Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 2.djvu/42

 t DODONA. oddnnu, and that these were placed so closely to- gether, that when one was strack the noise vibrated ^roagh all. (Steph. B. », v. AtMmi ; Schol. ad Earn, 11. ZYi. 233.) It appears that the greater part of these had been contributed by the Boeotians, who were accustomed to send presents of tripods everjr yvar. (Strab. x. p. 408.) Among the remark- able objects at Dodcoa were two piUarSi on one of which was a brazen caldron, and on the other a statue of a boy holding in his hand a braxen whip^ dedicated by the Coreyraeans: when the wind blew, the whip stmck the caldron, and produced a loud noise. As Dodona was in an exposed situation, this constantly happened, and hence arose the prorerb of the Dodonaean cakiron and the Corcyraean whip. (Polemon, qp. Steph. B. s, v. LjbMmi ; Snid. a. v. Awd^tmw x«Airfioy; Strab. Tii. p. 329.)^This ap- pears 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, o6fc#ri Actfi^r fuwrtirrat {Or, xv. p. 127, c). Respecting the way in which the oracles were given, tlMro are different accounts; and they probably differed at different times. The most andent mode was by means of sounds from the trees, of which we have abeady spoken. Servius relates that at the foot of the SMred oak there gushed forth a fountain, the noise of whose waters was prophetic and was inter- preted by the priestesses (ad Virg, i4en. iiL 466). On some occasions the will of the god appears to have been ascertained by means of lots. (Cic. <fe Div, i. 34.) The site of Do dona cannot be fixed jq^ certAtn^. No remains of theleiiiple'liave Leen discovered; and no in8eripti<HD8 have been found to determine its lo- cality. It is the only pbce of great celebrity in Greece, of which the situation is not exactly known. Leake, who has examipfd the subject with his usual acuteness and learning, comes to the conclusion, with great probability, that the fertile valley of lodmnma is the territory of Dodona, and that Uie ruins upon the hill of KaatrUaa at the southern end of the lake of lo dmwna are those of the ancient dty. Leake remarks that it can hardly be doubted by any per- son who has seen the country around lodtmina, and has examined the extensive remains at Kastriiza, that the dty which stood in that centrical and com- manding position was the capital of the district during 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, 80 as to make the whole circumference be- tween two and three miles. Of the suburb the re- mains consist chiefly of detached inginents, and of remains of buildings strewn upon the land, which is here cultivated. But the entire drcnit of the town walls is traceable on the heights, as well as those of the acropolis oo the summit These, in some places, •re extant to the height of 8 or 10 feet. The ma- sonry is of the sec(Mid order, or oompoeed of trape- addal 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 HeUenic inelosore, bears the same name as the hill, 1»at although built in great part of andent materials, it does not preserve a smgle inscribed or sculptured marble, nor could I find any such relics on any part of the andent site." (Leake.) Out space allows us to mention only briefly the chief alignments of Leake in fovour of placing Dj- DODONA. 783 / dona at Kaatritea, It was the opinion of the andent writers that Dodona fint belonged to Thesprotia, and afterwards to Molossis. Stephanus B. calls it a town of Molossis, and Strabo (viL p. 328) places it in the same district, but observes that it was called a Thesprotian town by the tragio poets and by Pindar. But even Aeschylus, though calling the oraele that of the Thesprotian Zeus, places Dodona on the Molossian plain (Prom. 829):— iw€l yap ^$€s irplbs MoXoaffh &(rc8a, /iOKTcia ^&k6s t* ipear that the territory of Dodona bordered on the inland finontierB of Thesprotia &nd Molossis, and must in that case correspond to the district of lodnnma. Pindar describes Epeims as beginning at Dodona, and extending from thence to the Ionian sea (Nem, iv. 81); from which it follows that Dodona was on the eastern frontier of Epeims. Thut it was near the lofty mountains of Pinaus, on the eastern frontier, may be inferred from the manner in which Aeschylus speaks of the Dodonaean moun- tains (Supp. 258), and from the epithet of ahr^tmros attached to the place by the same poet (Jhrom, 830), and from that of Sv<rx€/j^fpof given to it by Homer. (IL xvi. 234.) The account of the destruction of Dodona by the Aetolians also shows that it was on the eastern frontier of Epeims. Polybius says (/. c.) that the Aetolians marched " into the upper parts of Epeims) " («* rohi tam r6rwous r^f 'Hirt (fMi;), which words appear to be equivalent to Upper Epeims, pr the parts most distant from the sea towards the central range of mountains. Hesiod, in a passage already referred to (^ap. Schol. ad Soph, Track. 1167 ; comp. Strab. vii. 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 lodnmnaf 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 Tomakus or Txarus (Tiot ; Eustalh. ad Od. xiv. 327, p. 1760, R., adOd,xyl 403, p. 1806, R.). The(^mpus relates that there were a hundred fountuns at the foot of Mt. Tomarus. (Plin. iv. 1.) Leake identifies Tomarus with the commanding ridge of Milzihflif at the foot of which are numerous sources from which the lake of lodtmina derives its chief supply. He fruther observes that the name Tomarus, Uiough no l<mger attached to this moun- tain, ut not quite obsolete, being still preserved in that of the Tomarokhdriaf or villages situated on a port of the southern extremity of Dkryeho, which is a continuation of MUeihSH. The chief objection to placing Dodona near lodn- ntfia is the silence of the andent writers as to a lake at Dodona. But this n^ative evidence is not suffident to outwdgh 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 Hedod, who may have mentioned the lake in the lines immediately following, which are now lost. Moreover, ApoUodorus stated that there were nuuvhcs round the temple (op. Stxab. vii. u ^ .; « ^ I A