herodotus

Such is the size of this land.*****102. The Scythians meanwhile having considered with themselves thatthey were not able to repel the army of Dareios alone by a pitchedbattle, proceeded to send messengers to those who dwelt near them: andalready the kings of these nations had come together and were takingcounsel with one another, since so great an army was marching towardsthem. Now those who had come together were the kings of the Tauroi,Agathyrsians, Neuroi, Androphagoi, Melanchlainoi, Gelonians, Budinoiand Sauromatai. 103. Of these the Tauroi have the following customs:--they sacrifice to the "Maiden" both ship-wrecked persons and alsothose Hellenes whom they can capture by putting out to sea againstthem;[103] and their manner of sacrifice is this:--when they have madethe first offering from the victim they strike his head with a club:and some say that they push the body down from the top of the cliff(for it is upon a cliff that the temple is placed) and set the head upon a stake; but others, while agreeing as to the heads, saynevertheless that the body is not pushed down from the top of thecliff, but buried in the earth. This divinity to whom they sacrifice,the Tauroi themselves say is Iphigeneia the daughter of Agamemnon.Whatsoever enemies they have conquered they treat in this fashion:--each man cuts off a head and bears it away to his house; then heimpales it on a long stake and sets it up above his house raised to agreat height, generally above the chimney; and they say that these aresuspended above as guards to preserve the whole house. This people hasits living by plunder and war. 104. The Agathyrsians are the mostluxurious of men and wear gold ornaments for the most part: also theyhave promiscuous intercourse with their women, in order that they maybe brethren to one another and being all nearly related may not feelenvy or malice one against another. In their other customs they havecome to resemble the Thracians. 105. The Neuroi practise the Scythiancustoms: and one generation before the expedition of Dareios it sobefell them that they were forced to quit their land altogether byreason of serpents: for their land produced serpents in vast numbers,and they fell upon them in still larger numbers from the desertcountry above their borders; until at last being hard pressed theyleft their own land and settled among the Budinoi. These men it wouldseem are wizards; for it is said of them by the Scythians and by theHellenes who are settled in the Scythian land that once in every yeareach of the Neuroi becomes a wolf for a few days and then returnsagain to his original form. For my part I do not believe them whenthey say this, but they say it nevertheless, and swear it moreover.106. The Androphagoi have the most savage manners of all human beings,and they neither acknowledge any rule of right nor observe any