The Questions Ancient Greeks Asked the Oracle of Dodona

The ancient Greek sanctuary and theater of Dodona, home to the oldest oracle,  and located in Epirus, northwestern Greece, are part of a uniquely historic site in the country, which predated even the more universally-known Delphi.

Questions that required a prophetic answer from the Oracle of Dodona on matters of politics, religion, family, health, work, travel and property, were written on sheets of lead, and many of these small tablets have been excavated on the site of the Dodona Oracle.

Here is a sample of the questions asked to the oracle of Dodona:

Over the course of centuries, people from across the Greek world traveled to the Oracle of Dodona in Epirus and asked questions inscribed on lead tables.

More than 4,000 have been discovered and give a fascinating insight into what the people of #AncientGreece were thinking. pic.twitter.com/Nu8EBWcqvr

— Arys🏺🪶 (@ArysPan) March 11, 2023

Some of the questions asked of the Oracle of Dodona

“Would it be in my best interests to migrate to Chalkis?” (a city in Evia, Central Greece)

“Should I go with another man in order to have children? To which Gods should I appeal?”, asks a woman called Kleoniki.

“Will Nikeas be well enough to fit out his workshop?”, a man called Alkinoos asks.

“Will I be happy if I marry the daughter of Filonedes?”

“I am Kittos, slave of Dionysios and ask: Will my boss release me as he promised?”

“I am Myrta  and I would like to know if I will become a widow.”

The questions ancient Greeks asked at the oracle are a significant source of information on their everyday lives.

The oracular tablets, on which a total of 4.216 inscriptions can be read, date from the end of the 6th century B.C. to the mid-3rd century BC.

They are usually small lead sections measuring a few centimeters, which had generally been re-used many times.

The letters are no larger than 1-1.5 millimeters, while the questions are written in a variety of alphabets and dialects, as people from many places traveled to the Oracle; from Syracuse, Taras/Taranto, Boeotia, Athens and Corinth.

The historian Herodotus stated that the Dodoan oracle there dated all the way back to the second millennium BC. Even Homer mentioned Dodona, saying that there was an oracle of Zeus there. Situated in a remote region, far from the main Greek poleis or city-states, it was considered second only to the Oracle of Delphi in prestige.

Aristotle considered the region around Dodona to have been part of Hellas—even the region from which the Hellenes originated. The oracle, first under the control of the Thesprotians before it passed into the hands of the Molossians, remained an important religious sanctuary until the rise of Christianity during the Late Roman era.

Related: Ancient Greek Theater of Dodona Being Restored to Former Glory