Histories

Herodotus

Herodotus. Godley, Alfred Denis, translator. Cambridge, MA; London: Harvard University Press; William Heinemann, Ltd., 1920-1925 (printing).

Now, concerning the lands inhabited by Libyans, the Adyrmachidae are the people that live nearest to Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt; they follow Egyptian customs for the most part, but dress like other Libyans. Their women wear twisted bronze ornaments on both legs; their hair is long; each catches her own lice, then bites and throws them away.

They are the only Libyans that do this, and who show the king all virgins that are to be married; the king then takes the virginity of whichever of these pleases him. These Adyrmachidae extend from Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt to the harbor called Plynus.

Next to them are the Giligamae, who inhabit the country to the west as far as the island of +Geyve [30.3,40.533] (inhabited place), Sakarya, Marmara, Turkey, Asia Aphrodisias; in between lies the island of Platea, which the Cyrenaeans colonized, and on the mainland is the harbor called Menelaus, and the Aziris which was a settlement of the Cyrenaeans. Here the country of silphium begins,