2.104 Here Herodotus talks about the practice of circumcision. From here, one cannot help but think about the story of Jacob and his twelve sons with the Hittites. What made people think of circumcision in the first place? We see here Herodotus talking about an ancient custom that we should look for in ancient documents like the Egyptians to see if they actually coincide with what Herodotus was saying.