Highlights from Herodotus' Histories

This post was brought to you by "getting back into writing cursive, and realizing exactly how much more I can write, and write faster, if I do it longhand."

Also because I have a copy of the Histories sitting on my bookshelf.

Peoples of the World

Issedonians
If a man's father dies, his body is cut up and mixed with the meat of sacrificial sheep provided by other family members, and then cooked and eaten in a banquet. The head of the deceased is set aside, cleaned, shaved, set in gold, and brought out in a yearly festival. Women have equal authority and rights under the law as men do.

Adrymachniae
Women wear bronze rings on their legs, grow their hair very long, and have a habit of killing vermin they catch with their teeth. The king of this nation selects his wife from the entire population.

Nassamanians
Numerous, polygamous. Drink goat's milk mixed with the powder of dried locusts. Swear oaths upon the tombs of the dead, and divine the future by sleeping in the tombs of their ancestors.

Garamanteans
Live in the wilderness among animals, avoiding contact with other humans. They have no weapons of war.

Macae
Grow their hair in crests, high on the crown and trimmed down elsewhere. Their war gear predominantly features ostrich skin and feathers.

Gindanes
The women here wear leather anklets, each one a gift from a different lover.

Auseans
Wear their hear long in the front, short in the back. Yearly festival where young women form two teams and fight each other with clubs for the glory of Athena. One girl is chosen to lead a procession around the lake by chariot, in full armor. There is no marriage here, and children are raised as a group until they come of age.

Atarantions
Have no personal names. Curse and insult the sun daily at its rising.

Gyzantions
Baster beekeepers. Pain themselves read and eat monkies as their primary food source.

Melanchaeni
Wear black cloaks, regardless of season, sex, or circumstance.

Budini
Deep blue eyes and red hair. Hold Bacchic furies every three years. Were "driven out of the factories along the coast" in the past and now live as nomads.

Agathyrsi
The men favor luxurious clothing and gold decoration. Wives are held in common, and all men are considered brothers.

Neurian
Said to transform into wolves a few days a year. Nomads whose home was destroyed, now sheltering among the Budini.

Getae
Worship a god named Zolmaxis, who they believe they will go live with when they die. Every five years a messenger is chosen to be sacrificed, to carry their prayers to Zolmaxis.