Ananthropophage^[1] oranthropophagus (fromGreek:ανθρωποφάγος,romanized: anthrōpophagos, "human-eater", pluralGreek:ανθρωποφάγοι,romanized: anthropophagi) was a member of a mythical race of cannibals described by the playwrightWilliam Shakespeare. The word first appears inEnglish after 1460.^[2]

The Anthropophagi might have been inspired by theScythian tribe of theAndrophagi described by theAncient Greek authorHerodotus of Halicarnassus.

Ephraim Chambers' Cyclopædia says "Many, some say most, of theSavages areAnthropophagi."^[3]

The most famous usage of the Anthropophagi appears inWilliam Shakespeare'sOthello:

And of the Cannibals that each other eat,
The Anthropophagi, and men whose heads
Do grow beneath their shoulders.

Shakespeare makes yet another reference to the cannibalistanthropophagus in theMerry Wives of Windsor:

Go knock and call; hell speak like an Anthropophaginian
unto thee: knock, I say.

T.H. White also features the Anthropophagi asRobin Hood's enemies in his novelThe Sword in the Stone:^[4]

You know about these Anthropophagi, and how we have lost Matthew, Peter, Walter, Colin and many more

American novelist Rick Yancey incorporates the myths of the Anthropophagi in his 2010 releaseThe Monstrumologist.

In popular culture, theanthropophagus is sometimes depicted as a being without a head, but instead have their faces on thetorso. This may be a misinterpretation based on Shakespeare's writings inOthello, where theanthropophagi are mistaken to be described by the immediate following line, "and men whose heads do grow beneath their shoulders". In reality, the line actually refers to a separate, different race of mythical beings known as theBlemmyes, who are indeed said to have no head, and have their facial features on the chest.

• Cannibalism
• Blemmyes (legendary creatures)