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ὁρτῇ. H. here gives a very curious and interesting account of a native festival. K. O. Müller thought the worship a Greek one, introduced by Minyan colonists from the neighbourhood of Lake Copais (Orchom. p. 355), but H. clearly conceives it as non-Greek. Macan well suggests that the armed Athene may be a LibyPhoenician goddess, a sort of armed Astarte (cf. i. 105. 2 n.). There is no doubt that the armed maiden personified the goddess. For the test of virginity (ψευδοπαρθένους) cf. the mediaeval theory of the ordeal; e. g. Emma, mother of Edward the Confessor, was said to have cleared herself of a charge of impropriety by walking over hot ploughshares (Freeman, Norman Conq. ii. 585 f.). For harmless wounds in a sacred fight cf. ii. 63. 3.

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