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23.
As for the countryside of these Scythians, all the land mentioned up to this point is level and its soil deep; but thereafter it is stony and rough.
[2]
After a long journey through this rough country, there are men inhabiting the foothills of high mountains, who are said to be bald from birth (male and female alike) and snub-nosed and with long beards; they speak their own language, and wear Scythian clothing, and their food comes from trees.
[3]
The tree by which they live is called “Pontic”; it is about the size of a fig-tree, and bears a fruit as big as a bean, with a stone in it. When this fruit is ripe, they strain it through cloth, and a thick black liquid comes from it, which they call “aschu”;1 they lick this up or drink it mixed with milk, and from the thickest lees of it they make cakes, and eat them.
[4]
They have few cattle, for the pasture in their land is not good. They each live under a tree, covering it in winter with a white felt cloth, but using no felt in summer.
[5]
These people are wronged by no man, for they are said to be sacred; nor have they any weapon of war. They judge the quarrels between their neighbors; furthermore, whatever banished man has taken refuge with them is wronged by no one. They are called Argippeans.
1 The fruit of the “Prunus Padus” is said to be made by the Cossacks into a drink called “atschi.”
Herodotus, with an English translation by A. D. Godley. Cambridge. Harvard University Press. 1920.
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References (42 total)
- Commentary references to this page
(1):
- Walter Leaf, Commentary on the Iliad (1900), 10.265
- Cross-references to this page
(4):
- Raphael Kühner, Bernhard Gerth, Ausführliche Grammatik der griechischen Sprache, KG 3.5.3
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), ARGIPPAEI
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), ISSE´DONES
- Knight's Mechanical Encyclopedia, B.
- Cross-references in general dictionaries to this page
(37):
- LSJ, Ἄρειος
- LSJ, Ποντικός
- LSJ, ἄσχυ
- LSJ, ἀπορρέω
- LSJ, βα^θυ?́-γειος
- LSJ, διαφορ-ά
- LSJ, διαιρ-έω
- LSJ, φα^λακρ-ός
- LSJ, φεύγω
- LSJ, φων-ή
- LSJ, γενεά
- LSJ, ἱμάτιον
- LSJ, κατα-φεύγω
- LSJ, κτάομαι
- LSJ, λείχω
- LSJ, λι^θ-ώδης
- LSJ, μέγεθος
- LSJ, ὅπλον
- LSJ, οὗτος
- LSJ, πα^λάθ-η
- LSJ, πα^χύς
- LSJ, πα^χύτης
- LSJ, πέπων
- LSJ, πεδι^άς
- LSJ, περι-κα^λύπτω
- LSJ, πῖλος
- LSJ, πυ_ρήν
- LSJ, σα^κ-εύω
- LSJ, σι_μός
- LSJ, σπουδ-αῖος
- LSJ, στεγν-ός
- LSJ, συ_κέα
- LSJ, συμμείγνυ_μι
- LSJ, συντίθημι
- LSJ, τρα_χ-ύς
- LSJ, τρύξ
- LSJ, ὑπώρ-εια
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