Jump to content

List of hybrid creatures in folklore

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Apokryltaros (talk | contribs) at 22:38, 10 August 2017 (Reverted 1 edit by 82.7.176.55 (talk): Stop putting this silly fanfiction nonsense back in unless there is a source or a page for it. (TW)). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

The following is a list of mythological hybrids grouped morphologically based on their constituent species. Hybrids not found in classical mythology but developed in the context of modern pop culture are listed in a separate section. For actual hybridization in zoology, see Hybrid (biology)#List.

Partly human

Further information: therianthropy

Upper part human

A Centaur fighting a man
  • Centauroid
    • Anggitay - A strictly-female creature that has the upper body of a human with the lower body of a horse and is sometimes portrayed with a horn.
    • Centaur - A creature that has the upper body of a human with the lower body of a horse
    • Onocentaur - A creature that has the upper body of a human with the lower body of a donkey.
    • Ipotane - A human with the hindquarters of a horse.
  • Goat
    • Faun - A goat with a human head, which is considered harmless.
    • Pan - he is the god of hunters and nymphs who has the head of a human with the arms and legs of a goat. He is often heard playing a flute.
    • Satyr - A goat with a human head, usually with bad intentions.
    • Sileni/Silenus - like a satyr but with horse features.
A medieval depiction of a harpy as a bird-woman
  • Bird
    • Harpy - A half-bird, half-woman creature of Greek mythology, portrayed sometimes as a woman with bird legs.
    • Lilitu - A woman with bird legs sometimes with wings found in later Greek mythology.
    • Kinnara - Half-human, half-bird in later Indian mythology.
A colored engraved conjecture of Dagon as a merman from a bas-relief at the Louvre.
  • Fish
    • Dagon - A half-man, half-fish deity.
    • Ichthyocentaurs - Creatures that have the torsos of a man or woman, the front legs of a horse, and the tails of a fish.
    • Mermaid/Merman - A race of half-human, half-fish creatures.
    • Triton - A Greek God who is the same as Merman. Some depictions have him with two fish tails.
    • Jengu - A water spirit
    • Matsya - An avatar of Lord Vishnu that is half-man half-fish.
    • Sirena - A mermaid from Philippine folklore.
    • Siren - Some versions have it close to a mermaid, but not quite. Most are described to have scaly skin.
    • Siyokoy - Mermen with scaled but humanoid bodies from Philippine folklore. It is the male counterpart of the Sirena.
A nure-onna as depicted in Sawaki Suushi's Hyakkai-Zukan
  • Snake
    • Echidna - A half-woman and half-snake monster that lives inside a cave.
    • Fu Xi - A god said to have been made by Nu Wa.
    • Lamia - Like a mermaid but with the lower body like that of a snake.
    • Nü Wa - A woman with the lower body of a serpent in Chinese folklore.
    • Ketu - An Asura who has the lower parts of a snake and said to have four arms.
    • Nāga - A term referring to human/snake mixes of all kinds.
    • Nure-onna - A creature with the upper body of a woman with the lower body of a snake.
  • Other

Human-headed

Assyrian Lamassu dated 721 BCE Oriental Institute Museum, University of Chicago.
  • Atargatis – Human face, fish body.
  • Bai Ze - The descriptions vary for this beast.
  • Buraq - A creature from Persian iconography that has the head of a man and the body of a winged horse.
  • Hatuibwari - Human head, serpent body, bat wings.
  • Kamadhenu - Human head, body of a cow, winged, tail of a peacock
  • Kusarikku - Human arms, torso and head and bovine ears, horns and hindquarters.
  • Manticore – A Persian legendary creature similar to the Egyptian sphinx. It has the body of a red lion, a human head with three rows of sharp teeth (like a shark), sometimes bat-like wings, and a trumpet-like voice. Other aspects of the creature vary from story to story. It may be horned, winged, or both. The tail is that of either a dragon or a scorpion, and it may shoot venomous spines to either paralyze or kill its victims.
  • Penghou - A creature with the face of a man and the body of a dog.
  • Sphinx – Human head, lion body, occasional bird wings.
  • Shedu - A deity that is often depicted with a human head, a bull's or lion's body, and bird's wings.
  • Zhuyin - It has the face of a man and the body of a snake.
  • Avian (Bird):
    • Alkonost - A creature from Russian folklore with the head of a woman with the body of a bird, said to make beautiful sounds that make anyone who hears them forget all that they know and not want anything more ever again. Counterpart of the Sirin, which it lives with in the underworld.
    • Gamayun - A creature portrayed with the head a woman with the body of a bird from Russian mythology.
    • Harpy - A half-bird, half-woman creature of Greek mythology, portrayed often as a woman with a body of a bird and the head of a human.
    • Siren - A creature of Greek mythology with a bird body and a human's head.
    • Sirin - Half-bird, half-human creature with the head and chest of a woman from Russian folklore. Its bird half is generally that of an owl's body.
    • See also Buraq, Hatuibwari, Sphinx, and Shedu/Lamassu (all flying, but not with bird bodies)

Human with animal head

Main article: Theriocephaly
Ganesha, with Elephant's head
Horus, with Falcon's head

Human with added animal parts

Horns of a goat and a ram, goat's fur and ears, nose and canines of a pig, a typical depiction of the devil in Christian art. The goat, ram and pig are consistently associated with the Devil.[1] Detail of a 16th-century painting by Jacob de Backer in the National Museum in Warsaw.
  • Winged
    • Angel - Common iconography depicting a human with bird wings.
    • Drakaina - A female species from Greek mythology that is draconian in nature, primarily depicted as a woman with dragon features.
    • Fairy - A humanoid with insect-like wings.
    • Mothman - A humanoid moth.
    • Seraph - An elite angel that is described with multiple wings.
    • Valkyrie - A creature of Norse mythology that led those that died in battle to Valhalla.
    • Winged Genie - A genie with bird wings.
  • Legs
  • Horned
  • Snake-haired
    • Gorgon - Each of them has snakes in place of their hair; sometimes also depicted with a snake-like lower body.

Part animal, part human

Garuda carrying his master Vishnu. Garuda has an eagle's head, wings and legs
  • Avatea - A god that has the right half a man and the left half a fish.
  • Bat - An Egyptian Goddess with the horns and ears of a cow.
  • Bes - An Egyptian God with the hindquarters of a lion.
  • Garuda - A creature that has the head and wings of an eagle and body of a man.
  • Hanuman - A humanoid monkey God.
  • Jambavan - A humanoid bear depicted in Ramayana.
  • Nandi - Some Puranas describe Nandi or Nandikeshvara as bull-faced, with a human body that resembles that of Shiva in proportion and aspect.
  • Werecat - A creature that is part cat, part human, or switches form between the two.
  • Werewolf - A creature that becomes a wolf/human-like beast during the nights of full moons, but is human otherwise.

Non-human

Quadrupeds with the wings of a bird

Pegasus, as the horse of Muses, was put on the roof of Poznań Opera House (Max Littmann, 1910)

Two kinds of animal parts

'Gajasimha', Museum of Cham Sculpture

Three kinds of animal parts

  • Ammit – An Egyptian creature that has the head of a crocodile, the front legs of a lion, and the back legs and hindquarters of a hippopotamus.
  • Chimera – A Greek mythology creature that has the head and front legs of a lion, the head and back legs of a goat, and the head of a snake for a tail. Some media appearances have a three-headed Chimera that often include a dragon head and wings to go with the other parts.
  • Jackalope – A jackrabbit with the horns of a pronghorn and sometimes the tail and/or legs of a pheasant.
  • Sharabha - A Hindu mythological creature deity having legs of deer, wings of bird and head of a lion.
  • Simurgh - A Griffin-like exclusively-female creature of Persian mythology with the head of a dog and the claws of a lion (although sometimes with a human face).

Four kinds of animal parts

Five or more kinds of animal parts

Navagunjara, has limb representing eight animals, including a human hand.
  • Baku – A Japanese creature that has the head of an elephant, the eyes of a rhinoceros, the legs of a tiger, the body of a bear, and the tail of an ox.
  • Calygreyhound - A mythical creature that appears on Medieval heraldry. It is described as having the head of a wildcat, the torso of a deer or antelope, the claws of an eagle as its forefeet, ox hooves, antlers or horns on its head, the hind legs of a lion or ox, and its tail like a lion or poodle. May sometimes be depicted with wings.
  • Fenghuang – A Chinese creature that has the head of a golden pheasant, the body of a mandarin duck, the tail of a peacock, the legs of a crane, the mouth of a parrot, and the wings of a swallow.
  • Navagunjara - A Hindu creature with head of a rooster, neck of a peacock, back of a bull, tail as a sepent, three legs of an elephant, tiger and deer or horse, fourth limb being a human hand holding a lotus.
  • Qilin – A Chinese creature with the head of a dragon, the antlers of a deer, the scales of a fish, the hooves of an ox, and the tail of a lion. The Japanese version is depicted as a deer-shaped dragon with the tail of an ox.

Modern fiction

The following hybrid creatures appear in modern fiction:

References

  1. ^ Fritscher, Jack (2004). Popular Witchcraft: Straight from the Witch's Mouth. Popular Press. p. 23. ISBN 0-299-20304-2. The pig, goat, ram — all of these creatures are consistently associated with the Devil.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_hybrid_creatures_in_folklore&oldid=794931099"