BLEMMYA

One of the many kinds of monster found in the margins of illuminated MSS or in cathedrals. Blemmyae were creatures somewhat like human beings, except they lacked heads: their eyes and mouths were on the chest. The name is taken from a people of Nubia, known to the Romans in the 3c and later. Fable and ignorance transformed them into acephalous creatures.

Cf. Babewyn; Cynocephalus; Gargoyle