View source for Dodona

{{Short description|Hellenic oracle}}
{{distinguish|Dodoma}}
{{Infobox ancient site
  |name = Dodona
  |native_name = Δωδώνη
  | native_name_lang = grc-x-doric
  |alternate_name = 
  |image = Dodona-Greece-April-2008-107.JPG
  |alt = 
  |caption = View of the [[bouleuterion]] in Dodona
  |map_type = Greece
  |map_alt = 
  |map_size =
  |coordinates = {{coord|39|32|47|N|20|47|16|E|type:landmark_region:GR|display=inline,title}}
  |location = [[Dodoni]], [[Ioannina (regional unit)|Ioannina]], [[Epirus (region)|Epirus]], [[Greece]]
  |region = [[Epirus]]
  |type = City and sanctuary
  |part_of = 
  |length = 
  |width = 
  |area = 
  |height = 
  |builder = 
  |material = 
  |built = 2nd millennium BCE
  |abandoned = 391–392 CE
  |epochs = [[Mycenaean Greece|Mycenaean Greek]] to [[Roman Empire|Roman Imperial]]
  |cultures = [[Greeks|Greek]], [[Ancient Rome|Roman]]
  |dependency_of = 
  |occupants = 
  |event = 
  |excavations = 
  |archaeologists = 
  |condition = Ruined
  |ownership = Public
  |management = 
  |public_access = Yes
  |website = <!-- {{URL|example.com}} -->
  |notes = 
}}

'''Dodona''' ({{IPAc-en|d|oʊ|ˈ|d|oʊ|n|ə}}; {{Langx|grc-x-doric|Δωδώνα|Dōdṓnā}}, [[Ionic Greek|Ionic]] and {{Langx|grc-x-attic|Δωδώνη}},<ref>{{harvnb|Liddell|Scott|1996}}, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3D%2329769 "Dodone"]</ref> {{lang|grc-x-ionic|Dōdṓnē}}) in [[Epirus]] in northwestern [[Greece]] was the oldest [[Ancient Greece|Hellenic]] [[oracle]], possibly dating to the [[2nd millennium BCE]] according to [[Herodotus]]. The earliest accounts in [[Homer]] describe Dodona as an oracle of [[Zeus]]. Situated in a remote region away from the main Greek [[polis|poleis]], it was considered second only to the [[Oracle of Delphi]] in prestige.

[[Aristotle]] considered the region around Dodona to have been part of [[Ancient Greece|Hellas]] and the region where the [[Hellenes]] originated.<ref name="1.14">{{harvnb|Hammond|1986|p=77}}; Aristotle. ''Meteorologica''. [http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/meteorology.1.i.html 1.14].</ref> The oracle was first under the control of the [[Thesprotians]] before it passed into the hands of the [[Molossians]].<ref>{{harvnb|Potter|1751|loc=Chapter VIII, "Of the Oracles of Jupiter", p. 265}}.</ref> It remained an important religious sanctuary until the rise of [[Christianity]] during the [[Late Antiquity|Late Roman era]].

==Description==
During [[classical antiquity]], according to various accounts, priestesses and priests in the sacred grove interpreted the rustling of the oak (or beech) leaves to determine the correct actions to be taken. According to a new interpretation, the oracular sound originated from bronze objects hanging from oak branches and sounded with the wind blowing, similar to a [[wind chime]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Harissis|first=Haralambos|title=A Bronze Wheel from Dodona. The Iynx, the Cauldron and the Music of the Gods|journal=In 'Σπείρα. Επιστημονική Συνάντηση Προς Τιμήν Της Α. Ντούζουγλη Και Του Κ. Ζάχου'. Tapa. Athens. 2017 |url=https://www.academia.edu/2469561}}</ref>

According to [[N. G. L. Hammond|Nicholas Hammond]], Dodona was an [[oracle]] devoted to a [[Mother Goddess]] (identified at other sites with [[Rhea (mythology)|Rhea]] or [[Gaia (mythology)|Gaia]], but here called [[Dione (mythology)|Dione]]) who was joined and partly supplanted in historical times by the [[Greek mythology|Greek]] [[God (male deity)|deity]] [[Zeus]].<ref name=Hammond39>{{harvnb|Hammond|1986|p=39: "...Greek gods too, especially Zeus the sky-god, were at home on Mt. Olympus and in Pieria, and the Zeus of Dodona derived his importance from the Bronze Age when he displaced a Mother Goddess and assimilated her as Aphrodite."}}</ref>

==History==

===Early history===
[[File:Sacrificial hammer Dodona Louvre Br1183 n2.jpg|thumb|Sacrificial hammer from Dodona. Bronze, 7th century BCE. Louvre Museum]]
Although the earliest inscriptions at the site date to c. 550–500 BCE,<ref>{{harvnb|Lhôte|2006|p=77}}.</ref> archaeological excavations conducted for more than a century have recovered artifacts as early as the [[Mycenaean Greece|Mycenaean era]],<ref>{{harvnb|Eidinow|2014|pp=62–63}}; {{harvnb|Tandy|2001|p=23}}.</ref> many now at the [[National Archaeological Museum of Athens]], and some in the nearby [[Archaeological Museum of Ioannina]]. There was an ancient tradition that Dodona was founded as a colony from the city, also named [[Dodona (Thessaly)|Dodona]], in [[ancient Thessaly|Thessaly]].<ref>{{Cite Stephanus|''sub voce'' Δωδώνη}}</ref>

Cult activity at Dodona was already established in some form during the Late Bronze Age (or Mycenaean period).<ref name=Eidinow/> Mycenaean offerings such as bronze objects of the 14th and 13th centuries were brought in Dodona.<ref>{{harvnb|Constantinidou|1992|p=160|ps=: Although without remains of a Mycenaean cult building, excavations at Dodona have shown that a cult was practised there from Mycenaean times. Mycenaean offerings, among them bronze objects of the 14th and 13th centuries were brought... }}</ref> A 13th century [[cist|cist tomb]] with squared shoulders was found at Dodona; it had no context, but a Mycenaean sherd of c. 1200 B.C. was also unearthed on the site, in association with [[kylix]] stems.<ref>{{harvnb|Desborough|1972|p=97|ps=: The tholos tomb at Parga, in which not only thirteenth-century Mycenaean but also native pottery was found, had a spearhead which may possibly be classed with the type mentioned. A short sword was found at Ephyra, not far south of Parga and also close to the sea (see above for the Mycenaean pottery on this site). North and inland from here, at Paramythia, a cist tomb (note the type) produced a rather earlier variety of the short sword, with sloping shoulders. Yet another, with squared shoulders (as are the others I shall mention) was found at Dodona, not far south of the plain of lannina; it had no context, but a Mycenaean sherd of c. 1200 b.c. was unearthed on the site, in association with what sound like kylix stems.}}</ref> Archaeological evidence shows that the cult of [[Zeus]] was established around the same time.<ref>{{harvnb|Curnow|2004|p=59|ps=: ...archaeology has uncovered clear evidence that the cult of Zeus was established at Dodona by about 1200 BC.}}</ref> During the post-Mycenaean period (or "[[Greek Dark Ages]]"), evidence of activity at Dodona is scant, but there is a resumption of contact between Dodona and southern Greece during the [[Archaic Greece|Archaic period]] (8th century BCE) with the presence of bronze votive offerings (i.e. [[Sacrificial_tripod#Ancient_Greece|tripod]]s) from southern Greek cities.<ref name=Eidinow>{{harvnb|Eidinow|2014|pp=62–63: "There appears to be evidence for contact between Epirus and Mycenean culture from the early and middle Bronze Age (mostly ceramic), with most evidence dating to the late Bronze Age and including as well as pottery remains, weaponry (swords and double-axes), tools and jewellery, and imports from the Europe and the Near East. Objects and archaeological remains at the site of Dodona suggest that there was already some kind of cult activity there in the late Bronze Age. There is little evidence for the Dark Age period (1200/1100-730/700 BC), but contact between the area and cities in South Greece seems to resume in the eighth century (with the foundation of Kassopeia in 730-700 BC by Elis, and settlements by Corinth, including Ambracia, Anaktorion Epidamnus and Apollonia, 650/630 BC); and this is supported by the appearance at Dodona of bronze votive offerings from the south of Greece, dating to the end of the eighth century, and beginning with the pervasive tripod, but going on through the archaic period to encompass a variety of animal, human and divine imagery."}}</ref> Dedication to the Oracle of Dodona arrived from most of the Greek world including its colonies. Although an adjacent area there were few Illyrian dedication most probably because the Oracle preferred interaction with the Greek world.<ref>{{cite book |last=Chapinal-Heras |first=Diego |title=Experiencing Dodona: The Development of the Epirote Sanctuary from Archaic to Hellenistic Times |date=2021 |publisher=[[De Gruyter]] |isbn=978-3-11-072772-2 |page=184 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UTcYEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT180 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Boardman|1982|p=653}}; {{harvnb|Hammond|1976|p=156}}.</ref> Until 650 BCE, Dodona was a religious and oracular centre mainly for northern tribes; only after 650 BCE did it become important for the southern tribes.<ref>{{harvnb|Boardman|Hammond|1982|pp=272–273}}.</ref>

[[Zeus]] was worshipped at Dodona as "Zeus Naios" or "Naos" (god of the spring below the oak in the [[Temenos|''temenos'' or sanctuary]], cf. [[Naiad]]s)<ref>{{harvnb|Kristensen|1960|p=104}}; {{harvnb|Tarn|1913|p=60}}.</ref> and as "Zeus Bouleus" (Counsellor).<ref>[[LSJ]]: ''bouleus''.</ref> According to [[Plutarch]], the worship of Jupiter (Zeus) at Dodona was set up by [[Deucalion]] and [[Pyrrha]].<ref>Plutarch. ''Parallel Lives'', [http://classics.mit.edu/Plutarch/pyrrhus.html Pyrrhus].</ref>

The earliest mention of Dodona is in [[Homer]], and only Zeus is mentioned in this account. In the ''[[Iliad]]'' (circa 750 BCE),<ref>Homer. ''Iliad'', 16.233-16.235.</ref> Achilles prays to "High Zeus, Lord of Dodona, [[Pelasgian]], living afar off, brooding over wintry Dodona" (thus demonstrating that Zeus also could be invoked from a distance).<ref>Richard Lattimore translation.</ref> No buildings are mentioned, and the priests (called ''[[Selloi]]'') slept on the ground with unwashed feet.<ref name="Bunson1997">{{harvnb|Sacks|Murray|1995|loc="Dodona", p. 85}}.</ref> No priestesses are mentioned in Homer.

The oracle also features in another passage involving Odysseus, giving a story of his visit to Dodona. Odysseus's words "bespeak a familiarity with Dodona, a realization of its importance, and an understanding that it was normal to consult Zeus there on a problem of personal conduct."<ref>{{harvnb|Gwatkin|1961|p=100}}.</ref>

The details of this story are as follows. Odysseus says to the swineherd Eumaeus<ref>Homer. ''Odyssey'', 14.327-14.328.</ref> (possibly giving him a fictive account) that he (Odysseus) was seen among the Thesprotians, having gone to inquire of the oracle at Dodona whether he should return to Ithaca openly or in secret (as the disguised Odysseus is doing). Odysseus later repeats the same tale to Penelope, who may not yet have seen through his disguise.<ref>Homer. ''Odyssey'', 19.</ref>

According to some scholars, Dodona was originally an oracle of the [[Mother Goddess]] attended by priestesses. She was identified at other sites as [[Rhea (mythology)|Rhea]] or [[Gaia (mythology)|Gaia]]. The oracle also was shared by [[Dione (mythology)|Dione]]. By classical times, Dione was relegated to a minor role elsewhere in classical Greece, being made into an aspect of Zeus's more usual consort, [[Hera]] — but never at Dodona.<ref>{{harvnb|Vandenberg|2007|p=29}}.</ref>

Many dedicatory inscriptions recovered from the site mention both "Dione" and "Zeus Naios".<ref name="Filos2023a">{{harvnb|Filos|2023a|pp=38–41}}</ref>

According to some archaeologists, it was not until the 4th century BCE that a small stone temple to Dione was added to the site. By the time [[Euripides]] mentioned Dodona (fragmentary play ''Melanippe'') and Herodotus wrote about the oracle, the priestesses had appeared at the site.

Over 4200 oracular tablets have been found in Dodona, written in different alphabets, and dated approximately between the mid-6th and early 2nd centuries BCE. All the texts were written in Greek, and attest to over 1200 personal names from different areas; these were almost exclusively Greek, with non-Greek names (e.g. Thracian, Illyrian) making up around 1% of the total.<ref name="Filos2023a" /><ref>{{harvnb|Filos|2023b|p=406}}</ref>

===Classical and Hellenistic Greece===
[[File:Map greek sanctuaries-en.svg|thumb|right|350px|A map of the main sanctuaries in [[Classical Greece]].]]

Though it never eclipsed the [[Oracle of Delphi|Oracle of Apollo at Delphi]], Dodona gained a reputation far beyond Greece. In the ''Argonautica'' of [[Apollonius of Rhodes]], a retelling of an older story of [[Jason]] and the [[Argonauts]], Jason's ship, the "[[Argo]]", had the gift of prophecy, because it contained an oak timber spirited from Dodona.

In c. 290 BCE, [[Pyrrhus of Epirus|King Pyrrhus]] made Dodona the religious capital of his domain and beautified it by implementing a series of construction projects (i.e. grandly rebuilt the Temple of Zeus, developed many other buildings, added a festival featuring athletic games, musical contests, and drama enacted in a theatre).<ref name="Bunson1997"/> A wall was built around the oracle itself and the holy tree, as well as temples to Dione and [[Heracles]].

In 219 BCE, the [[Aetolia]]ns, under the leadership of General Dorimachus, looted and set fire to the sanctuary.<ref name="Bunson1997"/><ref>{{harvnb|Dakaris|1971|p=46}}; {{harvnb|Wilson|2006|p=240}}.</ref> During the late 3rd century BCE, King [[Philip V of Macedon]] (along with the Epirotes) reconstructed all the buildings at Dodona.<ref name="Bunson1997"/><ref>{{harvnb|Dakaris|1971|p=46}}.</ref> In 167 BCE, the Molossian cities and possibly Dodona itself were destroyed by the [[Ancient Rome|Romans]]<ref name="Bunson1997"/><ref>{{harvnb|Dakaris|1971|p=62}}.</ref> (led by Aemilius Paulus<ref name="Pentreath1964">{{harvnb|Pentreath|1964|p=165}}.</ref>). A fragment of Dio Cassius reports that Thracian soldiers instigated by King Mithridates sacked the sanctuary ca. 88 BCE. In the reign of the emperor [[Augustus]] the site was prominent enough to feature an honorary statue of [[Livia]]. The 2nd century CE traveller [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] noted a sacred oak tree of Zeus.<ref>Pausanias. ''Description of Greece'', 1.18.</ref> In 241 CE, a priest named Poplius Memmius Leon organized the Naia festival of Dodona.<ref>{{harvnb|Dakaris|1971|p=26}}.</ref> In 362 CE, [[Emperor Julian]] consulted the oracle prior to his military campaigns against the Persians.<ref>{{harvnb|Dakaris|1971|p=26}}; {{harvnb|Fontenrose|1988|p=25}}.</ref>

Pilgrims still consulted the oracle until 391-392 CE when [[Emperor Theodosius]] closed all pagan temples, banned all pagan religious activities, and cut down the ancient oak tree at the sanctuary of Zeus.<ref>{{harvnb|Flüeler|Rohde|2009|p=36}}.</ref> Although the surviving town was insignificant, the long-hallowed pagan site must have retained significance for Christians given that a [[bishop of Dodona]] named Theodorus attended the [[First Council of Ephesus]] in 431 CE.<ref name="Pentreath1964" />

{{wide image|D70-0404-dodona.jpg|800px|Panorama of the theatre of Dodona, the modern village [[Dodoni]] and the snow-capped Mount [[Tomaros]] are visible in the background}}

==Herodotus==
[[File:Plan Dodona sanctuary-en.svg|thumb|Plan of the sanctuary, as it developed up to the Roman period. #16 on this map is the Christian Basilica that occupies the site of the former Zeus temple.]]

Herodotus<ref>{{harvnb|Vandenberg|2007|pages=29–30}}.</ref> (''Histories'' 2:54–57) was told by priests at Egyptian [[Thebes (Egypt)|Thebes]] in the 5th century BCE "that two [[priest]]esses had been carried away from Thebes by [[Phoenicians]]; one, they said they had heard was taken away and sold in [[Libya]], the other in Hellas; these women, they said, were the first founders of places of divination in the aforesaid countries." The simplest analysis of the quote is: Egypt, for Greeks as well as for Egyptians, was a spring of human culture of all but immeasurable antiquity. This mythic element says that the oracles at the oasis of [[Siwa Oasis|Siwa]] in Libya and of Dodona in Epirus were equally old, but similarly transmitted by [[Phoenicia]]n culture, and that the seeresses – Herodotus does not say "[[sibyl]]s" – were women.

[[Herodotus]] follows with what he was told by the prophetesses, called ''[[peleiades]]'' ("doves") at Dodona:
{{quote|that two black doves had come flying from Thebes in [[Egypt]], one to Libya and one to Dodona; the latter settled on an oak tree, and there uttered human speech, declaring that a place of divination from Zeus must be made there; the people of Dodona understood that the message was divine, and therefore established the oracular shrine. The dove which came to Libya told the Libyans (they say) to make an oracle of Ammon; this also is sacred to Zeus. Such was the story told by the Dodonaean priestesses, the eldest of whom was Promeneia and the next Timarete and the youngest Nicandra; and the rest of the servants of the temple at Dodona similarly held it true.}}

In the simplest analysis, this was a confirmation of the [[oracle#Egypt|oracle]] tradition in Egypt. The element of the dove may be an attempt to account for a folk etymology applied to the archaic name of the sacred women that no longer made sense and the eventual connection with Zeus, justified by a tale told by a priestess. Was the ''pel-'' element in their name connected with "black" or "muddy" root elements in names like "Peleus" or "Pelops"? Is that why the doves were black?

Herodotus adds:

{{quote|But my own belief about it is this. If the Phoenicians did in fact carry away the sacred women and sell one in Libya and one in Hellas, then, in my opinion, the place where this woman was sold in what is now Hellas, but was formerly called [[Pelasgian|Pelasgia]], was [[Thesprotia]]; and then, being a slave there, she established a shrine of Zeus under an oak that was growing there; for it was reasonable that, as she had been a handmaid of the temple of Zeus at Thebes, she would remember that temple in the land to which she had come. After this, as soon as she understood the Greek language, she taught divination; and she said that her sister had been sold in Libya by the same Phoenicians who sold her.

I expect that these women were called 'doves' by the people of Dodona because they spoke a strange language, and the people thought it like the cries of birds; then the woman spoke what they could understand, and that is why they say that the dove uttered human speech; as long as she spoke in a foreign tongue, they thought her voice was like the voice of a bird. For how could a dove utter the speech of men? The tale that the dove was black signifies that the woman was Egyptian.}}

Thesprotia, on the coast west of Dodona, would have been available to the seagoing Phoenicians, whom readers of Herodotus would not have expected to have penetrated as far inland as Dodona.

==Strabo==
According to [[Strabo]], the oracle was founded by the Pelasgi:<ref name="Strabo7.7">Strabo. ''Geography'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text%3Fdoc%3DStrab.%25207.7 7.7].</ref>

<blockquote>
This oracle, according to Ephorus, was founded by the Pelasgi. And the Pelasgi are called the earliest of all peoples who have held dominion in Greece.
</blockquote>

The site of the oracle was dominated by Mount [[Tomaros]], the area being controlled by the [[Thesprotians]] and then the [[Molossians]]:<ref>Strabo. ''Geography'', [http://www.theoi.com/Cult/ZeusDodonaiosCult.html 7.7.9ff].</ref>

<blockquote>
In ancient times, then, Dodona was under the rule of the Thesprotians; and so was Mount Tomaros, or Tmaros (for it is called both ways), at the base of which the temple is situated. And both the tragic poets and [[Pindar]]os have called Dodona 'Thesprotian Dodona.' But later on it came under the rule of the Molossoi.
</blockquote>

According to Strabo, the prophecies were originally uttered by men:<ref name="Strabo7.7"/>

<blockquote>
At the outset, it is true, those who uttered the prophecies were men (this too perhaps the poet indicates, for he calls them “hypophetae” [interpreters] and the prophets might be ranked among these), but later on three old women were designated as prophets, after Dione also had been designated as temple-associate of Zeus.
</blockquote>

Strabo also reports as uncertain the story that the predecessor of Dodona oracle was located in [[Thessaly]]:<ref name="Strabo7.7"/>

<blockquote>
...the temple [oracle] was transferred from Thessaly, from the part of Pelasgia which is about [[Scotussa]] (and Scotussa does belong to the territory called [[Thessalia]] [[Pelasgiotis]]), and also that most of the women whose descendants are the prophetesses of today went along at the same time; and it is from this fact that Zeus was also called “Pelasgian.”
</blockquote>

In a fragment of Strabo we find the following:<ref>Strabo. ''Fragments'', [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Strabo/7Fragments*.html#ref476 Book VII].</ref>

<blockquote>
Among the Thesprotians and the Molossians old women are called "peliai" and old men "pelioi," as is also the case among the Macedonians; at any rate, those people call their dignitaries "peligones" (compare the ''gerontes''<ref>This was the name of the senators at Sparta, meaning 'the elders'.</ref> among the Laconians and the Massaliotes). And this, it is said, is the origin of the myth about the pigeons [peleiades] in the Dodonaean oak-tree.<ref>The similarity of these two words is pointed out here.</ref>
</blockquote>

== Other commentaries ==
[[File:Greek_Marble_Muse_Terpsichore,_Late_4th_to_Mid_2nd_BC_(10451853483).jpg|thumb|right|[[Terpsichore statuette from Dodona|Terpsichore of Dodona]], exhibited in 2010 in the [[Michael C. Carlos Museum]], [[Atlanta]].]]

According to [[Richard Claverhouse Jebb|Sir Richard Claverhouse Jebb]], the epithet ''Neuos'' of Zeus at Dodona primarily designated "the god of streams, and, generally, of water". Jebb also points out that [[Achelous]], as a water deity, received special honours at Dodona.<ref name="Jeb202">{{harvnb|Jebb|1892|loc=Appendix, [https://books.google.com/books?id=btdHAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA202 p. 202, Note #4]}}.</ref> The area of the oracle was quite swampy, with lakes in the area and reference to the "holy spring" of Dodona may be a later addition.

Jebb mostly follows Strabo in his analysis. Accordingly, he notes that the Selloi, the prophets of Zeus, were also called ''tomouroi'', which name derived from Mount Tomares. ''Tomouroi'' was also a variant reading found in the ''[[Odyssey]]''.

According to Jebb, the Peleiades at Dodona were very early, and preceded the appointment of [[Phemonoe]], the prophetess at Delphi.<ref name=Jeb202/> The introduction of female attendants probably took place in the fifth century.<ref>{{harvnb|Eidinow|2014|loc=p. 64: "But from the fifth century the sanctuary appears to have been managed by priestesses, and this may indicate some sort of reorganization in the intervening period."}}</ref> The timing of change is clearly prior to Herodotus (5th century BCE), with his narrative about the doves and Egypt.

[[Aristotle]] (''[[Meteorologica]]'', 1.14) places 'Hellas' in the parts about Dodona and the Achelous and says it was inhabited by "the Selloi, who were formerly called Graikoi, but now Hellenes."<ref name="1.14"/><ref name=Guest272>{{harvnb|Guest|1883|p=[http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=umn.319510017026078;view=1up;seq=310 272]}}.</ref>

The alternative reading of ''Selloi'' is ''Helloi''. Aristotle clearly uses "Dodona" as the designation of the whole district in which the oracle was situated. Thus, according to some scholars, the origin of the words "Hellenes" and "Hellas" was from Dodona.<ref name=Guest272/> Also, the word "Greece" may have been derived from this area.

==See also==
*[[List of cities in ancient Epirus]]

==Footnotes==
{{reflist|2}}

==References==
{{refbegin|2}}
* {{cite book |last1=Boardman |first1=John |last2=Hammond |first2=N. G. L. |title=The Cambridge Ancient History |date=1982 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-23447-4 }}
* {{cite book|last=Boardman|first=John|title=The Prehistory of the Balkans and the Middle East and the Aegean World, Tenth to Eighth Centuries B.C.|year=1982 |location=Cambridge, UK|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=0-521-22496-9 }}
*{{Cite book |last=Constantinidou |first=Soteroula |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1BZ7CNCk57UC |title=Δωδώνη: επιστημονική επετηρίς της Φιλοσοφικής Σχολής του Πανεπιστημίου Ιωαννίνων |date=1992 |publisher=[[University of Ioannina]] |chapter=The Importance of Bronze in Early Greek Religion}}
*{{Cite book |last=Curnow |first=Trevor |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Kf8uAAAAYAAJ |title=The Oracles of the Ancient World: A Complete Guide |date=2004 |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |isbn=978-0-7156-3194-2}}
*{{Cite book |last=Desborough |first=Vincent Robin d'Arba |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dUkbAAAAYAAJ |title=The Greek Dark Ages |date=1972 |publisher=Ernest Benn Limited |isbn=978-0-510-03261-6}}
*{{cite book|last=Eidinow|first=Esther|author-link=Esther Eidinow|chapter=Oracles and Oracle-Sellers. An Ancient Market in Futures|pages=55–95|editor-last1=Engles|editor-first1=David|editor-last2=Van Nuffelen |editor-first2=Peter |title=Religion and Competition in Antiquity|year=2014|location=Brussels |publisher=Éditions Latomus|url=https://www.academia.edu/6320469}}
*{{cite book|last=Dakaris|first=S. I.|title=Archaeological Guide to Dodona|publisher=Cultural Society 'The Ancient Dodona' |year=1971}}
*{{cite book |last=Filos |first=Panagiotis |title=Dodona: The Oracular Tablets |date=2023a |publisher=[[Ministry of Culture and Sports (Greece)|Ministry of Culture (Greece)]] |isbn=978-618-5445-06-5 |editor-last=Papadopoulou |editor-first=V. N. |pages=38–41 |language=en, el |chapter=The alphabets and dialects of the oracular lamellae |editor-last2=Vasileiou |editor-first2=E. D. |chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/109384490}}
*{{cite book |last=Filos |first=Panagiotis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JM7fEAAAQBAJ |title=Classical Philology and Linguistics: Old Themes and New Perspectives |date=2023b |publisher=[[De Gruyter]] |isbn=978-3-11-127300-6 |editor-last=Giannakis |editor-first=Georgios K. |series=Trends in Classics – Greek and Latin Linguistics |volume=1 |pages=401–426 |language=en |chapter=Some Remarks on Ancient Epirote Glosses |editor-last2=Filos |editor-first2=Panagiotis |editor-last3=Crespo |editor-first3=Emilio |editor-last4=de la Villa |editor-first4=Jesús}}
*{{cite book|last1=Flüeler|first1=Christoph|last2=Rohde|first2=Martin|title=Laster im Mittelalter/Vices in the Middle Ages|location=New York, NY and Berlin, Germany|publisher=Walter de Gruyter|year=2009|isbn=978-3-11-020274-8 }}
*{{cite book|last=Fontenrose|first=Joseph Eddy|title=Didyma: Apollo's Oracle, Cult, and Companions |location=Berkeley and Los Angeles, CA|publisher=University of California Press|year=1988|isbn=0-520-05845-3 }}
*{{cite book|last=Guest|first=Edwin|title=Origines Celticae|year=1883|location=London|publisher=Macmillan |url=http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=umn.319510017026078}}
*{{cite journal|last=Gwatkin|first=William E. Jr.|title=Dodona, Odysseus, and Aeneas|journal=The Classical Journal|volume=57|issue=3|year=1961|pages=97–102}}
*{{cite book|last=Hammond|first=Nicholas Geoffrey Lemprière|title=A History of Greece to 322 B.C |location=Oxford, UK|publisher=Clarendon Press|year=1986|isbn=0-19-873096-9}}
*{{cite book|last=Hammond|first=Nicholas Geoffrey Lemprière|title=Migrations and Invasions in Greece and Adjacent Areas |year=1976|location=Park Ridge, NJ|publisher=Noyes Press|isbn=0-8155-5047-2}}
*{{cite book|last=Jebb|first=Richard Claverhouse|title=Sophocles: The Plays and Fragments (Part V. The Trachiniae)|year=1892|location=Cambridge|publisher=Cambridge University Press }}
*{{cite book|last=Kristensen|first=William Brede|title=The Meaning of Religion: Lectures in the Phenomenology of Religion |location=The Hague, The Netherlands|publisher=M. Nijhoff|year=1960}}
*{{cite book|last=Lhôte|first=Éric|title=Les Lamelles Oraculaires de Dodone |location=Genève, Switzerland|publisher=Librairie Droz|year=2006|isbn=2-600-01077-7}}
*{{cite book|last1=Liddell|first1=Henry George|last2=Scott|first2=Robert|title=A Greek-English Lexicon|location=Oxford, UK|publisher=Clarendon Press|year=1996|orig-year=1940|isbn=0-19-864226-1 }}
*{{cite book|last=Melrose|first=Robin|title=The Druids and King Arthur: A New View of Early Britain|publisher=McFarland|year=2014 |isbn=978-0-7864-5890-5}}
*{{cite book|last=Pentreath|first=Guy|title=Hellenic Traveller: A Guide to the Ancient Sites of Greece|url=https://archive.org/details/hellenictravelle00arth|url-access=registration|location=London, UK|publisher=Faber and Faber|year=1964|isbn=0-571-09718-9}}
*{{cite book|last=Potter|first=John|title=Archaeologia Graeca or the Antiquities of Greece|volume=I|location=London, UK|publisher=Printed for G. Strahan, R. Ware, W. Innys, J. and P. Knapton, S. Birt, D. Browne, H. Whitridge, T. Longman, C. Hitch, J. Hodges, B. Barker, R. Manry and S. Cox, J. Whiston, J. and J. Rivington, J. Ward, M. Cooper, and M. Austen|year=1751|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=flUPAAAAQAAJ}}
* {{cite book |last1=Sacks |first1=David |last2=Murray |first2=Oswyn |title=A Dictionary of the Ancient Greek World |date=1995 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-511206-1 }}
* {{cite book |last1=Tandy |first1=David W. |title=Prehistory and History: Ethnicity, Class and Political Economy |date=2001 |publisher=Black Rose Books |isbn=978-1-55164-188-1 }}
*{{cite book|last=Tarn|first=William Woodthorpe|title=Antigonos Gonatas|url=https://archive.org/details/antigonosgonatas00tarn|location=Oxford, United Kingdom|publisher=Clarendon Press|year=1913|isbn=0-8244-0142-5}}
* {{cite book |last1=Vandenberg |first1=Philipp |title=Mysteries of the Oracles: The Last Secrets of Antiquity |date=2007 |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |isbn=978-1-84511-402-2 }}
*{{cite book|last=West|first=M. L.|title=Indo-European Poetry and Myth|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2007|isbn=978-0-19-928075-9}}
* {{cite book |last1=Wilson |first1=Nigel Guy |title=Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece |date=2006 |publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=978-0-415-97334-2 }}
{{refend|2}}

==Further reading==
{{refbegin|2}}
* {{cite book |last1=Christidis |first1=A.-F. |last2=Christidēs |first2=A.-Ph |last3=Arapopoulou |first3=Maria |last4=Χρίτη |first4=Μαρία |last5=Chrite |first5=Maria |title=A History of Ancient Greek: From the Beginnings to Late Antiquity |date=2007 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-83307-3 }}
* {{cite book |last1=Muir |first1=J. V. |title=Greek Religion and Society |date=1985 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-28785-2 }}
* {{cite book |last1=Eidinow |first1=Esther |title=Oracles, Curses, and Risk Among the Ancient Greeks |date=2007 |publisher=OUP Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-927778-0 }}
* {{cite book |last1=Marinatos |first1=Nanno |title=Greek Sanctuaries: New Approaches |date=1993 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-05384-6 }}
* {{cite journal |last1=Parker |first1=Robert |title=Seeking advice from Zeus at Dodona |journal=Greece & Rome |date=April 2016 |volume=63 |issue=1 |pages=69–90 |doi=10.1017/S001738351500025X |jstor=26776769 |s2cid=163722432 }}
* {{cite journal |last1=Petersmann |first1=Hubert |title=Der homerische Demeterhymnus, Dodona und südslawisches Brauchtum |trans-title=The Homeric Demeter hymn, Dodona and South Slavic customs |language=de |journal=Wiener Studien |date=1986 |volume=99 |pages=69–85 |id={{INIST|12054849}} |jstor=24746284 |oclc=7787851420 }}
* {{cite journal |last1=Pötscher |first1=Walter |title=Zeus Naios Und Dione in Dodona |trans-title=Zeus Naios And Dione At Dodona |language=de |journal=Mnemosyne |date=1966 |volume=19 |issue=2 |pages=113–147 |id={{ProQuest|1299138732}} |doi=10.1163/156852566X00015 |jstor=4429235 }}
{{refend|2}}

==External links==
{{commons category|Dodona}}
*A. E. Housman, [http://www.kalliope.org/digt.pl?longdid=housman2002020325&printer=1 "The Oracles"]
*C. E. Witcombe, [http://witcombe.sbc.edu/sacredplaces/trees.html "Sacred Places: Trees and the Sacred"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091213220539/http://witcombe.sbc.edu/sacredplaces/trees.html |date=2009-12-13 }}
*Harry Thurston Peck (1898). ''Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities'', s.v. "Dodona".
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20050422050641/http://www.calvin.edu/academic/clas/pathways/dodona/ Joe Stubenrauch - Dodona: Pathways to the Ancient World]

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Classical oracles]]
[[Category:Sacred groves]]
[[Category:Temples in ancient Epirus]]
[[Category:Populated places in ancient Epirus]]
[[Category:Archaeological sites in Epirus (region)]]
[[Category:Mycenaean sites]]
[[Category:Cities in ancient Greece]]
[[Category:Thessalian colonies]]
[[Category:Temples of Zeus]]