Dodona: the Oracle of Zeus Travel Guide

At DODONA , 22km southwest of Ioánnina, in a mountainous and once-isolated region, lie the ruins of the ancient Oracle of Zeus (daily: summer 8.30am-7pm; winter 8.30am-5pm; €1.50), dominated by a vast and elegant theatre. "Wintry Dodona" is mentioned in Homer, and the worship here of Zeus and of a sacred oak tree seems to have been connected with the first Hellenic tribes who arrived in Epirus around 1900 BC.

The origins of the oracle - the oldest in Greece - are shadowy. Herodotus relates an enigmatic story about the arrival of a peleiae or dove from Egyptian Thebes which settled in an oak tree and ordered a place of divination to be made. In ancient Greek, peleiae could mean both dove and old woman, so it's possible that the legend refers to an original priestess - perhaps captured from the Middle East and having some knowledge of Asiatic cults and divination. The oak tree , stamped on the ancient coins of the area, was central to the cult. Herodotus also recorded that the oracle spoke through the rustling of the oak's leaves in sounds amplified by copper vessels suspended from its branches. These would then be interpreted by frenzied priestesses and strange priests who slept on the ground and never washed their feet. Legend also asserts that the Argonauts used timber from this oak to build their ship, with the presumably charmed properties of the wood enabling them to get out of numerous tight spots.