Dedications at Dodona

Abstract

The sanctuary of Dodona is located at the middle of a valley, between the imposing mountains of Tomaros and Manoliassa, a few miles away from the modern city of Ioannina at Epirus. Dodona was the oldest oracle of Ancient Greece and the religious and political center of the Epirotic tribes. The sanctuary was dedicated to Zeus Dodonaios and his wife Dione and the cult focused mainly on the sacred oak tree (ΦΗΓΟΣ). The archaeologists found a vast number of offerings, such as tripods, weapons, bronze statues etc.

The presentation aims to shed light on these offerings and discuss the unique character of the cult practices as it can be seen from the archaeological and historical evidences. Moreover, it outlines important religious, political, social, and spatial factors that shaped the reputation of the oracle and affected drastically its fate and its course through time. The primitive cult practices, which survived and formed within the context of the Archaic and Classical Antiquity, played a major role on the identity of the sanctuary. This identity can be decoded through some silent witnesses: the Votive Offerings.