Cinnamon bird

The cinnamon bird—alternatively known as Cinnamologus, Cinomolgus, or Cynnamolgus—appears in ancient bestiary accounts as a legendary giant avian that gathered cinnamon to construct its nests.

Herodotus, in his seminal work The History, locates these mythical creatures in Arabia, then believed to be the sole source of cinnamon in the world. According to his account, these massive birds collected cinnamon sticks from distant, unknown territories where cinnamon trees flourished, using them to build nests anchored to steep cliff faces. Arabian merchants devised an ingenious method for harvesting this precious spice: they would leave large pieces of slaughtered oxen and other livestock near the birds' nests, then retreat. The birds would swoop down to carry these heavy meat chunks back to their nests, causing the structures to break away from the cliffs under the excessive weight, allowing the merchants to gather the fallen cinnamon.

Aristotle offers a different version in his Historia Animalium, claiming that the cinnamon bird (which he terms kinnamômon orneon) transported cinnamon from mysterious origins to build nests atop slender branches in very tall trees. According to Aristotle, local inhabitants would attach lead weights to arrows to bring down these nests, then collect the valuable cinnamon sticks contained within.

Pliny the Elder took a more rational approach to the cinnamon bird legend in his Naturalis Historia. He specifically criticized Herodotus and other ancient accounts, suggesting that these tales were merely fabrications created by local traders to artificially inflate the market value of their exotic commodities. His skepticism represents one of the earliest scientific challenges to what was likely a mythologized explanation for the mysterious trade routes that brought this valuable spice to the Mediterranean world.