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Index

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 February 2026

Edited by
Hugh Bowden  and
Esther Eidinow
Hugh Bowden
Affiliation:
King's College London
Esther Eidinow
Affiliation:
University of Bristol

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Chapter
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Visiting the Oracle at Dodona
Contexts of Unknowing in Ancient Greek Religion
 , pp. 240 - 246
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2026
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Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - ND
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Index

Page numbers in italics are figures; with ‘n’ are notes; with ‘t’ are tables.

abecedaries, 136–141
Acropolis, 23, 41
actor-network theory, 232–235
adaption, 206
Aemilius Paulus, 124
Aeschylus, Prometheus Vinctus, 126, 157–158, 161–164, 165
Aetolians, 27
affordances, 2, 3–4
agency, 36, 231–235
agriculturesee natural world
Alexander the Great, 24
altars, 24
Anaximander, 196
Andromache of Epirus, 51
answers, 131–132, 228–231
and abecedaries, 139–140
honesty of, 129–130
and the lamellae, 84
written, 127, 132see also clarity of prophesies; lot system
anticipation, 193, 196, 197–198, 205
Antikythera Mechanism, 45n49–
Aphrodite temple (Building Λ), 23
Apollo, in tragedy, 148–150, 155
Apollodorus, 101, 111n88–155
Arcadian consultation, 203n67–
archaeologysee excavations
architecture, and fourth century monumentalization, 72–75
archiving, lamellae, 127–129
Aristides, Aelius, Sacred Tales (Hieroi Logoi), 38–39, 50
Aristotle, 17–18
Ps.-Aristotle, Athenaion Politeia, 140
Arizelos, 222
Artemis Orthia sanctuary (Sparta), 42
Asklepieia, 51
Athenian consultations
on the invasion of Sicily, 226
on the Orgas of Eleusis, 201–202
athletes, 46
awe, 186
axes, 99–100
Bakhtin, M. M., 4–6, 7
Bamberg, M., 173–174
beliefs, 176, 205–206
ontological perspective, 217–218, 219–220, 221
Bloch, Maurice, 232
Boeotians, 47, 159
bouleuterion (Building E2)
history/excavation, 20, 22, –23–24, 28
and the pilgrimage, 42
boy with a whip statue, 23, 83, 89, 105, 106–107
Bremmer, J., 217n14–
bronze, lamellae, 83
Building E1 see Sacred House (E1)
building material, 28–29
Burkert, Walter, 197
Carapanos, Konstantinos, 17
Carbon, Jan-Mathieu, 59, 200
castles, as chronotopes, 5–6
Castrucci, Greta, 149, 163
catastrophes, natural, 196
cauldrons, 112, 113, 126see also tripod cauldrons
ceramics, 86–87
Chaia, G. F., 195
chalkeion, 104–108
Chaniotis, A., 216n12, –223–224n37, 231–232n74
Choix d’inscriptions oraculaires de Dodone (CIOD), 59–60
Christianity, 81, 219, 221
and pilgrimage, 35n2–
Christidis, Anastasios, 58
chronotopes (time-space), 4–7
Cicero, 126
De Divinatione, 196–198
story about drawing lots, 140
citizenship, granting of, 49
clarity of prophesies, 147–150, 164–165
in fifth-century tragedies
Archelaos (Euripides), 160–161
Odysseus Akanthoplex (Sophocles), 156–157
Phoenissae (Euripides), 158–160
Prometheus Vinctus (Aeschylus), 157–158, 161–164
Trachiniae (Sophocles), 150–156
cleromancysee lot system
cognitive blending, 180–181
cognitive linguistic theory, 172, 180–186
coin trees, 66–67
communication
divine, 224–231
mental spaces theory, 182
and resilience, 207
consciousness, altered, 114, 127n29–225
Cooper, M., 209
Cordovana, O. D., 195
Criado Boado, F., 36
cultural memory, 197
cultural relativism, 215, 218
curse tablets, 60, 85–86
Dakaris, Sotiris, 17, 20, 58, 72
dating, lamellae, 58–59
Deianeira/Deianira, in Trachiniae (Sophocles), 63, 150–156
Delphi
Arcadian consultation, 203n67–
Athenian consultation on the Orgas of Eleusis, 201–202
clarity of responses, 165
and divine communication, 224
environment, 198
inscriptions, 75–76, 77t–125, 194
Kleisthenes’ consultation, 140
lot system, 90, 141, 231
in Prometheus Vinctus (Aeschylus), 161–164
Pythia, 219–220, 224
writing answers from the Pythia, 63see also Apollo
deltos, 90
Demon, 105
Demosthenes, Against Meidias, 227–228
deposition, lamellae, 90–91
Didyma, 76, 77t–
Diodorus Siculus, 155, 226
Dione
altar, 24
New Temple (Building Θ), 25
old temple, 72
temple (Building Γ), 23
and theoroi, 47–48
Dionysius of Halicarnassus, 37
dissociation, 177
divinatory process, 89–90
divinatory, see also answers; lamellae; lot system; questions
Dodona Online (DOL), 59–60
doves, 76, 82, 126, 199
priestesses, 47, 126, 199
sound, 103
DVC, 58–59
earthquake, Spartan, 196
Eberhard, John Paul, 37, 44
ecological resilience theory, 209
effort, of pilgrimage, 50
Eirana, 208–209
embodied simulation, 171
emotions, and sound, 114
enarmonios, 110
encounters, as chronotopes, 5–6
environmentsee natural world
Ephorus, 126, 226
Epidaurus, iamata, 51
Epilytos, 170, 222, 223–224
Epirotes, 24–27, 29–53, 73–74
Euripides, 165
Archelaos, 160–161
Ion, 149
Melanippe, 225
Phoenissae, 158–160
on Selloi/Helloi, 126
Evangelidis, Dimitrios, 17, 20, 58, 83
excavations, 17–29, 21–22–26, –123–124
Fauconnier, Gilles, 180–181
Fernyhough, C., 178n46–
first-person question structure, 169–170, 183
folding, of lamellae, 60, 83–84
Fontenrose, E., 191
forgeries, 129–130, 228
formulaesee third-person question structure
fragmentation, self-, 175–177
future, imagined, 184–185
Georgokopolou, Alexandra, 172–175
Gill, Christopher, 179
Good, Brian, 176–177
Gravani, Konstantina, 17
Great Games, 45n49–
Griffiths, Maureen, 39
groves, sacred, 40, –101–102, 103–104
Haldon, J. F., 205–206
Hannig, N., 205
harmonics, 107–108
Helloisee priestesses/priests
Herakles, in Trachiniae (Sophocles), 63, 90, 150–156
Herodotus, 17, 174
on dove-prophetesses, 126
doves, 103
priestesses as educated, 230
on treacherous consultants, 129–130
Hesiod, 199
Works and Days, 193–194
Hiera Oikiasee Sacred House (E1)
history, 17–29, 18–19–21–22–26, –81–82
Holbraad, Martin, 215–216, 218, 220, 222
Holling, C. S., 209
Homer, 17, 18, 81–82
Iliad, 179, 234
Odyssey, 88, 199
Selloi/Helloi, 126, 224
weather in, 98
Houlbrook, C., 67
Hymn to Pythian Apollo, 219
Hyperides, 47
iamata, 51
identitysee self
identity work, 173, 174–175
incantation, 207
inscriptions, stone, 75–76, 77t–
Io, in Prometheus Vinctus (Aeschylus), 157–158, 161–164
ironic discourse, 183–184n83
Isodemos, 223–224
Israel, M., 183–184n83
Johnston, Sarah Iles, 225–226
Jouanna, J., 148
Kallisthenes, 90, 229
Kallistratos, 46n51–51
karpoi, 208–209
Kinzig, A. P., 206
Kleisthenes, 140
Korkyra
agricultural questions, 204
and the chalkeion, 106–107
Koselleck, Reinhart, 193
Kraton, 208
Kreon, in Phoenissae (Euripides), 158–161
Kross, Ethan, 179
lamellae, 4, 124–125, 216–217
compared to stone inscriptions, 75–76, 77t–
the lead, 58
dates of, 61–63, 62t–
how it was used, 63–66, 64t–65t, –70–72
methodology of the study, 58–60
writing on, 60–61
materiality, 80–81, 91–92
context of Dodona, 81–85
religious engagement, 85–91
and monumentalization, 72–75
and Nymphs, 100
as transformative, 221–223
uses of, 69–70, 123–124, 127–131
abecedaries, 136–141
during consultation, 133–135
isolated letters, 135–136
literary traditions, 124–127
questions, 45, 83–85, 131–133, 136
ticket-oracle principle, 141–143
see also tragedies
Lamont, J., 86
landmarkssee oak tree
landscape archaeology, 35–36
landscapes
cultural, 192
and memories, 37
and monumentalization, 52
sacred groves, 40, –101–102, 103–104
and the soundscape, 98
language
and blending viewpoints, 181
of the questions, 89–90, 130, 132–133
and self-talk, 179
Larson, J., 225n46–
Lasagni, Chiara, 28–29
Late Bronze Age, 40–41n27
Latour, Bruno, 221, 232–235
‘Thou Shalt not Freeze Frame’, 219
Laurion (Attica), 61, 62–63
lead, 75, 85–86
dates of, 58–59, 61–63
how it was used, 63–66, 64t–65t, –74–75
sources of, 60–61
writing on, 138
lead tabletssee lamellae
leases, 202
Lebadeia, 127
lebēs, 106, 112–113, 126
letters, on the lamellae, 135–136
Lhôte, Éric, 59, 200
Liapis, V., 200
literacy, 130–131, 230
literary traditions
and environmental knowledge, 195–197
and lamellae, 124–127see also tragedies
location, 52–53, 81
lot system, 90, 140, 141–143, 225, 228–229
and agency, 231
love locks, 68–69
Luhrmann, T. M., 232n74–
Lysias, 229–230
manumission, 48–49, 170
Marotta, D., 148
materiality, lamellae, 80–81, 85–92
meaning, and sounds, 110–111
memorials, statues, 43
memories, and landscapes, 37, 198
Menander, 111
Menoikeus, in Phoenissae (Euripides), 158–160
mental spaces theory, 180–183, 184–185
Milon, equestrian statue, 25, 49–50
Mineyko, Zygmunt, 61
mirror systems, 171
Mitchell, L., 163
mobility, and the pilgrimage, 42–43
Moccia, Federico, Ho voglia di te (film/novel), 68–69
Molossians, 22, 24, 25, 73–74, 89
monumentalization, 25, 40–52, 72–75
Mother Earth, 17
motivation for pilgrimage, 44–50
Mount Hymettos, sanctuary of Zeus, 138
movement of pilgrims, 41–43
Mys of Europos, 63
Naia festival, 25, 45–46, 81, 207
Naiads, 100–101
Naiden, F. S., 224n39–
nails, 66, 67
and lamellae, 128, 129
naiskossee Sacred House (E1)
names, on the lamellae, 134, 136
narratives, questions as, 172–175
natural divination, 196–197
natural world, 190–192
divination and environmental knowledge, 195–198
environmental practices, 198–203
resilience, 203–210
resources and sustainability, 192–195
naturalism, 214
Navaho religion, 233–234
Nesselrath, Heinz-Günther, 149
network theory, 232–235
‘Nothing in excess’ inscription, 194
Nymphs, 100–101
oak tree, 17, 26, 52, 82–83, 89, 199–200
and sound, 101–103see also Talking Oaks
Odysseus
Odyssey (Homer), 88see also Sophocles, Odysseus Akanthoplex
offerings, lamellae as, 133, 134–135, 138–139
oikoi, 23
olive trees, 200
Olympias (Molossian regent), 48
ontological perspective, 214–216
consulting the gods, 216–220
divinatory truth as transformative, 220–223
divine communication, 224–231
gods as objects and, 231–235
ontological turn, 214–215
oracles, as motivation for pilgrimage, 44–45
orality, 132, 134–135, 139–140, 143
Orgas of Eleusis, 201–202
ostraka
ceramic, 86–87
Salamis (Cyprus), 201
Pantaleon, 48
Parke, H. W., 148, 155, 157, 163, 226, 228
Parker, Robert, 142, 170, 203
pastoral activities, 20
Pausanias, 17, 127, 203n67–207
Pederson, Morten, 215–216
Pelasgus/Pelasgian, 18
Peleiades, 103
perception, 39–40
and phenomenology, 36–37
visibility and movement, 41–43
peribolos, 44–45
phenomenology, 35–37
Pherekydes, 100
pilgrimage
phenomenological analysis, 34–41, 52–53
effort and returning home, 50–51
motivation, 44–50
time and change, 52
visibility and movement, 41–43
Pindar, on Selloi/Helloi, 126, 224
plaques, 43
Plato, 126, 179
Phaedrus, 225
Pliny, on sacred groves, 102
Plutarch, 218, 221
Polemon of Ilium, 105
polis religion, 175–176
politics, and the lamellae, 128
Polybius, 107–108
priestesses/priests (Helloi/Selloi), 126–127, 224–225
altered consciousness, 225–226
and sacred groves, 102–103see also Pythia
privileges, granting, 49
processions, 47–48
Prometheussee Aeschylus, Prometheus Vinctus
Proxenus, 101
prytaneion (Building O)
history/excavation, 20, 22, –23–24, 25, 27, 28
and the pilgrimage, 42
Pyrrhus, King, 24–25
Pythagoras of Zakynthos, 108–109
Pythia, 219–220, 224
questions, 83–85, 131–133, 190–191
and abecedaries, 139–140
identical, 136see also below ticket-oracle principle
language, 89–90
as narratives, 172–175
open-ended, 222
ticket-oracle principle, 141–143
types, 128–129, 203–204, 218–219, 228–229
and the use of lead, 86–87see also third-person question structure
Radkau, Joachim, 192
rainfall, 3
reconstructions, Hellenistic period, 39, 40–
recycling, lamellae, 128
Redman, Ch. L., 206
religious experience
and soundscape, 97–98, 113–115
animated environment, 103–104
chalkeion, 104–108, 112–113
meaning, 110–111
oak tree, 101–103
thunder, 98–100
water, 100–101
reputation of the shrine, 155, 157, 164–165
resilience, and the natural world, 203–210
resonance, and the chalkeion, 107–108, 114
resources, natural, 192–195, 201
responses, 229–231see also clarity of prophesies
returning home after pilgrimage, 50–51
reuse, lead tablets, 63–66, 64t, –70–72
ritual practice, 75
coin trees/love locks, 66–69
materiality of the lamellae, 85–91
roads, as chronotopes, 5
Robinson, Perry, 233
Roman period, 27
Rosen, A., 205–206
Rosenberger, V., 199
rules, nature’s, 202–203
Ryba, Thomas, 35
Sacred House (E1) (Temple of Zeus and Dione)
history/archaeology, 20–21, 22–25, 27–28, 89, 90
and the pilgrimage, 42
Sacred Way, 6, 28, 47
Salamis (Cyprus), 201
sanctuaries, ancient, as chronotopes, 6
Scheer, Tanja, 194–195, 201
Scully, Vincent, 34–35
self, 171–172
fragmented, 175–177
and small stories, 174–175
self-control, 178–179
self-sufficiency, 205–206
self-talk, 178–180
sensorial experiences, and the lamellae, 87–88
separation, symbolic, 39
Sicily, 226, 227
silver mines, Laurion, 61, 62–63
situated knowledge, 217
Siwah oasis, oracle, 221, 226
slavery, and manumission, 48–49, 170
small stories, 172–175, 185
Smith, C., 224n38–
Sophocles, 165
Odysseus Akanthoplex, 156–157
Trachiniae, 63, 90, 126, 150–156
Souli, Chrysiis, 17
sound
animated environment, 103–104
and meaning, 110–111
and the oak tree, 82, 101–103
thunder, 98–100
tripod cauldrons, 19, 82–83, 104–107
water, 100–101
soundmarks, 113–115
space and time
and phenomenology, 37see also chronotopes; space; time
Sparta
and ape/monkey during consultation, 90, 140
earthquake, 196
sanctuary of Artemis Orthia, 42
Tearless Battle, 226
springs, 100–101
stadium (ST), 22–46
stancetaking, 173–174
statues
boy with whip on tripod, 23, 83, 89, 105, 106–107
honorific, 25, 26, –49–50
as memorials, 43
statuettes, Zeus, 19–20
stelae, 22, 43, 48
Stephanus of Byzantium, 105, 106
Strabo, 111, 126
Structural Dissociation model, 177
sustainability, 192–195
Sweetser, Eve, 181–182
sympathetic resonance/vibration, 107
tabletssee lamellae
Talking Oaks
in Phoenissae (Euripides), 158–160
in Prometheus Vinctus (Aeschylus), 126, 163
Tearless Battle, 226
technical divination, 196–197
temenos, 6, 28, 42
Temenos, in Archelaos (Euripides), 160–161
Temple of Hercules (Building A), 22, 25
Temple of Themis (Building Z), 22, 25
Temple of Zeus and Dionesee Sacred House (E1)
theatre, 17, 23, 27, 41–42
Thély, Ludovic, 196
Themis, temple, 72
Theodosius of Alexandria, 110
theoroi, 47–48
Thesprotians, 22
third-person question structure, 169–172, 185–186
blending viewpoints, 180–183
and the lamellae, 183–185
and questions as narratives, 172–175
self/selves, 175–177
and self-talk, 178–180
Thommen, Lukas, 195
Thucydides, 227
thunder, 98–100
thunderbolt (okiptera) motif, 24–25, 99
ticket-oracle principle, 141–143
time, 39, 40–
time-spacesee chronotopes
Tobin, V., 183–184n83
tokens
lamellae as, 69–70
love locks/coin trees, 66–69
tragedies (fifth-century)
clarity of prophesies, 147–150, 164–165
Aeschylus, Prometheus Vinctus, 157–158, 161–164
Euripides
Archelaos, 160–161
Phoenissae, 158–160
Sophocles
Odysseus Akanthoplex, 156–157
Trachiniae, 150–156
trees
coin, 66–67
olive, 200see also oak tree
tripod cauldrons, 19–20, 52, 82–83, 89
and Boeotians, 47
and the oracle, 112–113
and statue of boy with whip, 23, 89, 105, 106–107see also chalkeion
tripods, outside Dodona, 105
tripous, 108–109
truth, divinatory, 220–223
Turner, Mark, 180–181
unknowing, 4
encounters with, 6
Vernant, Jean-Pierre, 193
Vibius Sequester, 52
vibration, and the chalkeion, 107–108
Victoria, Queen, 66–67
viewpointssee third-person question structure
Villoc Vázquez, V., 36
visibility, 41–43
Vitruvius, 107
Vlachopoulou, Amalia, 17
voices, 103–104
Votokpoulou, Ioulia, 58
Walker, J., 209
water
and soundscape, 100–101
springs, 100–101
waterfalls, 67
and Zeus, 207
waterfalls, 67
weather, thunder, 98–100
wells, 66
whips, 106–107
White, Harrison, 175
Winsler, A., 178n45–
wishing treessee coin trees
worldviews, 214–215
writing, 63
Xenophon, 217
Memorabilia, 219
Zenobius, 111
Zeus
altars, 24
in the Iliad, 18
statuettes, 19
and water, 207see also tragedies
Zolotnikova, O. A., 99

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  • Index
  • Edited by Hugh Bowden, King's College London, Esther Eidinow, University of Bristol
  • Book: Visiting the Oracle at Dodona
  • Online publication: 26 February 2026
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009632218.013
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  • Index
  • Edited by Hugh Bowden, King's College London, Esther Eidinow, University of Bristol
  • Book: Visiting the Oracle at Dodona
  • Online publication: 26 February 2026
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009632218.013
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  • Index
  • Edited by Hugh Bowden, King's College London, Esther Eidinow, University of Bristol
  • Book: Visiting the Oracle at Dodona
  • Online publication: 26 February 2026
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009632218.013
Available formats
×