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The Issedonians are said to have the following customs. When a
man's father dies, all the near relatives bring sheep to the house;
which are sacrificed, and their flesh cut in pieces, while at the same
time the dead body undergoes the like treatment. The two sorts of
flesh are afterwards mixed together, and the whole is served up at a
banquet. The head of the dead man is treated differently: it is
stripped bare, cleansed, and set in gold. It then becomes an
ornament on which they pride themselves, and is brought out year by
year at the great festival which sons keep in honour of their fathers'
death, just as the Greeks keep their Genesia. In other respects the
Issedonians are reputed to be observers of justice: and it is to be
remarked that their women have equal authority with the men. Thus our
knowledge extends as far as this nation.
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