Talk:Dodona
From Academic Kids
I understand that the role of Dione ("she-Zeus") is usually underemphasized, but what's the rationale for her being the original sole occupant of the oracle? Bacchiad 06:22, 16 Jul 2004 (UTC)
- Doesn't the oldest oracle in Hellas precede the appearance of Zeus in Hellas? I think that changing Dione "the nameless consort "goddess"" --she is all three things-- to Dione "whose name is a feminine form of Zeus" is misleading, for she is a feminine form of "Zeus" only inasmuch as the name "Zeus" simply means "deity." "Dione" is the "dea" or "nameless goddess." The change gives the distinct impression that Zeus is primary at Dodona and Dione is just a feminine form of Zeus. Which isn't right, is it? Wetman 08:07, 16 Jul 2004 (UTC)
Morphologically, "Dione" is a feminine form of "Zeus". We know that "Zeus" is primary (again, linguistically) because of the cognates Jupiter and Dyaus Pitar, Dievas, Tyr etc. Actually, it's even a feminine form of the patronymic or dimunutive in -iota-omega-nu (cf. Kronion for Zeus) "Zeus" -> "Dion" -> "Dione".
Linguistic questions aside, how do we know that Dodona was "originally an oracle of the Mother Goddess" called by Dione or any other name? I'm not saying it was always Zeus's, but how do we know who was there before? Are there perhaps votive deposits of Willendorf-type figurines? This would be good to know. Best, Bacchiad 09:58, 16 Jul 2004 (UTC)
