Editing Wild man (section)

==Origins==
{{further information|Silvanus (mythology)|Satyr|Dusios|Faun|selfref=Grazers (Christianity)}}
[[File:Pontius und Sidona cpg142 122r.png|thumb|Pontus and his train disguised as wild men at the wedding of Genelet and Sidonia. Illustration of a manuscript of a German version of ''[[Pontus and Sidonia]]'' (CPG 142, fol. 122r, c. 1475).]]
Figures similar to the European wild man occur worldwide from very early times. The earliest recorded example of the type is the character [[Enkidu]] of the [[ancient Mesopotamia]]n ''[[Epic of Gilgamesh]]''.<ref>
Bernheimer, p. 3.</ref>

The description of [[Nebuchadnezzar II]] in the [[Book of Daniel]] (2nd century BC) may have greatly influenced the medieval European concepts.<ref>Bernheimer, p. 12.</ref> [[Daniel 4]] depicts God humbling the [[Babylonian king]] for his boastfulness; stricken mad and ejected from human society, he grows hair on his body and lives like a beast. This image was popular in medieval depictions of Nebuchadnezzar. [[Late medieval]] legends of Saint [[John Chrysostom]] (died 407) describe the saint's [[asceticism]] as making him so isolated and feral that hunters who capture him cannot tell if he is man or beast.<ref name=":0">Bernheimer, p. 17.</ref>

The medieval wild-man concept also drew on lore about similar beings from the [[Classical antiquity|Classical world]] such as the [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] [[faun]] and [[Silvanus (mythology)|Silvanus]], and perhaps even [[Heracles]]. Several folk traditions about the wild man correspond with ancient practices and beliefs. Notably, peasants in the [[Grisons]] tried to capture the wild man by getting him drunk and tying him up in hopes that he would give them his wisdom in exchange for freedom.<ref name="Bernheimer25">Bernheimer, p. 25.</ref> This suggests an association with an ancient tradition – recorded as early as [[Xenophon]] (d. 354 BC) and appearing in the works of [[Ovid]], [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], and [[Claudius Aelianus]] – in which shepherds caught a forest being, here termed [[Silenus]] or [[Faunus]], in the same manner and for the same purpose.<ref name="Bernheimer25"/>

Besides mythological influences, medieval wild man lore also drew on the learned writings of ancient historians, though likely to a lesser degree.<ref name="Bernheimer85">Bernheimer, p. 85.</ref> These ancient wild men are naked and sometimes covered with hair, though importantly the texts generally localize them in some faraway land,<ref name="Bernheimer85"/> distinguishing them from the medieval wild man who was thought to exist just at the boundaries of civilization. The first [[historian]] to describe such beings, [[Herodotus]] ({{circa|484 BC|425 BC}}), places them in western [[Libya]] alongside the [[Headless men|headless men with eyes in their chest]] and [[cynocephaly|dog-faced creatures]].<ref name="Bernheimer86">Bernheimer, p. 86.</ref> After the appearance of the former [[Achaemenid Empire|Persian]] court physician [[Ctesias]]'s book ''[[Indica (Ctesias)|Indika]]'' (concerning [[India]]), which recorded Persian beliefs about the [[Indian subcontinent]], and the conquests of [[Alexander the Great]], India became the primary home of fantastic creatures in the Western imagination, and wild men were frequently described as living there.<ref name="Bernheimer86"/> [[Megasthenes]], [[Seleucus I Nicator]]'s ambassador to [[Chandragupta Maurya]], wrote of two kinds of men to be found in India whom he explicitly describes as wild: first, a creature brought to court whose toes faced backwards; second, a tribe of forest people who had no mouths and who sustained themselves with smells.<ref name="Bernheimer87">Bernheimer, p. 87.</ref> Both [[Quintus Curtius Rufus]] and [[Arrian]] refer to Alexander himself meeting with a tribe of fish-eating savages while on his Indian campaign.<ref>Bernheimer, p. 88.</ref>

Distorted accounts of [[ape]]s may have contributed to both the ancient and medieval conception of the wild man. In his ''[[Natural History (Pliny)|Natural History]]'' [[Pliny the Elder]] describes a race of ''silvestres,'' wild creatures in India who had humanoid bodies but a coat of fur, fangs, and no capacity to speak – a description that fits [[gibbon]]s indigenous to the area.<ref name="Bernheimer87"/> The ancient [[Carthage|Carthaginian]] explorer [[Hanno the Navigator]] (fl. 500 BC) reported an encounter with a tribe of savage men and hairy women in what may have been [[Sierra Leone]]; their interpreters called them "Gorillae," a story which much later originated the name of the [[gorilla]] species and could indeed have related to a [[great ape]].<ref name="Bernheimer87"/><ref>[http://www.shsu.edu/~his_ncp/Hanno.html Periplus of Hanno, final paragraph] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170314000332/http://www.shsu.edu/~his_ncp/Hanno.html |date=2017-03-14 }}</ref> Similarly, the Greek historian [[Agatharchides]] describes what may have been [[Common chimpanzee|chimpanzee]]s as tribes of agile, promiscuous "seed-eaters" and "wood-eaters" living in [[Ethiopia]].<ref>Bernheimer, pp. 87–88.</ref>

One of the historical precedents which could have inspired the wild man representation could be the [[Grazers (Christianity)|Grazers]]; a group of monks in [[Eastern Christianity]] which lived alone, without eating meat, and often completely naked.<ref name=":02">{{Cite journal |last=Meunier |first=Bernard |date=2010-12-31 |title=Le désert chrétien, avatar des utopies antiques ? |url=http://journals.openedition.org/kentron/1369 |journal=Kentron |issue=26 |pages=79–96 |doi=10.4000/kentron.1369 |issn=0765-0590 |doi-access=free}}</ref> They were viewed as saints in [[Byzantine]] society, and the [[hagiographical]] accounts about their lives were spread in all of Christianity, possibly influencing later authors.<ref name=":02" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite book |title=The Sabaite heritage in the Orthodox Church from the fifth century to the present |date=2001 |publisher=Peeters |isbn=978-90-429-0976-2 |editor-last=Paṭrikh |editor-first=Yosef |series=Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta |location=Leuven}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Déroche |first=Vincent |date=2007-12-31 |title=Quand l'ascèse devient péché : les excès dans le monachisme byzantin d'après les témoignages contemporains |url=http://journals.openedition.org/kentron/1752 |journal=Kentron |issue=23 |pages=167–178 |doi=10.4000/kentron.1752 |issn=0765-0590 |doi-access=free}}</ref>