Ancient Dodoni

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MYTHICAL ROUTES HISTORICAL SERIES

ANCIENT DODONI ANCIENT GREEK ARCHITECTURE

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Table of Contents Table of Contents

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Historical Series

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Copyright Notice

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Cradle of Western civilization

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Dodoni

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About the Author

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Books by G. Baltoyannis

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Historical Series collection

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Photography Series

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Adventure Travel Greece

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Historical Series Mythical Routes Historical Series is a location-based series of architectonical / historical guides based on the best seller books by architect and author G. Baltoyannis. For more information visit Mythical Routes | Books.

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ANCIENT GREEK ARCHITECTURE CHTHONIC AND CELESTIAL ❖

Editor in chief: Angelo Baltoyannis

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Author: George Baltoyannis

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Translation: Chris Loutroutzis

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Text editing: Lorraine Adams

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Graphic design: Angelo Baltoyannis

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Design Layout & Pagination: Mythical Routes IKE

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ISBN: 978-618-84479-0-5

“Mythical Routes inaugural mission is to help spread the ideas and facts of Ancient Hellenic World with the broader geographical meaning throughout the international adventure community”

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Copyright Notice All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, send us an email or write at the address:

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Cradle of Western civilization Greece is considered the cradle of Western civilization, being the birthplace of democracy, Western philosophy, Western literature, historiography, political science, major scientific and mathematical principles, Western drama and the Olympic Games.

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Ancient Messini, Peloponnese © 2019 A. Baltoyannis

From the eighth century B.C., the Greeks were organized into various independent city-states (polis), which spanned the entire Mediterranean region and the Black Sea. Philip of Macedon united most of the Greek mainland in the fourth century B.C., with his son Alexander the Great rapidly conquering much of the ancient world, from the eastern Mediterranean to India.

Greece was annexed by Rome in the second century B.C., becoming an integral part of the Roman Empire and its successor, the Byzantine Empire, which adopted the Greek language and culture.

The country's rich historical legacy is reflected in part by its 18 UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

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Dodoni Religious Center of Epirus Dodoni (Greek: Δωδώνη) is a village and a municipality in the Ioannina regional unit, Epirus, Greece. Dodona (Doric Greek: Δωδώνα, Dōdṓna, Ionic and Attic Greek: Δωδώνη, Dōdṓnē) in Epirus is the archeological site of the Hellenic oracle. It is the most ancient oracle of Greece and it is associated to the oracle of Zeus Ammon of Libya. According to tradition, two doves departed from Thebes of Egypt and sat in the places, where the shrines of Zeus Ammon in Libya and Pelasgic Zeus in Dodona where founded. It is a relation that Alexander the Great knew too well, when, in 331 B.C., he visited the oracle of Libya, which architecturally resembles to the Necromanteion; in fact it seems that it also operated in a similar way.

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Dodona © 2017 Mythical Routes

The most important sanctuary in Dodona, around which the site was religiously formed, is the temple of Zeus "Hiera Oikia" (Sacred House), which is oriented to the southeast of the site.

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If we draw a straight line in the same direction, we will find out that it will lead us to Thebes of Egypt, passing over the Cave of Zeus of Crete. So the above myth is structurally confirmed.

Namely the architect of the temple took under consideration the religious dependence of the sacred site in Thebes.

King Pyrrhus was the one who promoted the worship of Zeus, who embellished the site of Dodona, rebuilding it and creating new buildings, like the Bouleuterion, the Prytaneion and the Theater. Thus Dodona became the seat of power of the Epirote League. Dodonaios Zeus expanded to the colonies of Sicily and Southern Italy during the campaign of Pyrrhus, who undefeated, but also with many casualties in his army, reached the outskirts of Rome, leading 25.500 infantrymen, 3.000 horsemen and 20 elephants.

Dodona

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Image VIII Š 2002 A. Baltoyannis

In the above image we can see a theater of 17.000 seats, which was built in the beginning of the 3rd century during the reign of Pyrrhus (316-272 B.C.) who came into power in 297 B.C., at the age of 20 years. Through said construction, anyone can ascertain the high educational level of the residents of the area, in the most mountainous and most scarcely populated region of Greece, but also

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the high level of the leader of the region, who desired the upgrade it, despite his young age.

Starting from Ambracia (Arta), the believer, given his good physical condition, would travel on foot the 75 kilometers of poor road in 15 hours to reach the Oracle. To watch then the theatrical play, he should be well versed in Mythology, but also have a deep knowledge and understanding of the events transpiring in the Greek region.

Zeus of Dodona originating, as we noted, axially from Crete as a god wielding the double Axe, is of chthonic character, namely he is the god of Nature's Rebirth, who dies every year in the winter and is reborn in the springtime. The cult of nature's rebirth and of "tree-worship", formerly passed from the Minoans to the Myceneans, who also adopted, among other symbols, the double axe (labrys).

It is in Dodona then, where pottery of Minoan origin was found, that Zeus of the first Greek tribes in 2000 B.C. comes to be united with the chthonic goddess of vegetation Dione, the worship of whom, preexisted since the Bronze age (2600-1900 B.C.). The clergy of the divine couple were the Selloi, who slept on the ground and did not wash their feet to be able to come into contact with "Gaia" and draw their soothsaying powers from her. Based on the above, we can assume that the celebration must have taken place during the month Mounichion (April – May), when the zodiac of Taurus, which symbolized Zeus after his transformation to grab Europe from Tyre to carry her to Crete, appeared in the sky. Furthermore from this union, besides Minos, Sarpedon, Radamanthus and Carnus, Dodon was also born.

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About the Author George Baltoyannis was born in Athens, Greece in 1941. His father was from Epirus and his mother from Andros.

He studied architecture in Rome and took part in art exhibitions (Margutta – San Luca – Artecom – Palazzo Delle Esposizioni etc.). He returned to Athens in 1970 and worked as a freelance architect and at the same time was an employee, successively at the Greek Ministry of National Defence (Pentagon), the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) and the Autonomous Building Organization for Officers (AOOA).

Today, alongside the above activities he also researches and lectures on history of art.

His books and theories have been embraced by the Università degli Studi dell'Aquila in Italy, where he was invited several times to give lectures, and the theories of his book “Sacred Architecture” have been integrated into the curriculum of lesson "Elements of Geometry" of the University of Ioannina in Greece.

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Books by G. Baltoyannis With more than 30 years of Historical research on the relation between ancient Greek architecture and ancient religion, George Baltoyannis is the author of five best seller Greek books.

Most books are available in English language and eBook reflow format. For more information, visit our Shop.

Sacred Architecture

Sacred Journey to Mystical Greece

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Sacred Astronomy

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Historical Series collection To view the full Historical Series collection eBooks and get all available Mythical Guides, in mobile-friendly layout, visit our Shop.

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Photography Series Mythical Routes Photography Series is dedicated to understanding photography, learning about the history of travel photography and adventure photography specific techniques, mastering equipment and much more.

Angelo Baltoyannis | architect

Angelo Baltoyannis is an Architect and Urban Planner with postgraduate studies in Art and Photography. He was a project partner with Nikon Greece in 2017, contributor in many photographic magazines like iFocus, Overland Times and editor in chief in Mythical Routes Publishing.

Angelo has been involved in Travel Photography for over twenty years and focused mainly on Adventure Photography. He has closely worked with the American motorcycle clothing company KLiM, the Swiss motorcycle luggage company Enduristan and the Greek motorcycle gear company Aurora Rally Equipment.

His has been marketing and art director for the Greek adventure gear shop Most Wanted Warehouse since 2014 and his work has been featured in the

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German overland magazine Overland Journal, the social accounts of Nikon Greece, and the Austrian Brand Management company Seven MMD GmbH, manager of companies like KTM, Motorex, FMF and more.

Memories from the East

Adventure Travel Photography

“ Live with no excuses and travel with no regrets ” ~ Oscar Wilde

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Adventure Travel Greece Our travels and expeditions showcase the beauty and the hidden historical facts of the Ancient Hellenic World with the broader geographical meaning of the term while riding through the breathtaking scenery of long mountain ridges, forest national reserves, remote dragon lakes and isolated hi-planes.

We organize Off-road Adventure Motorcycle Tours and On-road Cultural and Gastronomy Tours with a Historical approach, that can be ridden with your own motorcycle or with one provided from us. You ride at your own pace, always 16 of 17

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accompanied by a tour leader who will take care of everything for you. Our routes are ideal for dual-sport and adventure motorcycles and are based on the tracks that unfold along with the plot of the best-selling history books of architect and researcher George Baltoyannis (self-guided, SUV, VAN services available).

Follow our travels with the #mythicalroutes hashtag, or visit the Mythical Routes social media accounts

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