hich the Borysthenes is navigable. In this place, when
their king has died, they make a large square excavation in the earth;
and when they have made this ready, they take up the corpse (the body
being covered over with wax and the belly ripped up and cleansed, and
then sewn together again, after it has been filled with kyperos 69
cut up and spices and parsley-seed and anise), and they convey it in
a waggon to another nation. Then those who receive the corpse thus
conveyed to them do the same as the Royal Scythians, that is they
cut off a part of their ear and shave their hair round about and cut
themselves all over the arms and tear their forehead and nose and pass
arrows through their left hand. Thence they convey in the waggon the
corpse of the king to another of the nations over whom they rule; and
they to whom they came before accompany them: and when they have gone
round to all conveying the corpse, then they are in the land of the
Gerrians, who have their settlements furthest away of all the nations
over whom they rule, and they have reached the spot where the burial
place is. After that, having placed the corpse in the tomb upon a bed of
leaves, they stick spears along on this side and that of the corpse and
stretch pieces of wood over them, and then they cover the place in with
matting. Then they strangle and bury in the remaining space of the
tomb one of the king's mistresses, his cup-bearer, his cook, his
horse-keeper, his attendant, and his bearer of messages, and also
horses, and a first portion of all things else, and cups of gold; for
silver they do not use at all, nor yet bronze. 70 Having thus done they
all join together to pile up a great mound, vying with one another and
zealously endeavouring to make it as large as possible.

72. Afterwards, when the year comes round again, they do as
follows:--they take the most capable of the remaining servants,--and these
are native Scythians, for those serve him whom the king himself commands
to do so, and his servants are not bought for money,--of these attendants
then they strangle fifty and also fifty of the finest horses; and when
they have taken out their bowels and cleansed the belly, they fill it
with chaff and sew it together again. Then they set the half of a wheel
upon two stakes with the hollow side upwards, and the other half of the
wheel upon other two stakes, and in this manner they fix a number of
these; and after this they run thick stakes through