Royal Herd

According to Herodotus nomads such as the Scythians were “fed from horse-blood”; this is not entirely unbelievable, as many other nomad cultures have used their mounts as sources of food in times of desperation. As a civilised Greek he was, of course, properly quite horrified by these barbarous types and their ways. Yet horses and horsemanship were central to war and nomad society. Horses were valued above any other treasure; warlords were buried with horses, and all the accoutrements of cavalrymen. Despite 'civilised' disdain for barbarian warriors who smelled like a stable, nomads readily found employment as mercenaries in all the kingdoms that bordered the steppes. Their skills as horsemen, and the quality of horseflesh that they rode, made them the best, most brutal, raiding warriors of a brutal time.