- This article is about the Titaness in Greek mythology. For other Greek mythological figures named Dione, see Dione (disambiguation).
In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, Dione (Ancient Greek: Διώνη, romanized: Diṓnē, lit. 'she-Zeus') was an oracular goddess, a Titaness[1] primarily known from Book V of Homer's Iliad, where she tends to the wounds suffered by her daughter Aphrodite.[2]
One source describes her as an ancient wife of Zeus.[3] She is the goddess of the Oracle of Dodona.
Name[]
Dione (Διώνη Diṓnē, from earlier *Διϝωνᾱ Diwōnā) is essentially the feminine of the genitive form of Greek Ζεύς Zeús, that is, Διός Diós (from earlier Διϝός Diwós), "of Zeus". Other goddesses were called by this name .[1]
Due to being a daughter of Dione by some traditions, Aphrodite was sometimes called "Dionaea" (Διωναίη Diōnaíē) and even "Dione".[4] especially by Roman authors particularly Ovid as he refers to Venus as Dione.
Following the deciphering of Linear B by Ventris and Chadwick in the 1950s, a goddess named Di-u-ja was found in the tablets. This was considered to be a female counterpart of Zeus and identified with Dione by some scholars.[5]
Worship[]
By the time of Strabo (the first century BC), Dione was worshiped at a sacred grove near Lepreon on the west coast of the Peloponnesus.[6] She was also worshiped as a consort at the temples of Zeus,[7] particularly his oracle at Dodona[8] (perhaps the original, Indo-European consort of Zeus). Herodotus called this the oldest oracle in Greece and recorded two related accounts of its founding: the priests at Thebes in Egypt told him that two priestesses had been taken by Phoenician pirates, one to Libya and the other to Dodona and continued their earlier rites; the priestesses of Dodona claimed that two black doves[9][10] had flown to Libya and Dodona and commanded the creation of oracles to Zeus.[11] Homer[12] and Herodotus both make Zeus the principal deity of the site, but some scholars propose Dodona originally served as a cult center of an earth goddess.
In the 2nd-century BC sculptural frieze of the Great Altar of Pergamum, Dione is inscribed in the cornice directly above her name and figures in the eastern third of the north frieze, among the Olympian family of Aphrodite. This placement—making her the offspring of Ouranós and Gaia—is Homeric and contradicts the theory put forth by Erika Simon that the altar's organization was Hesiodic.[13] Dione's possible appearance in the east pediment of the Parthenon[14] would likewise place her among the children of Ouranós and Gaia.
Literary sources[]
The mythology concerning Dione is not consistent across the existing sources.
Homer[]
In Book V of the Iliad, during the last year of the Trojan War, Aphrodite attempts to save her son Aeneas from the rampaging Greek hero Diomedes as she had previously saved her favorite Paris from his duel with Menelaus in Book III. Enraged, Diomedes chases her and drives his spear into her hand between the wrist and palm. Escorted by Iris to Ares, she borrows his horses and returns to Olympus. Dione consoles her with other examples of gods wounded by mortals — Ares bound by the Aloadae and Hera and Hades shot by Heracles — and notes that Diomedes is risking his life by fighting against the gods.[2][15]
In fact, Diomedes subsequently fought both Apollo and Ares but lived to an old age; his wife Aegialia, however, took other lovers and never permitted him to return home to Argos after the war.
Dione then heals her wounds and Zeus, while admonishing her to leave the battlefield, calls her daughter.
Hesiod[]
Dione is not mentioned in Hesiod's treatment of the Titans, although the name does appear in the Theogony among his list of Oceanids, the daughters of Oceanus and Tethys,[16] and according to Hesiod, Aphrodite was born from the foam created by the severed genitals of Ouranós, when they were thrown into the sea by Cronus, after he castrated Ouranós.[17] Curiously though, Hesiod mentions a "fair Dione" in the opening lines of his Theogony, she is mentioned between Hebe and Leto.[18]
Homeric Hymn[]
In the 3rd Homeric Hymn dedicated to Delian Apollo, Dione was present, with other divinities, at the birth of Apollo and Artemis in Delos.[19] Along with Dione, were Rhea, Ichnaea, Themis, and Amphitrite were present at Delos attending Leto.[19]
The website Theoi however posits that Dione, Ichnaea, and Amphitrite are epithets or bynames for Phoebe, Theia, and Tethys respectively.[20] Presumably to round out the goddesses attending Leto to six for there are six Titanesses, and presumably since Amphitrite is not considered "traditionally" as a Titan and Ichnaea is an epithet used for multiple goddesses with Theoi presuming it was Theia, and Phoebe for Dione, presumably since the name Dione evokes a heavenly epithet akin to the name Phoebe.
Pseudo-Apollodorus and Euripides[]
The Bibliotheca by mythographer Pseudo-Apollodorus (first or second century AD) includes Dione among the Titans and makes her the child of Gaia and Ouranós.[21] He makes her the mother of Aphrodite by Zeus but clearly describes Dione as one of the god's adulterous partners and not his wife.[22] Euripides also said that Dione is Aphrodite's mother in his play Helen.[23]
Hyginus and Virgil[]
The Genealogy or Preface of the Roman mythographer Gaius Julius Hyginus's Fabulae, lists Dione among the children of Terra and Aether.[24] He goes on to say later that Dione consorted with Jove and birthed Venus.[25] Virgil also refers to Venus as Dione's daughter.[26]
Hesychius[]
The 5th-century Greek grammarian Hesychius of Alexandria described Dione as the mother of Bacchus-Dionysus in his entry from his Alphabeical Collection of All Words.[27] This is separately supported by one of the scholiasts on Pindar.[28]
Mother of Aphrodite[]
Due to Homer, the earliest source of Greek literature and mythology, stating explicitly that Dione is the mother of Aphrodite, many literary traditions of this particular genealogy is passed on to many poets. The most interesting to note is that in Pausanias's dialogue in Plato's Symposium, there are two goddesses named Aphrodite, "the elder, having no mother, who is called Aphrodite Urania (heavenly or spiritual), she is the daughter of Uranus; the younger, who is called the Aphrodite Pandemos (terrenal or common), she is the daughter of Zeus and Dione."[29]
Other authors mention Aphrodite being Dione's mother such as Dionysius of Alexandria and Aelian, Many Roman authors use Dione as an epithet or byname for Venus such as Statius, Virgil, and Ovid.
Other accounts[]
The Sibylline Oracles mention Dione with Hestia as having fair locks.[30] Nonnus said that when Zeus was lusting for Persephone, he rejected his past wives including Dione.[31] Eusebius who was quoting the Phoenician History of Philo who was quoting Sanchuniathon makes mention of Dione being another name for Baaltis, in this account Dione is the daughter of Epigeus (Uranus) and Ge and consorted with her brother El/Kronos and birthed Pothos and Eros.[32]
Gallery[]
![Three goddesses from the Parthenon east pediment, possibly Hestia, Dione, and Aphrodite. c. 435 BC[33]](/wiki/File:Hestia_Dione_Aphrodite.jpeg "Hestia Dione Aphrodite.jpeg (869 KB)")
See also[]
- Dodona
- Goddess
- *Dyḗus ph2tḗr, the reconstructed sky deity of the Proto-Indo-European pantheon and etymological origin of Zeus and Dione.
Citations[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Smith, William. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology: "Dióne". Spottiswoode & Co. (London), 1873.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Homer, Iliad 5.370
- ↑ Willcock, Malcolm M. (1976). A companion to the Iliad : based on the translation by Richard Lattimore ([9th print.] ed.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press. p. 58. ISBN 0-226-89855-5. https://archive.org/details/companiontoiliad0000will.
- ↑ Peck, Harry T. Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. Harper & Bros. (New York), 1898.
- ↑ "The Riddle of the Labrynth: The Quest to Crack an Ancient Code," Epilogue: Mr. X and Mr. Y, page 282, author Margalit Fox.
- ↑ Strabo. Geographica, Vol. VIII. Comment: This reference seems erroneous and needs checking, Strabo §8, 3, 25 refers to Leto ὅπου τὸ τῆς Λητοῦς ἱερόν
- ↑ Strabo. Geographica, Vol. VII. chapter 7, 12
- ↑ Thompson, Dorothy B. Hesperia Supplements, 20 (1982), pp. 155–219. "Studies in Athenian Architecture, Sculpture and Topography: A Dove for Dione".
- ↑ The priest(esse)s were variously known as selloi and as peliades ("doves"). Thompson (1982).
- ↑ Also Strabo, Geography 7 Fragment 1a: "Perhaps there was something exceptional about the flight of the three pigeons from which the priestesses [of Dione at Dodona] were wont to make observations and to prophesy. It is further said that in the language of the Molossians and the Thesprotians old women are called ‘peliai’ (doves) and old men ‘pelioi.’ And perhaps the much talked of Peleiades were not birds, but three old women who busied themselves about the temple."
- ↑ Herodotus. Histories, Vol. II, 54–57.
- ↑ Homer. Iliad, Book XVI, & Odyssey, Books XIV & XIX.
- ↑ Simon, E. (1975). Pergamon und Hesiod. Mainz: Von Zabern. ISBN 3-8053-0083-2.
- ↑ Carpenter, Rhys (1962). "On Restoring the East Pediment of the Parthenon". American Journal of Archaeology 66 (3): 265–268 [p. 267]. doi:10.2307/501452. JSTOR 501452.
- ↑ Homer, Iliad 5.405
- ↑ Hesiod. Theogony, 337.
- ↑ Hesiod, Theogony 188–200.
- ↑ Hesiod, Theogony 17
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 Homeric Hymns, Hymn 3 to Delian and Pythian Apollo 90-95
- ↑ DIONE from the Theoi Project
- ↑ Pseudo-Apollodorus. Bibliotheca, I.i.3.
- ↑ Pseudo-Apollodorus. Bibliotheca, I.iii.
- ↑ Euripides, Helen 1098
- ↑ Hyginus. Fabulae, Preface 2.
- ↑ Hyginus. Fabulae, Preface 19.
- ↑ Virgil, Aeneid 3.19
- ↑ Hesychius. Alphabetical Collection of All Words: "Bákkhou Diṓnēs". Hesych. s. v. Βάκχου Διώνης
- ↑ Scholiast on Pindar's Pythian Ode 3. 177.
- ↑ Plato, Symposium 180
- ↑ Sibylline Oracles 3.140
- ↑ Nonnus, Dionysiaca 5.609
- ↑ Eusebius, Preparation of the Gospels 1.10.10
- ↑ British Museum website. Another interpretation of the two figures at the right, however, is that they are the Sea (Thalassa) in the lap of the Earth (Gaia).
General and cited references[]
- Apollodorus, Apollodorus, The Library, with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Hesiod, Theogony, in The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White, Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
[]
| Titans | |
|---|---|
| Parents | Ouranós • Gaîa |
| Elder Titans | Coeus • Crius • Cronus • Hyperion • Iapetus • Oceanus |
| Elder Titanesses | Phoebe • Mnemosyne • Rhea • Theia • Themis • Tethys |
| Coeonides | Asteria • Leto |
| Crionides | Astraeus • Pallas • Perses |
| Hyperionides | Eos • Hḗlios • Selene |
| Iapetonides | Atlas • Epimetheus • Menoetius • Prometheus |
| Oceanides | Oceanids (Clymene • Metis • Styx • Rhode) • Potamoi |
| Third Generation | Hecate • Astraea • Anemoi • Astra Planeta • Kratos • Nike • Bia • Zelus |
| Miscellaneous Titans | Dione • Anytos • Ophion • Eurynome (wife of Ophion) • Lelantos • Melisseus • Titan (brother of Helios) • Olymbros • Syceus • Titanic Muses |
| Topics | Overthrowing of Ouranós • Titanomachy |