lesson 5- the oracle at dodona Flashcards
Although less well known, why might the Oracle at Dodona be considered as being of equal importance?
-many people frequently visited the oracle from all over Greece and Italy, just like any other oracle
- it is the oldest oracular sanctuary in Greece.
What was the oracles most common answer?
a simple yes or no answer, or if the enquirer asked which god they should pray to the oracle would give them the name of a particular diety
How do we know that oracular authority was so highly regarded?
-many lead tablets that we have, and people kept going back which suggested that they were satisfied with their answers.
In what other ways could oracular consultation be gained?
Oracular consultation could also be gained at hero shrines too as well as throwing dice in a marketplace.
when were oracles stopped? (all oracles include the oracle at Dodona and Delphi)
Oracles stopped in the fourth century AD
Where is the oracle of Zeus at Dodona located?
The oracle of Zeus at Dodona is located in Epirus (northern Greece), in a quiet valley with no major towns or cities nearby. It is supposedly the oldest oracular sanctuary in Greece.
Who was the oracle at Dodona dedicated to?
Zeus Naios (Zeus of the spring below the oak). and Dione, supposedly the mother of Aphrodite (If, as Homer suggests, Aphrodite was the immediate child of Zeus)
What does everything at the site focus on?
Everything at the site focuses around a sacred oracular oak tree. Hesiod and Homer describe that after the worshipper had put forward their question, they would receive an answer from the rustling of the leaves from this sacred oak tree or by doves sitting in the tree.
what happened from the fifth century onwards?
Inquirers would scratch/inscribe their questions onto a lead tablet which was then given to the oracle for the worshipper to then receive an answer. Over 4,000 of these lead tablets have been uncovered, containing many questions but very few answers.
why are the lead tablets found so useful to us?
- they show us the questions that were asked and the daily phenomena that affected individuals and whole city states
- they show us the popularity of the site due to the amount of lead tablets that have been found and also suggest that oracular authority was highly regarded as individuals continuously came back to ask questions
- they show us the concerns of people from a wide variety of status and classes in society, from children, women and slaves to royalty.
-They also show how oracles were used for personal reasons. for example, some tablets have been found that question “should I try to escape my master” that have been asked by slaves. This was something that was illegal at the time and also shows the trust that many had in the oracle at keeping all answers confidential
list what types of concerns the questions covered:
- travel/moving places - whether an individual should relocate
-marriage- whether a widow should remarry or whether a father should choose a particular man to marry his daughter off to
-work and prosperity
-relationship advice
-health
-loaning money
-crime
-present day
-which god the individual should pray to in a particular instance
what are the issues of having these lead tablets as evidence?
- there is no context to the questions- e.g we can imply the status of someone based on the question they were enquiring but we do not know where they are from, what their background is, what actions they took following the answer they received
- we do not know what answers the worshippers received as very few lead tablets survive with answers inscribed on them
-they are fragmented which makes them incredibly difficult to read
-they cannot be dated so we cannot draw links between historical affairs
-some were reused and so contained multiple inscriptions
-some were lost/damaged/stolen during excavations
-not all tablets include a name - most of the tablets are entirely anonymous
when was the earliest mention of the site of Dodona?
The earliest mention of the site is in Homer’s Odyssey. Odysseus claims to have gone to the site in order to hear the will of Zeus to find out whether he should return to Ithaca openly or in disguise. Homer also mentions the oracle in the iliad briefly.
