VERY IMPORTANT ASSIGNMENTS 2 DIFFERENT QUESTIONS READ CAREFULLY

Selections from Herodotus’s Histories (translation is modified from that of A.D. Godley)

1) On the behavior of Egyptian females and males:

But concerning Egypt I will now speak at length, because nowhere in the entire world are there so many marvelous things not can one see so many works of unspeakable greatness! Therefore, I shall say more concerning Egypt.

Just as the Egyptians have a climate that is unlike anyone else’s, and their river is different in its nature from all other rivers, in the same way they have arranged all their customs and laws to be (more or less) the exact opposite to those of all other men. Among these customs and laws are the following: the women go the market to buy and sell while the men stay at home and weave; and while in weaving the rest of mankind pushes the weft upwards, the Egyptians push it downwards. Men carry burdens on their heads, women on their shoulders. Women pee standing up, men sitting down. The Egyptians relieve themselves indoors but eat out of doors in the streets, for the reasons that only things that are improper but necessary should be done in secret, but things that not unseemly should be done openly. No woman is dedicated to the service of any god or goddess, but men are dedicated to all gods and goddesses. Sons are not compelled against their will to support their parents, but daughters must do so whether or not they want to.

2) On Scythian religion:

The Scythians worship only the following gods: namely, Hestia [goddess of the hearth], whom they revere beyond all the rest, Zeus, and Gaia [Earth], whom they consider to be the wife of Zeus; and after these Apollo, Heavenly Aphrodite, the hero Herakles, and Ares [god of war]. These gods are worshipped by the whole nation: the Scythian royalty also offer sacrifice to Neptune. In the Scythic language, Hestia is called Tabiti, Zeus is called Papaeus (very properly, I think), Gaia is called Apia, Apollo is called Oetosyrus, Celestial Venus is called Artimpasa, and Neptune is called Thamimasadas. They use no images, altars, or temples, except in the worship of Mars; but in his worship they do use them.

The manner of their sacrifices is everywhere and in every case the same; the sacrificial victim [animal] stands with its two fore-feet bound together by a cord, and the person who is about to make the offering stands behind the victim, gives the rope a pull, and thereby throws the animal down; as it falls he calls out the name of the god to whom he is making his offering. After this, he puts a noose round the animal's neck, and, inserting a small stick, twists it round, and so strangles him. No fire is lighted, there is no consecration, and there is no pouring out of drink- offerings. As soon as the beast is strangled, the sacrificer skins the animals’ body, and then sets up the equipment needed to boil the flesh.

The problem is that Scythia is completely devoid of firewood, so the Scythians have to figure out a plan to boil the flesh, which is the following. After skinning the beasts, they take out all the bones, and (if they possess such items) put the flesh into boilers made in the country, which are very like the cauldrons of the Lesbians, except that they are of a much larger size; then placing the bones of the animals beneath the cauldron, they set them on fire, and so boil the meat. If they do not happen to possess a cauldron, they make the animal's belly hold the flesh, and pouring in at the same time a little water, they lay the bones under the animal and light them. The bones burn

beautifully; and the paunch easily contains all the flesh when it is stripped from the bones, so that by this plan your ox is made to boil himself, and the same thing goes with other animals who are sacrificed. When the meat is all cooked, the sacrificer offers a portion of the flesh and of the entrails, by casting it on the ground before him. They sacrifice all sorts of cattle, but most commonly horses.

3) On Scythian warfare As far as war goes, here are the Scythians’ customs. The Scythian soldier drinks the blood of the first man he overthrows in battle. Whatever number of men he kills, he cuts off all their heads and carries them to the king. By doing this, the warrior becomes entitled to share the loot, but if he does not produce a severed head, he gets no loot. In order to strip the skull of its covering, he makes a cut around the head above the ears, and, laying hold of the scalp, shakes the skull out; then he uses the rib of an ox to scrape the flesh completely off the skull, and he softens the skull by rubbing it between the hands to use as a napkin. Scythian warriors are proud of these scalps, and they hang them from the bridles of their horses. The more scalp-napkins a man can display, the more highly his fellow-warriors regard him. Many Scythians make themselves cloaks (like those of our [Greek] peasants) by sewing a quantity of these scalps together. Others skin the right arms of their dead enemies and use the skin that was stripped off—with the nails still hanging on it!—as a covering for their quivers. The skin of a man is thick and glossy and would in whiteness surpass almost all other hides. Some warriors even skin the entire body of an enemy: stretching the skin upon a frame, the warrior will carry it about with him wherever they ride. These are the Scythian customs with respect to scalps and skins.

The skulls of their enemies—not all of them, but of the enemies they hate the most—they treat as follows. Having sawn off the portion below the eyebrows, and cleaned out the inside, they cover the outside with leather. When a man is poor, this is all that he does; but if he is rich, he also lines the inside with gold: in either case the skull is used as a drinking-cup. They do the same with the skulls of their own relatives if they have been at feud with them and have vanquished them in the presence of the king. When strangers whom they think are worth come to visit them, they hand around these skulls, and the host tells how that these were his relatives who made war upon him, and how that he got the better of them; all this being looked upon as proof of bravery.