The Selloi () were an ancient Greek tribe inhabiting

Epirus Epirus () is a Region#Geographical regions, geographical and historical region, historical region in southeastern Europe, now shared between Greece and Albania. It lies between the Pindus Mountains and the Ionian Sea, stretching from the Bay ...

in ancient Greece, in a region between

Dodona Dodona (; , Ionic Greek, Ionic and , ) in Epirus in northwestern Greece was the oldest Ancient Greece, Hellenic oracle, possibly dating to the 2nd millennium BCE according to Herodotus. The earliest accounts in Homer describe Dodona as an oracle ...

—site of the oldest reported oracle—and the

Achelous In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, Achelous (also Acheloos or Acheloios) (; Ancient Greek: Ἀχελώϊος, and later , ''Akhelôios'') was the god associated with the Achelous River, the largest river in Greece. Accordi ...

river;

Aristotle Aristotle (; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, a ...

named the area ancient Hellas. A group who were formerly called Graecians and later

Hellenes Greeks or Hellenes (; , ) are an ethnic group and nation native to Greece, Cyprus, southern Albania, Anatolia, parts of Italy and Egypt, and to a lesser extent, other countries surrounding the Eastern Mediterranean and Black Sea. They also f ...

lived there as well. According to

Homer Homer (; , ; possibly born ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Despite doubts about his autho ...

, they were priests of the Dodonian

Zeus Zeus (, ) is the chief deity of the List of Greek deities, Greek pantheon. He is a sky father, sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, who rules as king of the gods on Mount Olympus. Zeus is the child ...

. Classicist and linguist Steve Reece has traced the Homeric name ''Selloi'' Σελλοί back to a historical tribe named ''Helloi'' Ἑλλοί (related to ''Hellas'', ''Hellenes'', etc). During the oral period of epic transmission one of Homer's bardic predecessors misheard a formulaic expression in which the name was embedded and metanalyzed "Helloi" as "Selloi."Reece, Steve. "Whence the Selloi of Dodona?" in Steve Reece, "Homer's Winged Words" (Leiden: Brill, 2009) 201-215.

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