 According to Herodotus (5th century BC), when two Persians meet, the greeting formula expresses their equal or inequal status.They do not speak; rather, equals kiss each other on the mouth, and in the case where one is a little inferior to the other, the kiss is given on the cheek.During the later Classical period, affectionate mouth-to-mouth kissing was first described in the Hindu epic the "Mahabharata".