herodotus

180. Next to these Machlyans are the Auseans. These and the Machlyansdwell round the lake Tritonis, and the river Triton is the boundarybetween them: and while the Machlyans grow their hair long at the backof the head, the Auseans do so in front. At a yearly festival ofAthene their maidens take their stand in two parties and fight againstone another with stones and staves, and they say that in doing so theyare fulfilling the rites handed down by their fathers for the divinitywho was sprung from that land, whom we call Athene: and those of themaidens who die of the wounds received they call "false-maidens." Butbefore they let them begin the fight they do this:--all join togetherand equip the maiden who is judged to be the fairest on each occasion,with a Corinthian helmet and with full Hellenic armour, and thencausing her to go up into a chariot they conduct her round the lake.Now I cannot tell with what they equipped the maidens in old time,before the Hellenes were settled near them; but I suppose that theyused to be equipped with Egyptian armour, for it is from Egypt thatboth the shield and the helmet have come to the Hellenes, as I affirm.They say moreover that Athene is the daughter of Poseidon and of thelake Tritonis, and that she had some cause of complaint against herfather and therefore gave herself to Zeus, and Zeus made her his owndaughter. Such is the story which these tell; and they have theirintercourse with women in common, not marrying but having intercourselike cattle: and when the child of any woman has grown big, he isbrought before a meeting of the men held within three months of thattime,[161] and whomsoever of the men the child resembles, his son heis accounted to be.181. Thus then have been mentioned those nomad Libyans who live alongthe sea-coast: and above these inland is the region of Libya which haswild beasts; and above the wild-beast region there stretches a raisedbelt of sand, extending from Thebes of the Egyptians to the Pillars ofHeracles. In this belt at intervals of about ten days' journey thereare fragments of salt in great lumps forming hills, and at the top ofeach hill there shoots up from the middle of the salt a spring ofwater cold and sweet; and about the spring dwell men, at the furthestlimit towards the desert, and above the wild-beast region. First, at adistance of ten days' journey from Thebes, are the Ammonians, whosetemple is derived from that of the Theban Zeus, for the image of Zeusin Thebes also, as I have said before,[162] has the head of a ram.These, as it chances, have also other water of a spring, which in theearly morning is warm; at the time when the market fills,[163] cooler;when midday comes, it is quite cold, and then they water theirgardens; but as the day declines, it abates from its coldness, untilat last, when the sun sets, the water is warm; and it continues toincrease in heat still more until it reaches midnight, when it boilsand throws up bubbles; and when midnight passes, it becomes cooler