Note 69 — Chapter XXXVIII · FROM THE BATTLE OF MARATHON TO THE MARCH OF XERXES AGAINST GREECE.
Reading edition
Herodot. vii, 114. He pronounces this savage practice to be specially Persian. The old and cruel Persian queen Amestris, wife of Xerxes, sought to prolong her own life by burying alive fourteen victims, children of illustrious men, as offerings to the subterranean god.