Issedones

World map according to Herodotus. At the top right in the northeast are the lands of the Issedonen, Arimaspen and Hyperboreans, south of them the massagers.

The Issedones were an ancient Central Asian or North Asian people. According to Herodotus, they lived "directly across from" the massagers .

swell

The most detailed source are the histories of Herodotus. Herodotus information is based in part on the lost epic of Aristeas , son of Kaystrobios, who allegedly visited the Issedones himself. The Issedones are also mentioned by Pausanias in connection with Delphi (1, 31, 2). Ptolemy names the trading stations Issedonia Skythika and Issedonia Serika (6, 16, 7).

location

The Issedonen lived south of the Arimaspen , the gold-guarding griffins and the Hyperboreans , north of these the Oceanos stretched. The Arimaspen had attacked the Issedonen, who in turn drove out the Scythians , who drove out the Cimmerians , "who live on the southern seas" ( Black Sea ) and thus triggered their incursion into Asia Minor and Egypt (Histories 4, 13). According to Histories 4, 23 the Scythians lived in a flat land with fertile soil. Beyond the Scythian Land, the ground became stony and rough. After a long stretch of this barren land, you came to a mountain range at the foot of which lived the Argippaioi , who were bald from birth. The Scythians and Greeks traded with these Argippeans on Borysthenes , but they needed interpreters. The land beyond the high mountains was only known from the reports of the Argippeans. The Issedonians lived east of the Argippeans. Only the Issedonen had something to report about the Hyperboreans (Histories 4, 26) who lived north of them.

Manners

The Issedonen were considered just, the women were equal to the men (Histories 4, 26) The people are said to have practiced ceremonial endo- cannibalism . When a man died, his meat was cut up, mixed with that of cattle, and eaten by relatives. The head was depilated, cleaned and then gilded. This head was venerated "like an idol" and great sacrifices were made to him every year by the son. Herodotus compares this to the Greek birth festival (Historien 4, 26).

Grave finds in Altaic Kurganen (burial mounds) seem to confirm this endocannibalism.

Equations

According to AN Bernschtam, the Issedones are identical to the Wu-sun of the Chinese sources. They lived in the "Zungaria" ( Dzungaria between Altai and Tian Shan ).

literature

• EM Murphy, JP Mallor: Herodotus and the cannibals . In: Antiquity 74, 2000, 388-394.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Pasyryk burial mound. Fischer World History: Central Asia , p. 29; Issedonen, endocannibalism in Altaic Kurganes according to Elçin Kürşat-Ahlers : On the early formation of states by steppe peoples , pp. 180/81.
2. ↑ Istoriko-arxeologiceskieje ocerki Zentralnogo Tjanschanja i Pamir-Alaja (Moscow 1952)