Three new enquiries from Dodona

Abstract

It is due to the efficient scholarship and generous kindness of Professor Henri Seyrig that I am able to publish the texts of three new enquiries from Dodona. In 1929 he bought three lead tablets in Athens, which were sold to him as coming from that site. They were at that time still rolled up in the form in which most of them have been found. This fact itself can be regarded as a strong confirmation that they were genuinely derived from Dodona. Professor Seyrig proceeded to unroll the strips and fortunately copied carefully the texts which he found within. He then put them aside, and when some years later he looked at them again, the lead had completely disintegrated. Thus the original tablets are gone, but Professor Seyrig's copies survive, and he has kindly put them at my disposal for publication.These enquiries are generally quite typical of those already found, but also have some individual features of interest. They are all from private enquirers asking Zeus for guidance on personal subjects. The lead tablets showed no signs of previous use. They were not palimpsests, as are some other extant examples. Also as preserved at the time of copying, they showed no marks on the reverse of the tablets, such as were used to distinguish one enquiry from another after it had been rolled up. But such marks may have been on the back of the first line or two, which in each of the three instances appear to be missing.