Editing Issedones (section)

==Description==
The Issedones were known to Greeks as early as the late seventh century BCE, for [[Stephanus Byzantinus]]<ref>Under "Issedones".</ref> reports that the poet [[Alcman]] mentioned "Essedones" and Herodotus reported that a legendary Greek of the same time, [[Aristeas]] son of Kaustrobios of Prokonnessos (or [[Cyzicus]]), had managed to penetrate the country of the Issedones and observe their customs first-hand. Ptolemy relates a similar story about a [[Syria]]n merchant.

The Byzantine scholiast [[John Tzetzes]], who sites the Issedones generally "in Scythia", quotes some lines to the effect that the Issedones "exult in long flowing hair" and mentions the [[Arimaspi|one-eyed men]] to the north.

According to Herodotus, the Issedones practiced [[Human cannibalism|ritual cannibalism]] 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 [[cult image]].<ref>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 together they set forth a banquet."

Similar practices obtained among the Massagetae (Herodotus I.217) and the Scythians (Plato, ''Euthydemus'' 299, Strabo 298), Phillips notes, mentioning "similar customs in medieval Tibet" (Phillips 1955:170).</ref> In addition, the Issedones were supposed to have kept their wives in common.<ref>{{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Issedones||volume=14|page=885|first=Ellis Hovell|last=Minns|author-link=Ellis Minns}}</ref> This may indicate institutionalized [[polyandry]] and a high status for women (Herodotus IV.26: "and their women have equal rights with the men").