Questions to Zeus
In northwestern Greece, at the Oracle of Zeus at Dodona, worshippers etched their hopes and fears onto thin lead sheets: Should I marry, plant, or fight? More than 4,000 of these folded tablets survive, giving voice to farmers, traders, and leaders. Modern imaging and 3D scanning now recover faint inscriptions long hidden by corrosion, revealing patterns of belief and anxiety. Some tablets reflect interstate conflict, as communities weighed alliances during the Peloponnesian War and Epirus confronted Macedon’s rise. Digital projects catalog every fragment, showing how ordinary questions and great struggles alike were entrusted to Zeus.
Dodona Online → Oracle of Zeus →
Lead tablet with question to the oracle, 4th c. BCE. Archaeological Museum of Ioannina. Public domain.