallacious - that in reality, the satyrs were displaying a physiological condition known as the penis rectus, in which the penis assumes a horizontal position even when flaccid. Among modern humans, this condition is only recorded from the bushmen of South Africa, but it is often portrayed in prehistoric cave art, including some Upper Palaeolithic examples from Europe, in which the figures exhibiting the penis rectus condition are hairy humanoids."

"There are two very intriguing aspects concerning this. One is that anthropologists have argued that these hirsute figures are representations of Neanderthal Man Homo neanderthalensis, which is believed to have died out at least 30,000 years ago. The other is that sightings of hairy troll-like humanoids are often reported in many parts of Asia, and these are believed by some scientists to be relict, modern-day Neanderthals, eluding formal scientific discovery. Of particular note here is that eyewitness descriptions of these mystifying entities have often alluded to the odd fact that they seem to have permanently erect penises, apparent even when spied indulging in non-sexual activity such as eating or walking. This suggests that they are in reality displaying the penis rectus condition.

"Combining all of this information, Loofs-Wissowa suggests that the penis rectus condition is clearly a marker in human palaeontology, i.e. indicating the identity of Neanderthals. And, as a direct consequence, he boldly proposes that satyrs might actually have been latter-day Neanderthals. He notes that many features attributed to satyrs in artistic representations differentiate them from modern humans but ally them to Neanderthals. These include their hairy body, upturned nose, prominent eye ridges, round head, strong neck - and, most noticeable of all, their exhibition of the penis rectus condition, hitherto wrongly identified as an overtly visual indication that satyrs possessed a hyperactive sex drive.

"A very novel idea, but it still leaves unexplained the small matter of the satyrs' hooves and tail, not to mention their horns..."

Statue of a satyr unearthed at Pompeii, Italy (Dr Karl Shuker)

Not all cryptozoologists, however, agree that satyrs may represent relict Neanderthals. In their book The Field Guide to Bigfoot, Yeti, and Other Mystery Primates Worldwide (Avon Books: New York, 1999), Loren Coleman and Patrick Huyghe propose an alternative but equally thought-provoking option. They suggest that man-beasts exhibiting this distinctive penile condition represent a category of man-beast entirely separate from Neanderthals. They term it the Erectus Hominid, as they believe this man-beast may constitute a surviving representative of one of our own species' ancestors, Homo erectus:

"The Erectus Hominid is probably the least known of the world's mystery hominids. The reason for this is simple: most of the beings in this class have in the past been misidentified as Neanderthal. The Erectus Hominid is human-sized to about six feet tall. Its body is also within the standard human range with a slight barrelling of the chest. They are partially to fully hairy, with head hair longer than their body hair. The males of the class normally display a semi-erect penis."

Whatever the identity of satyrs in European mythology may be, however, there is an intriguing yet generally overlooked reason for their unbridled libido and debauched passion for seducing nymphs – the same reason why I entitled this ShukerNature blog post 'Sex and the Single Satyr'. Remarkably, there is no reference anywhere in the annals of classical mythology to female satyrs!

'Nymphs and Satyr', painted by William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905)

By definition, therefore, all satyrs were doomed to remain single, celibate, and sexually frustrated – unless they could achieve some lascivious success with the local dryads (wood nymphs) and oreads (mountain nymphs). Equally, such illicit liaisons offered the only opportunity for satyrs to procreate, producing new generations of satyrs, albeit ones that were increasingly diluted by the nymphs' genetic input.

Statue of an infant faun at Glastonbury, Somerset (Dr Karl Shuker)

Eventually, satyrs simply vanished from folklore and traditions, but, faced with such an uncertain, unpredictable pathway to reproductive success, it is hardly surprising really that they became extinct!

Satyr frolicking with nymphs, painted by Claude Lorrain (public domain)

HAVE YOU SEEN THESE ENTITIES?

Don't you just hate it when you discover some fascinating information somewhere, then, at some later date, you can't remember where you'd read it?

This happened lately to Martin Phillipps, a colleague of mine from New Zealand, who has contacted me to ask if either of the following two reports sounded familiar, as he cannot recall where he read them originally. Sadly, I had to confess that both of them were new to me, so is there anyone out there in cyberland who can offer any suggestions? Here are the two reports, as quoted directly from Martin's email of 9 October 2010 to me:

"I was wondering if you would be able to help me identify the source of two stories which I believe to be somewhere in my frustratingly large collection of books on paranormal and occult matters.

"In one story, if I remember correctly, there were two men walking along some rough coastal cliffs (it may have been in Britain but I cannot be sure) when they came over a rise and saw a very large orange bat-like creature sunning itself on the rocks just above the water line.

"I believe they described it as being a good thirty or forty feet across but I just cannot find this story anywhere now and it is very frustrating. You know how it is when your mind gets stuck on one particular problem and you are unable to find the relevant information!

"The other story, which I believe is likewise hiding amongst my collection, concerns a man, again I believe walking near the sea, and coming across a being who sounded exactly like a satyr or a Pan-like entity - cloven hooves and all. When this being became aware that he had been noticed he apparently said something along the lines of... "You are not meant to be able to see me!"

"As I cannot locate the book which included this marvelous tale I am not sure if there was much more to the conversation after that very intriguing opening line!

"Do either of these stories ring any bells with you? They were both recounted as non-fiction."

The first report is vaguely reminiscent of an account describing a huge winged nature deva that I documented in my book Mysteries of Planet Earth (1999).

And the second report is reminiscent of a section that I remember reading a long time ago in Paul Hawken's book The Magic of Findhorn, but is not identical, as the entity in the latter book was indeed Pan but was invisible.

Any thoughts regarding either or both of these reports would be very welcome!

SHAN HAI JIN - AN ANCIENT CHINESE WONDER BOOK

There are a number of highly significant tomes out there that have never attracted the degree of cryptozoological and zoomythological attention that they deserve. One such example is the Shan Hai Jin (or Jing) - a classic Chinese text at least 2,200 years old, roughly 31,000 words long, divided into 18 sections, and containing a wealth of information on all manner of extraordinary beasts. Although most are assuredly mythical, there could well be some genuine cryptids amongst them - the trick is deciding which is which.

To give you an idea of the scope of this remarkable book, the following mentions of entities referrred to in it are quoted from an extensive, highly informative communication that I received quite a while ago concerning the Shan Hai Jin (and also various other notable Chinese sources of info re mystery/legendary beasts) from one of my correspondents, Chinese-born S. Lu, now living in Washington, USA:

"Throughout the years I found so many, many, many parallels between the East and West myths and legends...For instance, the cockatrice's Chinese "cousin" described in Shan Hai Jin [SHJ] is the Suan Yu bird. It's like a snake with four wings, six eyes and three legs. If we picture it as having a bird's/rooster's head and talons, it'll look almost exactly like a cockatrice. The book also says that the Suan Yu bird's appearance foreshadows the coming of bad things.

"Shan Hai Jin is such a treasure with extensive knowledge of lots of things, it's a shame that many people keep a close mind toward the strange creatures and phenomena documented inside.

"There are accounts of mermaids (it's called Ling fish in SHJ), the kind that has human legs and arms with a fish/dolphin tail. I've seen depictions of this creature in the Arabian Nights when Sinbad was taken to an underwater palace by such a man or a merman.

"Europeans' view of the Indian people as dog-headed [cynocephali] is not completely out of the question. In SHJ yellow humanoid creatures with dogs' heads are described. Their name is Huan dog. There are also three-leg people, three-head people, egg-laying people, bird-body people (Siren?), one-foot people, snake-body people (Lamia?) [one such entity is the nuwa, as pictured here in this blog utilising an SHJ illustration], etc.

"Chinese centaurs have often been referred to as deities of some sort, they are horses or bulls with "human heads and hands". Chinese satyrs or pans are a people from the country of Dinling. Their upper bodies are like humans and lower parts are of the hairy horse legs with hooves, and they like to run. Water horses, the kind you talked about in Flying Toads and many other Western folklores, can also be found in SHJ...

"There are much more in other ancient texts in China that document similar things. One even says that the yerens [Chinese wildmen] are able to make themselves invisible and transform to dodge humans....

"There is a china.com [not any longer, sadly] that contains reports from Shen Nong Jia about yeren, albino animals, giant toad monsters, donkey-head wolves, rooster-crest snakes (my grandma told me her mother's story of how such a snake was found in a local "Tu Di" (earth god) temple in the rural Nanjing, Jiangsui Province, the snake didn't siss, but sounded like chicken, the locals thought it has a crest because it was old), unicorns (the website has personal stories of hunters [who] shot dead a couple of unicorns, they say the creature is not exactly a horse, nor a goat, nor a deer; in one account the single horn tilts/curls backward and another forward; they are very agile, and their meat was good; again the local people are sure that they are there), scarlet bats and hogs, etc.

"Have you heard about the famous 'Legend of the White Snake' about a white snake, accompanied by her friend or maid a green snake, transformed into a beautiful woman to marry a mortal, who saved her life a thousand years ago (reincarnation)? In Shen Nong Jia, scientists found that the rare white snakes are often seen to be with green snakes."

And this is just a taster of the treasures to be found inside this amazing work. Of all the subjects mentioned above, however, the one that possibly intrigues me the most received the least mention - scarlet bats. They're certainly new to me, so if there's anyone out there who has any info on Chinese scarlet bats, I'd be delighted to receive it.