The Ctistae or Ktistai ( el, κτίσται) were a group/class among the

Mysians Mysians ( la, Mysi; grc, Μυσοί, ''Mysoí'') were the inhabitants of Mysia, a region in northwestern Asia Minor. Origins according to ancient authors Their first mention is by Homer, in his list of Troy, Trojans allies in the Iliad, and ac ...

of ancient

Thracian The Thracians (; grc, Θρᾷκες ''Thrāikes''; la, Thraci) were an Indo-European speaking people who inhabited large parts of Eastern and Southeastern Europe in ancient history.. "The Thracians were an Indo-European people who occupied t ...

culture. The Mysians avoided consuming any living thing, and therefore lived on such foodstuffs as milk and honey. For this reason, they were referred to as "god-fearing" and "capnobatae" (

kapnobatai Kapnobatai or capnobatae ( grc, καπνοβάται; la, capnobatae), meaning "''those who walk on/in smoke/clouds''" was one of the names given to the Mysians of Thrace (geographical and historical region in Southeast Europe, now split among Bul ...

) or "smoke-treading". The Ctistae were a class of Mysians who not only observed these dietary restrictions, but abstained from cohabitating with women. They led

celibate Celibacy (from Latin ''caelibatus'') is the state of voluntarily being unmarried, sexually abstinent, or both, usually for religious reasons. It is often in association with the role of a religious official or devotee. In its narrow sense, th ...

lives, never marrying. They were held in a place of honor by the Thracians, with their lives being dedicated to the gods. They are described by

Strabo Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of Pompey was called "Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-sighted that he could see ...

, sourcing

Poseidonius Posidonius (; grc-gre, wikt:Ποσειδώνιος, Ποσειδώνιος , "of Poseidon") "of Apamea (Syria), Apameia" (ὁ Ἀπαμεύς) or "of Rhodes" (ὁ Ῥόδιος) (), was a Greeks, Greek politician, astronomer, astrologer, geog ...

. According to Strabo, whether they took up celibacy or not they were collectively called Hippemolgi ("mare-milkers"), Galactophagi (" living on milk") or Abii ("not living (with women)").

Comparative analysis

Strabo, in the same section notes that the Greeks confounded the Mysians with the Getae (or

Geto-Dacians The Dacians (; la, Daci ; grc-gre, Δάκοι, Δάοι, Δάκαι) were the ancient Indo-European inhabitants of the cultural region of Dacia, located in the area near the Carpathian Mountains and west of the Black Sea. They are often consi ...

). That the Ctistae described by Strabo might be equivalent to the ''Polistai'' among the

Dacians The Dacians (; la, Daci ; grc-gre, Δάκοι, Δάοι, Δάκαι) were the ancient Indo-European inhabitants of the cultural region of Dacia, located in the area near the Carpathian Mountains and west of the Black Sea. They are often consid ...

mentioned by

Josephus Flavius Josephus (; grc-gre, Ἰώσηπος, ; 37 – 100) was a first-century Romano-Jewish historian and military leader, best known for ''The Jewish War'', who was born in Jerusalem—then part of Roman Judea—to a father of priestly d ...

in the

Antiquities of the Jews ''Antiquities of the Jews'' ( la, Antiquitates Iudaicae; el, Ἰουδαϊκὴ ἀρχαιολογία, ''Ioudaikē archaiologia'') is a 20-volume historiographical work, written in Greek, by historian Flavius Josephus in the 13th year of the re ...

Book 18, Chapter 1 paragraph 5 has been noted early on by

Scaliger The Della Scala family, whose members were known as Scaligeri () or Scaligers (; from the Latinized ''de Scalis''), was the ruling family of Verona and mainland Veneto (except for Venice) from 1262 to 1387, for a total of 125 years. History Wh ...

(d. 1609). He conjectured that some of the ascetics lived in groups and lived in buildings, hence the distinction of being called ''Polistai'' "City-Dwellers" .

References

Thracian religion Celibacy Religious orders {{Ancient-Thrace-stub