The Seer in Ancient Greece

Flower, Michael A.

doi:10.1525/9780520934009

Cited by 20 publications

(10 citation statements)

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“…Although Evans-Pritchard's work has not gone without criticism, his emphasis on the infallibility of oracles remains an important source of inspiration for theorists of divination (Flower 2008;Holbraad 2016;Stoneman 2011;Vernant 1974). For example, referencing Evans-Pritchard, Michael Flower (2008: 107) argues that oracular truth was the unshakable foundation that gave Greek divination its "eminently coherent and logical" character, and because of this, the consultant could always "appeal to a whole range of secondary elaborations of belief that explained the apparent failure" (ibid.…”

Section: Divination As An Infallible System Of Beliefmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Among divination experts we see a similar stress on personal relationships over technical expertise. Flower (2008) argues that the early Greek seers' authority was chiefly dependent not upon wide reading or technical expertise, but upon their personal charisma and connection to prestigious mantic lineages. An association with mantic families such as the Melampodidae, Iamidae, Clytiadae, and Telliadae guaranteed their close ties to the gods and their "innate capacity for divination" (ibid.…”

Section: Divination Within An Analogist Worldmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Beyond Oracular Ambiguity

Almqvist

2021

Social Analysis

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In studies of ancient Greek divination, oracles are often claimed to pronounce ambiguous but true statements within an intricately ordered cosmos. There exist, however, several problematic exceptions. In Book 2 of the Iliad, Zeus deliberately deceives Agamemnon through a prophetic dream; Hesiod’s Muses speak truths or lies depending on their mood; and Apollo’s utterances can harm as easily as help. The possibility of divine deceit forces us to reconsider the ontological assumptions within which early Greek divination was understood to operate. Adopting Philippe Descola’s concept of ‘analogism’, I argue that rather than a means of reading the cosmos, early Greek divination resembles more an act of diplomacy, an attempt to establish successful communication with supernatural beings within an always potentially fragmented world.

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Section: Divination As An Infallible System Of Beliefmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Divination Within An Analogist Worldmentioning

confidence: 99%

Beyond Oracular Ambiguity

Almqvist

2021

Social Analysis

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“…22 Smith (1989); Flower (2008) 58-65. century BC. 23 We can take as examples the initial hexametrical verses of the parodies in Knights and Lysistrata, which the oracle-monger on stage attributes to the legendary seer 'Bacis'.…”

Section: Circe's Map: Finding the Entrance To Hadesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Circe’s Instructions to Odysseus (OD. 10.507–40) As an Early Sibylline Oracle

Faraone

2019

J. Hell. Stud.

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Scholars have noted that Circe’s instructions to Odysseus illustrate a speech type-scene comprised of directions and then instructions – or ‘map’ and ‘script’: first she tells him (i) how to get to the entrance to Hades and then (ii) what rituals to do and what words to say after he gets there (Od. 10.507–40). This essay argues that the Odyssey poet is, in fact, using the vocabulary and syntax of an important subset of this speech-act: hexametrical oracles, as we see them quoted a few centuries later by Herodotus and parodied by Aristophanes. Her advice, moreover, also echoes closely a specific kind of Archaic oracle that directed Greek colonists to a far-away place and that was typical of the female prophets called ‘Sibyls’, who lived near the Aegean coastline in places where the Homeric poems were originally composed and performed.

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“…⁵³ For the respective roles of manteis and chrēsmologoi in Greek society, see Dillery 2005and Flower 2008b: 58-65 and 2015.…”

Section: A Tale Of Two Disastersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Divination and the ‘Real Presence’ of the Divine in Ancient Greece

Flower¹

2019

Ancient Divination and Experience

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This chapter applies Robert Orsi’s concepts of ‘real presence’ and ‘abundant history’ to the study of ancient Greek religion, using divination as a case study. It proposes that we should take real presence seriously as something that most Greeks took for granted. Although investigating religious experience is extraordinarily difficult, one of the best places to look is in the ubiquitous practice of divination. For it is in the context of the divinatory ritual that the real presence of the divine was commonly to be experienced. Case studies include the epiphany of Asklepios to Isyllos of Epidauros, the lead oracular tablets from Dodona, and the role of divination in the Athenian expedition to Sicily in 415 BCE. The latter event is compared to the belief of the Lakota Sioux that their ghost shirts would protect them from bullets at the Battle of Wounded Knee in 1890. In both cases, a collective belief in prophecy and in the real presence of supernatural forces instilled an assurance of victory, and this assurance was then followed by a rejection of the religious specialists who had promoted a positive interpretation of the message and the outcome.

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The Seer in Ancient Greece

Cited by 20 publications

References 0 publications

Beyond Oracular Ambiguity

Beyond Oracular Ambiguity

Circe’s Instructions to Odysseus (OD. 10.507–40) As an Early Sibylline Oracle

Divination and the ‘Real Presence’ of the Divine in Ancient Greece

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