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The History of Herodotus: Page 23
Volume One - Book IV
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62. To the others of the gods they sacrifice thus and these kinds of
beasts, but to Ares as follows:--In each district of the several
governments[61] they have a temple of Ares set up in this way:--
bundles of brushwood are heaped up for about three furlongs[62] in
length and in breadth, but less in height; and on the top of this
there is a level square made, and three of the sides rise sheer but by
the remaining one side the pile may be ascended. Every year they pile
on a hundred and fifty waggon-loads of brushwood, for it is constantly
settling down by reason of the weather.[63] Upon this pile of which I
speak each people has an ancient iron sword[64] set up, and this is
the sacred symbol[65] of Ares. To this sword they bring yearly
offerings of cattle and of horses; and they have the following
sacrifice in addition, beyond what they make to the other gods, that
is to say, of all the enemies whom they take captive in war they
sacrifice one man in every hundred, not in the same manner as they
sacrifice cattle, but in a different manner: for they first pour wine
over their heads, and after that they cut the throats of the men, so
that the blood runs into a bowl; and then they carry this up to the
top of the pile of brushwood and pour the blood over the sword. This,
I say, they carry up; and meanwhile below by the side of the temple
they are doing thus:--they cut off all the right arms of the
slaughtered men with the hands and throw them up into the air, and
then when they have finished offering the other victims, they go away;
and the arm lies wheresoever it has chanced to fall, and the corpse
apart from it.
63. Such are the sacrifices which are established among
them; but of swine these make no use, nor indeed are they wont to keep
them at all in their land.
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64. That which relates to war is thus ordered with them:--When a
Scythian has slain his first man, he drinks some of his blood: and of
all those whom he slays in the battle he bears the heads to the king;
for if he has brought a head he shares in the spoil which they have
taken, but otherwise not. And he takes off the skin of the head by
cutting it round about the ears and then taking hold of the scalp and
shaking it off; afterwards he scrapes off the flesh with the rib of an
ox, and works the skin about with his hands; and when he has thus
tempered it, he keeps it as a napkin to wipe the hands upon, and hangs
it from the bridle of the horse on which he himself rides, and takes
pride in it; for whosoever has the greatest number of skins to wipe
the hands upon, he is judged to be the bravest man. Many also make
cloaks to wear of the skins stripped off, sewing them together like
shepherds' cloaks of skins;[66] and many take the skin together with
the finger-nails off the right hands of their enemies when they are
dead, and make them into covers for their quivers: now human skin it
seems is both thick and glossy in appearance, more brilliantly white
than any other skin. Many also take the skins off the whole bodies of
men and stretch them on pieces of wood and carry them about on their
horses.
65. Such are their established customs about these things; and
to the skulls themselves, not of all but of their greatest enemies,
they do thus:--the man saws off all below the eyebrows and clears out
the inside; and if he is a poor man he only stretches ox-hide round it
and then makes use of it; but if he be rich, besides stretching the
ox-hide he gilds it over within, and makes use of it as a drinking-
cup. They do this also if any of their own family have been at
variance with them and the man gets the better of his adversary in
trial before the king; and when strangers come to him whom he highly
esteems, he sets these skulls before them, and adds the comment that
they being of his own family had made war against him, and that he had
got the better of them; and this they hold to be a proof of manly
virtue.
66. Once every year each ruler of a district mixes in his own
district a bowl of wine, from which those of the Scythians drink by
whom enemies have been slain; but those by whom this has not been done
do not taste of the wine, but sit apart dishonoured; and this is the
greatest of all disgraces among them: but those of them who have slain
a very great number of men, drink with two cups together at the same
time.
67. Diviners there are many among the Scythians, and they divine with
a number of willow rods in the following manner:--they bring large
bundles of rods, and having laid them on the ground they unroll them,
and setting each rod by itself apart they prophesy; and while speaking
thus, they roll the rods together again, and after that they place
them in order a second time one by one.[67] This manner of divination
they have from their fathers: but the Enareës or "man-women"[68] say
that Aphrodite gave them the gift of divination, and they divine
accordingly with the bark of the linden-tree. Having divided the
linden-bark into three strips, the man twists them together in his
fingers and untwists them again, and as he does this he utters the
oracle.
68. When the king of the Scythians is sick, he sends for three
of the diviners, namely those who are most in repute, who divine in
the manner which has been said: and these say for the most part
something like this, namely that so and so has sworn falsely by the
hearth of the king, and they name one of the citizens, whosoever it
may happen to be: now it is the prevailing custom of the Scythians to
swear by the hearth of the king at the times when they desire to swear
the most solemn oath. He then who they say has sworn falsely, is
brought forthwith held fast on both sides; and when he has come the
diviners charge him with this, that he is shown by their divination to
have sworn falsely by the hearth of the king, and that for this reason
the king is suffering pain: and he denies and says that he did not
swear falsely, and complains indignantly: and when he denies it, the
king sends for other diviners twice as many in number, and if these
also by looking into their divination pronounce him guilty of having
sworn falsely, at once they cut off the man's head, and the diviners
who came first part his goods among them by lot; but if the diviners
who came in afterwards acquit him, other diviners come in, and again
others after them. If then the greater number acquit the man, the
sentence is that the first diviners shall themselves be put to death.
69. They put them to death accordingly in the following manner:--first
they fill a waggon with brushwood and yoke oxen to it; then having
bound the feet of the diviners and tied their hands behind them and
stopped their mouths with gags, they fasten them down in the middle of
the brushwood, and having set fire to it they scare the oxen and let
them go: and often the oxen are burnt to death together with the
diviners, and often they escape after being scorched, when the pole to
which they are fastened has been burnt: and they burn the diviners in
the manner described for other causes also, calling them false
prophets. Now when the king puts any to death, he does not leave alive
their sons either, but he puts to death all the males, not doing any
hurt to the females.
70. In the following manner the Scythians make
oaths to whomsoever they make them:--they pour wine into a great
earthenware cup and mingle with it blood of those who are taking the
oath to one another, either making a prick with an awl or cutting with
a dagger a little way into their body, and then they dip into the cup
a sword[64] and arrows and a battle-axe and a javelin; and having done
this, they invoke many curses on the breaker of the oath, and
afterwards they drink it off, both they who are making the oath and
the most honourable of their company.
71. The burial-place of the kings is in the land of the Gerrians, the
place up to which the Borysthenes is navigable. In this place, when
their king has died, they make a large square excavation in the earth;
and when they have made this ready, they take up the corpse (the body
being covered over with wax and the belly ripped up and cleansed, and
then sewn together again, after it has been filled with /kyperos/[69]
cut up and spices and parsley-seed and anise), and they convey it in a
waggon to another nation. Then those who receive the corpse thus
conveyed to them do the same as the Royal Scythians, that is they cut
off a part of their ear and shave their hair round about and cut
themselves all over the arms and tear their forehead and nose and pass
arrows through their left hand. Thence they convey in the waggon the
corpse of the king to another of the nations over whom they rule; and
they to whom they came before accompany them: and when they have gone
round to all conveying the corpse, then they are in the land of the
Gerrians, who have their settlements furthest away of all the nations
over whom they rule, and they have reached the spot where the burial
place is. After that, having placed the corpse in the tomb upon a bed
of leaves, they stick spears along on this side and that of the corpse
and stretch pieces of wood over them, and then they cover the place in
with matting. Then they strangle and bury in the remaining space of
the tomb one of the king's mistresses, his cup-bearer, his cook, his
horse-keeper, his attendant, and his bearer of messages, and also
horses, and a first portion of all things else, and cups of gold; for
silver they do not use at all, nor yet bronze.[70] Having thus done
they all join together to pile up a great mound, vying with one
another and zealously endeavouring to make it as large as possible.
72. Afterwards, when the year comes round again, they do as follows:--
they take the most capable of the remaining servants,--and these are
native Scythians, for those serve him whom the king himself commands
to do so, and his servants are not bought for money,--of these
attendants then they strangle fifty and also fifty of the finest
horses; and when they have taken out their bowels and cleansed the
belly, they fill it with chaff and sew it together again. Then they
set the half of a wheel upon two stakes with the hollow side upwards,
and the other half of the wheel upon other two stakes, and in this
manner they fix a number of these; and after this they run thick
stakes through the length of the horses as far as the necks, and they
mount them upon the wheels; and the front pieces of wheel support the
shoulders of the horses, while those behind bear up their bellies,
going by the side of the thighs; and both front and hind legs hang in
the air. On the horses they put bridles and bits, and stretch the
bridles tight in front of them and then tie them up to pegs: and of
the fifty young men who have been strangled they mount each one upon
his horse, having first[71] run a straight stake through each body
along by the spine up to the neck; and a part of this stake projects
below, which they fasten into a socket made in the other stake that
runs through the horse. Having set horsemen such as I have described
in a circle round the tomb, they then ride away.
73. Thus they bury
their kings; but as for the other Scythians, when they die their
nearest relations carry them round laid in waggons to their friends in
succession; and of them each one when he receives the body entertains
those who accompany it, and before the corpse they serve up of all
things about the same quantity as before the others. Thus private
persons are carried about for forty days, and then they are buried:
and after burying them the Scythians cleanse themselves in the
following way:--they soap their heads and wash them well, and then,
for their body, they set up three stakes leaning towards one another
and about them they stretch woollen felt coverings, and when they have
closed them as much as possible they throw stones heated red-hot into
a basin placed in the middle of the stakes and the felt coverings.
74.
Now they have hemp growing in their land, which is very like flax
except in thickness and in height, for in these respects the hemp is
much superior. This grows both of itself and with cultivation; and of
it the Thracians even make garments, which are very like those made of
flaxen thread, so that he who was not specially conversant with it
would not be able to decide whether the garments were of flax or of
hemp; and he who had not before seen stuff woven of hemp would suppose
that the garment was made of flax.
75. The Scythians then take the
seed of this hemp and creep under the felt coverings, and then they
throw the seed upon the stones which have been heated red-hot: and it
burns like incense and produces a vapour so think that no vapour-bath
in Hellas would surpass it: and the Scythians being delighted with the
vapour-bath howl like wolves.[72] This is to them instead of washing,
for in fact they do not wash their bodies at all in water. Their women
however pound with a rough stone the wood of the cypress and cedar and
frankincense tree, pouring in water with it, and then with this
pounded stuff, which is thick, they plaster over all their body and
also their face; and not only does a sweet smell attach to them by
reason of this, but also when they take off the plaster on the next
day, their skin is clean and shining.
76. This nation also[73] is very averse to adopting strange customs,
rejecting even those of other tribes among themselves,[74] but
especially those of the Hellenes, as the history of Anacharsis and
also afterwards of Skyles proved.[75] For as to Anacharsis first, when
he was returning to the abodes of the Scythians, after having visited
many lands[76] and displayed in them much wisdom, as he sailed through
the Hellespont he put in to Kyzicos: and since he found the people of
Kyzicos celebrating a festival very magnificently in honour of the
Mother of the gods, Anacharsis vowed to the Mother that if he should
return safe and sound to his own land, he would both sacrifice to her
with the same rites as he saw the men of Kyzicos do, and also hold a
night festival. So when he came to Scythia he went down into the
region called Hylaia (this is along by the side of the racecourse of
Achilles and is quite full, as it happens, of trees of all kinds),--
into this, I say, Anacharsis went down, and proceeded to perform all
the ceremonies of the festival in honour of the goddess, with a
kettle-drum and with images hung about himself. And one of the
Scythians perceived him doing this and declared it to Saulios the
king; and the king came himself also, and when he saw Anacharsis doing
this, he shot him with an arrow and killed him. Accordingly at the
present time if one asks about Anacharsis, the Scythians say that they
do not know him, and for this reason, because he went out of his own
country to Hellas and adopted foreign customs. And as I heard from
Tymnes the steward[77] of Ariapeithes, he was the uncle on the
father's side of Idanthyrsos king of the Scythians, and the son of
Gnuros, the son of Lycos, the son of Spargapeithes. If then Anacharsis
was of this house, let him know that he died by the hand of his
brother, for Idanthyrsos was the son of Saulios, and Saulios was he
who killed Anacharsis.
77. However I have heard also another story,
told by the Peloponnesians, that Anacharsis was sent out by the king
of the Scythians, and so made himself a disciple of Hellas; and that
when he returned back he said to him that had sent him forth, that the
Hellenes were all busied about every kind of cleverness except the
Lacedemonians; but these alone knew how to exchange speech sensibly.
This story however has been invented[78] without any ground by the
Hellenes themselves; and however that may be, the man was slain in the
way that was related above.
78. This man then fared thus badly by reason of foreign customs and
communication with Hellenes; and very many years afterwards Skyles the
son of Ariapeithes suffered nearly the same fate as he. For
Ariapeithes the king of the Scythians with other sons had Skyles born
to him: and he was born of a woman who was of Istria, and certainly
not a native of Scythia; and this mother taught him the language and
letters of Hellas. Afterwards in course of time Ariapeithes was
brought to his end by treachery at the hands of Spargapeithes the king
of the Agathyrsians, and Skyles succeeded to the kingdom; and he took
not only that but also the wife of his father, whose name was Opoia:
this Opoia was a native Scythian and from her was born Oricos to
Ariapeithes. Now when Skyles was king of the Scythians, he was by no
means satisfied with the Scythian manner of life, but was much more
inclined towards Hellenic ways because of the training with which he
had been brought up, and he used to do somewhat as follows:--When he
came with the Scythians in arms to the city of the Borysthenites (now
these Borysthenites say that they are of Miletos),--when Skyles came
to these, he would leave his band in the suburbs of the city and go
himself within the walls and close the gates. After that he would lay
aside his Scythian equipments and take Hellenic garments, and wearing
them he would go about in the market-place with no guards or any other
man accompanying him (and they watched the gates meanwhile, that none
of the Scythians might see him wearing this dress): and while in other
respects too he adopted Hellenic manners of life, he used also to
perform worship to the gods according to the customs of the Hellenes.
Then having stayed a month or more than that, he would put on the
Scythian dress and depart. This he did many times, and he both built
for himself a house in Borysthenes and also took to it a woman of the
place as his wife.
79. Since however it was fated that evil should
happen to him, it happened by an occasion of this kind:--he formed a
desire to be initiated in the rites of Bacchus-Dionysos, and as he was
just about to receive[79] the initiation, there happened a very great
portent. He had in the city of the Borysthenites a house of great size
and built with large expense, of which also I made mention a little
before this, and round it were placed sphinxes and griffins of white
stone: on this house Zeus[79a] caused a bolt to fall; and the house
was altogether burnt down, but Skyles none the less for this completed
his initiation. Now the Scythians make the rites of Bacchus a reproach
against the Hellenes, for they say that it is not fitting to invent a
god like this, who impels men to frenzy. So when Skyles had been
initiated into the rites of Bacchus, one of the Borysthenites went
off[80] to the Scythians and said: "Whereas ye laugh at us, O
Scythians, because we perform the rite of Bacchus and because the god
seizes us, now this divinity has seized also your king; and he is both
joining in the rite of Bacchus and maddened by the influence of the
god. And if ye disbelieve me, follow and I will show you." The chief
men of the Scythians followed him, and the Borysthenite led them
secretly into the town and set them upon a tower. So when Skyles
passed by with the company of revellers, and the Scythians saw him
joining in the rite of Bacchus, they were exceedingly grieved at it,
and they went out and declared to the whole band that which they had
seen.
80. After this when Skyles was riding out again to his own
abode, the Scythians took his brother Octamasades for their leader,
who was a son of the daughter of Teres, and made insurrection against
Skyles. He then when he perceived that which was being done to his
hurt and for what reason it was being done, fled for refuge to Thrace;
and Octamasades being informed of this, proceeded to march upon
Thrace. So when he had arrived at the river Ister, the Thracians met
him; and as they were about to engage battle, Sitalkes sent a
messenger to Octamasades and said: "Why must we make trial of one
another in fight? Thou art my sister's son and thou hast in thy power
my brother. Do thou give him back to me, and I will deliver to thee
thy brother Skyles: and let us not either of us set our armies in
peril, either thou or I." Thus Sitalkes proposed to him by a herald;
for there was with Octamasades a brother of Sitalkes, who had gone
into exile for fear of him. And Octamasades agreed to this, and by
giving up his own mother's brother to Sitalkes he received his brother
Skyles in exchange: and Sitalkes when he received his brother led him
away as a prisoner, but Octamasades cut off the head of Skyles there
upon the spot. Thus do the Scythians carefully guard their own
customary observances, and such are the penalties which they inflict
upon those who acquire foreign customs besides their own.
81. How many the Scythians are I was not able to ascertain precisely,
but I heard various reports of the number: for reports say both that
they are very many in number and also that they are few, at least as
regards the true Scythians.[81] Thus far however they gave me evidence
of my own eyesight:--there is between the river Borysthenes and the
Hypanis a place called Exampaios, of which also I made mention
somewhat before this, saying that there was in it a spring of bitter
water, from which the water flows and makes the river Hypanis unfit to
drink. In this place there is set a bronze bowl, in size at least six
times as large as the mixing-bowl at the entrance of the Pontus, which
Pausanias the son of Cleombrotos dedicated: and for him who has never
seen that, I will make the matter clear by saying that the bowl in
Scythia holds easily six hundred amphors,[82] and the thickness of
this Scythian bowl is six fingers. This then the natives of the place
told me had been made of arrow-heads: for their king, they said, whose
name was Ariantas, wishing to know how many the Scythians were,
ordered all the Scythians to bring one arrow-head, each from his own
arrow, and whosoever should not bring one, he threatened with death.
So a great multitude of arrow-heads was brought, and he resolved to
make of them a memorial and to leave it behind him: from these then,
they said, he made this bronze bowl and dedicated it in this place
Exampaios.
82. This is what I heard about the number of the Scythians.
Now this land has no marvellous things except that it has rivers which
are by far larger and more numerous than those of any other land. One
thing however shall be mentioned which it has to show, and which is
worthy of wonder even besides the rivers and the greatness of the
plain, that is to say, they point out a footprint of Heracles in the
rock by the bank of the river Tyras, which in shape is like the mark
of a man's foot but in size is two cubits long. This then is such as I
have said; and I will go back now to the history which I was about to
tell at first.
*****
83. While Dareios was preparing to go against the Scythians and was
sending messengers to appoint to some the furnishing of a land-army,
to others that of ships, and to others the bridging over of the
Thracian Bosphorus, Artabanos, the son of Hystaspes and brother of
Dareios, urged him by no means to make the march against the
Scythians, telling him how difficult the Scythians were to deal with.
Since however he did not persuade him, though he gave him good
counsel, he ceased to urge; and Dareios, when all his preparations had
been made, began to march his army forth from Susa.
84. Then one of
the Persians, Oiobazos, made request to Dareios that as he had three
sons and all were serving in the expedition, one might be left behind
for him: and Dareios said that as he was a friend and made a
reasonable request, he would leave behind all the sons. So Oiobazos
was greatly rejoiced, supposing that his sons had been freed from
service, but Dareios commanded those who had the charge of such things
to put to death all the sons of Oiobazos.
85. These then were left,
having been slain upon the spot where they were: and Dareios meanwhile
set forth from Susa and arrived at the place on the Bosphorus where
the bridge of ships had been made, in the territory of Chalcedon; and
there he embarked in a ship and sailed to the so-called Kyanean rocks,
which the Hellenes say formerly moved backwards and forwards; and
taking his seat at the temple[83] he gazed upon the Pontus, which is a
sight well worth seeing. Of all seas indeed it is the most marvellous
in its nature. The length of it is eleven thousand one hundred
furlongs,[84] and the breadth, where it is broadest, three thousand
three hundred: and of this great Sea the mouth is but four furlongs
broad, and the length of the mouth, that is of the neck of water which
is called Bosphorus, where, as I said, the bridge of ships had been
made, is not less than a hundred and twenty furlongs. This Bosphorus
extends to the Propontis; and the Propontis, being in breadth five
hundred furlongs and in length one thousand four hundred, has its
outlet into the Hellespont, which is but seven furlongs broad at the
narrowest place, though it is four hundred furlongs in length: and the
Hellespont runs out into that expanse of sea which is called the
Egean.
86. These measurements I have made as follows:--a ship
completes on an average in a long day a distance of seventy thousand
fathoms, and in a night sixty thousand. Now we know that to the river Phasis from the mouth of the Sea (for it is here that the Pontus is
longest) is a voyage of nine days and eight nights, which amounts to
one hundred and eleven myriads[85] of fathoms; and these fathoms are
eleven thousand one hundred furlongs. Then from the land of the
Sindians to Themiskyra on the river Thermodon (for here is the
broadest part of the Pontus) it is a voyage of three days and two
nights, which amounts to thirty-three myriads[86] of fathoms or three
thousand three hundred furlongs. This Pontus then and also the
Bosphorus and the Hellespont have been measured by me thus, and their
nature is such as has been said: and this Pontus also has a lake which
has its outlet into it, which lake is not much less in size than the
Pontus itself, and it is called Maiotis and "Mother of the Pontus."
87. Dareios then having gazed upon the Pontus sailed back to the
bridge, of which Mandrocles a Samian had been chief constructor; and
having gazed upon the Bosphorus also, he set up two pillars[86a] by it
of white stone with characters cut upon them, on the one Assyrian and
on the other Hellenic, being the names of all the nations which he was
leading with him: and he was leading with him all over whom he was
ruler. The whole number of them without the naval force was reckoned
to be seventy myriads[87] including cavalry, and ships had been
gathered together to the number of six hundred. These pillars the
Byzantians conveyed to their city after the events of which I speak,
and used them for the altar of Artemis Orthosia, excepting one stone,
which was left standing by the side of the temple of Dionysos in
Byzantion, covered over with Assyrian characters. Now the place on the
Bosphorus where Dareios made his bridge is, as I conclude,[87a] midway
between Byzantion and the temple at the mouth of the Pontus.
88. After
this Dareios being pleased with the floating bridge rewarded the chief
constructor of it, Mandrocles the Samian, with gifts tenfold;[88] and
as an offering from these Mandrocles had a painting made of figures to
present the whole scene of the bridge over the Bosphorus and king
Dareios sitting in a prominent seat and his army crossing over; this
he caused to be painted and dedicated it as an offering in the temple
of Hera, with the following inscription:
"Bosphorus having bridged over, the straits fish-abounding, to Hera
Mandrocleës dedicates this, of his work to record;
A crown on himself he set, and he brought to the Samians glory,
And for Dareios performed everything after his mind."
89. This memorial was made of him who constructed the bridge: and Dareios, after he had rewarded Mandrocles with gifts, passed over into
Europe, having first commanded the Ionians to sail into the Pontus as
far as the river Ister, and when they arrived at the Ister, there to
wait for him, making a bridge meanwhile over the river; for the chief
of his naval force were the Ionians, the Aiolians and the
Hellespontians. So the fleet sailed through between the Kyanean rocks
and made straight for the Ister; and then they sailed up the river a
two days' voyage from the sea and proceeded to make a bridge across
the neck, as it were, of the river, where the mouths of the Ister part
off. Dareios meanwhile, having crossed the Bosphorus on the floating
bridge, was advancing through Thrace, and when he came to the sources
of the river Tearos he encamped for three days.
90. Now the Tearos is
said by those who dwell near it to be the best of all rivers, both in
other respects which tend to healing and especially for curing
diseases of the skin[89] both in men and in horses: and its springs
are thirty-eight in number, flowing all from the same rock, of which
some are cold and others warm. The way to them is of equal length from
the city of Heraion near Perinthos and from Apollonia upon the Euxine
Sea, that is to say two days' journey by each road. This Tearos runs
into the river Contadesdos and the Contadesdos into the Agrianes and
the Agrianes into the Hebros, which flows into the sea by the city of
Ainos.
91. Dareios then, having come to this river and having encamped
there, was pleased with the river and set up a pillar there also, with
an inscription as follows: "The head-springs of the river Tearos give
the best and fairest water of all rivers; and to them came leading an
army against the Scythians the best and fairest of all men, Dareios
the son of Hystaspes, of the Persians and of all the Continent king."
These were the words which were there written.
92. Dareios then set out from thence and came to another river whose
name is Artescos, which flows through the land of the Odrysians.
Having come to this river he did as follows:--he appointed a place for
his army and bade every man as he passed out by it place one stone in
this appointed place: and when the army had performed this, then he
marched away his army leaving behind great mounds of these stones.
93.
But before he came to the Ister he conquered first the Getai, who
believe in immortality: for the Thracians who occupy Salmydessos and
are settled above the cities of Apollonian and Mesambria, called the
Kyrmianai[90] and the Nipsaioi, delivered themselves over to Dareios
without fighting; but the Getai, who are the bravest and the most
upright in their dealings of all the Thracians, having betaken
themselves to obstinacy were forthwith subdued.
94. And their belief
in immortality is of this kind, that is to say, they hold that they do
not die, but that he who is killed goes to Salmoxis,[91] a
divinity,[92] whom some of them call Gebeleizis; and at intervals of
four years[93] they send one of themselves, whomsoever the lot may
select, as a messenger to Salmoxis, charging him with such requests as
they have to make on each occasion; and they send him thus:--certain
of them who are appointed for this have three javelins, and others
meanwhile take hold on both sides of him who is being sent to
Salmoxis, both by his hands and his feet, and first they swing him up,
then throw him into the air so as to fall upon the spear-points: and
if when he is pierced through he is killed, they think that the god is
favourable to them; but if he is not killed, they find fault with the
messenger himself, calling him a worthless man, and then having found
fault with him they send another: and they give him the charge
beforehand, while he is yet alive. These same Thracians also shoot
arrows up towards the sky when thunder and lightning come, and use
threats to the god, not believing that there exists any other god
except their own.
95. This Salmoxis I hear from the Hellenes who dwell
about the Hellespont and the Pontus, was a man, and he became a slave
in Samos, and was in fact a slave of Pythagoras the son of Mnesarchos.
Then having become free he gained great wealth, and afterwards
returned to his own land: and as the Thracians both live hardly and
are rather simple-minded, this Salmoxis, being acquainted with the
Ionian way of living and with manners more cultivated[94] than the
Thracians were used to see, since he had associated with Hellenes (and
not only that but with Pythagoras, not the least able philosopher[95]
of the Hellenes), prepared a banqueting-hall,[96] where he received
and feasted the chief men of the tribe and instructed them meanwhile
that neither he himself nor his guests nor their descendants in
succession after them would die; but that they would come to a place
where they would live for ever and have all things good. While he was
doing that which has been mentioned and was saying these things, he
was making for himself meanwhile a chamber under the ground; and when
his chamber was finished, he disappeared from among the Thracians and
went down into the underground chamber, where he continued to live for
three years: and they grieved for his loss and mourned for him as
dead. Then in the fourth year he appeared to the Thracians, and in
this way the things which Salmoxis said became credible to them.
96.
Thus they say that he did; but as to this matter and the chamber under
ground, I neither disbelieve it nor do I very strongly believe, but I
think that this Salmoxis lived many years before Pythagoras. However,
whether there ever lived a man Salmoxis, or whether he is simply a
native deity of the Getai, let us bid farewell to him now.
More History
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