Dodona
Dodona in Epirus was the oldest oracle in Greece, where priestesses interpreted the will of Zeus from the rustling of a sacred oak tree and the cooing of doves.
The Story of Dodona
Before Delphi rose to prominence, Dodona was the most revered oracle in the Greek world. Zeus spoke through the rustling leaves of a great oak tree, and his priestesses — called the Doves (Peleiades) — interpreted the sounds. Bronze cauldrons surrounded the sacred tree, their ringing in the wind adding another voice of the god. Homer mentions Dodona in both the Iliad and the Odyssey. Odysseus visited to ask whether he should return to Ithaca openly or in disguise. Thousands of lead question-tablets found by archaeologists reveal what ordinary people asked: about marriages, voyages, stolen property, and illnesses.
Symbols
Fun Fact
Archaeologists found thousands of tiny lead tablets at Dodona inscribed with questions — the closest thing we have to hearing ordinary ancient Greek voices.
Explore Further
Dodona Oak Oracle
🏛 placeprophecy, Zeus
The oldest Greek oracle, where Zeus spoke through the rustling leaves of a sacred oak tended by barefoot priests called Selloi who slept on the ground.
Dodona Oracle
🏛 placeprophecy, Zeus
The oldest oracle in Greece, where priests interpreted the rustling of Zeus's sacred oak.
Claros
🏛 placeSacred geography
An ancient oracle site of Apollo in Ionia, second in prestige only to Delphi
Clarian Oracle
🏛 placegeography
The sanctuary of Apollo at Claros near Colophon in Ionia, one of the three great oracles of the Greek world.
Delphi
🏛 placeSite of Apollo's Oracle, navel of the world
The most important oracle in ancient Greece, where the Pythia delivered Apollo's prophecies. The Greeks considered Delphi the center — the navel — of the world.
Chaonia
🏛 placegeography
A region of northwestern Greece (Epirus) associated with the oracle of Dodona and the earliest Greek mythology.
Tegea
🏛 placegeography
An Arcadian city with a great temple of Athena Alea, and possessor of the tusks of the Calydonian Boar and the bones of Orestes.
Eleusis
🏛 placeSite of the Mysteries
Eleusis was a sacred city near Athens, home to the Eleusinian Mysteries — the most important secret religious rites in the ancient Greek world.
Colonus
🏛 placegeography
A sacred grove and deme north of Athens where Oedipus found his final resting place and disappeared from the world.
Pelion
🏛 placeGeography
A forested mountain in Thessaly, home of the centaur Chiron and the site where the Argo was built
Pieria
🏛 placeSacred geography
The region at the foot of Mount Olympus sacred to the Muses, who were sometimes called the Pierides
Crete
🏛 placeIsland of the Minotaur and Minoan civilisation
Crete was the largest Greek island and the seat of the Minoan civilisation, home to King Minos, the labyrinth, and the bull-cult that produced some of mythology's most famous stories.