THE SYRBOTAI were a tribe of twelve foot tall African men.
Pliny the Elder, Natural History 6. 194 (trans. Rackham) (Roman encyclopedia C1st A.D.) :
"On the African side [of the Aethiopian kingdom of Meroe] are the Medimni, and then a Nomad tribe that lives on the milk of the dog-faced baboon [the Cyncophali], the Alabi, and the Syrbotae who are said to be 12 feet high."
Pliny the Elder, Natural History 7. 31 :
"Crates of Pergamenus [Greek writer C2nd B.C.] says that . . . there are Aethiopes (Ethiopians) more than twelve feet in height, and that this race is called the Syrbotae."
- Pliny the Elder, Natural History - Latin Encyclopedia C1st A.D.