And in divine affairs — I think this of the first importance — 

we have the greatest part. For at the oracles of Phoibos 

women expound Apollo’s will. At the holy seat of Dodona 

by the sacred oak the female race conveys the thoughts of Zeus to all Greeks who desire it.

” . . . As for the holy rituals performed for the Fates

And the nameless goddesses, these are not holy 

in men’s hands; but among women they flourish,

Every one of them.

“. . . Thus in holy service woman plays the righteous role.”

From Euripides’ The Captive Melanippe, fragment 494 K, written c. 412 BCE. Translation by Helene Foley, reprinted in J.B. Connelly’s Portrait Of A Priestess, 2007 Princeton University Press