Dione (Titaness) in the context of Amantes (tribe)


The Amantes, an ancient tribe inhabiting the region of modern Albania, are historically linked to both Illyrian and Epirote identities. While initially identified as Illyrian in the 4th century BCE, later Hellenistic and Roman sources sometimes categorized them among the Epirotes or simply as barbarians, leading to ongoing debate among historians regarding their precise cultural affiliation.

⭐ In the context of the Amantes tribe, historical categorization reveals that Dione (Titaness) is not directly related to their identity, but their affiliation has been debated between which two broader cultural groups?

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⭐ Core Definition: Dione (Titaness)

In Greek religion and mythology, Dione (/dˈn/; Ancient Greek: Διώνη, romanizedDiṓnē, lit.'Zeus feminine') is the goddess of sea, prophecy, magic, health, fertility and lust, primarily known from Book V of Homer's Iliad, where she tends to the wounds suffered by her daughter Aphrodite. Dione is presented either an Titaness, the daughter of Uranus and Gaia, or an Oceanid, the daughter of Oceanus and Tethys. She was a goddess primarily worshipped at Dodona.

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In the context of the Amantes tribe, historical categorization reveals that Dione (Titaness) is not directly related to their identity, but their affiliation has been debated between which two broader cultural groups?
HINT: Ancient sources present conflicting accounts of the Amantes’ cultural identity, with some classifying them as Illyrian and others as Epirote, resulting in a continuing scholarly discussion about their origins.

👉 Dione (Titaness) in the context of Amantes (tribe)

The Amantes (alternatively attested in primary sources, as Amantieis or Amantini; Ancient Greek: Ἄμαντες or Αμαντιεῖς; Latin: Amantinii) were an ancient tribe located in the inland area of the Bay of Vlora north of the Ceraunian Mountains and south of Apollonia, in southern Illyria near the boundary with Epirus, nowadays modern Albania. A site of their location has been identified with the archaeological settlement of Amantia, placed above the river Vjosë/Aoos. Amantia is considered to have been their main settlement. The Amantes also inhabited in the area of an ancient sanctuary of the eternal fire called Nymphaion.

The Amantes firstly appear in ancient literature in the 4th century BCE in the Periplus of Pseudo-Skylax as an Illyrian tribe bordering the Epirote Chaonians. In Hellenistic sources they are mentioned among the Epirotes. In Roman-times literature they appear as barbarians. In modern historiography a number of scholars regard the Amantes as Illyrians, and others consider them as Epirotes.

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Dione (Titaness) in the context of Aphrodite

Aphrodite (/ˌæfrəˈdt/ , AF-rə-DY-tee) is an ancient Greek goddess associated with love, lust, beauty, pleasure, passion, procreation, and as her syncretised Roman counterpart Venus, desire, sex, fertility, prosperity, and victory. Aphrodite's major symbols include seashells, myrtles, roses, doves, sparrows, and swans. The cult of Aphrodite was largely derived from that of the Phoenician goddess Astarte, a cognate of the East Semitic goddess Ishtar, whose cult was based on the Sumerian cult of Inanna. Aphrodite's main cult centers were Cythera, Cyprus, Corinth, and Athens. Her main festival was the Aphrodisia, which was celebrated annually in midsummer. In Laconia, Aphrodite was worshipped as a warrior goddess. She was also the patron goddess of prostitutes, an association which led early scholars to propose the concept of sacred prostitution in Greco-Roman culture, an idea which is now generally seen as erroneous.

A major goddess in the Greek pantheon, Aphrodite featured prominently in ancient Greek literature. According to many sources, like Homer's Iliad and Sappho's Ode to Aphrodite, she is the daughter of Zeus and Dione. In Hesiod's Theogony, however, Aphrodite is born off the coast of Cythera from the foam (ἀφρός, aphrós) produced by Uranus's genitals, which his son Cronus had severed and thrown into the sea. In his Symposium, Plato asserts that these two origins actually belong to separate entities; Aphrodite Urania (a transcendent "Heavenly" Aphrodite, who "partakes not of the female but only of the male", with Plato describing her as inspiring love between men, but having nothing to do with the love of women) and Aphrodite Pandemos (Aphrodite common to "all the people" who Plato described as "wanton", to contrast her with the virginal Aphrodite Urania, who did not engage in sexual acts at all. Pandemos inspired love between men and women, unlike her older counterpart). The epithet Aphrodite Areia (the "Warlike") reveals her contrasting nature in ancient Greek religion. Aphrodite had many other epithets, each emphasizing a different aspect of the same goddess or used by a different local cult. Thus she was also known as Cytherea (Lady of Cythera) and Cypris (Lady of Cyprus), because both locations claimed to be the place of her birth. Sappho's Ode to Aphrodite is one of the earliest poems dedicated to the goddess and survives from the Archaic period nearly complete.

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Dione (Titaness) in the context of Dione (moon)

Dione (/dˈni/) is the fourth-largest moon of Saturn. With a mean diameter of 1,123 km and a density of about 1.48 g/cm, Dione is composed of an icy mantle and crust overlying a silicate rocky core, with rock and water ice roughly equal in mass. Its trailing hemisphere is marked by large cliffs and scarps called chasmata; the trailing hemisphere is also significantly darker compared to the leading hemisphere.

The moon was discovered by Italian astronomer Giovanni Domenico Cassini in 1684 and is named after the Titaness Dione in Greek mythology. Dione was first imaged up-close by the Voyager 1 space probe in 1980. Later, the Cassini spacecraft made multiple flybys of Dione throughout the 2000s and 2010s as part of its campaign to explore the Saturn system.

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