Dodona and Nostos in Literature and Archaeology
(2010) Program in the Ancient World (PAW) — Location: Princeton, NJ (9.December.2010)
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- The Homeric references to the oracle of Dodona, (Iliad 2.749, 16.233; Odyssey 14.327-330=19.296-299), have confused commentators since the Scholia. Much of their debate has concerned the proper identification, spelling, and meaning of the Selloi/Helloi, about the implications of Homer’s poems for the oracle’s early apparatus and technique (for which, see Janko ad Il. 16.233, 234-5 and bibl.), and about various geographic questions related to the oracle’s location. It is not my intention to address these questions, but, rather, to speculate on the meaning Dodona had for the Homeric narrator and his character speakers. In the middle of his discussion of Dodona, Strabo (7.7.10) makes a general comment that, τὰ δὲ μυθευόμενα περὶ τῆς δρυὸς καὶ τῶν πελειῶν καὶ εἴ τινα ἄλλα τοιαῦτα, καθάπερ καὶ [τὰ] περὶ Δελφῶν, τὰ μὲν ποιητικωτέρας ἐστὶ διατριβῆς τὰ δ’ οἰκεῖα τῆς νῦν περιοδείας. This paper proceeds from a similar philosophy: when it comes to Dodona, there is an important connection between geography and poetry, and in any given comment within the poets, the two fields must be considered, if not absolutely together, then at least overlapping. More precisely, this paper will seek to show how all of the Homeric references to Dodona—including Akhilleus invokes Ζεῦ...Δωδωναῖε during his prayer for Patroklos’ success and health in battle, and including Odysseus’ claim in his (twice-told) Cretan tale that Odysseus went to Dodona en route to Ithaca—relate to a desire for a successful journey and a safe return. Finally, it will show that this connection between Dodona and return journeys is confirmed by and reflected in the archaeological record of question-tablets excavated at Dodona.
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Kachuck, A. (2010). Dodona and Nostos in Literature and Archaeology. Program in the Ancient World (PAW), Princeton, NJ. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/101118