- Looks after
- A goddess of Dodona
Dione
Διώνη
Dione is a goddess associated with Zeus at Dodona and, in Homer, the mother of Aphrodite.
In the Iliad, when the wounded Aphrodite flees to Olympus, she runs to her mother Dione, who comforts her. This makes Dione the mother of Aphrodite by Zeus in Homer's account, where Hesiod has Aphrodite born from the sea foam.
Dione is also worshipped at Dodona in northwestern Greece as the partner of Zeus, who had the oldest oracle in Greece there, with his oaks and priestesses. Hesiod lists a Dione among the Oceanids, the daughters of Oceanus and Tethys.
Her name is a feminine form of the name Zeus (genitive Dios), so it is thought to mean something like Zeus's female counterpart.
In later art and language
A moon of Saturn is named Dione.
The ancient evidence for Dione is limited, so this page is short on purpose.
Ancient sources
- Homer, Iliad 5.370-417
- Hesiod, Theogony 353
The family of Dione
Strictly an Oceanid, one of the older generation of water nymphs.