SARAPARAE
SARAPARAE (
Σαραπάραι,
Strab. xi. p.531;
Plin. Nat. 6.16. s. 18), a Thracian people, dwelling beyond Armenia near the Guranii and Medi, according to Strabo, who describes them as a savage, lawless, and mountainous people, who scalped and cut off heads (
περισκυθιστὰς καὶ ἀποκεφαλιστάς).
The latter is said by Strabo to be the meaning of their name, which is confirmed by the fact that in the Persian
sar means “head” and
para “division.” (Anquetil,
Sur les anc. Langues de la Perse, in
Mém. de l'Acad. &c. vol. xxxi. p. 419, quoted in Kramer's
Strab. vol. ii. p. 500; comp. Groskurd's
Strab. vol. ii. p. 439.)
