Greece and Rome

Essay text:

Apollo at Delphi) o 2) Speaker of the prophecy o 3) Prophecy itself o Oracles are sought out: human initiated activity ? Answer to specific question; asking the oracle ? Answers given: yes, no, “by sacrificing to X” ? Sometimes answers are set in poetic verse - Omens + oracles = divination o Aka prophecy (foretelling the future) o “the art of determining the future by supernatural means o Everyone has always wanted it o By-product of human forethought o Still evident today? Still around today (psychics, tarot cards, etc) - Divination: 2 types o 1) Inductive divination(artificial) ? Interpretation of omens ? Indirect: requires human interpreter (diviner) • Technician, not always a priest • No prophecy without omen • High profile: advisors to rulers ? Some omens good, others bad, others more specific ? Natural phenomena: stars, eclipses, comets, thunderstorms - Divination in Nature: Animals o Prophetic: snakes, frogs, birds o Sometimes prophetic: dogs and horses o Never prophetic: fish - Humans: channels for the divine o Chance remarks o Sneezing o Epileptic fits o Small child’s speech o Noise in a crowd - Prodigy o Unnatural occurrences ? Hermaphrodites ? Two headed animals, etc o Means something wonderful o Skilled interpretation needed (diviner) - 2) Inductive Divination o Astrology ? Stars and planets = gods o Ornithoscopy ? Birds = messengers of the gods ? Some good, some bad o Extispicy ? Animal entrails after sacrifice ? Sub- speciality: hepatoscopy (haruspices) • Divination by livers (lobes, marks, etc) - Pyromancy (fire) and hydromancy (water) - Chiromancy: palm reading - Cleromancy: divination by chance: dice, lots - Intuitive divination (natural) o Direct messages from gods o No worldly intermediaries (diviners, animals, etc) o 3 types: ? Oniromancy: dream divination ? Necromancy: predictions from the dead (association with Egyptian priests) ? Ecstasy: inspired revelation • Only form of pure contact with gods • Similar to possession? trance • One of Plato’s 4 types of madness - Oracles o How did they work: ? Prophet (often female) divinely inspired ? Must be present in temple ? Responds to specific question • From individuals or states o Example: Pythia ? Woman sat on 3 legged stool above chasm ? Chewed laurel leaves for inspiration ? Unintelligible answers, and needed translation by priests into verse ? Considered infallible, but answers ambiguous ?