Chapter 3 Documents: Herodotus "The Histories"

This document is very informational on the lives of Persians and Egyptians and how those differ from the greeks. The religious practice of sacrafice is very different in Persia, requiring no alters or images of gods. Persians celebrate their birthdays with many dishes of foods because they consider themselves superior to all other peoples and mark a person's excellence by how close they are to Persia. They adopt many foreign customs-anything they see as lavish or of higher standard they immedietly begin practicing at home. They allow sex with adolescent boys which is not okay but apparently that's just what people did back then. Manliness is determined by courageous acts in battle and how many sons they can produce. Men do not see their sons until 5 when they begin their education so as not to be saddened if they die early. They also dont kill people for single wrong doings, free or slave. 
The Egyptians had many great infrastructures and architectural accomplishments that other empires didn't have. The women seem to be in opposite roles of the rest of the world. They shave their heads and eat outside while using the bathroom inside. In mourning they let facial hair grow. They write from right to left as opposed to greeks and they have two types of writing, one sacred and one of the people. They are very religious and cleanly, always washing their clothes well and the first known peoples to have circumcision because they believed it better to be clean than attractive. 

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