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ANDREW NICHOLS

University of Florida

Anthropophagy is the eating of human flesh (cannibalism). A recurring theme in the Histories, cannibalism is often described as a barbaric custom of less civilized tribes who dwell at the edges of the earth. Although Herodotus says the SCYTHIANS are not cannibals (4.18), they do engage in a form of cannibalism by drinking the blood of the first man they kill in battle (4.64), and they fashion drinking cups from their skulls (4.65). The ANDROPHAGI were a lawless tribe of “man‐eaters” who lived north of the Scythians, though who their victims are is never specified (4.18, 106). Tribal cannibalism usually involves the eating of one’s own clansmen. The MASSAGETAE, an Iranian nomadic people from the steppes, would kill their tribesmen who were very old and feast on their flesh. This they considered the best of all deaths, and they refused to eat those who died of illness (1.216; Strabo 11.8.6/C513). Among the ISSEDONES, who dwell northeast of the Massagetae near the Urals (cf. Ptol. Geog. 6.16.5), when a father dies, his sons and nearest relations prepare a feast of his flesh mixed with that of their flock. They then strip his skull and gild it to be used as a relic for religious offerings (4.26). The CALLATIAE, living at the eastern edges of the world in INDIA, are likewise said to eat their parents (3.38). Another tribe of Indians called the PADAEANS would kill those who became sick and eat them before the DISEASE rendered them inedible. The slaying was carried out by those closest to them, with men killing men and women killing women. They also slaughtered and ate those who grew very old, but few reached this stage in life, having been euthanized earlier after falling ill (3.99). The tradition of locating cannibals at the edges of the world would be continued by later writers including STRABO, and into the Middle Ages, with explorers such as Marco Polo and John of Plano Carpini. After the discovery of the New World, explorers and missionaries such as Columbus and Joseph Francois Lafitau, the latter being especially influenced by Herodotus, continued to describe savage tribes of cannibals in unfamiliar lands.

In addition to accounts of customary cannibalism, Herodotus relates several specific episodes in which it occurred. While in EGYPT, CAMBYSES (II) led a disastrous campaign against the ETHIOPIANS during which all of their provisions ran out and the men resorted to cannibalism by killing and eating one in every ten men (3.25; John of Plano Carpini 4.52 relates an almost identical episode occurring in the army of Genghis Khan). Other episodes involved cannibalism through DECEPTION as a form of VENGEANCE. After HARPAGUS THE MEDE, the cowherd of ASTYAGES, failed to kill the baby Cyrus as ordered, he was invited to a FEAST by the king at which he was served the flesh of his own son. Much like the feast of Thyestes, the head, hands, and feet were removed and ultimately shown to Harpagus, revealing Astyages’ plot (1.119). CYAXARES, the king of the MEDES, had entrusted several Median youths to be trained by Scythians in ARCHERY. After being mistreated by Cyaxares, the Scythians killed one of the boys and served him up to the king and his companions at a banquet (1.73).

SEE ALSO: Barbarians; Ethnography; Extremes; Meat; nomos; Reception of Herodotus, 1350–1750