>According to the Hebrew Bible, some of the descendants of the giants had six fingers and six toes: “And there was again war at Gath, where there was a man of great stature, who had six fingers on each hand, and six toes on each foot, twenty-four in number, and he also was descended from the giants” (2 Samuel 21:20).

People with six fingers or six toes were called “sedigiti.” According to Pliny, Natural History, xi. 43, the daughters of Horatius as well as the poet Volcatius were sedigiti

Today, a man in India has 6 fingers on each hand and seven toes on each foot. The picture below shows the hands and the feet of the Indian sedigiti.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Giants, Sedigiti

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