Reply to Kujtim Mateli, on his claim that the ancient Pelasgian Dodona is located in Dëshnica, Përmet
By: Kujtim Tamo
Nowadays, there is an influx of authors and their publications in all media, notably in the field of Albanological studies. Thus, young authors and others with little experience in the field of scientific research, try to bring "innovation", according to them, especially in the field of historical studies, that of historical linguistics or even archaeology.
From a careful look at their works, it is seen that there is a clear tendency to revise scientific concepts already consolidated by the official Albanian historiography of the "Academy of Sciences of Albania".
As far as I have been able to observe through reading many historical and archaeological sources, these novice authors, especially in the field of ancient archaeology, instead of making a place for themselves in this field, by bringing facts and documents previously unknown to historians and archaeologists already confirmed as personalities in these fields, try to strike by denying their scientific findings, but also by questioning their own scientific personality.
Some of these "dissident" authors, if I were to call them such, maintaining a low level of scientific and professional communication, with a spirit of provincial savagery and personal resentment, apparently influenced by the current tendency of some voices to "revise and rewrite our national history", invent, compile and reformat seemingly "new" facts and concepts, but not at all true and moreover unscientific.
As I stated above, I got the idea for this article after reading it in the newspaper. Dita both articles authored by Mr. Kujtim Mateli. As you can see, we bear the same name, but share different opinions regarding the location of the ancient temple of Dodona.
In the first article dated August 21, 2024, this author argues with Mr. Ferdinand Samarxhiu regarding the location of Dodona, as the latter states that Pelasgian Dodona was located on Mount Tomor!
Whereas, in the second article on August 24, 2024, the author in question affirms the important fact that on Mount Tomor the cult of deities has been celebrated since early antiquity. Specifically, he asserts that: “The deity of Mount Tomor is older than the Homeric Age.” This statement is more than true and accepted by most historians.
So, here, in my opinion, Mr. Mateli is correct on both issues: That is, that Dodona is not in Tomor and that this mountain holds the ancient pre-Hellenic deities upon it.
Being honest with Mr. Mateli and the readers of this article, I affirm that I do not have a proper education as a historian, but as an intellectual and patriot of this country, as a person who reads everything about the ancient and modern history of my country, I have the moral and civic right to defend, but also to oppose, according to my conviction and knowledge in the field of our national history, those seemingly "modern" and "innovative" concepts, but which in reality "rewrite" our history in an unscientific way.
In essence, the entire content and essence of these two writings by historian K. Mateli, for me, is positive, they stand objectively and confirm the truth that the temple of Pelasgian Dodona could not have been located on Mount Tomori, but the cult of pre-Homeric deities and today the popular cult of "Baba Tomori" - a very popular holiday not only for Bektashi believers, but also those of other faiths.
Regarding the above, in a friendly manner regarding the problem of the location of Dodona, I arranged a friendly coffee with the author, so that we could discuss it amicably as intellectuals. head-to-head the problem in question. From the beginning of our conversation, I honestly stated: “I am not a historian like you. I do not produce history like you, but I 'consume' history”. With this I wanted to tell Mr. Mateli that not every "product" on history, I will accept beforehand as he writes. And, finally, I declared to him that I support his argument that the temple of Dodona is not located on Mount Tomor (as Mr. F. Samarxhi claims), but I declared openly that I do not agree with your thesis that the temple of Pelasgian Dodona is located in Dëshnica of Përmet. For the explanation of the readers, this historian has been openly and firmly defending the thesis that Dodona is located in Dëshnica of Përmet for several years now, through several publications.
But, in this conversation, unfortunately, not only did I not find his understanding, kindness and wisdom, but I also noticed his arrogance and ingratitude towards such personalities of our history, as the late Professor Kristo Frashëri. Thus, in the debate above, when I mentioned the professor in question, he answered me briefly: “And who is Kristo Frashëri”!? The time, the mores! From my side, it is unnecessary to add anything about this outstanding historical personality, whom our country, but also many foreign historians, appreciate.
So far I have clarified the framework and prepared the ground for further clarification of the problem in question – so where is (hey) Dodona located!?
Let us return to the details of Mr. Mateli's writing. This "dissident" historian, jealous that perhaps the flag of the Dodona issue could be taken from him by the religious-historian Samarxhi (Grand Master), opposes him, but using the weapons and scientific arguments of the academic Eurodite Moikom Zeqo. His secret lies in the details. Thus, he quotes Mr. Moikom only in those statements of his, where he ironizes the so-called historian. Specifically: "People who have no idea of scientific history, write about things they absolutely do not know ... that in Tomor there is no Dodona, moldy minds cannot understand it" (quote from Moikom). Down with Mateli, down with Moikom's weapons!
His cynicism towards Mr. Samarxhi is so wild that he expresses himself this way about Mr. Samarxhi: "These are people who are irresponsible for what they say, because today in public opinion you find a considerable number for whom it doesn't matter what they say, what matters is that they speak."
Let the late Moikom rest in peace in the eternal world, because he knew what he was talking about and who he was talking about.
Mr. Mateli's naivety in dismissing the possibility of Dodona being in Tomor is such that he only quotes Moikomi's words against "molded minds", as he labels them. But, the great Moikomi, did not deal with such "historians" and waste his breath, discussing whether or not Dodona is in Tomor?! For him, as for many personalities like him, the existence of Dodona was indisputable. Albanian historiography has already confirmed precisely that the temple of ancient Pelasgian Dodona is located in Epirus, today in the territory of the Greek state, 18 kilometers from the city of Ioannina, once the territories of the Mollose and Thesprotian tribes.
I ask Mr. Mateli: why don't you also refer to many Albanian authors with a voice in this field? It is known that all historians have taken their sources of historical facts from works written by authors of antiquity, but their interpretation is as fair and scientific as possible. This is because many ancient authors in their writings were not all physical actors in the historical events of the time, nor did they themselves travel all the territories that history speaks of. Many of them have taken their sources of information from each other's citations in continuity over time.
In the absence of arguments in support of the thesis of the location of the temple of Dodona in Ioannina, a fact that our historian disputes, I am quoting below, for the interest of readers, several prominent Albanian authors who argue the opposite, that Dodona is located neither in Tomor of Samarxhiu nor in Dëshnica of Përmet of Mateli, but southeast of Ioannina.
Professor Kristo Frashëri, in his work Ethnogenesis of Albanians (2013), writes on p.63: “The Pelasgians from the Peloponnese settled on the shores of the Hellespont … From there they went to Thesprotia in Epirus (Chameria), near the sanctuary of Dodona” (quotation according to Dionysus of Halicarnassus). On p. 64: “… The Pelasgians … their most sacred temple was the oracle of Dodona, in the territory of Thesprotia in Epirus” (the author quotes Strabo). On p.186: “Behind Thesprotia are the so-called Mollos … there is also Dodona, the sanctuary of Zeus founded by the Pelasgians” (quotation from Pseudo-Skylax).
So, it turns out that Dodona is in the territory of Epirus in Thesprotia (or Chameria today). Even a high school student is clear that Thesprotia of Epirus, which today is Chameria outside the territory of Albania, is neither our Tomori nor our Dëshnica of Përmet.
Mr. Nelson Çabej, in the work The origin and formation of the Albanian people” (2017), on page 271 of this work, he writes: “Tmarus / Tomarus (Tomor) – a mountain in ancient Epirus, at the foot of which was the oracle of Dodona. Two other mountains, one in Albania and another in Croatia, bear the same name – Tomor”.
So, it is understood that although the two mountains on either side of the border have similarities, he claims that Dodona is located in Epirus, currently Ioannina, but not in Dëshnica.
Even the first Albanian statesman, Ismail Qemali, in his biography memoir (2000), on page no. 48, he writes: "Among the most pleasant and interesting memories I have from that period is the visit to a place that later turned out to be the famous shrine of Dodona. It was known that the first oracle of antiquity, that of Dodona, had been in these parts."
It is known that Ismail Qemali lived and worked for some time in the province of Ioannina during the Ottoman Empire, near which, as he says, are the ruins of ancient Dodona.
History professor Mr. Irakli Koçollari, in his work Ali Pasha and Albania in the English archives (2013), on page 98, citing Morier's information about Lord Hawkesbury (Foreign Minister and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom) writes: "We cannot find in Sul, the former Sellin, a barbarian nationality mentioned by Homer and described by Strabo, who resided in the vicinity of Dodona."
We all know that Suli is currently located in Greece and belongs to the Illyrian tribe of the Mollos, which Homer says the Sells (later Sulliotes) lived near Dodona. This Dodona is understood to be very far away in time and space from the Dëshnica of Përmet of the historian Mateli.
Again, Professor Kristo Frasheri, in his work History of Chameria (2015), on page 11 writes: “Plutarch also reports that among the works of the early Pelasgians when they came to Epirus was the construction of the temple of Dodona, one of the most famous temples of ancient times, the ruins of which have been discovered 18 kilometers south of Ioannina”. Whereas, on page 18 he again says: “Epirus, taken in general, begins in the Acroceraune mountains. It includes at first the Kaoni … the Mollos, where the temple of Zeus at Dodona is located” (In both cases the quote is taken from Pliny the Second). So, as is clearly understood, this famous Dodona is not located in Kaoni (the present-day territories of the Vlora-Saranda coast), but further still, in the vicinity of Ioannina (the former Illyrian population of the Mollos).
So, whether some historians of "Aksham" like it or not, the ancient Pelasgian temple of the oracle of Dodona, not only is it not located on Mount Tomor or in Mr. Mateli's beloved Dëshnica, but it is one and only one and is located only in the territory near the city of Ioannina (today Greece).
We would all like to have it within the territory of our state, but this cannot depend on our wishes and wills. Our ancient ancestors, the Pelasgians, built it there and the Illyrian-Arbërorians and today the Albanians of our days inherited it. It is our bad luck that the diplomacy of the great states with the London Conference of 1913, placed our ethnic territories outside the borders of the Albanian state.
The historian Mateli, defending his patriotic-historical ideas, has written a series of works, which he considers scientific, about the location of Dodona. His most recent major work is entitled The truth about Dodona and Epirus (2023). In this publication he once again defends his "scientific" thesis that Dodona is located in Dëshnica of Përmet.
I have the right to comment on something about this publication called a study. I ask its author: why is the publication called a study and not a complete scientific work, or a scientific monograph, or a historical treatise, because it has a single object, which is Dodona? His work is very voluminous, with 438 pages. I think that he, knowing that this publication of his contradicts the conclusions of official Albanian historiography and the scientific concepts of the most prominent authorities in this field of ancient history, has a tendency towards regional and provincial subjectivism, which is covered with the veil of patriotism. And, this is exactly what he does: He calls it a study so that if he is criticized by competent scientific personalities, he can defend himself with the idea that it is a study and thus he is on his continuous journey in the study of this topic. This way of presenting this voluminous publication is like that popular expression “like a two-page spread”.
It is also worth discussing another notable fact of this study. Like any work that claims to be scientific, I have found that out of five scientific reviewers, four of them are from Kosovo, scientific workers from Kosovo. Only one is from Albania and she is a scientific worker ethnographer-costumographer. How is it possible that the historian Mateli has not chosen as a reviewer any personality in this field from his native country?! How is it possible that he so openly ignores and overlooks the values and knowledge of our scientific workers of the Academy of Albania?!
I'm asking Mr. Mateli, from whom did you learn the history of Albania, and in particular that of antiquity?! It is from these professors that you and all of us have learned in our respective fields.
Now I want to analyze something about the professional career of this historian of the "evening". But, without becoming either cynical or underestimating and moreover without poking my nose into his personal biography, I would like to comment a little. Thus, the fact of the CV (resume) of his, written by the author on the back cover of the book. He declares himself to have been born in Mazhan i Përmet in 1951 and graduated from the University of Elbasan in the Albanian Language and Literature department in 1990. So, it turns out that he was at the age of about 50 when he completed the full cycle of university studies. At this age, it is appropriate to pursue part-time studies (part time schedule) and with a full family status. He also says that he started studying Dodona in 2000. I wanted to honestly ask the author: How is it possible that you were formed as a young "innovative" historian in such a short time and by completing university studies at the age of 50?! Normally at this age, researchers have to complete post-university studies (master's, doctorate, etc.). This is a difficult answer.
But, a better answer to this issue was given by Kristo Frashëri himself, who wrote: “The experience that a person gains during his life, say prominent thinkers, is an incalculable capital. It is of no use to the young, who have a vital need for it, because they do not possess it. The elderly, who have accumulated it, did not enter the workforce, because their careers are over. Blessed are those young people who have the ability to learn from the experience of the elderly.” (Albanian Academy of Sciences, Kristo Frasheri: The Life of a Historian.
There is more. A very interesting fact is the graphic presentation of this scholarly work. Thus, the cover of this book is the same in format, in its color, in the size of the title letters and their color, as that of the major work. The history of the Albanian nation of the Academy of Sciences of Albania, respectively of the Institute of History. Is this similarity in form a coincidence? I firmly believe that although the "dissident" historian Mateli bypasses, not to say that he ignores, this important institution of Albanian science and national culture, he nevertheless wears the mantle of this institution, to gain a little from its important state reputation.
And, finally, to crown all these achievements on his CV, he declares, of course modestly, that he is a "Member of the Albanian-American Academy of Sciences and Arts", based in New York! Well, the great Fan Noli did not write in vain: "Stay safe, mother, do not be afraid, because you have sons in America"!
Don't get so carried away, Mr. Mateli, because we have America here in Albania as our strategic ally, which helps and assists us continuously, in all aspects of our economic, political and scientific life.
Want more about "Belulin"? Go read the research book by author K. Mateli titled Dodona is located in Dëshnica, Përmet., and you will see that there are such "Belula" even in the field of historical sciences. /Dita Newspaper/
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