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Polykritos

Also called: Polycritus the Aetolarch, Polykritos the Aitolian
Folklore and mythUndeadRunsAncient world

Polykritos is the cannibal revenant of Phlegon's Book of Marvels. A dead official walks into the citizens' assembly, demands his infant and, when refused, eats it in front of the crowd, impervious to their stones. The child's severed head delivers the oracle. It is a rare ancient story of a returned corpse eating human flesh, the act that defines the modern zombie.1

⚔️ Battle it
First recorded
150
Phlegon of Tralles, Book of Marvels, 2nd century AD; the story is set in Aetolia in the 3rd century BC
Origin
Ancient Greek
Greece
What causes it
Never explained
He returns at the moment the assembly debates the fate of his newborn child.
How you become one
An Aetolian magistrate who died on the fourth night of his marriage.
How it moves
Runs
Appears suddenly in the public assembly dressed in black, speaks, then seizes his child and tears it apart.
Intelligence
Clever
Weak spots
  • none: stones thrown by the crowd did not hurt him, and he vanished of his own accord

When did it first appear?

Ancient world
Middle Ages
1500 to 1899
1900 to 1967
1968 to 1999
2000 to 2009
2010 to today
150

Phlegon of Tralles, Book of Marvels, 2nd century AD; the story is set in Aetolia in the 3rd century BC

field notes

What the sources say

1

His widow bore a child with both male and female genitals, which seers took as an omen1

2

He told the citizens his body was dead but his goodwill towards them was alive1

3

When they hesitated to hand over the child he devoured it, leaving only the head1

4

The head then spoke a prophecy of war and plague1

5

The Aetolians sent their families away and suffered heavy losses in battle the next year1

Could you outrun it?

Speed class from how the sources describe it (runs), not a measurement.

You, walking about 5 km/h
You, jogging about 10 km/h
A fit adult sprinting about 24 km/h
Polykritos about 24 km/h
A fast cyclist about 37 km/h

Sources

  1. Phlegon, Book of Marvels - ToposText

Every fact on this page comes from these sources, written in our own words. Spotted a mistake? Tell us at hello@zombiewiki.app.

Folklore from the same lands

Erichtho's reanimated soldierRoman (literary), 61VrykolakasGreek, 1645PhilinnionAncient Greek, 150The corpse of ThelyphronRoman (literary), 170Vrykolakas of MykonosGreek, 1701BouplagosAncient Greek / Roman, 150

Same era: Ancient world

Ishtar's army of the deadMesopotamian (Akkadian), 1000 BCLugnano child burialLate Roman (Italy), 450