were symbols of war in ancient Thrace, and Thracians performed rituals associated with those animals during war, with the wolf representing the outsider enemies. The wolf was therefore often represented in Thracian art as a symbol of warriors. An early mention by the Thracians' Greek neighbours of the connection with between the Thracian warrior and the wolf is featured in the Iliad, where the Thracian scout Dolon (, ) disguised himself as a wolf before to spy the Achaeans. Due to this connection with the wolf, the Greeks ascribed to the country of the Thracians a number of heroes whose names were derived from the word (), meaning "wolf," such as Lycurgus and Harpalyce (, ; ). Just like Harpalyce, who represented a wolf, another Thracian heroine, Polyphonte, was represented as a bear, which was another symbolic animal of the warrior. Hairstyle Similarly to the wolf's mane, distinctive hairstyles and beards were attributes of warriors in Thrace, with Homer recording that the Thracian Abantes wore their hair piled high on their heads, and Plutarch ascribing this custom to the Thracians' warlike nature. This hairstyle is attested in Thracian art in the form of the topknot of the hero depicted in the Letnitsa Treasure. Hairstyle had further significance among the Thracian aristocracy, that is the warrior class, whom Athenaeus described as "uncombed," and several pieces of Thracian artwork depict heroes as having curly hair. This reflects the role of hair braiding as a form of initiation among Indo-European military societies which was so important that their members were sometimes named after these hairstyles, which is attested among Indo-Iranian peoples in the form of the Iranian () and the Indian (). The warrior and light Since the Thracian aristocracy, that is the warrior class, were the only ones to have been initiated into the secret knowledge of immortality by Orpheus/, and knowledge was associated with light, which was itself seen as a sign of divine mission, the Thracian heroic kings were defined as light or described as "bright and luminous," and the Thracian aristocrats were called zibythides ( ), meaning "bright". Gendered punishments The punishment the Dacians king Oroles imposed on his warriors who had shown cowardice in battle against the Bastarnae was connected to the gender transformation of the warriors: he ordered them to reverse their sleeping position by sleeping with their heads placed where they normally put their feet on