Barry Cunlife - The Scythians

the way of death
The Massagetae had a more extreme custom:
When a man grows very old all his family come together
and offer him up in sacrifice at the same time offering some
cattle. After the sacrifice they boil the flesh and feast on
it. Those who end their life in this way are considered the
happiest. If a man dies of disease they do not eat him but
bury him in the ground, bewailing his ill-fortune that he did
not live to be sacrificed.
(Hist. ix. 216)
The essence of both stories, that the flesh of revered old
people was eaten by the family in a ritual meal, need
occasion no surprise. It was a way in which the family
could share the ancestral life force. The drinking of each
other’s blood in a ceremony of bonding between blood
brothers (above, p. 217) embodies some elements of the
same concepts.
The complex and varied practices surrounding death
reflect deep-seated beliefs about the nature of life and its
continuous flow. The death of important men and women
provided the opportunity for society to reaffirm its values
and to ensure its continuity.
There can be little doubt that for the Scythians the
graves of their ancestors were of huge influence reflecting
their very being and providing an ever-present reminder
of the long and continuous history of the people. The
point is nicely made in the speech reportedly given by the
Scythian king, Idanthyrsus, to the Persians.
We Scythians have neither towns nor cultivated land
which might make us, through fear that they might be
taken or destroyed, to hurry to engage you in battle. If,
however, you want, quickly, to come to blows with us,
look, these are our ancestors’ tombs. Find them and
attempt to interfere with them; then you will see whether
or not we will fight with you. Until you do this, you can
be sure we will not face you in battle—unless it pleases us.
(Hist. iv. 127)
11.10 Granite stele from Plavni in the Odeska region. The figure’s
right hand is on the pommel of his short sword, which
is slung from his belt. His left hand holds a drinking horn. His
gorytos is attached to his belt on the left side of his body. Stelae
of this kind were placed on the summits of kurgans and were
probably intended to represent the person buried beneath. They
are in the tradition of the Late Bronze Age deer stones.
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