The Ctistae or Ktistai () were an

ascetic Asceticism is a lifestyle characterized by abstinence from worldly pleasures through self-discipline, self-imposed poverty, and simple living, often for the purpose of pursuing spiritual goals. Ascetics may withdraw from the world for their pra ...

group or class among the ancient

Mysians Mysians (; , ''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 according to whom the Mysia ...

. 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) or "smoke-treading". The Ctistae 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. It is often in association with the role of a religious official or devotee. In its narrow sense, the term ''celibacy'' is applied on ...

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 "Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo, Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-si ...

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

Comparative analysis

Strabo, in the same section notes that the Greeks confounded the Mysians with the Getae (or Geto-Dacians). That the Ctistae described by Strabo might be equivalent to the ''Polistai'' among the

Dacians The Dacians (; ; ) 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 considered a subgroup of the Thracians. This area include ...

mentioned by

Josephus Flavius Josephus (; , ; ), born Yosef ben Mattityahu (), was a Roman–Jewish historian and military leader. Best known for writing '' The Jewish War'', he was born in Jerusalem—then part of the Roman province of Judea—to a father of pr ...

in the

Antiquities of the Jews ''Antiquities of the Jews'' (; , ''Ioudaikē archaiologia'') is a 20-volume historiographical work, written in Greek, by the Roman-Jewish historian Josephus in the 13th year of the reign of the Roman emperor Domitian, which was 94 CE. It cont ...

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