Hiera Oikia
The Hiera Oikia (Temple of
Zeus) with the oracular oak-tree had a rectangular structure, measuring 20.80 x
19.20 m and at least four building phases. The original nucleus consisted of a
small temple with a pronaos and cella dating to the first half of the 4th c.
BC.
At the beginning of the 3rd c. BC, in the reign of
King Pyrrhus (297-272 BC), the ashlar precinct was replaced by a larger one
with Ionic colonnades on three sides of the court and an entrance in the front;
on the east side, where the oak-tree stood, there was no colonnade. The
interior layout was characteristic, with a court and the colonnades in the form
of a Π enclosing the lofty Oak-tree where the God lived. In these colonnades
Pyrrhus hung the Roman shields he captured after his victory at Heraclea in
Italy (280BC) and the votive inscription preserved on a part of a shield, now
in the National Museum of Athens.
In 219 BC the Aetolians made a sudden attack on Dodona
and Dion, the holy city of the Macedonians, and looted the two Sanctuaries.
According to the 2nd c. BC historian Polybius, the Aetolians burnt down the
Sanctuary Dodona; the Hiera Oikia, however, they did not burn, but demolished.
The different treatment of the Hiera Oikia can be explained if we remember that
it was here that the Oak-tree stood which was the god's abode, and that burning
down would have destroyed the tree; this would have constituted a great
sacrilege and stirred up popular indignation throughout Greece. We have
therefore good reason to suppose that this building, which shows no traces of
burning, was the Hiera Oikia mentioned by Polybius.
In the autumn of the following year (218 BC) the
Macedonians and Epirotes, to avenge the destruction of Dion and Dodona,
attacked Thermos in Aetolia and burned and plundered it. With the booty they
captured, which was considerable, they rebuilt the destroyed Sanctuaries at
Dion and Dodona. The Hiera Oikia was now refurbished on a more monumental
scale. A larger one with an Ionic tetrastyle pronaos, cella and adytum, having
three Ionic columns in the front, took the place of the small temple. On the
side of the Oak-tree a deep hole and hewn stones were found, probably from an
altar. The exterior east wall has suffered subsidence in this place, due to the
hole left by the uprooted tree.
The excavations have not uncovered any evidence for
the fate of the Temple when the Romans (167 BC) burnt down the Sanctuary and
other buildings. In the 2nd c. AD, Pausanias described the Sanctuary with the
Oak-tree as "worth-seeing", and the Naia were still being celebrated
in 240 AD. The final end of the Hiera Oikia came at the end of the 4th c. AD,
when the oracular Oak-tree was cut down and a huge hole excavated in order to
uproot it or else in search of treasure.
Temple of Dioni at Dodoni
A place of significance in the Dodoni sanctuary was
reserved to the adoration of goddess Dioni, the mythological mother of goddess
Aphrodite. Both Dioni and Themis were called Naian goddesses, cohabitants and
worshipped together with Zeus. The earlier temple dedicated to Dioni was
situated near the Sacred Residence to the north and made part of the central
section of the sanctuary. Built in the second half of the fourth century or in
the early third century BC, the temple was set on fire by the Aetolians in 219
BC and was subsequently abandoned.
It was oriented from east to west, in an almost square
plan (9.80 x 9.40m) and was about half as big as the adjacent temple of Zeus.
It disposed of a cella and a pronaos (front section) with four Ionic columns of
sandstone at the fa?ade; the superstructure was made of unfired (?green?)
bricks. The stone threshold of the entrance pierced in the intermediate wall
that separates the cella from the pronaos, still survives; the double-leaf door
was 1.20m wide. At the far end of the cella are preserved the remains of a
pedestal supporting the ceremonial statue of Dioni, the so called ?edos?
(habitat). The revered ?edos? was honoured every year by the Athenians, who
sent honourable ?theories? (dignitaries as city representatives) and abundant
gifts, following a Dodoni oracle.
When the sanctuary was reconstructed after 219 BC, a
new temple sacred to Dioni was erected to the south, visibly diverging from the
temple of Zeus. It was an Ionic tetrastyle (four-columned) with a frontal
portico (?prostyle?) temple disposing of a pronaos (anteroom) and the cella,
measuring overall 9.60 x 6.35m. The columns were made of conglomerate
externally plastered with fine lime mortar or marble mortar that rendered to
the surfaces the whiteness and smoothness of marble. The stepped fa?ade was of
good quality limestone, similar to the columns of the parodoi (passageways,
public entrances) in the theatre. A wall separates the pronaos from the cella,
featuring a stone threshold that still survives together with traces of the
double-leaf door, 1.30m in width. At the far end of the cella stands the
pedestal which supported the statue of Dioni.
Temple of
Themis at Dodoni
Among the three
most ancient temples which surrounded the holy oak of Zeus in the Dodoni
sanctuary, one is sacred to Themis, wife of Zeus and daughter of Ouranos
(heaven) and Gaia (earth). The other two are the Holy Residence and the temple
of Dioni. The cult of Themis was widespread in the region of Epirus, presumably
as continuation of the cult of the prehistoric Great Goddess; it is obvious to
honour her in Dodoni, because it relates to the adoration of the Earth. The
temple (Building Ζ) was identified with the help of an inscription set in lead
that was found in the gallery of the bouleuterion (council chamber), mentioning
Zeus, and referring to Themis and Dioni as Naian gods, i.e. cohabitants and
worshipped together with Zeus. In consequence, both goddesses were in hierarchy
the most important officers of Zeus, following immediately after the god. The
only element that can be used as evidence for the dating of the temple is the
use of soft sandstone for the pilasters of the pronaos (anteroom); this material
had been also used a) in the ancient temple of Dioni, b) in the Holy Residence
in the time of Pyrrhus, the king of Epirus, and c) in the Doric portico of the
bouleuterion. The most probable dating is attributed to the period of the
Epirote League (340-232 BC).
Oriented from northwest to southeast, the temple was
of a simple constructive conception, measuring 10.30 x 6.25m. It was prostyle
(frontal colonnade) with four Ionic columns, a pronaos and the cella building.
The remains in front of the temple belong to the foundations of a large altar
(4.20 x 3.30m) and a square pedestal to the east, which presumably supported a
votive offering of significance. The carvings show that the orthostates
(upright stanchions) surrounded the altar on all four sides, and access could
be granted only from the temple. The internal dimensions were 2.60 x 1.80m. On
the southwest of the temple stands a small square edifice (Building Η) not yet
identified, so that we still ignore its function and the time of erection.
Temple of Hercules at Dodoni
In the southernmost end of the sanctuary sacred to
Zeus in Dodoni, roughly 30m westwards from the gate of the enclosure, rests the
temple of Hercules, part of which lied under the Christian Basilica Β. It was
built in the early third century BC, in the years of Pyrrhus, the king of
Epirus, who made efforts to correlate his genos (larger family, house) with the
mythical hero, particularly after his second marriage to Lanassa, daughter of Agathocles,
who was the tyrant of Syracuses, and originated from the family of Hercules.
This is the largest temple after that of Zeus, and the
only known temple of Doric order within the sanctuary. It is oriented from
northwest to southeast and measures 16.50 x 9.50m. Except of the pronaos (front
section) and the cella (in Greek, sek?s), the temple also disposes of four or
six Doric columns at the fa?ade (tetrastyle or hexastyle prostylos temple).
After being set on fire by the Aetolians in 219 BC, it had been reconstructed
and the destroyed architectural members of soft sandstone (triglyphs, capitals,
cornice) were set in the wall that separates the pronaos from the cella. To the
east of the pronaos survives a large pedestal, 5.70 x 3.20m in dimensions, which
made part of the altar of the temple.
The fact that the temple was related to the adoration
of Hercules is ascertained by several archaic bronze sheets found on the
interior, by cheek pieces from helmets, by a relief representation depicting
the dispute between Apollo and Hercules for the possession of the Delphic
tripod, and especially by a metope made of limestone in the third century BC,
depicting in relief the fight of Hercules against the monster called Lernaia
Hydra, and is currently included among the exhibits of the Archaeological Museum
of Ioannina. The hero is pressing down with his right knee the body of the
beast depicted to his right, while Iolaos, standing to the left of Hercules, is
trying to burn a tentacle of Hydra with a torch (his right thigh is visible). A
crab near the right thigh of Hercules suggests the marsh of Lerna, which was
the theatre for this particular scene.
Temple of Aphrodite
at
Dodoni
The temple of Venus (goddess Aphrodite), centrally
positioned within the Dodoni sanctuary, is situated near the temple of the
goddess Themis. Its identification followed on base of the earthen figurines,
that were found around the temple and on its interior. They represent a
feminine figure holding with her right hand a dove in front of her breast - the
dove is a symbol for the goddess Venus. On the base of certain constructional
details and of the findings that were taken from its interior, the temple can
be dated to the fourth or the early third century BC; however, this should not
exclude the possibility of an earlier cult in this location. The worship of
Venus in Dodoni is also confirmed by inscription testimonies, but the time in
which it was established remains unknown. It had been apparently anterior to
the time of king Pyrrhus, but it is certain that in the early third century BC
there was a fusion with the adoration of Venus Aineiada, introduced by king
Pyrrhus, who ?imported? this cult from the city of Egesta, in western Sicily.
This particular deity is related to the Trojan hero Aineias and the legend of
Troy, who were incredibly dear to the tribe of the Molossoi, because, according
to earlier traditions, the Molossoi originated from Troy through Andromache,
the wife of Hector.
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This is a small temple in Doric rhythm, 8.50 x 4.70m
in dimensions, but it slightly differs from the type and style established in
Dodoni. It is a simple distyle construction in antis, with a pronaos (anteroom)
and a cella building; between the pilasters of the pronaos are two eight-sided
Doric columns instead of four Ionic columns, which is the case of the other temples.
Two of the column drums are built-in (encastr?) into the square edifice of the
Roman years that stands immediately to the east. At the middle of the wall that
separates the cella from the pronaos was an entrance with a one-leaf door, 1m
in width, of which only the broken threshold survives. The walls of the temple
were manufactured with small stones, as in Building M, while soft sandstone had
been used for the capitals of the columns. Among the findings related with the
building, are included lead inscriptions and figurines depicting a feminine
figure, an earthen lion's head, dated to the fourth century BC, as well as a
marble fragment from the trunk of an archaic feminine statue, of smaller
dimensions than the natural size of a feminine body. This fragment presumably
belonged to the ceremonial statue of the goddess Aphrodite.
Prytaneion of Dodoni
South of the Bouleuterion is the Prytaneion. Between
them, remains are visible of the West Gate of the old 4th century BC precinct,
through which the Sacred Way passed leaded to the oracular Oak-tree. For the
construction of the two buildings, the Hiera Oikia and the Prytaneion, it was
necessary to move the west side of the precinct further west and to join in
with the House of the Priests.
The Prytaneion comprises the original nucleus, 31.50 m
wide, dating to the beginning o the 3rd century BC and the extension to the
north side made at the end of the 3rd century BC. This consists of three rooms
with nine couches each and with service areas, where the archontes (government
officials) dined, and on the east side, of a large extended colonnade that
extended nearly as far as the south-west main gate of the west perimeter wall.
These additions were considered necessary when the
Epirote Alliance was succeeded by the Epirote League, which was joined by all
the Greek Epirote tribes from southern Albania to the Ambracian Gulf.
The Prytaneion, in whose sacred hearth the eternal
fire burned, was where the prytaneis (magistrates) and distinguished persons
dined and the resolutions of the Boule and the archontes were kept. It was, in
a way, the home of the city-state or city-tribe. The excavations, which are
continuing, brought to light a peristyle court with 4 x 4 Doric columns on the
east side, where the entrance was.
After the Roman destruction in 167 BC, the Prytaneion
was roughly repaired in the 1st century BC, but the north wing and its rooms
with nine couches each and the east colonnade remained buried beneath the
rubble. The Doric peristyle belonging to the beginning of the 3rd century BC
was replaced by a larger one (4 x 7 columns) carelessly constructed of various
materials. The bases of the peristyle, which was now built on a larger scale,
consisted of slabs taken from the destroyed pedestrals that had been on the
east facade of the Ionic Stoa. One of these bases preserves part of a decree by
the League (of Epirotes), which tells us that the League, after an oracle,
honoured a certain person with a bronze statue signed by a hitherto unknown sculptor,
Melissos, son of Epikrates, from Corcyra.
Bouleuterion
This edifice is built on the south side of the hill,
to the east of the Theatre. It consists of a large hall 1,260 m2 in area with a
Doric colonnade (stoa) in front. Some remains of rough stone benches show that
the members of the Bouleuterion (Council Champer) sat on the upper part o the
slope.
The identification of this building as the
Bouleuterion is confirmed by the stone altar, near the south wall, dedicated to
Zeus Naios and Bouleus (Counsellor) and to Dione by Charops, the son of
Machatas, a Thesprotian, one of the leading Epirotes and a "good and noble
man", who assisted Flamininus in Epirus during the campaigns in 198 B.C.
agains the Macedonians.
The survivng outside walls formed the stone base of
the building, but the upper part was built of baked and unbaked bricks bonded
woth mud. The great saddle roof was supported on eight breccia Ionic columns in
three rows and the walls were reinforced by 14 buttresses to counter the thrust
of the heavy roof. On both sides small flights of steps led to the theatre area
where the members of the Council sat. Lower down on the south side, west of the
altar, were the wooden chairs for the speakers and the stone ballot stand with
the wooden boxes for the voting.
Ancient Stadium of Dodoni
The ancient stadium of Dodoni lies to the southwest
end of the sanctuary, adjacent to the theatre. It was built after the sanctuary
was destroyed for the first time by the Aetolians in 219 BC and is immediately
related to the second building phase of the theatre, since the retaining walls
of the stadium seats join the propylon (porch) of the theatre, which was built
in the same period. Every four years the stadium hosted the Naian games, a
sport competition honouring Zeus; in the early second century BC they became
stephanites games (the victors were crowned with olive branch wreaths).
This is one of the few ancient stadiums with stone
tiers, which reside upon sloping earth fills retained by walls, on both the
north and the south side. Narrow staircases cut across 21 or 22 rows of seats.
Under the south seats extended probably a conduit for rainwater. On the same
side, a stone rill with small bowls at intervals, for the passage of fresh
water coming from a spring on Tomaros mountain, ensured water supply for
competing athletes as well as spectators. The sphendone on the east hosted a
gate with two continuous arcs leading to the theatre and to other buildings of
the sanctuary.
The stadium of Dodoni temenos came to light when
K.Karapanos first excavated the area in 1875. A later investigation was
conducted by D.Apostolidis and S.Dakaris, but the stadium has not been fully
uncovered yet, except of its east section near the sphendone; the remaining part
extends over 250m to the west and lies under embankments. The seats of the
uncovered part are today cushioned under an earth layer to protect them from
humidity and frost.
Acropolis of Dodoni
The summit of the small hill (alt. 35 m) is surrounded
by a trapezoidal wall dating to the 2nd half of the 4th c. BC, built of
isodomic masonry; it has ten rectangular towers and recesses, and the perimeter
is 750 m in length and has an area of 34,000 m. This was the Acropolis of the
ancient "city of Dodoneans", as it is called in an oracular
inscription, where the inhabitants of the surrounding region took refuge when
threatened by enemy attack. The enceinte had two main gates guarded by two
towers on the northeast and southwest sides, and a small gate on the south.
Inside there are house foundations and a rectangular cistern hewn out of the
rock, which supplied water to the inhabitants in times of siege. It has two
pillars supporting a stone architrave to carry the roof of the cistern.
Ministry of Culture
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