Wild Man

[FilthyBroke]

France, copper jeton showing "l'homme sauvage", or the Wild Man.  I initially thought this dated to the early 1500's, but I'm thinking it's probably a 1400's strike, due to the crude planchet and overall feel of the design-


My question is - Who exactly is the Wild Man? 

I did a little research and have found where the wild man is thought to be a mythylogical creature with stories dating to early Roman times, but is there any basis in reality for this myth?  And is this the middle ages version of our bigfoot tales of today?

Tell me what you know!

[coinsarefun]

I have always heard of this term and when I search Wild Man Conders....that guy always shows up on Talers and such. not
the Wild Man that I am looking for

But I did a wimpy search on the internet and wikipedia had this to say, which is pretty much what I have heard.


Wikipedia link 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_man


The term wood-woses or simply Woses is used by J. R. R. Tolkien to describe a fictional race of wild men, which are called also Drúedain, in his books on Middle-earth. According to Tolkien's legendarium, other men, including the Rohirrim, mistook the Drúedain for goblins or other wood-creatures and referred to them as Púkel-men (Goblin-men). He allows the fictional possibility that his Drúedain were the "actual" origin of the wild men of later traditional folklore. British poet Ted Hughes used the form wodwo as the title of a poem and a 1967 volume of his collected works.[34]

Both folklorists and cryptozoologists apply the term "wild men" to the European wild human. "Wild men" has a wider definition than "woodwoses"; it is also used for worldwide reports of hair-covered bipeds resembling Bigfoot, but tends to apply most often to beings that seem more human than ape, or that have strong mythological or supernatural overtones.

[FilthyBroke]

not the Wild Man that I am looking for

 

I did the Wikisearch on it, too.  It's interesting that the legend dates possibly back to biblical times, with Nebuchadnezzar in the book of Daniel, and even the 'Epic of Gilgamesh' is referenced.  I'll have to look these stories up.

I wonder if this contributed today's bigfoot legend?

The Wiki article mentions that the wild man was a focus of interest to many engravers back in the 14-1500's.

I dunno, I think it's a fun topic though.

[coinsarefun]

not the Wild Man that I am looking for

 

I did the Wikisearch on it, too.  It's interesting that the legend dates possibly back to biblical times, with Nebuchadnezzar in the book of Daniel, and even the 'Epic of Gilgamesh' is referenced.  I'll have to look these stories up.

I wonder if this contributed today's bigfoot legend?

The Wiki article mentions that the wild man was a focus of interest to many engravers back in the 14-1500's.

I dunno, I think it's a fun topic though.

It probably does have something to do with the bigfoot legend, after all legends are usually handed down by word of mouth
or family stories and then embellished over the years and centuries.

I think its a cool subject too and bet the other darksider guys will have better explainations

[FilthyBroke]

Now I just have to find the UFO jeton.  That one has been quite elusive so far.




                                          <------u.f.o.