ans did in truth carry away the consecrated women and sold one of
them into Libya and the other into Hellas, I suppose that in the country
now called Hellas, which was formerly called Pelasgia, this woman was
sold into the land of the Thesprotians; and then being a slave there she
set up a sanctuary of Zeus under a real oak-tree; 54 as indeed it was
natural 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 of him;
and after this, when she got understanding of the Hellenic tongue, she
established an Oracle, and she reported, I suppose, that her sister had
been sold in Libya by the same Phenicians by whom she herself had been
sold.

57. Moreover, I think that the women were called doves by the people of
Dodona for the reason that they were Barbarians and because it seemed to
them that they uttered voice like birds; 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 be uttering voice like a bird: for had it been
really a dove, how could it speak with human voice? And in saying that
the dove was black, they indicate that the woman was Egyptian. The
ways of delivering oracles too at Thebes in Egypt and at Dodona closely
resemble one another, as it happens, and also the method of divination
by victims has come from Egypt.

58. Moreover, it is true also that the Egyptians were the first of men
who made solemn assemblies 55 and processions and approaches to the
temples, 56 and from them the Hellenes have learnt them, and my evidence
for this is that the Egyptian celebrations of these have been held from
a very ancient time, whereas the Hellenic were introduced 57 but lately.

59. The Egyptians hold their solemn assemblies not once in the year but
often, especially and with the greatest 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 a very great temple of Isis, and this city
stands in the middle of the Delta of Egypt; now Isis is in the tongue of
the Hellenes Demeter: thirdly, they have a solemn assembly at the city
of Sais for Athene, fourthly at Heliopolis for the Sun (Helios), fifthly
at the city of Buto 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