Kitap 2
52.1
Formerly, in all their sacrifices, the Pelasgians called upon gods without giving name or appellation to any (I know this, because I was told at Dodona [20.8,39.55] (Perseus) Dodona ); for as yet they had not heard of such. They called them godsOn the supposition that θεός meant “a disposer,” connected with θεσμός, τίθημι, etc. from the fact that, besides setting everything in order, they maintained all the dispositions.
52.2
Then, after a long while, first they learned the names of the rest of the gods, which came to them from Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt , and, much later, the name of Dionysus; and presently they asked the oracle at Dodona [20.8,39.55] (Perseus) Dodona about the names; for this place of divination, held to be the most ancient in Greece [22,39] (nation), Europe Hellas , was at that time the only one.
52.3
When the Pelasgians, then, asked at Dodona [20.8,39.55] (Perseus) Dodona whether they should adopt the names that had come from foreign parts, the oracle told them to use the names. From that time onwards they used the names of the gods in their sacrifices; and the Greeks received these later from the Pelasgians.
53.1
But whence each of the gods came to be, or whether all had always been, and how they appeared in form, they did not know until yesterday or the day before, so to speak;
53.2
for I suppose Hesiod and Homer flourished not more than four hundred years earlier than I; and these are the ones who taught the Greeks the descent of the gods, and gave the gods their names, and determined their spheres and functions, and described their outward forms.
53.3
But the poets who are said to have been earlier than these men were, in my opinion, later. The earlier part of all this is what the priestesses of Dodona [20.8,39.55] (Perseus) Dodona tell; the later, that which concerns Hesiod and Homer, is what I myself say.
