Lo zolfo, il fulmine, la libagione: per una nota su Dodona nell’Iliade

This paper analyses the libation that Achilles pours in honour of Zeus Dodonaios in Il. XVI 220-232. This Homeric passage is part of the typical scene of a hero offering to a deity in the hour of need, but it also presents a singular peculiarity: Achilles, before pouring the wine, purifies the cup to libate through a fumigation of sulphur. The reasons why sulphur is attributed with cathartic faculties are therefore investigated and it is proposed that the inclusion of this detail in the Homeric passage could be related to the cults and the sacred landscape of Dodona.