Dodona
2 of the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Dodona. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
1000 Classical Characters (1900)
The most ancient oracle in Greece, situated in Epirus, founded by the Pelasgians, and dedicated to Zeus ( Jupiter ). The responses of the oracle were given from lofty oaks or beech trees. The will of the god was declared by the wind rustling through the trees, and in order to render the sounds more distinct, brazen vessels were suspended on the branches of the trees, which being set in motion by the wind came in contact with one another. These sounds were interpreted in early times by men, but afterwards by aged women. 104 IOOO CLASSICAL CHARACTERS Dolabella, P. Corn. A Roman who married the daughter of Cicero. During the civil wars he warmly espoused the cause of Julius Caesar , whom he accompanied at the famous battles of Pharsalia and Munda. Domitianus, Titus Flavius. Son of Vespasian and Flavia Domitilla, made himself emperor of Rome on the death of his brother Titus, whom, according to some accounts, he destroyed by poison. The beginning of his reign promised hopefully, but Domitian became cruel, and gave way to vicious indulgences. In the latter part of his reign he became suspicious and remorseful. He was assassinated A. D. 96, in his forty-fifth year.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a town of Thesprotia in Epirus (or Thessaly), in the midst of vast forests. It was the sanctuary of the Pelagic worship, and possessed an oracle of Jupiter, one of the most celebrated and most ancient of Greece. The oracles were given by an oak, called the prophetic tree; the priestess interpreted sometimes the rustling of the branches, sometimes the sound given out by copper vases suspended to the sacred tree; and, at others, the singing of doves hidden in its foliage or the murmur of a neighboring spring.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Both accounts describe Dodona from literary sources alone, uncertain even whether to place it in Epirus or Thessaly. The site was in fact identified and dug at Tsarakovista, south of Ioannina, by Constantine Carapanos in 1875-76, and excavated systematically by Sotirios Dakaris from the 1950s; the Epirote location is no longer in doubt. The most remarkable finds are thousands of thin lead tablets on which visitors scratched their questions to Zeus, published in full in 2013 - not grand affairs of state but whether to marry, whether to buy sheep, whether a wife's child was his. The huge theatre alongside the sanctuary has been restored and again hosts performances of ancient drama.
Written for this edition, 2026.