”For how can a dove speak the language of men?” 

This question comes from  Herodotus’s Histories Book 2 (chapter 57). It is in reference to a group of African women oracles known as the Black Doves. I first learned about their existence in antiquity through my sister, a person who collects obscure facts. I decided to read Herodotus’s account for myself. I was disappointed because there was very little there. It seemed as if there was more simmering below the surface of the words but what could it have been? I wanted to know.

This made me think about a larger picture. If the Greek historian Herodotus is considered “The father of history”, then where is the mother? Where are the women’s histories in antiquity? Were there really so many women who were illiterate for 5000 years? Were the ones that were literate all too busy to put ink to papyrus and write something down?  Did someone censor them? Did anyone write about women? So many questions and few answers. 

I ran my thoughts by a friend who brought up a grave point. She told me to consider all of the libraries that were destroyed and burned, and think about all the books that were currently being banned as we were speaking. How much do we really know about the world and the people in it? Because we haven’t heard or experienced something is not evidence that it didn’t or doesn’t exist. 

This project is to explore a lost history in a fun way, and to embrace a world more magical than currently perceived. I really need magic. 

Excerpt