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September 28 A Greek Historian on Persia and Egypt

Herodotus(485-425 B.C.E) was a Greek who recorded what he saw and witness as he traveled all throughout. A group that he talks about in this source is the Persians. He states that although the Persians did not use temples or alters, they offered sacrifices Zeusues, the god of the universe along with other things like water and fire. The sacrificer would bring the victim(animals) to a pure spot and chop it up. A priest would then chant a hymn over it and after it was all done, they sacrificer would take the meat and do whatever he pleases with it. Another event they highly celebrated was the Birthday. Persian would eat a lot of food and drink a lot of wine. Even the poor, would make big meals.

Herodotus also describes how they would greet one another. If both parties were or equal status, they would kiss on the lips, if one was a bit lower, on the cheek and if one was way inferior, he would lie down in front of the other. The farther they lived the less they would respect them.  He also talks about the lives of men. They would wear Egyptian armor, take luxuries away from other countries and the men would have a great number of wives. The battlefield was where they showed their manliness since men would teach their sons how to ride horses, throw spears, etc.. from a young age.

Herodotus then proceeds to talk about the lives of the Egyptians who he states, has such amazing structures that no other country had. He mentions that some of the roles were reversed in Egyptian society. For example, women would be in markets trading while men stayed home and weaved and that women would carry loads on their shoulders while men would carry it on their heads. Men could be priests to gods and goddesses while women could. They had to shave their heads and while most people did not live with animals, the Egyptians did. He states that they would knead the dough with their feet and mix clay and even pick up shit with their hands. Even thought hey did they, he still mentions that they were very clean. They practiced circumcision, used linen clothes which they carefully washed and used bronze cups which they also washed every day.

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