Dione

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Dione, in Greek mythology, is one of the many daughters of the primordial deities Oceanus and Tethys, who personify the great river encircling the earth and its nurturing waters. As an Oceanid, Dione belongs to a vast family of sea nymphs associated with various bodies of water, including rivers, springs, and oceans.

Dione is perhaps best known for her association with the sanctuary at Dodona, one of the most ancient oracle sites in Greece. In some traditions, Dione was venerated alongside Zeus as a prophetic goddess, suggesting she may have originally had a significant cultic role. The poet Homer mentions Dione in the Iliad, where she is portrayed as a consort of Zeus and the mother of Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty. This alternative parentage of Aphrodite, differing from the more widely known story of her birth from the sea foam, underscores Dione’s symbolic connection to fertility and life-giving waters.

As a deity, Dione embodies nurturing and protective qualities, consistent with the roles of the Oceanids, who were often associated with sustaining life.