DODO'NA, a city of Epirus, the scat of the oldest Grecian oracle there, is situated in one of the wildest districts s.w. of the lake of Janina. The Greek and Egyptian accounts of its origin differ. The priests of Jupiter in Egyptian Thebes related that two holy women were carried off from that city by a party of Phenicians, one of whom was sold in Libya, the other to the Greeks, and that these women founded the oracles at D. and Ammon. The inhabitants of D. related that two black doves took their flight from the city of Thebes, in Egypt, one of which flew to Libya, the other to D.; that the latter perched upon an oak, and with a human voice commanded that an oracle should be founded on the spot. Herodotus is of opinion, that if the Phenicians did actually carry off the two women already alluded to, one of them was probably sold into Greece; that the strange language and dark complexion had caused them to be likened to birds; and that when they became acquainted with the Greek tongue, they were said to have spoken with a human voice. Later authors ascribe the founding of
the city to Deucalion. The sanctuary itself was dedicated to Jupiter, who manifested himself from the boughs of an oak, probably by the noise of the wind through the tree. This was explained by the priests, who were termed selloi or helloi. The goddess Dione, by some said to be Aphrodite, by others Hera, afterwards appeared by the side of Jupiter, and the place of the priests was occupied by priestesses, who announced the will of the deity. D., though not equal in renown to Delphi, was yet frequently con sulted on occasions of importance, both by the Spartans and Athenians. Though the city of D. was destroyed in 219 B.C. by the 1Etolians, it recovered at a later period, and was in existence in the 6th c. A. D. See Dodone et ses Raines, by Carapanos (1878).