Читать книгу The Herodotus Encyclopedia - Группа авторов - Страница 409

ANDREW NICHOLS

University of Florida

A tribe of cannibals (their name means “Man‐eaters”) who lived beyond the SCYTHIANS north of the EUXINE (Black) Sea, at the edge of the known world (4.18, 100). Although they dressed like Scythians, the Androphagi were not Scythian (4.18; pace Ephorus BNJ 70 F158), but a lawless and nomadic people who spoke a language unique to themselves (4.106). Pliny the Elder, citing Isogonus of Nicaea rather than Herodotus, calls them “Anthropophagi” (cf. Amm. Marc. 31.2.15) and says they drank from human skulls and wore scalps over their chest like napkins (HN 7.12). Along with several of their neighbors, the Androphagi refused to assist the Scythians against DARIUS I during the Persian invasion of the region and threatened to stand their ground should either of the two enter their territory (Hdt. 4.119). However, when the Scythians reached their lands with the Persians in pursuit, the Androphagi fled into the desolate lands to the north (4.125). Herodotus’ Androphagi are unrelated to the African tribe of the same name mentioned by Philostratus (VA 6.25) and Pliny (HN 6.195, again “Anthropophagi”).

SEE ALSO: Anthropophagy; Ethnography; Extremes; Language and Communication; Nomads