Pliny the Elder's Natural History locates this island near the Scythian coast;[2] Pomponius Mela's De situ orbis places it in or around the North Sea, mentioning it alongside Denmark and the Orkney Islands (Mela iii.
[4] Olaus Magnus addresses this in his work Historia de Gentibus Septentrionalibus, where he explains that the Scritofinni gets their name from the jumping motion they perform while hunting on skis.
[5] The same connection can also be seen in Abraham Ortelius's map Europam, Sive Celticam Veterem from 1595 where he places Hippopodes and Scricofinni in the same area of northern Scandinavia.
[6] The Travels of Sir John Mandeville places the Hippopodes in Maritime Southeast Asia, and adds that they are particularly fleet-footed and hunt by running down their prey.
[7] A 2014 multispectral imaging project led by Chet van Duzer revealed that a c. 1491 map created by Henricus Martellus Germanus and likely used by Christopher Columbus located the Hippopodes in Central Asia.