Scythian funerals were decidedly unpleasant affairs. According to Herodotus:
When a king dies, they dig a great square pit, and, when it is ready, they take up the corpse, which has been previously slit open, cleaned out, and filled with various aromatic substances, crushed galingale [an aromatic plant], parsley seed, and anise; it is then sewn up again and the whole body coated over with wax…
[The king’s body is then carried in a wagon from tribe to tribe until the funeral cortege reaches the land of the Gerrhi, the most isolated of the Scythian tribes.]
Here the corpse is laid in the tomb on a mattress, with spears fixed in the ground on either side to support a roof of brush laid on wooden poles, while in other parts of the great square pit various members of the king’s household are buried beside him: one of his concubines, his butler, his cook, his groom, his steward, and his chamberlain – all of them strangled. Horses are buried too, and gold cups (the Scythians do not use silver or bronze), and a selection of his other treasures… This ceremony over, everybody with great enthusiasm sets about raising a mound of earth, each competing to make it as big as possible…
When a year is gone by, further ceremonies take place. Fifty of the late king’s attendants are taken… and are strangled, with fifty of the most beautiful horses.
When they are dead, their bowels are taken out and the cavity cleaned, filled full of chaff, and straightway sewn up again. This done, a number of posts are set into the ground, in sets of two pairs each; atop every pair of stakes half the rim of a wheel is placed to form an arch. Then strong stakes are run lengthwise through the bodies of the horses from tail to neck, and they are set on top of the rims so that the arch supports the shoulders of the horse, while the one behind holds up the belly and quarters, the legs dangling in mid-air. Each horse is given a bridle, which is stretched out in front of the horses and fastened to a peg.
The fifty strangled youths are then mounted on the fifty horses. To effect this, a stake is passed through their bodies along the course of the spine to the neck, the lower end of which projects from the body and is fixed into a socket made in the stake that runs lengthwise down the horse. The fifty riders are thus ranged in a circle round the tomb and so left.
Source:
Stephens, John Richard. “Eyewitness Reports.” Weird History 101: Tales of Intrigue, Mayhem, and Outrageous Behavior. New York: Barnes & Noble, 2006. 15. Print.
Further Reading:
Σκύθης (Scythians) / Scyth / Saka / Sakae / Sacae / Sai / Iskuzai / Askuzai
Macabre sight that must have been until the mummified riders fell down.