The Characters
The Spartan brothers
The two Spartan brothers have travelled to Dodona together because one of them thinks that there is a plot against his family; they have their suspicions and want to check them with Zeus. They meet Dorios, an itinerant seller of rituals, curses, spells and purifications.
The brothers’ situation is based on a question from the very early 4th century BCE:
Did he or she inflict a poison or potions or curse on my children or my wife or me, under the guidance of Lyson?