They were extremely cautious to prevent the presence of any male animal. […] He bound the Erymanthian wild boar, an animal of astonishing size and fierceness. […] A white cow was the sacred animal, or living symbol of this goddess, the divinity of the nightly heavens. […] Her sacred animal was the Mygale, or shrew-mouse. This animal was reverenced by the Egyptians, on account of its supposed blindness, an emblem of primeval night or darkness.