A dictionary? No, this is really an astonishing ark filled with beasts from a fabulous zoo far more varied and entertaining than anything from ordinary natural history. From Abaia and Abath to Ziz and Zu, from the microscopic Gigelorum that nests in a mite’s ear to the giant serpent Jormungandor who encircles the whole globe, there are beasts from every corner of man’s imagination: the light-hearted Fearsome Critters of lumberjack tales find a place alongside the Sirrush of Babylon and the Winged Bulls of Assyria. Some of the fabulous beasts turn out to be real creatures in disguise – a Cameleopard is a kind of glamourised giraffe -while others are almost, but not quite, human. Among the six hundred entries are some which are full-scale essays in their own right, as on Phoenix or Giants; and just in case it seems as though the authors dreamt up the entire book, there is a detailed list of books for the would-be hunter in this mythical jungle.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Mythical creatures drawn largely from medieval travellers’ tales, but encompassing civilisations from the Sumerians to the Wild West.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[637],"product_tag":[1562,3463,3266],"class_list":["post-97918","product","type-product","status-publish","product_cat-art","product_tag-european-history","product_tag-literary-studies-classical-early-medieval","product_tag-reference-works","pa_book_author-barber-richard-w","pa_cover-paperback","pa_dewey-398-46903-edition20","pa_imprint-the-boydell-press","pa_language-english","pa_pages-9489","pa_publisher-the-boydell-press","pa_readership-general-trade-code-k","first","instock","taxable","shipping-taxable","purchasable","product-type-simple"],"yoast_head":"\n