"the oldest oracle of Greece" a Dhodhoni Travel Page by mindcrime

Dodoni is located 22km SW of Ioannina(Epirus at NW region of Greece) at the foothill of mountain Tomaros. The name Dodoni is famous for two reasons. The first one is the famous agricultural dairy Industry of Epirus that give us tasty cheese everyday (at least my family that comes from that region of Greece loves it!). Anyway, the other reason is that at Dodoni is situated the ancient site of Dodoni that houses the ancient theatre and the oracle of Dodoni. At the beginning (back in the bronze era) it was a place of worshipping Earth and later the god Zeus, his local wife Diona (he had many but that’s another story) and their daughter Aphrodite. It should be the oldest greek oracle and probably the area was the first place where greek tribes lives. Homer and other writers/historians talk about the oracle of Dodoni.

Herodotus tells us about the legend that he heard by the priests of Dodoni: Two black doves flew from Egypt’s Theva, one went to Libya where the temple of Amon Zeus was built and the other to Dodoni. The dove stood over an oak, the sacred tree of Zeus and spoke with human voice where the temple of Zeus should be built! The priest were using the leafs of the tree to take decisions but also from the sound of the waters of the sacred spring and from the bronze boilers around the sacred tree. The priest were barefooted and slept on the ground to be in touch with earth!

There weren’t many buildings around like in other oracles of ancient Greece (Delphi, Dilos etc), probably because of its position, even for the people was difficult to reach the area. For you is much easier though :) There is a path leading you from site to site with some basic info written on signs.

The small temple of Zeus built at 4th century BC that became more popular when the king of Epirus was Pyros(297-272BC). It was that period that the other temples were built and also the theatre, the stadium etc The site destroyed on 219BC from the Aetolians but rebuilt again until 167BC when the Romans destroyed it again. During the roman era the theatre used as an arena with wild animals! Believers were coming until the 4th century when the new religion Christianity took over. The sacred oak cut down and Christian temples were built.

The first thing you’ll notice is the theatre which is big enough and the best building to take photos of! :) Then you’ll see the bouleutereion, the prytaneion, the temple of Themis, the sacred house, the new temple of Diona, the Christian basilica, the temple of Heracles, the temple of Ahrodite etc

The entrance fee is only 2euros and the site is open daily 8:30-15:00(November-march) and 8:30-19:00(april-october). The site is closed on:
1 January, 25 March, 1 May, Easter, 25-26 December

Dodoni is easily accessible from Ioannina if you have a car but there is also a bus from Ioannina. It’s a great day trip, you can spend an hour inside the site and then drink or eat something at the near by tavern. You can also visit the small villages around and enjoy the beautiful natural landscape.