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This was what I heard from the priests at Thebes; at Dodona,
however, the women who deliver the oracles relate the matter as
follows: "Two black doves flew away from Egyptian Thebes, and
while one directed its flight to Libya, the other came to them. She
alighted on an oak, and sitting there began to speak with a human
voice, and told them that on the spot where she was, there should
henceforth be an oracle of Jove. They understood the announcement to
be from heaven, so they set to work at once and erected the shrine.
The dove which flew to Libya bade the Libyans to establish there the
oracle of Ammon." This likewise is an oracle of Jupiter. The
persons from whom I received these particulars were three priestesses
of the Dodonaeans, the eldest Promeneia, the next Timarete, and
the youngest Nicandra - what they said was confirmed by the other
Dodonaeans who dwell around the temple.
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