Was it cruel? If, as the
ancients used to say,
the Thracians wept at
births and cheerfully
sang at their deaths, far
from being a cruel act,
the Thracians probably
considered it an honour.
In fact, wives are said to
have argued over who
would have the honour of being the chosen
one. As the Greek poet
Hesiod said: “When a
husband dies, his wives,
which are many for each
one, argue in competition held by the determination of those who
are their close friends
and relatives, and claim
them to be the deceased
husband’s dearest one.
The wife who comes out
victorious and honoured
with a judgement in her
favour, which is full of
praise and applause of
men and women, will
be beheaded by a kin
hand over the grave of
her husband and is bur20
ied beside him, while
the ones who lost the
case, that is for them
the greatest infamy,
remain mourning their
misfortune”.
Photo credit:By HM-ISKRA (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
Tomb of Seuthes
III– the famous
Thracian ruler of
the Odrysian
kingdom