LITMIR.BIZ

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one more time to interrogate the place of gender, sex, and sexuality. For most classical writers, the default form of humanity was male, and thus any reference to so-called Cannibals primarily signified men. The connection between reported acts of cannibalism and sexual deviance is also important. Taboo sex and cannibalism both represented the corruption of the body; each was seen an embodied act whose existence challenged the hegemonic power of the given society. Thus, regardless of what government or religion held sway, the control of bodies and bodily acts was reserved for the state. It was common in ancient Greece for enemies to be denied proper burial, as is detailed in Sophocles’ play Antigone. The rituals associated with death often center on control of the body. For early Christians the issue of body disposal was fraught with tension as debates over the nature of resurrection, whether it would be bodily or spiritual, raged. The denial of a proper burial or bodily disposal might mean that an individual would never achieve eternal life. In a similar fashion, for early Christians, even while one was still alive defilement of the body risked one’s eternal salvation.

      Within the early Christian Church itself there were accusations that certain hidden and mysterious sects did actually perform the kinds of rights that the Romans accused them of. In the fourth century Bishop Epiphanius of Salamis believed that a Gnostic Christian sect known as the Phibionites or Borborites took part in all kinds of illicit and damning acts, including cannibalism:

      They [the Phibionites] set the table with lavish provisions for eating meat and drinking wine. But then, after a drinking bout and practically filling the boy’s veins, they next go crazy for each other. And the husband will withdraw from his wife and tell her—speaking to his own wife!—“Get up, perform the Agape with the brother.” . . . For besides, to extend their blasphemy to heaven after making love in a state of fornication, the woman and man receive the male emission on their own hands. And they stand with their eyes raised heavenward but the filth on their hands, and pray, if you please—the one called Stratiotics and Gnostics—and offer that stuff on their hands to the actual Father of all, and say, “We offer thee this gift, the body of Christ.” And then they eat it and partake of their own dirt, and they say, “This is the body of Christ; and this is the Pascha, because of which our bodies suffer and are made to acknowledge the passion of Christ.”29

      This lurid description highlights the way acts of cannibalism and sexuality were linked. Not only were they believed to have happened during a single ritual, but their pairing suggests that sexual impropriety set one on a path toward rejection of all that “civilization” held dear. In the vast majority of classical tales of cannibalism, it is the body of an infant or a young man who is consumed, linking the act of human consumption with homosexual acts. In the previous example, semen is both an offering for God and the body of Christ itself. If we understand that accusations of cannibalism in some way represent the fear of the most horrific elements of human nature, and the fear that such horrors existed hidden in plain sight even in the “civilized world,” then the connection between cannibalism and sexuality (in particular nonprocreative sex) takes on greater importance. The fear of cannibalism carries with it the fear of female desire and “inappropriate” male desire. When the norms of gender and sexuality are subverted, when women commit adultery or become promiscuous or when men copulate with other men, the social body itself is threatened. The presence of unbridled indulgence of the flesh (whether through sex or consumption) indicated a society and a social order that was out of control.

      Medieval Western Europe

      As Christianity spread and the early Church was still developing its canon, a large number of texts about Jesus and his disciples were written, most of which have since been deemed apocryphal. Among these was the Acts of Andrew, written around the middle of the third century. The most common version of the Acts traces the proselytizing efforts and miracles of Saint Andrew after the death and resurrection of Jesus. In addition to the more well-known and accepted version, another account of Andrew’s exploits was written in Greek at the end of the fourth century. This version, called the Acts of Andrew and Matthias, the Acts of Matthew and Andrew in the City of Cannibals, or the Acts of Andrew and Matthias among the Anthropophagi, is a much more fanciful rendition of the tale. The edition that remains is an Old English translation of a no longer extant Latin translation of the original Greek.30 The traditional Acts of Andrew mentions nothing about cannibalism, which is a prominent feature of the more dubious Acts of Andrew and Matthias.

      The Acts of Andrew and Matthias begins with Saint Matthew’s journey to spread the gospel of Jesus in the city of Marmadonia (Mermodonia in some versions), which was supposed to be in Scythia. The Marmadonians are described in less than flattering terms: “The men who were in this city ate no bread and drank no water, but ate men’s flesh and drank their blood. And whatever foreign man who came into the city, it says that they immediately seized him and put out his eyes, and they gave him a potion to drink that was blended with much witchcraft, and when he drank this drink, immediately his heart was undone and his mind overturned.” Unsurprisingly Matthew is captured and imprisoned upon his arrival in the city. While in prison, he prays to God for his deliverance. God answers, telling him that after twenty-seven days Andrew will come to his rescue. The Lord convinces Andrew to go to Marmadonia and rescue Matthew. Andrew then boards a ship, which turns out to be helmed by God himself in disguise, who warns him of the great torments that he will suffer on this mission. However, God also assures Andrew that it will be worth it as there are many among the cannibals who will make great converts. When he arrives in Marmadonia, Andrew swiftly rescues Matthew from prison and begins to spread the word of God throughout the city. Soon afterward the jailors “came so that they could lead the men out and make them into food, and they found the doors of the prison open and the seven guards lying dead,” causing them great consternation. A fight between the Devil, on the side of the Marmadonians, and Andrew ensues, during which Andrew is imprisoned and tortured. While captive Andrew sends forth a flood through the city from his mouth, drowning the children and animals, while God surrounds the city with fire so that no one can escape. After this the cannibal Marmadonians repent and become devout followers of Christ.31

      This rather absurd tale provides a nice bridge between the accusations of cannibalism lodged at Christians in the late Roman Empire and the discourses of cannibalism in medieval Europe. The story makes Christians’ denial of their man-eating rituals explicit as it presents them as warriors against the scourge of cannibalism. While this reversal turns one aspect of prevalent cannibal discourses on its head, it preserves much of the spirit of cannibalism as an Othering device. It also reinforces the idea that cannibalism is common on the fringes of civilization, especially in Scythia. By the fourth century, when Christians dominate in Rome, they are presented as heroes over pagan cannibals. No longer were the Christians the enemy within.

      From the fall of the Roman Empire to Columbus’s landing in the Caribbean, tales of cannibalism were prevalent throughout western Europe. Such tales took a number of different forms, from travel literature to romances, church histories, and folk tales. The tendency for stories of cannibalism to locate man-eaters on the fringes of civilization continued, and so the Scythians remained a common recipient of these accusations. Instead of pointing fingers at Christians in the late Roman Empire, the accusations shifted toward other groups whose beliefs, rituals, and practices seemed mysterious, savage, or heretical. Common among these accused man-eaters were Jews, Muslims, pagans, witches, Africans, and Asians. As with the classical examples above, I will proceed chronologically, focusing on a number of key texts that appear to have had the greatest impact on Europeans in the Americas.32

      Following the example set by Pliny in the Natural History (among others), the seventh-century Spanish bishop Isidore of Seville compiled an encyclopedia, called Etymologiae, which had a profound impact on medieval culture and knowledge. Over the next millennium, Isidore’s work was published and republished so often that nearly a thousand copies survive to this day, a staggering number in comparison to other extant medieval manuscripts. Isidore drew heavily from classical writers, including Pliny the Elder, Tertullian, and Martial; much of the Etymologiae is merely a rehashing, and often a direct borrowing, of earlier sources. It should come as no surprise that cannibalism is among the vast number of topics that Isidore discusses. In his exhaustive list of the peoples of the world, he describes the Scythians and their various neighbors and subdivisions. He indicates that

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