Macrocephali

This article is about the ancient tribe. For the medical condition, see Macrocephaly.

The Macrocephali (Ancient Greek: Μακροκέφαλοι; "long-headed people") were ancient tribes of Africans or Indians who performed artificial cranial deformation.^[1][2]

Pliny the Elder, Pomponius Mela, and Scylax all mention a people by this name living northeast of the region of Pontus. While the writer of the Periplus of the Euxine Sea identifies the Macrocephali with the Macrones, but Pliny clearly considers them separate groups.^[3]

Their cultural practice of artificially shaping the skulls of their children was mentioned by Hesiod, Hippocrates,^[4][5]Pomponius Mela, Pliny the Elder, Valerius Flaccus, Xenophon, Strabo, and Eustathius.

Strabo mention that the Siginni (Σίγιννοι), a barbaric tribe living near the Caucasus Mountains, deliberately altered the shape of their heads to make them appear longer.^[3]