Selloi

{{Short description|Ancient Greek tribe in Epirus}}

The Selloi ({{langx|el|Σελλοί}}) were an ancient Greek tribe{{Cite book|last=Herman|first=Hansen Mogens|url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/1119608064|title=An Inventory of Archaic and Classical Poleis|date=2005|publisher=Oxford University Press USA - OSO|isbn=978-0-19-151825-6|pages=338|oclc=1119608064}} inhabiting Epirus in ancient Greece, in a region between Dodona—site of the oldest reported oracle—and the Achelous river; Aristotle named the area ancient Hellas. A group who were formerly called Graecians and later Hellenes lived there as well.Aristotle, Meteorologica, [http://classics.mit.edu./Aristotle/meteorology.1.i.html Book 1 Part 14] According to Homer, they were priests of the Dodonian Zeus."King Zeus, lord of Dodona, god of the Pelasgi, who dwellest afar, you who hold wintry Dodona in your sway, where your prophets the Selloi dwell around you." Homer, Iliad, book 16, 233–235. 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.