The oracle is mentioned: by Herodotus, in the Argonautic expedition, by Homer in the Iliad and the Odyssey as well as by Aristotle: "because there lived the so-called Greeks then, now Greeks".

The archaeological excavations did not answer the question of when the cult began in Dodoni, which until the 15th century BC was cut off from southern Greece.

From archaeological findings, we assume that the cult began in the early Bronze Age (somewhere between 2600-1900 BC).

Worship was centered on the sacred oak, which was also the center of the oracle. From this place sprang a barren stream of toponyms and national names, such as Elloi-Selloi, Ellopia, Dodoni and Thesprotos (the root is found in Homeric adjectives).

From the above, it is understood that the area of ​​Dodoni is an ancient cradle of Hellenism and was a place of great religious tradition. The oracle functioned from the Bronze Age around 2600-1100 BC (initially worshiping the Great Goddess and later Zeus), until the end of the 4th century AD, when the worship of Zeus was succeeded by Christianity. The great devotional tradition of the sacred fugu (oak) and the ancient buildings, continues from the 4th century AD with the Christian faith, as evidenced by the ruins of the Christian basilica of the 5th and 6th centuries.

Source: HAROKOPEI UNIVERSITY http://estia.hua.gr:8080/dspace/