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Illustration of Bouplagos
Original AI-made illustration based on the descriptions in the sources. Not an official design.
File No. 003 of 446

Bouplagos

Also called: Buplagus
Folklore and mythUndeadShamblesAncient world

Bouplagos is a dead soldier who gets up on the battlefield in Phlegon's Book of Marvels. After the Roman victory at Thermopylae he rises with his wounds, walks into the enemy camp, delivers an oracle and falls dead for good. The Romans burn him and purify the army. The scene of a battlefield corpse rising among the looters is a recognisable ancestor of later war-zombie imagery.1

Battle it
First recorded
150
Phlegon of Tralles, Book of Marvels, 2nd century AD; the event is set after the battle of Thermopylae in 191 BC
Origin
Ancient Greek / Roman
Greece
What causes it
Other
The story presents his rising as a warning from Zeus to the victorious Romans.
How you become one
A Syrian cavalry commander of King Antiochus, killed with twelve wounds.
How it moves
Shambles
Stands up from among the corpses on the battlefield at midday, walks to the Roman camp and speaks in a faint voice.
Intelligence
Some intelligence
Weak spots
  • he dies again as soon as he has spoken
  • cremation and burial, with purification of the camp

When did it first appear?

Ancient worldMiddle Ages1500 to 18991900 to 19671968 to 19992000 to 20092010 to today150

Phlegon of Tralles, Book of Marvels, 2nd century AD; the event is set after the battle of Thermopylae in 191 BC

field notes

What the sources say

1

He rose while the Romans were stripping the enemy dead1

2

He recited verses ordering them to stop despoiling the fallen1

3

He foretold that a bold people would one day end Roman rule1

4

The generals sacrificed to Zeus the Averter and consulted Delphi1

5

In the sequel a Roman general is eaten by a red wolf and his severed head prophesies1

Could you outrun it?

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

Bouplagos about 3 km/h (1.9 mph)
You, walking about 5 km/h (3.1 mph)
You, jogging about 10 km/h (6.2 mph)
A fit adult sprinting about 24 km/h (15 mph)
A fast cyclist about 37 km/h (23 mph)

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 [email protected].

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Folklore from the same lands

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

Same era: Ancient world

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