72:
241:
hygienic than allowing the corpses to decompose naturally in the summer heat. Burial of the dismembered remains would have taken place in fall after returning to winter camp, but before the ground was frozen completely. Such procedures of defleshing and dismemberment may have been mistaken for evidence of cannibalism by foreign onlookers.
397:
Based on some information from literary sources it was suggested that the areas of the
Tasmola Culture distribution can be correlated with the territory of the Issedones tribal group habitat. The Pazyryk Culture of the Altai Mountains, which also covered the mountains of Eastern Kazakhstan, could be
231:
containing more than 1,000 burials of the
Scythian period, have revealed accumulations of bones often arranged in anatomical order. This indicates burials of semi-decomposed corpses or defleshed skeletons, sometimes associated with leather bags or cloth sacks. Marks on some bones show cut-marks of a
256:
1. Herodotus reports that the so-called "Androphagoi" are the "only" people in the region to practice cannibalism. However, a distinction should be drawn between "aggressive gustatory cannibalism" (i.e., hunting humans for food) and the ritualized, reverential practices reported among the
Issedones
240:
of adult skeletons. Murphy and
Mallory suggest that, since the Issedones were nomads living with cattle herds, they moved up the mountains in summer, but they wanted their dead to be buried at their winter camp; defleshing and dismemberment of the people who died in summer would have been more
418:
As
Herodotus tells us (IV.26): "The Issedonians are said to have these customs: when a man's father is dead, all the relations bring cattle to the house, and then having slain them and cut up the flesh, they cut up also the dead body of the father of their entertainer, and mixing all the flesh
135:, and the Hyperboreans are said to hand them over to the Arimaspoi, the Arimaspoi to the Issedones, from these the Skythians bring them to Sinope, thence they are carried by Greeks to Prasiai, and the Athenians take them to Delos." - Pausanias 1.31.2
244:
Murphy and
Mallory do not exclude the possibility that the flesh removed from the bodies was consumed. Archeologically these activities remain invisible. But they point out that elsewhere, Herodotus names another tribe
139:
The two cities of
Issedon Scythia and Issedon Serica have been identified with five cities in the Tarim Basin: Qiuci, Yanqi, Shule, Gumo, and Jingjue, while Yutian is identified with the latter.
79:
The exact location of their territorial span in
Central Asia is unknown. The Issedones are "placed by some in Western Siberia and by others in Chinese Turkestan," according to E. D. Phillips.
195:
of their elderly males, followed by a ritual feast at which the deceased patriarch's family ate his flesh, gilded his skull, and placed it in a position of honor much like a
575:
448:
184:, who sites the Issedones generally "in Scythia", quotes some lines to the effect that the Issedones "exult in long flowing hair" and mentions the
219:, 74 (2000):388-94) that Herodotus was mistaken in his interpretation of what he imagined to be cannibalism. Recently excavated sites in southern
341:
guide of the first century CE, according to
Phillips (Phillips 1955:170); it would have been translated from Persian to Greek by the traveller
173:), had managed to penetrate the country of the Issedones and observe their customs first-hand. Ptolemy relates a similar story about a
565:
560:
494:
520:
275:
Dr. Taylor concludes: "Inferring reverential funerary cannibalism in this case is thus the most academically cautious approach".
212:
419:
together they set forth a banquet." Similar practices obtained among the
Massagetae (Herodotus I.217) and the Scythians (Plato,
487:
An Introduction of the Turkic Peoples: Ethnogenesis and State Formation in Medieval and Early Modern Asia and the Middle East
570:
540:
E. D. Phillips, "The Legend of Aristeas: Fact and Fancy in Early Greek Notions of East Russia, Siberia, and Inner Asia"
271:
3. Herodotus specifically describes the removal of the meat and mixing it with other foodstuffs to make a funerary stew.
199:. In addition, the Issedones were supposed to have kept their wives in common. This may indicate institutionalized
321:
Phillips, "The Legend of Aristeas: Fact and Fancy in Early Greek Notions of East Russia, Siberia, and Inner Asia"
120:
380:
423:
299, Strabo 298), Phillips notes, mentioning "similar customs in medieval Tibet" (Phillips 1955:170).
158:
464:
284:
203:
and a high status for women (Herodotus IV.26: "and their women have equal rights with the men").
490:
224:
192:
59:
to the south, the Issedones are described by Herodotus as similar to, yet distinct from, the
580:
388:
524:
289:
237:
146:
113:
517:
438:
123:. According to what the Greek traveller was told at Delos in the second century CE, the
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83:
71:
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mentioned "Essedones" and Herodotus reported that a legendary Greek of the same time,
554:
443:
342:
265:
131:
At Prasiai is a temple of Apollo. Hither they say are sent the first-fruits of the
181:
132:
112:. J.D.P. Bolton places them further north-east, on the south-western slopes of the
24:
119:
Another location of the land of the Issedones can be inferred from the account of
157:
The Issedones were known to Greeks as early as the late seventh century BCE, for
433:
338:
103:
86:
and Scythian sources, describes them as living east of Scythia and north of the
246:
233:
196:
106:. Some speculate that they are the people described in Chinese sources as the
87:
56:
200:
60:
40:
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associated with the semi-legendary people of the "gold guarding vultures"
261:
185:
166:
124:
36:
452:. Vol. 14 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 885.
220:
170:
91:
48:
28:
162:
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and presumably would have no need for funerary defleshing to delay
127:
were north of the Issedones, and the Scythians were south of them:
174:
108:
70:
437:
337:
Ptolemy's information appears to come at several removes from a
228:
143:
345:
for his itinerary, used by Marinus of Tyre as well as Ptolemy.
469:
308:
The few fragmentary quoted lines are assembled by Kinkel,
82:
Herodotus, who allegedly got his information through both
381:"Asia, Steppe, East: Early Iron Age Pastoralist Cultures"
211:
The archeologists E. M. Murphy and J. P. Mallory of the
27:
at the end of the trade route leading north-east from
94:(VI.16.7) appears to place the trading stations of
252:On the other hand, Dr. Timothy Taylor points out:
191:According to Herodotus, the Issedones practiced
129:
8:
75:Issedones seen on Ancient Greek world map.
142:The Issedones may also correspond to the
249:) as the only group to eat human flesh.
301:
260:2. Scythian-type peoples were renowned
169:son of Kaustrobios of Prokonnessos (or
23:(Ἰσσηδόνες) were an ancient people of
7:
576:Tribes in Greco-Roman historiography
385:Reference Module in Social Sciences
393:10.1016/B978-0-323-90799-6.00253-6
379:Ivanov, Sergei Sergeevich (2023).
14:
223:, such as the large cemetery at
1:
328:.2 (1955, pp. 161-177) p 166.
236:, but most appear to suggest
213:Queen's University of Belfast
547:.2 (1955), pp. 161–177.
462:Taylor, "The Edible Dead",
310:Epicorum graecorum fragments
597:
537:(Thames & Hudson,1970)
535:Ancient Peoples and Places
566:Ancient peoples of Russia
561:Nomadic groups in Eurasia
16:Historical ethnical group
180:The Byzantine scholiast
31:, described in the lost
518:Scythians at Livius.org
449:Encyclopædia Britannica
366:Aristeas of Proconnesus
364:Bolton, J.D.P. (1962).
207:Cannibalism controversy
90:, while the geographer
485:Golden, Peter (1992).
161:reports that the poet
137:
76:
285:Issedones and Zyrians
232:nature indicative of
74:
571:Indo-Iranian peoples
354:Golden (1992), p. 51
159:Stephanus Byzantinus
489:. O. Harrassowitz.
465:British Archaeology
434:Minns, Ellis Hovell
368:. pp. 104–118.
523:2013-11-12 at the
409:Under "Issedones".
193:ritual cannibalism
77:
47:(IV.16-25) and by
468:, 59 (June 2001)
439:"Issedones"
149:of Central Asia.
588:
505:External sources
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96:Issedon Scythica
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529:T. Sulimirski.
525:Wayback Machine
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290:Dzungarian Gate
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257:and Massagetae.
238:disarticulation
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147:Tasmola culture
114:Altay mountains
69:
17:
12:
11:
5:
594:
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533:in the series
531:The Sarmatians
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444:Chisholm, Hugh
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268:of the corpse.
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188:to the north.
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100:Issedon Serica
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15:
13:
10:
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6:
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3:
2:
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542:Artibus Asiae
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512:The Histories
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496:3-447-03274-X
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266:decomposition
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215:have argued (
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186:one-eyed men
182:John Tzetzes
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133:Hyperboreans
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107:
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44:
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25:Central Asia
20:
18:
510:Herodotus.
153:Description
104:Tarim Basin
55:. Like the
555:Categories
421:Euthydemus
247:Androphagi
234:defleshing
197:cult image
177:merchant.
88:Massagetae
57:Massagetae
33:Arimaspeia
514:. Book 4.
312:, 243-47.
262:embalmers
217:Antiquity
201:polyandry
121:Pausanias
61:Scythians
53:Geography
41:Herodotus
21:Issedones
521:Archived
436:(1911).
279:See also
225:Aymyrlyg
167:Aristeas
125:Arimaspi
67:Location
37:Aristeas
581:Scythia
479:Sources
470:on-line
446:(ed.).
221:Siberia
171:Cyzicus
102:in the
92:Ptolemy
51:in his
49:Ptolemy
45:History
43:in his
29:Scythia
493:
175:Syrian
163:Alcman
442:. In
296:Notes
109:Wusun
84:Greek
39:, by
491:ISBN
229:Tuva
144:Saka
98:and
19:The
389:doi
339:Han
227:in
63:.
35:of
557::
545:18
395:.
387:.
383:.
326:18
116:.
499:.
391::
245:(
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