herodotus

ade the Libyans to make an Oracle of Ammon; and this also is of Zeus.The priestesses of Dodona told me these things, of whom the eldest wasnamed Promeneia, the next after her Timarete, and the youngestNicandra; and the other people of Dodona who were engaged about thetemple gave accounts agreeing with theirs. 56. I however have anopinion about the matter as follows:--If the Phenicians did in truthcarry away the consecrated women and sold one of them into Libya andthe other into Hellas, I suppose that in the country now calledHellas, which was formerly called Pelasgia, this woman was sold intothe land of the Thesprotians; and then being a slave there she set upa sanctuary of Zeus under a real oak-tree;[54] as indeed it wasnatural that being an attendant of the sanctuary of Zeus at Thebes,she should there, in the place to which she had come, have a memory ofhim; and after this, when she got understanding of the Hellenictongue, she established an Oracle, and she reported, I suppose, thather sister had been sold in Libya by the same Phenicians by whom sheherself had been sold. 57. Moreover, I think that the women werecalled doves by the people of Dodona for the reason that they wereBarbarians and because it seemed to them that they uttered voice likebirds; but after a time (they say) the dove spoke with human voice,that is when the woman began to speak so that they could understand;but so long as she spoke a Barbarian tongue she seemed to them to beuttering voice like a bird: for had it been really a dove, how couldit speak with human voice? And in saying that the dove was black, theyindicate that the woman was Egyptian. The ways of delivering oraclestoo at Thebes in Egypt and at Dodona closely resemble one another, asit happens, and also the method of divination by victims has come fromEgypt.58. Moreover, it is true also that the Egyptians were the first of menwho made solemn assemblies[55] and processions and approaches to thetemples,[56] and from them the Hellenes have learnt them, and myevidence for this is that the Egyptian celebrations of these have beenheld from a very ancient time, whereas the Hellenic wereintroduced[57] but lately. 59. The Egyptians hold their solemnassemblies not once in the year but often, especially and with thegreatest zeal and devotion[58] at the city of Bubastis for Artemis,and next at Busiris for Isis; for in this last-named city there is avery great temple of Isis, and this city stands in the middle of theDelta of Egypt; now Isis is in the tongue of the Hellenes Demeter:thirdly, they have a solemn assembly at the city of Saïs for Athene,fourthly at Heliopolis for the Sun (Helios), fifthly at the city ofButo in honour of Leto, and sixthly at the city of Papremis for Ares.60. Now, when they are coming to the city of Bubastis they do asfollows:--they sail men and women together, and a great multitude ofeach sex in every boat; and some of the women have rattles and rattle