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'{{About|the Titaness in Greek mythology|other Greek mythological figures named Dione|Dione (mythology)|other uses|Dione (disambiguation)}} '''Dione''' ({{IPAc-en|d|aɪ|ˈ|oʊ|n|i}}; {{lang-grc-gre|Διώνη}}, ''Diōnē'') was an [[Greek mythology|ancient Greek goddess]], an [[oracle|oracular]] [[Titan (mythology)|Titaness]]<ref name=Smith>[[William Smith (lexicographer)|Smith, William]]. ''[[Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology]]'': "[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DD%3Aentry+group%3D12%3Aentry%3Ddione-bio-1 Dióne]". Spottiswoode & Co. (London), 1873.</ref> primarily known from Book V of [[Homer]]'s ''[[Iliad]]'', where she tends to the wounds suffered by her daughter [[Aphrodite]]. One source describes her as an ancient wife of Zeus.<ref>{{cite book|last=Willcock|first=Malcolm M.|title=A companion to the Iliad : based on the translation by Richard Lattimore|year=1976|publisher=University of Chicago Press|location=Chicago|isbn=0-226-89855-5|page=58|edition=[9th print.]}}</ref> ==Name== Her name is essentially the feminine of the genitive form of [[ancient Greek language|Greek]] ''[[Zeus]]'', that is, "Dios", "of Zeus". Other goddesses were called by this name<ref name=Smith/><ref>[http://www.mythindex.com/greek-mythology/D/Dione.html DIONE], at mythindex.com</ref> (see [[Dione (disambiguation)|Dione]]). Due to her being a daughter of Dione, Aphrodite was sometimes called ''Dionaea'' and even ''Dioné''.<ref name=Peck>Peck, Harry T. [http://perseus.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/getobject.pl?c.20:1:323.harpers ''Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities'']. Harper & Bros. (New York), 1898.</ref> Following the deciphering of Linear B by [[Michael Ventris|Ventris]] and [[John Chadwick|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.{{who|date=July 2013}} ==Worship== {{main article|Dodona}} [[File:East pediment KLM Parthenon BM.jpg|thumb|left|Three goddesses from the [[Parthenon]] east pediment, possibly [[Hestia]], Dione, and [[Aphrodite]], c. 435 BC ([[British Museum]])<ref>[https://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/gr/f/figures_of_3_goddesses.aspx British Museum website]. Another interpretation of the two figures at the right, however, is that they are the Sea ([[Thalassa (mythology)|Thalassa]]) in the lap of the Earth ([[Gaia (mythology)|Gaia]]).</ref>]] By the time of [[Strabo]], Dione was worshiped at a [[sacred grove]] near [[Lepreum|Lepreon]] on the west coast of the [[Peloponnesus]].<ref>[[Strabo]]. ''[[Geographica]]'', Vol. VIII.</ref> She was also worshiped as a consort at the temples of Zeus,<ref>[[Strabo]]. ''[[Geographica]]'', Vol. VII.</ref> particularly his oracle at [[Dodona]].<ref name =DBThompson>Thompson, Dorothy B. ''Hesperia Supplements,'' 20 (1982), pp. 155&ndash;219. "Studies in Athenian Architecture, Sculpture and Topography: A Dove for Dione". {{JSTOR|1353956}}</ref> (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, Egypt|Thebes]] in Egypt told him that two priestesses had been taken by [[Phoenicia]]n pirates, one to [[Siwa Oasis|Libya]] and the other to Dodona, and continued their earlier rites; the priestesses of Dodona claimed that two black doves<ref>The priest(esse)s were variously known as ''selloi'' and as ''[[peliades]]'' ("doves"). Thompson (1982).</ref> had flown to Libya and Dodona and commanded the creation of oracles to Zeus.<ref>[[Herodotus]]. ''[[Histories (Herodotus)|Histories]]'', Vol. II, 54&ndash;57.</ref> Homer<ref>Homer. ''Iliad'', Book XVI, & ''[[Odyssey]]'', Books XIV & XIX.</ref> 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]].{{citation needed|date=July 2013}} In the 2nd-century BC sculptural frieze of the [[Pergamon Altar|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 {{ndash}} making her the offspring of [[Uranus (god)|Uranus]] and [[Gaia (mythology)|Gaia]] {{ndash}} is Homeric and contradicts the theory put forth by [[Erika Simon]] that the altar's organization was Hesiodic.<ref>{{cite book |last=Simon |first=E. |title=Pergamon und Hesiod |location=Mainz |publisher=Von Zabern |year=1975 |isbn=3-8053-0083-2 }}</ref> Dione's possible appearance in the east pediment of the Parthenon<ref>{{cite journal |first=Rhys |last=Carpenter |title=On Restoring the East Pediment of the Parthenon |journal=[[American Journal of Archaeology]] |volume=66 |issue=3 |year=1962 |pages=265–268 [p. 267] |jstor=501452 |doi=10.2307/501452 }}</ref> would likewise place her among the children of Uranus 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]], the [[love goddess]] [[Aphrodite]] attempts to save her son [[Aeneas]] from the rampaging Greek [[hero]] [[Diomedes]] as she had previously saved her favorite [[Paris (mythology)|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 (mythology)|Iris]] to [[Ares]], she borrows his horses and returns to [[Mount Olympus|Olympus]]. Dione consoles her with other examples of gods wounded by mortals {{ndash}} Ares bound by the [[Aloadae]] and [[Hera]] and [[Hades]] shot by [[Heracles]] {{ndash}} and notes that Diomedes is risking his life by fighting against the gods. (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 [[Titan (mythology)|Titans]], although the name does appear in the ''[[Theogony]]'' among his list of [[Oceanid]]s, the daughters of [[Oceanus]] and [[Tethys (mythology)|Tethys]],<ref>[[Hesiod]]. ''[[Theogony]]'', [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+353&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0130 353].</ref> and according to Hesiod, Aphrodite was born from the foam created by the severed genitals of [[Uranus]], when they were thrown into the sea by [[Cronus]], after he castrated Uranus.<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+183 183&ndash;200].</ref> ===Apollodorus=== The ''[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Bibliotheca]]'' of the [[Pseudo-Apollodorus]] includes Dione among the Titans and makes her the child of [[Gaia (mythology)|Gaia]] and [[Uranus (god)|Uranus]].<ref>Pseudo-Apollodorus. ''[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Bibliotheca]]'', [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.%201.1.3&lang=original I.i.3].</ref> 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.<ref>Pseudo-Apollodorus. ''[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Bibliotheca]]'', [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.%201.3&lang=original I.iii].</ref> ===Hyginus=== The Genealogy or Preface of [[Gaius Julius Hyginus]]'s ''[[Fabulae]]'', lists Dione among the children of Gaia and [[Aether (mythology)|Aether]].<ref>Hyginus. ''Fabulae'', [http://www.theoi.com/Text/HyginusFabulae1.html#Preface Preface].</ref> ===Hesychius=== The 5th-century grammarian [[Hesychius of Alexandria]] described Dione as the mother of [[Bacchus]] in her entry from his ''[[Alphabetical Collection of All Words]]''.<ref>Hesychius. ''Alphabetical Collection of All Words'': "Bákkhou Diṓnēs".</ref> This is separately supported by one of the [[scholiast]]s on [[Pindar]].<ref>Scholiast on Pindar's ''Pythian Ode 3''. 177.</ref> ==See also== * [[Dodona]] * [[Goddess]] ==Notes== {{reflist|20em}} ==References== * [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|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. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text;jsessionid=C431BA809CA4DEA22A15DA9C666F3400?doc=Perseus%3atext%3a1999.01.0022%3atext%3dLibrary 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. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0130%3Acard%3D1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library]. {{Greek mythology (deities)}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Dione}} [[Category:Greek goddesses]] [[Category:Oracular goddesses]] [[Category:Oceanids]] [[Category:Divine women of Zeus]] [[Category:Nature goddesses]] [[Category:Titans]]'