Mossynoeci

[1] Writing soon after 430 BCE, Herodotus in Book 3 cites the Mossynoeci, along with the Moschoi, Tibareni, the Macrones and Marres as comprising the 19th satrapy established by Darius of Persia.

According to his account, the Greeks spent eight days (5.5.1) in their territory, probably in the summer of 400, on their way west along the Black Sea coast from Trapezus.

The author reports that those who returned home used to say the Mossynoeci 'were the most barbarous people they passed through and the furthest removed from Greek customs' (5.4.27).

The Mossynoeci seemed to favour outdoor sex (5.4.34) and may have practised 'whistled speech' (5.4.31),[2] a form of communication still found in the region today together with just a handful of other places in the world.

[3] The Mossynoeci are mentioned in Apollonius of Rhodes's (third century BCE in Alexandria) epic poem The Voyage of Argo.