previous next

[233] There are several interesting variants in this remarkable address. Byzant. Steph. says (from Epaphroditos) “Ζηνόδοτος γράφει Φηγωναῖε” (for “Δωδωναῖε”), “ἐπεὶ ἐν Δωδώνηι πρῶτον φηγὸς ἐμαντεύετο. καὶ Σουίδας δέ φησι Φηγωναίου Διὸς ἱερὸν εἶναι ἐν Θεσσαλίαι, καὶ τοῦτον ἐπικαλεῖσθαι: ἕτεροι δὲ γράφουσι Βωδωναῖε: πόλιν γὰρ εἶναι Βωδώνην, ὅπου τιμᾶται” (similarly Schol. B). “Πελασγικὲ δέ, ὅτι ὑπὸ Πελασγῶν ἵδρυται τὸ περὶ Δωδώνην τέμενος. οἱ δὲ Πελαργικέ: λόφον γὰρ εἶναι λευκὸν ἐκεῖ φασιν οὕτω καλούμενον. οἱ δὲ” “Πελαστικέ, οὗ πέλας ἐστὶν ὁ ἀήρ”, Schol. In B. the next line Schol. T says that Zen. read “πολυπίδακος” for δυσχειμέρου, and An.calls attention to the doubt as to whether we should read “Σελλοί” or “σ᾽ Ἑλλοί”. This last question — the only variant of real importance — Ar. decided in favour of “Σελλοί”, on the ground that the river “Σελλήεις” (see on 2.659) was named from them. As however it is doubtful whether this river was in Thesprotia at all, it is perhaps better to accept the positive testimony of Schol. A (Did.?) and Strabo (vii. 328) that Pindar (fr. 59 Sch.) called the people “Ἑλλοί”, and to read it in the text (they are also spoken of as “Ἕλλοπες”, cf. Frag. 156, Rzach, “ἔστι τις Ἑλλοπίη”). On the other hand, Sophokles has “Σελλοί” (see below), so that the question is very evenly balanced. In either case the sense is the same, σοί in 235 not being the dat. of “σύ” but the nom. pl. of “σός”. For the religious connexion between Epeiros and Thessaly which causes Achilles to pray to the god of Dodona, see notes on 2.681, 749. It is very probable that when migrating eastwards across Pindos the Thessalian tribes carried Dodona with them as a purely religious name, just as other migrations southward took Olympia from the north of Thessaly to Elis, but only as a sanctuary, not as a city-name. The contrary supposition, that there was a Thessalian Dodona (Skotussa?) older than the Epeirot is in the last degree improbable, as the historical Dodona shews every sign of a hoary antiquity, and in Od. 14.327 Dodona with its oracle is clearly in Thesprotia. It would seem that the Achaian tribes when in Epeiros had adopted the worship of the prehistoric god whom they found established at Dodona, identifying him with their own Zeus — a familiar process in the history of invading peoples. Some of them, the “Σελλοί” or “Ἑλλοί”, had remained in charge of the sanctuary and oracle when other members of the same tribe had passed eastward under the name of “Ἕλληνες”, which was destined to pass to the whole Greek race (this view is as old as Aristotle meteor. i. 14. 9 “αὕτη δέ” — sc. “ἡ Ἑλλὰς ἡ ἀρχαία — ἐστιν ἡ πεπὶ τὴν Δωδώνην καὶ τὸν Ἀχελῶιον . . ὤικουν γὰρ οἱ Σελλοὶ ἐνταῦθα καὶ οἱ καλούμενοι τότε μὲν Γραικοὶ νῦν δὲ Ἕλληνες”). This priestly tribe retained the customs of primitive barbarism in token of sanctity as the ‘mouthpieces’ of Zeus, and hence are χαμαιεῦναι. Frazer has pointed out similar curious survivals in the rules that the bedstead of the Flamen Dialis at Rome must be smeared with fine mud; and that the priest of the old Prussian god Potrimpo must sleep on the bare earth for three nights before sacrificing (C. R. ii. p. 322). Compare also Soph. Trach. 1166(Herakles is speaking of certain oracles) “ἃ τῶν ὀρείων καὶ χαμαικοιτῶν ἐγὼ Σελλῶν ἐσελθὼν ἄλσος εἰσεγραψάμην”. So also Erechtheus (fr. 355) “ἐν ἀστρώτωι πέδωι εὕδουσι, πηγαῖς δ οὐχ ὑγραίνουσιν πόδας”. An admirable summary of what is known about ancient Dodona will be found in Jebb's note and Appendix on the passage from the Trachiniae.

The Iliad, edited, with apparatus criticus, prolegomena, notes, and appendices. Walter Leaf. London. Macmillan. 1900.

The National Endowment for the Humanities provided support for entering this text.

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.

hide References (2 total)
  • Commentary references from this page (2):
hide Display Preferences
Greek Display:
Arabic Display:
View by Default:
Browse Bar: