524 DISSERTATION ON THE ORACLE OF DODONA. from 7, duda, and л, jona, the lovely dove, or 71 or 7 dud, or dude, a caldron. If I mistake not, but I cannot now make the reference, Bochart gives a similar derivation. In the larger fragment however of Stephanus, first published by Tennulius, from the MS. of Seguier, we have a long and much more diffuse account, the substance of which, in addition to that already given, is as follows. We are there informed from Hecatæus that Dodona was in the south of Molossia Μολλοσσῶν πρὸς μεσημβρίας οἰκέωσι Δωδωναῖοι, and from a passage of Cratinus there quoted as prose, but which I will take the liberty to versify en passant, Δωδωναίῳ κυνὶ βωλοκόπῳ τίτθῃ γεράνῳ προσεοικώς, we cannot but conclude that a lake or marsh much frequented by water fowl must have been in its neighbourhood. With regard to the story of the Dodonæan brass, we are told from Menedemon (or Demon, as Suidas calls him in his article on the same subject) that the temple of Dodona had no walls about it (about its peribolus I suppose), but many tripods (he means caldrons) standing near each other, so that if any body struck one of them, the sound ran through the whole, and lasted a long time, till the vibration was stopped by touching it again. Stephanus, however, prefers the story of the boy holding the whip on the authority of Polemon Periegetes, who, he says, was intimately well acquainted with Dodona, and whose account was transcribed by Aristides, who, by the way, is called Aristotle by Suidas and Eustathius. Yet both accounts may be true, the sounds might have come from the caldrons, and those caldrons have been placed on tripods, which were the usual supporters of such vessels, and when we consider the order given by the priestess to the Boeotians to steal tripods, it seems not improbable. Suidas, however, in the article Awdwvatov xaλor treats it as erroneous, observing that Aristotle (he means probably, Aristides) says there were two pillars, on the one of which was a boy with a whip and chains, having brazen pellets at their extremities, on the other a brazen caldron, which being struck by them when the wind blew, gave out the sound. Possibly there might be both these contrivances. At any rate, as Suidas observes, the term Awdwvatov xaλxov became proverbially ap plied to great talkers. In proof of which he refers to Menander in the "Appnpópos, without quoting the passage, which is however preserved to us in S DISSERTATION ON THE ORACLE OF DODONA. 525 the fragment of Stephanus, and though omitted by Le Clerc, is duly noticed by the immortal Bentley in his Phileleutherus Lipsiensis, with whose emendations I shall give it, for the sake of brevity, without further commentary. Ἐὰν δὲ κινήσῃ μόνον τὴν Μυρτίλην Ταύτην τις, ἢ τίτθην καλῇ, πέρας ὦ ποιεῖ Even Virgil and his commentator Servius mention these brazen vessels. Among the presents made by Helenus to Æneas, Æn. iii. 466. he speaks Ingens argentum, Dodonaosque lebetas. of Where Servius says, Vasa anea in Dodone, que uno tactu solebant sonare. Philostratus in his Icones, ii. 34, says that a brazen statue of Echo, holding her finger on her mouth, was in much honour at Dodona, because there was a brazen vessel there, sacred to Jupiter, which resounded a great part of the day, and did not cease unless some one touched it. But it would be endless to quote all the passages in the ancient writers where this Dodonaan brass, which is mentioned as a proverbial expression by Zenobius, is alluded to. Dionysius Periegetes must be understood to speak very loosely when he places Dodona, Perieg. 430., to the west of Mount Hæmus. In fact, his expressions are very vague: — τω δ' ἄντα (Αἵμε) ποτὶ ῥιπὴν Ζεφύροιο Δωδώνης ἤπειρος ἀπείριτος ἐκτετάνυσαι. Which, perhaps, may be understood to signify no more than that Epirus, in which Dodona is situated, is an extensive tract to the west of Macedon and Thessaly. Eustathius in his commentary on this passage, observes, that Dodona was Thesprotian, that is, under the dominion of the Thesproti. He is somewhat more particular when he adds, to the south of Dodona are the plains of Ætolia, under Mount Azacynthus, through which runs the river Achelous, and to the east of it, Phocis. 526 DISSERTATION ON THE ORACLE OF DODONA. Mela, ii. 4, places Dodona in Epirus, and says that there was a sacred fountain of cold water there, which extinguished burning torches when dipped into it, and kindled them when they were brought there unlighted. Probably the water extinguished the lighted torch, and the gas rekindled those which had been recently quenched, but whose wick was not perfectly extinguished. Pliny, Nat. Hist. ii. 104, tells the same story, adding, that it always became dry at noon, and full at midnight, whence it was called 'Avaπavóμevov, or the ebbing well. In another passage, N. H. iv. 1. he places Dodona in Molossia, and describes with considerable minuteness the neighbouring districts. The whole passage is important, as it serves to shew that Dodona was inland in Molossia, but that the Thesproti, in whose power it had formerly been, were near the sea, which may have given occasion to some writers to place it near the coast. Epiros in universum appellata Acrocerauniis incipit montibus. In ea primi Chaones, a quibus Chaonia, dein Thesproti Antigonenses; locus Aornos (let no prurient critic imagine lacus here) et pestifera avibus exhalatio: Cestrini, Perrhæbi, quorum mons Pindus, Cassiopæi, Dryopes, Selli, Hellopes (this seems very like Shropshire and Salop) Molossi, apud quos Dodonai Jovis templum oraculo illustre. Tomarus mons centum fontibus circa radices, Theopompo celebratus. Mount Tmarus, or Tomarus, we know from Strabo was the mountain upon which Dodona stood, and the hundred springs which issued from it must have been very likely to create a marsh or lake in its neighbourhood. Solinus mentions the burning fountain in the same words, and adds, that Dodona was high up on Mount Tmarus. very Servius tells us, Georg. i. 149. that Dodona was a city in Epirus with a sacred grove close to it, in which was the oracular oak. But in his note on Æn. iii. 466. he is more diffuse. He there informs us, that Dodona was on the confines of Ætolia, where was a temple antiently dedicated to Jupiter and Venus. (Dione he should have said.) Near this was a huge oak, at the root of which flowed a fountain, the murmurs of which, by divine appointment, were prophetical, and were interpreted to those who consulted the oracle by an old woman named Pelias. (Пtλeas of course.) After this oracle had existed many ages, the oak was cut down, he tells us, by an Illyrian freebooter named Arces, after which the oracle ceased. Others, he observes, say that Jupiter gave two doves endued with human voice to his daughter Thebe, one of which settled on the oak at Dodona, and enjoined the person DISSERTATION ON THE ORACLE OF DODONA. 527 who was about to cut it down, to desist; upon which the oracle of Jupiter was fixed there, and the brazen vessels, all of which sounded if one was touched. The other dove settled upon the head of the ram in Libya, and commanded that an oracle should be founded to Jupiter Hammon. With regard to the destruction of the oracle by Arces, we may rely much more certainly on the account given us by the accurate Polybius, who tells us, Hist. iv. 7. that Dorimachus the prætor of the Etolians, in the first year of the 140th Olympiad, made an incursion into the upper parts of Epirus, and arriving at Dodona (evidently on his return, and therefore Dodona must have been in the south of Epirus) burnt the porticoes, destroyed many of the votive offerings, and levelled the sacred edifice to the ground, xatéoxape tǹv iegàv oixíav. And though Philip took afterwards a severe vengeance for this sacrilege, as is related in the first chapter of the Book following, yet it is probable that the oracle never recovered from this calamity, as the affairs of Greece immediately afterwards declined, but sunk by degrees into that obscurity from which I have made this humble attempt to recover it. What now is the result of all our investigation? It may be reduced into a narrow compass. Dodona, by the general consent of writers who must have known the fact, stood on a hill, either at the foot of, or actually forming part of a chain of mountains. It was in an angle of Molossia, bordering on Perrhæbia, to the west of Pindus, to the east of Thesprotia, to the south of Upper Epirus. A chain of mountains led westward from Dodona through Thesprotia to the sea. About Dodona was a plain, stretching probably to the south-east, and yet more to the east, towards Pindus, was a marsh or lake. These are features which must still remain. And if you find a place in the neighbourhood of Ioannina, bearing ruins on a hill, and whose local situation seems to correspond with that I have mentioned, search diligently for inscriptions, in the hope of finding Dodona. |