Histories

As for Athena, they say that she was daughter of Poseidon and the Tritonian lake, and that, being for some reason angry at her father, she gave herself to Zeus, who made her his own daughter. Such is their tale. The intercourse of men and women there is promiscuous; they do not cohabit but have intercourse like cattle.

When a woman's child is well grown, the men assemble within three months and the child is adjudged to be that man's whom it is most like.

I have now described all the nomadic Libyans who live on the coast. Farther inland than these is that Libyan country which is haunted by wild beasts, and beyond this wild beasts' haunt runs a ridge of sand that stretches from Thebes [32.666,25.683] (deserted settlement), Qina, Upper Egypt, Egypt, AfricaThebes of Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt to the Pillars of Heracles.[*](Herodotus' description is true in so far as it points to the undoubted fact of a caravan route from Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt to northwestern Africa (continent)Africa; the starting-point of which, however, should be Mit Rahina [31.25,29.85] (inhabited place), Giza, Upper Egypt, Egypt, AfricaMemphis and not Thebes [32.666,25.683] (deserted settlement), Qina, Upper Egypt, Egypt, AfricaThebes . But his distances between identifiable places are nearly always incorrect; the whole description will not bear criticism. The reader is referred to the editions of Rawlinson, Macan, and How and Wells for detailed discussion of difficulties.)