Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 2.djvu/41

 782 DODONA. posing that Acbilles prayed to 2>n8 in the Thessalian Dodona as the patron god of his native ooontiy; bat others nudntaining that the mention of Selli, whose name elsewhere occurs in connection with the Thes* protian Dodona, points to the place in Epeinis. (Strab. vii. p. 327, ix. p. 441; Steph. B. «. v. A«. dfidn}.) There can be no donbt, 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 oolony and its name. (Steph. B. s, v. The Selli, whom Homer describes as the inter- preters 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 ('EAAotI)}), is described by Hesiod as a fertile land with rich pas- tures, wherein Dodona was situated. (Strab. viL p. 328; Schol. ad Soph. Track, 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 Do- dona. 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 Graed, but now Hellenes." (Aristot. Meteor, i. 14.) We do not know the authority which Aristotle had for this statement, which is in opposition to the com- monly received opinion of the Greeks, who connected Deucalion, Hellen, and the Hellenes, with the dis- trict in Thessaly between Mounts Othrys and Oeta. (Grote, Hist of Greece, vol. ii. p. 3^) 5 A- 7 It is impossible to penetrate any further back into the (mgva. of the oracle ; and we may safely dis- miss 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. (Herod, ii. 54, seq.) The god at Dodona was said to dwell in the stem of an oak (<^irx<Ji, 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 andent times, and which was at first his only temple {vomv 8* iv irvSyAvi ^vfyovy Hes. ap. Soph, Track. 1 167 ; AmSc^kitv <fniy6y t«, IIcAcuryvi' fSpoMoVj ^KtPy Hes. ap, StrtUf. vii. p. 327 ; comp. Mailer, Archaol. § 52, 2). The god revealed his will from the branches of the tree, probably by the mstling of the wind, which sounds the priests hod to interpret. Hence we frequently read of the speak- ing oak or oaks of Dodona. (Horn. Od. ziv. 327, six. 296 ; ed Tpotriryopoi Spvcf, Aesch. Prom. 832 ; ^ouy<r<rov Zfwdsj Soph. Track, 1168.) In the time of Herodotus and Sophocles the oracles were interpreted by three (Soj^ocles says two) aged women, called n^ktiaHts or n^Xcuai, because pigeons were said to have brought the command to ^und the orade: — &s T^r vaXot^ <My^f' aWlffal votc A«tS&yi Bunrwp ix ireAei(i8«ir Hifni, (Soph. TracK 171.) Herodotus (iL 55) mentions the name of three priestesses. (Ckunp. Strab. vii. Fragm. 2; Paus. z. 12. § 10.) These female priestesses were probably introduced instead of the DODONA. Selli at the time when the wenhxp of ZNte m connected with that of Zees at Dodona; and Us Boeotians were the only people who con^ued to re* cave the oracles from male priests. (Stab. iz. p^ 402.) As Delphi grew in importance, Dodona was chiefly consulted by the ndghbouring tribes, the Aetolians, Acamanians, and Epetroto (Paus. viii. 21. § 2); but, as we have already remarked, it continued to enjoy great celebrity even down to the later times. Gnmiis sent to inquire of the onade (Herod, i. 46); Piodar composed a Paean in honour of the Dodonaean god, since there was a close connection between Thdw and Dodona (Pind. Froffm. p. 571, ed. Bockb; Strab. ix. p. 402); Aeschylus and SojAocles speak of the oracle in terms of the highest reverence (Aesch. iVom. 829, seq.; Soph. Track, 1164, seq.); and Cicero relates that the Spartans, in important mattere, were acenstomed to ask the advice of the . oracles dther of Delphi, or Dodona, or Zeus Ammon (Cic. de Dw, L 43). The Athenians also seem not unfreqoently to have ooDsnlted the orade, whidi they did probably through their snspidon of tl» Pythia at Delphi in the Pdoponnesian War. That, they are said to have been oommanded by the Dodo* naean god to found a oolony in Sidly (Pans, vill 11. § 12); Demosthenes quotes several orades from Tkh dona (de Fak. Leg, p. 436, m Mid. p. 531, ed. Beiske) ; and Xenophon recommends the Athenians to send to Dodona for advice {de VecL 6. § 2). Under the Mdossian kings, who gradually eztended their dominion over the whole of Epeirus, Dodona probably rose again in importance. The coins of the Moloi- sian kings frieqoently bear the heads of Zeos and Dione, or of Zeus alone, within a garland d oaL In B. a 219, Dodona received a blow from which it never reoovered. In that year the Aetolians mider Dorimachus, who were at war with Philip, king of Macedonia, ravaged Aetolla, and raxed to thegromid the temple of the god. (Polyb. iv. 67.) Stnbo, hi describing the ruiuMl condition of the towns of Epeiras in his time, says that the orade also had ahnost failed (vii. p. 327); but it subsequently recorered, and Pausanias mentions the temple and sacred oak- tree as objects worthy of the traveller's notice. (Pans, i. 17. § 6.) He dsewhere speaks of the oak of Do- dona as the oldest tree in all Hellas, nezt to the i^r of Hera in Samoa. (Pans. viii. 23. § 5-) The town continued to ezist 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 Hierodes in the dzth century (p. 651, ed. WesseL). Of the temple of Dodona we have no descriptioo notwithstanding the celebrity of the orade. Indeed the building itself b first mentioned by Polybios, jn his account of its destruction by the Aetolians in B. c. 2 19. He says that when Dorimachns ** arrived at the /cfHJy near Dodona, he burnt the Stoae or Colonnades, destroyed many of the dedicatoiy offer- ings, and razed the sacred house to its fonndstioos." (Jlapar/9v6tuvot 8i wfl6t r6 ircpl A«8(^r Upiifi rds re aroiit ^Wirpiytrc, ical woAXA tmt ityalht^^ di4^tsptf Marirircnffc 5^ «cal r^y hpiof oiirlar, PoL iv. 67.) From the words wc^2 AoiichmtP we may conclude that the ltp6y was not within the walls of Dodona. It appean to have occupied a consideiahle space, and to have contained several other boildinss besides the sacred house or temple proper of the god. It was stated by a writer of the name of DeffloU that the temple was suronnded with tripods beuiog