# Dione (Titaness)

Part of a series on :
Ancient Greek religion :
Origins
Ancient Greek religion
Mycenaean Greece, Mycenaean religion and Mycenaean deities
Minoan Civilization, Minoan religion
Classical Greece
Hellenistic Greece, Hellenistic religion :
Sacred PlacesSacred Islands
Delos
Ithaca
Naxos
Kythira
Samothrace
Crete
Lemnos
Sacred Mountains
Mount Lykaion
Mount Ida (Turkey)
Mount Ida (Crete)
Mount Olympus
Mount Kyllini
Mount Othrys
Sanctuaries
Aornum
Delphi
Didyma
Dion
Dodona
Eleusis
Olympia
Other
Cave of Zeus
Temenos
Troy :
Deities
Primordial deities
Eros
Gaia
Nyx
Olympians
Aphrodite
Apollo
Ares
Artemis
Athena
Demeter
Dionysus
Hephaestus
Hera
Hermes
Hestia
Poseidon
Zeus
Chthonic deities
Hades
Persephone
Angelos
Erinyes
Gaia
Hecate
Iacchus
Melinoë
Triptolemus
Trophonius
Lesser deities
Alpheus
Amphitrite
Asclepius
Bia
Boreas
Circe
Cybele
Deimos
Eileithyia
Enyo
Eos
Eris
Harmonia
Hebe
Hecate
Helios
Heracles
Iris
Kratos
Leto
Maia
Metis
Momus
Nemesis
Nereus
Nike
Pan
Persephone
Phobos
Priapus
Proteus
Rhea
Scamander
Selene
Thanatos
Themis
Thetis
Triton
Zelus
Zephyrus :
ConceptsWorldview
Greek mythology
Orphic Egg
Underworld and Afterlife
Miasma
Daimon
Ages of Man, Golden Age, Heroic Age
Divine and Reality
Apeiron
Monism
Polytheism
Pantheism
Form of the Good
Theory of forms
Mind
Anamnesis
Ataraxia
Apatheia
Episteme
Epoche
Eudaimonia
Katalepsis
Logos
Nous
Phronesis
Soul
Anima mundi
Metempsychosis
Henosis
Plato's theory of soul
Ethics
Agape
Arete
Asebeia
Eusebeia
Hubris
Xenia
Ethic of Reciprocity
Delphic maxims
Adiaphora
Kathekon
Oikeiosis
Mysteries
Eleusinian Mysteries
Orphism
Dionysian Mysteries :
PracticesWorship
Agalma
Dithyramb
Paean
Orgion
Hiera Orgas
Hero Cult
Oracle and Pythia
Sacrifices and Offerings
Holokaustos
Libation
Votive offering
Animal Sacrifice
Temples and holy sites
Temple
Temenos
Meditation and Charity
Eusebeia
Meditation
Euergetism
Rites of passage
Amphidromia
Marriage
Funeral Rites
Festivals
Thesmophoria
Dionysia
Daphnephoria
Anthesteria
Arrephoria
Kronia
Genesia
Elaphebolia
Pyanopsia
Khalkeia
Haloa
Halieia
Thargelia
Three Monthly Festivals
Deipnon
Noumenia
Agathodaemon
Religious Games
Panathenaia
Herakleia
Panhellenic Games
Olympic Games
Nemean Games
Pythian Games
Isthmian Games :
Philosophy
Pythagoreanism
Neopythagoreanism
Platonism
Middle Platonism
Neoplatonism :
Philosophers
Ancient
Hesiod
Homer
Pherecydes of Syros
Pythagoras
Xenophanes
Parmenides
Empedocles
Socrates
Plato
Aratus
Plutarch
Plotinus
Iamblichus
Julian (emperor) :
Texts
Argonautica
Bibliotheca
Corpus Hermeticum
Delphic maxims
Derveni papyrus
Dionysiaca
Epic Cycle
Homeric Hymns
Iliad
Odyssey
Orphic Hymns
Theogony
Works and Days :
Other Topics
Pilgrimage Sites
Calendar
Decline of Greco-Roman polytheism
Julian restoration
Modern Restoration :
Religion portal Ancient Greece portal :
vte :
In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, Dione (/daɪˈoʊniː/; Ancient Greek: Διώνη, romanized: Diṓnē, lit. 'she-Zeus') is an oracular goddess, a Titaness primarily known from Book V of Homer's Iliad, where she tends to the wounds suffered by her daughter Aphrodite. Dione is presented as either an Oceanid, daughter of Oceanus and Tethys, or the thirteenth Titan, daughter of Gaia and Uranus.

## Name

Dione (Διώνη Diṓnē, from earlier *Διϝωνᾱ Diwōnā) is essentially the feminine of the genitive form of Greek Ζεύς Zeús, that is, Διός Diós (from earlier Διϝός Diwós), "of Zeus". Other goddesses were called by this name (see the Dione (mythology) article for more).
Due to being a daughter of Dione by some traditions, Aphrodite was sometimes called "Dionaea" (Διωναίη Diōnaíē) and even "Dione".
Following the deciphering of Linear B by Ventris and 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.

## Worship

By the time of Strabo (the first century BC), Dione was worshiped at a sacred grove near Lepreon on the west coast of the Peloponnesus. She was also worshiped as a consort at the temples of Zeus, particularly his oracle at Dodona (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 in Egypt told him that two priestesses had been taken by Phoenician pirates, one to Libya and the other to Dodona and continued their earlier rites; the priestesses of Dodona claimed that two black doves had flown to Libya and Dodona and commanded the creation of oracles to Zeus. Homer 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.
In the 2nd-century BC sculptural frieze of the 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—making her the offspring of Gaia and Uranus—is Homeric and contradicts the theory put forth by Erika Simon that the altar's organization was Hesiodic. Dione's possible appearance in the east pediment of the Parthenon would likewise place her among the children of Gaia and Uranus.

## 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, Aphrodite attempts to save her son Aeneas from the rampaging Greek hero Diomedes as she had previously saved her favorite 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 to Ares, she borrows his horses and returns to Olympus. Dione consoles her with other examples of gods wounded by mortals — Ares bound by the Aloadae and Hera and Hades shot by Heracles — 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 Titans, although the name does appear in the Theogony among his list of Oceanids, the daughters of Oceanus and Tethys, 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.

### Apollodorus

The mythographer Apollodorus (first or second century AD) includes Dione among the Titans and makes her the child of Gaia and Uranus. 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.

### Hyginus

The Genealogy or Preface of Gaius Julius Hyginus's Fabulae, lists Dione among the children of Terra (Earth) and Aether.

### 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. This is separately supported by one of the scholiasts on Pindar.