Dodona

Dodona, a city of Epirus, with an oracle of Jupiter in an oak-grove

Dōdōna, ae (-ē, es, Plin. 2, 103, 106, § 228; Claud. III. Cons. Hon. 117), f., = Δωδώνη,

a city in Epirus, famed on account of its very ancient oracle of Jupiter, situated in an oak-grove, Cic. Div. 1, 43, 95; Plin. l. l.; Prop. 2, 21, 3 (3, 14, 3 M.); Ov. Tr. 4, 8, 43; Luc. 6, 426 al.—
- B Meton.
- - 1 The sacred oak-grove of Dodona, Verg. G. 1, 149 Serv.—
  - 2 The Dodonean priests, Nep. Lys. 3, 2.—
II Derivv.
- A Dōdō-naeus, a, um, adj., of Dodona, Dodonean: quercus, Cic. Att. 2, 4; cf. Ov. M. 7, 623: oraculum, Cic. Div. 1, 1 fin.: Juppiter, id. ib. 1, 34, 76; Mel. 2, 3, 5; Plin. 4, 1, 1, § 2: lebetas, Verg. A. 3, 466: agmina, Claud. Bell. Get. 136 al.—*
- B Dōdōnĭus, a, um, adj., of Dodona: quercus, Claud. Rapt. Pros. 1, 31.—
- C Dōdōnis, ĭdis, f. adj., Dodonean: terra, Ov. M. 13, 716: quercus, Val. Fl. 1, 32: Thyene, i. e. one of the Hyades, as the nurses of Jupiter, Ov. F. 6, 711; these latter are called Dodonides Nymphae, Hyg. Fab. 182.—
- D Dō-dōnĭgĕna, ae, m. adj.: populi, i. e. nations living on acorns, Sid. Ep. 6, 12 med.

DODONA

DODO´NA(Δωδώνη; sometimes Δωδών, Soph. Trach. 172: Eth. Δωδωναῖος), a town in Epeirus, celebrated for its oracle of Zeus, the most ancient in Hellas. It was one of the seats of the Pelasgians, and the Dodonaean Zeus was a Pelasgic divinity. The oracle at Dodona enjoyed most celebrity in the earlier times. In consequence of its distance from the leading Grecian states, it was subsequently supplanted to a great extent by that at Delphi; but it continued to enjoy a high reputation, and was regarded in later times as one of the three greatest oracles, the other two being those of Delphi and of Zeus Ammon in Libya. (Strab. 16. p. 762; Cic. de Div. 1.1, 43; Corn. Nep. Lys. 3.)

The antiquity of Dodona is attested by several passages of Homer, which it is necessary to quote as they have given rise to considerable discussion: (1) Γουνεὺς δ’ ἐκ Κύφου ἦγε δύω καὶ εἴκοσι νῆας· τῷ δ’ Ἐνιῆνες ἕποντο μενεπτόλεμοί τε Περαιβοὶ,οἳ περὶ Δωδώνην δυσχείμερον οἰκί’ ἔθεντο, οἵ τ’ ἀμφ’ ἱμερτὸν Τιταρησσὸν ἔργα νέμοντοIl. 2.748-751.(2) Ζεῦ ἄνα Δωδωναῖε Πελασγικὲ τηλόθι ναίων,Δωδώνης μεδέων δυσχειμέρου, ἀμφὶ δὲ Σελλοὶσοὶ ναίουσ’ ὑποφῆται ἀνιπτόποδες χαμαιεῦναι.Il. 16.233-235(3) τὸν δ’ ἐς Δωδώνην φάτο βήμεναι, ὄφρα θεοῖοἐκ δρυὸς ὑψικόμοιο Διὸς βουλὴν ἐπακούσαι,ὅππως νοστήσει’ Ἰθάκης ἐς πίονα δῆμον.Od. 14.327-328= 19.296

The ancient critics believed that there were two places of the name of Dodona, one in Thessaly, in the district of Perrhaebia near Mount Olympus, and the other in Epeirus in the district of Thesprotia; that the Enienes mentioned (No. 1) along with the Perrhaebi of the river Titaresius came from the Thessalian town; and that the Dodona, which Ulysses visited in order to consult the oracular oak of Zeus, after leaving the king of the Thesproti, was the place in Epeirus (No. 3). With respect to the second passage above quoted there was a difference of opinion; some supposing posing that Achilles prayed to Zeus in the Thessalian Dodona as the patron god of his native country; but others maintaining that the mention of Selli, whose name elsewhere occurs in connection with the Thesprotian Dodona, points to the place in Epeirns. (Strab. 7. p. 327, 9. p. 441; Steph. B. s. v. Δωδώνη.) There can be no doubt, that the first-quoted passage in Homer refers to a Dodona in Thessaly; but as there is no evidence of the existence of an oracle at this place, it is probable that the prayer of Achilles was directed to the god in Epeirus, whose oracle had already acquired great celebrity, as we see from the passage in the Odyssey. The Thessalian Dodona is said to have been also called Bodona; and from this place the Thesprotian Dodona is said to have received a colony and its name. (Steph. B. s. v. Δωδώνη.

The Selli, whom Homer describes as the interpreters of Zeus, men of unwashed feet, who slept on the ground,appear to have been a tribe. They are called by Pindar the Helli; and the surrounding country, named after them Hellopia (Ἑλλοπίη), is described by Hesiod as a fertile land with rich pastures, wherein Dodona was situated. (Strab. 7. p. 328; Schol. ad Soph. Trach. 1167.) Aristotle places the most ancient Hellas in the parts about Dodona and the Achelous,adding that the Achelous has frequently changed its course,--a necessary addition, since the Achelous does not flow near Dodona. He likewise states that the flood of Deucalion took place in this district, which was inhabited at that time by the Selli, and by the people then called Graeci, but now Hellenes.(Aristot. Meteor. 1.14.) We do not know the authority which Aristotle had for this statement, which is in opposition to the commonly received opinion of the Greeks, who connected Deucalion, Hellen, and the Hellenes, with the district in Thessaly between Mounts Othrys and Oeta. (Grote, Hist. of Greece, vol. 2. p. 355.)

It is impossible to penetrate any further back into the origin of the oracle; and we may safely dismiss the tales related by Herodotus of its Egyptian origin, and of its connection with the temple of Thebes in Egypt, and of Zeus Ammon in Libya. (Hdt. 2.54, seq.) The god at Dodona was said to dwell in the stem of an oak (φηγός, the oak bearing an esculent acorn, not the Latin fagus, our beech), in the hollow of which his statue was probably placed in the most ancient times, and which was at first his only temple (ναῖον δ' ἐν πυθμένι φηγοῦ, Hes. ap. Soph. Track. 1167; Δωδώνην φηγόν τε, Πελασγῶν ἕδρανον, ἧκεν, Hes. ap. Strab. 7. p. 327; comp. Müller, Archäol. § 52, 2). The god revealed his will from the branches of the tree, probably by the rustling of the wind, which sounds the priests had to interpret. Hence we frequently read of the speaking oak or oaks of Dodona. (Hom. Od. 14.327, 19.296; αἱ προσήγοροι δρύες, Aesch. Prom. 832; πολυγλώσσου δρυός, Soph. Trach. 1168.) In the time of Herodotus and Sophocles the oracles were interpreted by three (Sophocles says two) aged women, called Πελείαδεςor Πέλαιαι, because pigeons were said to have brought the command to found the oracle:--

ὡς τὴν παλαιὰν φηγὸν αὐδῆσαίnote

Δωδῶνι δισσῶν ἐκ πελειάδων ἔφη.

(Soph. Track. 171.) Herodotus (Hdt. 2.55) mentions the name of three priestesses. (Comp. Strab. vii. Fragm, 2; Paus. 10.12.10.) These female priestesses were probably introduced instead of the Selli at the time when the worship of Dione was connected with that of Zeus at Dodona; and the Boeotians were the only people who continued to receive the oracles from male priests. (Strab. 9. p. 402.)

As Delphi grew in importance, Dodona was chiefly consulted by the neighbouring tribes, the Aetolians, Acarnanians, and Epeirots (Paus. 8.21.2); but, as we have already remarked, it continued to enjoy great celebrity even down to the later times. Croesus sent to inquire of the oracle (Hdt. 1.46); Pindar composed a Paean in honour of the Dodonaean god, since there was a close connection between Thebes and Dodona (Pind. Fragm. p. 571, ed. Bölckh; Strab. 9. p. 402); Aeschylus and Sophocles speak of the oracle in terms of the highest reverence (Aesch. Prom. 829, seq.; Soph. Track. 1164, seq.); and Cicero relates that the Spartans, in important matters, were accustomed to ask the advice of the oracles either of Delphi, or Dodona, or Zeus Ammon (Cic. de Div. 1.4. 3). The Athenians also seem not unfrequently to have consulted the oracle, which they did probably through their suspicion of the Pythia at Delphi in the Peloponnesian War. Thus, they are said to have been commanded by the Dodonaean god to found a colony in Sicily (Paus. 8.11.12); Demosthenes quotes several oracles from Dodona ( de Fals. Leg. p. 436, in Mid. p. 531, ed. Reiske); and Xenophon recommends the Athenians to send to Dodona for advice ( de Vect. 6.2). Under the Molossian kings, who gradually extended their dominion over the whole of Epeirus, Dodona probably rose again in importance. The coins of the Molossian kings frequently bear the heads of Zeus and Dione, or of Zeus alone, within a garland of oak.

In B.C. 219, Dodona received a blow from which it never recovered. In that year the Aetolians under Dorimachus, who were at war with Philip, king of Macedonia, ravaged Aetolia, and razed to the ground the temple of the god. (Plb. 4.67.) Strabo, in describing the ruined condition of the towns of Epeirus in his time, says that the oracle also had almost failed (7. p. 327); but it subsequently recovered, and Pausanias mentions the temple and sacred oaktree as objects worthy of the traveller's notice. (Paus. 1.17.6.) He elsewhere speaks of the oak of Dodona as the oldest tree in all Hellas, next to the Λύγοςof Hera in Samos. (Paus. 8.23.5.) The town continued to exist long afterwards. The names of several bishops of Dodona occur in the Acts of the Councils: according to Leake, the latest was in the year 516. Dodona is mentioned by Hierocles in the sixth century (p. 651, ed. Wessel.).

Of the temple of Dodona we have no description notwithstanding the celebrity of the oracle. Indeed the building itself is first mentioned by Polybius, in his account of its destruction by the Aetolians in B.C. 219. He says that when Dorimachus arrived at the ἱερόνnear Dodona, he burnt the Stoae or Colonnades, destroyed many of the dedicatory offerings, and razed the sacred house to its foundations.(Παραγενόμενος δὲ πρὸς τὸ περὶ Δωδώνην ἱερὸν, τάς τε στοὰς ἐνέπρησε, καὶ πολλὰ τῶν ἀναθημάτων διέφθειρε, κατέσκαψε δὲ καὶ τὴν ἱερὰν οἰκίαν, Plb. 4.67.) From the words περὶ Δωδώνηνwe may conclude that the ἱερὸνwas not within the walls of Dodona. It appears to have occupied a considerable space, and to have contained several other buildings besides the sacred house or temple proper of the god. It was stated by a writer of the name of Demon; that the temple was surrounded with tripods bearing caldrons, and that these were placed so closely together, that when one was struck the noise vibrated through all. (Steph. B. s. v. Δωδώνη;Schol. ad Hom. Il.. 16.233.) It appears that the greater part of these had been contributed by the Boeotians, who were accustomed to send presents of tripods every year. (Strab. 10. p. 402.) Among the remarkable objects at Dodona were two pillars, on one of which was a brazen caldron, and on the other a statue of a boy holding in his hand a brazen whip, dedicated by the Corcyraeans: when the wind blew, the whip struck the caldron, and produced a loud noise. As Dodona was in an exposed situation, this constantly happened, and hence arose the proverb of the Dodonaean caldron and the Corcyraean whip. (Polemon, ap. Steph. B. s. v. Δωδώνη;Suid. s. v. Δωδωναῖον χαλκεῖον;Strab. 7. p. 329.) This appears to have been one of the means of consulting the god; and hence Gregory Nazianzen, in describing the silence of the oracle in his time, says, οὐκέτι λέβης μαντεύεται ( Or. 4. 127c.). Respecting the way in which the oracles were given, there are different accounts; and they probably differed at different times. The most ancient mode was by means of sounds from the trees, of which we have already spoken. Servius relates that at the foot of the sacred oak there gushed forth a fountain, the noise of whose waters was prophetic and was interpreted by the priestesses ( ad Virg. Aen. 3.466). On some occasions the will of the god appears to have been ascertained by means of lots. (Cic. de Div. 1.3. 4）

The site of Dodona cannot be fixed with certainty. No remains of the temple have been discovered; and no inscriptions have been found to determine its locality. It is the only place of great celebrity in Greece, of which the situation is not exactly known. Leake, who has examined the subject with his usual acuteness and learning, comes to the conclusion, with great probability, that the fertile valley of Ioáinninais the territory of Dodona, and that the ruins upon the hill of Kastrítzaat the southern end of the lake of Ioánninaare those of the ancient city. Leake remarks that it can hardly be doubted by any person who has seen the country around Ioánnina, and has examined the extensive remains at Kastrítza, that the city which stood in that centrical and commanding position was the capital of the district dnring a long succession of ages. The town not only covered all the summit, but had a secondary inclosure or fortified suburb on the southern side of the hill, so as to make the whole circumference between two and three miles. Of the suburb the remains consist chiefly of detached fragments, and of remains of buildings strewn upon the land, which is here cultivated. But the entire circuit of the town walls is traceable on the heights, as well as those of the acropolis on the summit. These, in some places, are extant to the height of 8 or 10 feet. The masonry is of the second order, or composed of trapezoidal or polyhedral masses, which are exactly fitted to one another without cement, and form a casing for an interior mass of rough stones and mortar. . . . A monastery, which stands in the middle of the Hellenic inclosure, bears the same name as the hill, but although built in great part of ancient materials, it does not preserve a single inscribed or sculptured marble, nor could I find any such relics on any part of the ancient site.(Leake.)

Our space allows us to mention only briefly the chief arguments of Leake iii favour of placing Dodona at Kastrítza. It was the opinion of the ancient writers that Dodona first belonged to Thesprotia, and afterwards to Molossis. Stephanus B. calls it a town of Molossis, and Strabo (7. p. 328) places it in the same district, but observes that it was called a Thesprotian town by the tragic poets and by Pindar. But even Aeschylus, through calling the oracle that of the Thesprotian Zeus, places Dodona on the Molossian plain ( Prom. 829):-- ἐπεὶ γὰρ ἦλθες πρὸς Μολοσσὰ δάπεδα,τὴν αἰπύνωτον τ᾽ ἀμφὶ Δωδώνην, ἵναμαντεῖα θῶκός τ᾽ ἐστὶ Θεσπρωτοῦ Διός.

Hence it would appear that the territory of Dodona bordered on the inland frontiers of Thesprotia and Molossis, and must in that case correspond to the district of Ioánnina. Pindar describes Epeirus as beginning at Dodona, and extending from thence to the Ionian sea (Nem. 4.81); from which it follows that Dodona was on the eastern frontier of Epeirus., That it was near the lofty mountains of Pindus, on the eastern frontier, may be inferred from the manner in which Aeschylus speaks of the Dodonaean mountains ( Supp. 258), and from the epithet of αἰπύνωτοςattached to the place by the same poet ( Prom. 830), aud from that of δυσχείμεροςgiven to it by Homer. ( Il. 16.234.) The account of the destruction of Dodona by the Aetolians also shows that it was on the eastern frontier of Epeirus. Polybius says (l. c.) that the Aetolians marched into the upper parts' of Epeirus)(εἰς τοὺς ἄνω τόπους τῆς Ἠπείρου), which words appear to be equivalent to Upper Epeirus, or the parts most distant from the sea towards the central range of mountains.

Hesiod, in a passage already referred to (ap. Schol. ad Soph. Trach. 1167; comp. Strab. 7. p. 328), describes Dodona as situated upon an extremity in, the district called Hellopia, a country of cornfields and meadows, abounding in sheep and oxen, and inhabited by numerous shepherds and keepers of cattle;--a description accurately applicable to the valley of Ioánnina, which contains meadows and numerous flocks and herds. Several ancient writers' state that the temple of Dodona stood at the foot of a high mountain called TOMARUSor TMARUS(Τόμαρος, Τμάρος), from which the priests of the god are said to have been called Tomūri (Τομοῦροι, Strab. 7. p. 328; Callim. Hymn. in Cer. 52; Steph. B. s. v. Τόμαρος;Hesych. s. v. Τμάριος;Eustath. ad Od. 14.327, p. 1760, R., ad Od. 16.403, p. 1806, R.). Theopompus relates that there were a hundred fountains at the foot of Mt. Tomarus. (Plin. Nat. 4.1.) Leake identifies Tomarus with the commanding ridge of Mitzikéli, at the foot of which are numerous sources from which the lake of Ioánninaderives its chief supply. He further observes that the name Tomarus, though no longer attached to this mountain, is not quite obsolete, being still preserved in that of the Tomarokhória, or villages situated on al part of the southern extremity of Dhrysko, which is a continuation of Mitzikéli.

The chief objection to placing Dodona near Ioánninais the silence of the ancient writers as to a lake at Dodona. But this negative evidence is not sufficient to outweigh the reasons in favour of this' site, more especially when we consider that the only detailed description which we possess of the locality is in a fragment of Hesiod, who may have mentioned the lake in the lines immediately following, which are now lost. Moreover, Apollodorus stated that there were marshes round the temple (ap. Strab. vii. p. 328). The lake of Ioánninawas known in antiquity by the name of PAMBOTIS(Παμβῶτις λίμνη), which was placed in Molossis. (Eustath. in Hom. Od. 3.189.)

We have already seen that the temple of Dodona was probably outside the city. Leake supposes that the former stood on the peninsula now occupied by the citadel of Ioánnina, but there are no remains of the temple on this spot. (Leake, Northern Greece, vol. 4. p. 168, foll.; respecting the oracle, see Cordes, De Oraculo Dodonaeo, Groningen, 1826; Lassaulx, Das Pelasgische Orakel des Zeus zu Dodona, Würzburg, 1840; Arneth, Ueber das Taubenorakel von Dodona, Wien, 1840; Preller, in Pauly's Real-Enclopädie, art. Dodona;Hermann, Lehrbuch der gottesdienstlichen Alterth. der Griechen, § 39.)

Dodōna

(Δωδώνη). (1) A celebrated city and oracle of Epirus, whose exact position has only of late been ascertained. We are not assisted here by any accurate ancient traveller like Pausanias, nor have we any itineraries or faithful measurements of distances to guide us; all is vague and indefinite. Dionysius of Halicarnassus placed it four days' journey from Buthrotum and two from Ambracia (Antiq. Rom. i. 5). It is universally allowed that the temple of Dodona owed its origin to the Pelasgi at a period much anterior to the Trojan War; since many writers represent it as existing in the time of Deucalion, and even of Inachus ( Prom. Vinct. 679). Herodotus distinctly states that it was the most ancient oracle of Greece, and represents the Pelasgi as consulting it on various occasions (ii. 52). Hence the title of “Pelasgic” assigned to Zeus, to whom the temple was dedicated (Iliad, xvi. 233). Of the existence, however, of another oracle in Thessaly of the same name no doubt can be entertained; and to this the prayer of Achilles, in Homer, probably had reference. Setting aside the fables which Herodotus has transmitted to us, and to which he evidently attached no belief, his report of the affinity which existed between the service of this temple and that of Thebes in Egypt is deserving of attention. It appears from this author that in his time the service of the temple was performed by women; and he has recorded the names of the three priestesses who officiated when he visited Dodona (ii. 55). Strabo, however, asserts that these duties were originally allotted to men, from the circumstance of Homer's mention of the Selli as being attendant upon the gods. The term Selli was considered by many ancient writers to refer to a people of Pelasgic origin (Soph. Trach. 1160 foll.; Aristot. Meteorol. 1, 14).

The responses of the oracle were originally delivered from the sacred oak or beech (φηγός) (Soph. Trach. 173). The god revealed his message in the rustling of the leaves, and the priests interpreted its meaning. Its reputation was at first confined to the inhabitants of Epirus, Acarnania, Aetolia, and the western parts of Greece (Pausan. vii. 21), but its fame was afterwards extended over the whole of that country, and even to Asia, as we know that on one occasion the oracle was consulted by Croesus (Herod.i. 46). The Boeotians were the only people who received the prophetic answers from the mouth of men; to all other nations they were always communicated by the priestesses of the temple. The reason of this exception is stated at length by Strabo (401), on the authority of Ephorus. Dodona was the first station in Greece to which the offerings of the Hyperboreans were despatched, according to Herodotus; they arrived there from the Adriatic, and were thence passed on to the Maliac Gulf (iv. 33). Among the several offerings presented to the temple by various nations, one dedicated by the Corcyreans is particularly noticed. It was a brazen figure placed over a caldron of the same metal; this statue held in its hand a whip, the lash of which consisted of three chains, each having an astragalus fastened to the end of it; these, when agitated by the wind, struck the caldron and produced so continued a sound that 400 vibrations could be counted before it ceased. Hence arose the various proverbs of the Dodonean caldron and the Corcyrean lash. Menander, in one of his plays, compared an old nurse's chatter to the endless sound of this kettle (Menand. Reliq. ed. Meineke, p. 27). See Oracula.

We hear of the oracle of Dodona at the time of the Persian invasion (Herod.ix. 93); and again in the reign of Agesilaüs, who consulted it previously to his expedition into Asia. It is stated by Diodorus Siculus (xiv. 13) that Lysander was accused openly of having offered to bribe the priestess. The oracle which warned the Molossian Alexander of his fate is well known from Livy (viii. 24). From Demosthenes we learn that the answers delivered from time to time to the Athenians were laid up in the public archives, and he himself appeals to their testimony on more than one occasion. At length, during the Social War, Dodona was, according to Polybius (iv. 67), almost entirely destroyed in an irruption of the Aetolians, under their leader Dorimachus, then at war with Epirus. It is probable that the temple of Dodona never recovered from this disaster, as in Strabo's time there was scarcely any trace left of the oracle, but the town must still have existed, as it is mentioned by Hierocles among the cities of Epirus in the seventh century, and we hear of a bishop of Dodona in the council of Ephesus. All accounts seem to agree that Dodona stood either on the declivity or at the foot of an elevated mountain called Tomarus or Tamarus. Hence the term Tomuri, supposed to be a contraction for Tomaruri (Τομαρούροι), or guardians of Tomarus, which was given to the priests of the temple. The site of Dodona was at one time supposed to be near Janina in Epirus, but recent explorations in the valley of Dramisius at the foot of Mount Olytzika have brought to light many dedicatory inscriptions to Zeus Naïos and Dioné, with other evidences that make this the probable site of the oracle. See Leake, Northern Greece, vols. i. and iv.; the Revue Archéologique for 1877, pp. 329, 397; and Carapanos, Dodone et ses Ruines (1878).

(2) A city and oracle of Thessaly. It has given rise to much controversy whether Homer (Il. ii. 750) refers to this or the city of Epirus, and the scholiasts and commentators are divided in their opinions.

DODONA Epeiros, Greece.

A city situated S of Lake Pambotis at the foot of Mt. Tomaros (mod. Olytsikas), 22 km S of Jannina. It was famed for its Sanctuary and its Oracle of Zeus which was greatly Venerated, even more than that of Apollo at Delphi, which finally took its place. Homer's heroes knew this oracle and its god. Thus Achilles prays to Zeus when he wishes to see Patroklos intervene in his stead and drive the Trojans from the ships (Il. 16.233). He speaks of the Selli, the prophets of Zeus, who have unwashed feet and sleep on the ground. In the Odyssey (14.327) Odysseus is described as having gone to Dodona to consult the priests of Zeus who interpret the sound the wind makes in the leaves of Zeus's great oak tree. In the historic period Herodotos went to Dodona (2.52) and recalls that “the oracle at Dodona is held to be the most ancient in Greece.” The cult of Zeus goes back to a period before Late Helladic III, about 1200. It may have been preceded by a goddess cult, as elsewhere in Greece (Ge?). Later, in the 8th c. we find a cult of Zeus and Dione, a female paredros. Pausanias (10.12.10) talks about a chtonian goddess and, while making it quite clear that he believes none of it, tells how every year at Pothniai in Boiotia suckling pigs were thrown into the megara, in a sacred wood consecrated to Demeter and her daughter, and that the pigs reappeared at Dodona the following year. These three elements—Zeus, Dione, cult of the oak—make up the Dodonian cult. We have evidence of the sanctuary in the god's answers, inscribed on thin sheets of lead; a certain number have come down to us. Chiefly under Pyrrhos' influence (297-272) the sanctuary acquired the form in which it now appears after excavation. It was torn down by the Aitolians in 219-218, then restored, and destroyed in 168-167 by the Romans and later, in 88 B.C. by Mithridates and his Thracians. In the Augustan period the theater was made into an arena and the emperor Hadrian visited it about 132. At the end of the 4th c. A.D. it was again in ruins; the oaks were cut down and a basilica was put up ca. the 5th or 6th c.

Compared with a sanctuary like Delphi, Dodona clearly did not benefit from the building and beautification one might expect. Probably its isolated location, far from Greece proper and from busy thoroughfares, contributed to this neglect.

Even the travelers who visited it, and later the archaeologists, did not give Dodona the stature it deserved. Excavations carried out since 1944 have revealed the appearance of the sanctuary as well as its history. The theater, located by all the travelers, has been completely uncovered and restored. It dates from Pyrrhos' reign. The cavea measures 21.9 m in diameter, the stone stage 31.2 m, and the orchestra ca. 19 m in diameter. The cavea was divided into three sections of 21, 16, and 21 rows of seats, giving it a capacity comparable to that of Epidauros. Ten radiating stairways divide the cavea into nine bays each for the first and second sections and 18 bays for the third. After the destruction in the 3d c. the wooden proskenion was replaced by one of stone. Again destroyed by the Romans, the theater was made lnto an arena in the Augustan period.

Above the theater and sanctuary is an acropolis ringed with walls dating from the 4th c. B.C. that have in places been preserved to a height of 3 m.

The sanctuary is situated to the E, 50 m down from the acropolis, and is partly surrounded by a wall. Inside this hieron to the E is a basilica, long mistaken for an early Temple of Zeus, then three small temples that have been identified as a Temple of Aphrodite and two of Dione. Between this group of buildings and the theater is a quadrangular monument, identified as the bouleutenon. As for the actual Sanctuary of Zeus, known as Hiera Oikia, it is possible to reconstruct its history, which is clearly divided into three periods. The first dates from the 4th c., when the sanctuary consisted of a temenos with a peribolos wall around it and a sacred oak inside it, and a small rectangular monument in one corner. Next, in the Hellenistic period, the temenos was enlarged, a stoa being put up on three of its four sides. Finally, about 200 B.C., the small naiskos was rebuilt, becoming prostyle, while a small propylaea was put up in the axis of the temple to allow for passage on the S side of the stoa. The sacred oak remained in the area of the temenos, close to the E peribolos wall.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

F.C.H.L. Pouqueville, Voyage dans la Grèce. . . I (1820); V (1821); C. Diehl, Excursions archéologiques en Grèce (1890); A. Philippson & E. Kirsten, GL (1956) II.1 85-86 (with earlier bibliography); ibid. (1962) 739-48; P. Lévêque, Pyrrhos (1957) MP; S. Dakaris, Δωδώνη Ἱερὰ Οἰκα, ArchEph 1 (1959) 193MIP; id., Das Tauzenorakel von Dodona . . . Neue Ausgrabungen in Griechenland, suppl. I in Antike Kunst (1963) 35-49MIP; id., in BCH 84 (1960) 746-48MP; id., Τὸ ἱερὸν τῆς Δωδώνης, Deltion 16 (1960) 4-40MPI; H. P. Drögemüller, Bericht über neure Ausgr. in Griechenland, Gymnasium 68 (1961) 222-26MP; N.G.L. Hammond, Epirus (1967) MP; W. Fauth, Kl. Pauly (1970). s.v. Orakel, cols. 325-27.

Y. BÉQUIGNON

Dodona

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