View source for Astomi

{{Short description|Tribe in Greek mythology}}
[[File:P._Gasparis_Schotti_Physica_curiosa,_sive_mirabilia_naturæ_et_artis_Plate_V_p_451.jpg | thumb | right | alt=Panotti, astomi, brachistomi, cyclops, blemmyes and abarimon. | [[Panotti]], astomi, brachistomi, [[cyclops]], [[Headless men|blemmyes]] and [[abarimon]].]]
In [[Greek mythology|Greek]] and [[Roman mythology]], the '''Astomi''', also known as the '''Gangines''', were a race of people who had no need to eat or drink, surviving by smelling [[apple]]s, [[flower]]s, and perfumes that they sprayed on their victims.<ref name="Reed Kline">{{cite book|last=Reed Kline|first=Naomi|title=Maps of Medieval Thought: The Hereford Paradigm|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pv5Nb7KpWTgC&pg=PA150|year=2003|publisher=Boydell Press|isbn=978-0-85115-937-9|pages=149–150}}</ref><ref name="Guarde">{{cite journal |last1=Guarde |first1=César |title=The Roots of the "Astomi" and the "Monocoli" in Ctesias and Megasthenes |journal=Rheinisches Museum für Philologie |date=2012 |volume=155 |issue=2 |pages=215–218 |jstor=41697831 }}</ref>

[[Megasthenes]] and [[Pliny the Elder]] (quoting Megasthenes) mentioned these people in his ''[[Indica (Megasthenes)|Indica]]''. Megasthenes located them at the mouth of the river [[Ganges]]. In his description, they had rough and hairy bodies and no mouths. When traveling, they would carry roots, flowers and apples to smell. They could die by smelling a strong, unpleasant smell.<ref name="Reed Kline" /><ref name="Guarde" /><ref>{{cite journal |last1=West |first1=M. L. |title=Megasthenes on the Astomi |journal=The Classical Review |date=December 1964 |volume=14 |issue=3 |page=242 |doi=10.1017/S0009840X00260162 |s2cid=161100531 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/classical-review/article/megasthenes-on-the-astomi/F3ECA19042D72F5E74A3C14FF1A20D38 |access-date=30 July 2018|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

== Notes ==
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== References ==

* [[Pliny the Elder]], ''[[Natural History (Pliny)|The Natural History]].'' John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S. H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A. London. Taylor and Francis, Red Lion Court, Fleet Street. 1855. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0137 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.]
* Pliny the Elder, ''Naturalis Historia.'' Karl Friedrich Theodor Mayhoff. Lipsiae. Teubner. 1906. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0138 Latin text available at the Perseus Digital Library.]

[[Category:Characters in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Legendary tribes in classical historiography]]
[[Category:Mythic humanoids]]


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