Dodona Archaeological Site, Dodoni

There appears to be no official website for Dodona, and the links below may be inaccurate in parts, or out-of-date,.

Visitors' information

Check here too (note contradictory closing and opening times on these two sites - phone to check- latest information is that the site is open in the summer from 8am to 8pm)

More information

As it was...(from N. Hammond, Epirus)

See more images from the Alison Frantz Collection
The photographer and archaeologist Alison Frantz (1903 - 1995)

Photos by A. Frantz on Flickr

Five Dodona Poems (JP)

Dodona Oracle, Easter 2000


The leaves are not rustling,

The pigeons don't fly -

But the wild flowers are saying

"You'll live till you die."

Three Priestesses

Three priestesses of Dodona:

Promeneia,

Timarete,

Nicandra.

Once worshippers of Isis,

Now they’ve turned to Zeus.


The advice they give on Love and War,

As ambiguous as ever.

Prayer

Lord Zeus of wintry Dodona-

Postpone our struggle

With crafty Charon.

Corcyra/Dodona

A Corfiot scourge!

She chatters

Like knuckle-bones striking a cauldron.

Oracular Seeds

I planted acorns from Dodona

To grow my own

Prophetic tree.

JP


Finally, from Yannis Ritsos, The End of Dodona I (translated Edmund Keeley)

".....We were somehow
       reassured -
others were responsible for the decision that would bring success
       or failure. We
had only to submit and perform, with eyes lowered. Now,
       they've turned everything upside down...
They've even chopped down the sacred
        oak, our counsellor.
We no longer have anyone to ask for advice, to confide in."


From The End of Dodona II

"With the gods overthrown like that, nobody knew which way to
     turn...
The cunning ones adjusted quickly....They changed the names of
     streets
and temples: improvised substitutions. Zeus and Dione
gave way to Jesus and the Virgin. Theodosius
added the finishing touches...."

Update - A lecture on Dodona, 2 February 2018, Corfu Reading Society: