Doona (Greek: Δωδώνη Dodoni) in Epirus in northwestern Greece, was a prehistoric oracle devoted to the Mother Goddess identified at other sites with Rhea or Gaia, but here called Dione and later, in historical times also to the Greek god Zeus. The shrine of Dodona was the oldest Hellenic oracle, according to the fifth-century historian Herodotus and in fact dates to pre-Hellenic times, perhaps as early as the second millennium BCE.Aristotle considered the region to have been the most ancient part of Greece and where the Hellenes originated. Priestesses and priests in the sacred grove interpreted the rustling of the oak (or beech) leaves to determine the correct actions to be taken. Greek oracles are often misconstrued as having predicted the future. The oracle was firstly under control of Thesprotians before it passed into the hands of Mollosians. Earliest inscriptions date to ca. 550-500 BC