Medieval maps situated Muslim monsters among alienated non-human races at world’s edges

Evidence

References to Muslim cynocephalie in medieval romances are quite common. In the Song of Roland, Saracens are described as “whining” and “yelping.” Other descriptions of Muslim monsters in the text include Plinian monsters, some with canine qualities. There are “the Milceni, with their large heads and piglike bristles,” “the Canaanites, who are simply ugly,” “giants from Malprose,” and “the Argoille, who bark like dogs.” Cynocephalie were often situated on the edges of medieval maps alongside Ipopodes, Agrophagi, and Ethiopians with four eyes—all monstrous races alienated from God and relinquished to the non-human edges of the world. They occupied the same space as Saracens. — Sophia Rose Arjana, Muslims in the Western Imagination, 223

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s core thesis: image-without-contact, the monstrification of Muslims in medieval cartography, theology, and romance converging.
• DEFINE: Defines cynocephalie (dog-headed men) as a recurrent monstrous category and maps its placement on medieval world maps.