The Customers Of The Oracle Of Dodona Through The Analysis Of The Literary And Archaeological Evidence Up To The Mid 4th Century Bc

Studies published to date on the oracle of Dodona in Epirus have to different extents been coloured by, or fully reliant on, the possibility of unravelling divinatory practice, especially in the wake of Parke. Despite a plethora of attempts at identifying how the priestesses and/or priests give the responses of the oracle at Dodona, such a prospect has remained unrealised and at the moment it is impossible to determine the oracular practices in detail. Today new prospects in the study of shrines demand that we turned from attempting to understand how the oracle of Dodona worked, so as to concentrate on who consulted it. The present investigation aims to give a comprehensive study of the catchment area of the shrine of Dodona through the identification of its clients. All available sources have been considered, from the very first attestation of worship at Dodona, in the second millennium, to the mid- 4th century BC, when the geopolitical dynamics of Greece, and especially of Epirus, changed drastically. My thesis responds to the need, on the one hand, for an interdisciplinary analysis of the sources to gain a wider and exhaustive scenario, with a critique of the several archaeological and historical interpretations proposed until today, and, on the other, for the creation of the first corpus of all extant evidence. So far modern scholars have relegated the oracle to a marginal position in the ancient Greek world, considering it as a shrine consulted for private questions by people circulating in the area of the Adriatic Sea. From the analysis of the sources (material and literary evidence), the scenario I have drawn is wholly different. From the 6th century onwards, not only private individuals, but also communities consulted and made offering to the oracle. The catchment area of the shrine grew, passing from an almost local to an interregional (6th cent.) and then pan-Hellenic dimension (5th - 4th cent). The sanctuary attracted devotees not only from local and neighbouring regions, Epirus, Thessaly, the Corinthian colonies of the Adriatic, as one might expect, but also from Boiotia, Magna Graecia, Sicily, Athens, Cyprus, and the Peloponnese, particularly from Sparta.

A monograph concerning the sanctuary of Dodona and its role in the political context of Epirus might be a remarkable input. Located in a region that has received more interest in the last years, this book attempts to analyze the way the shrine evolved in connection with the political developments of its surrounding region. The study employs a diachronic perspective and emphasizes throughout that religion was a dynamic, not a static, phenomenon. The chronology of this research extends from the Archaic to Hellenistic periods. Its key novelty is that it offers an entirely new holistic approach to an ancient religious site by considering its polyfunctionality. At the same time that it presents a state-of-the-art analysis of the shrine of Dodona and contributes with a new theory concerning the function of some structures located in the sacred area, it also highlights the close connection between a settlement and its region. For this reason, the aim is to become a reference work that allows continuing the current trend of studies focused on Epirus, a territory traditionally considered as secondary.

The notion of competition has become crucial to our understanding of Greek and Roman religion and is often invoked to explain religous changes and to describe the relationship between various cults. This volume seeks to raise our awareness of what the notion implies and to test its use for the analysis of ancient religions. The papers range from Classical Greece, Hellenistic Babylon, Rome and the Etruscans, to Late Antiquity and the rise of Islam. They seek to determine how much can be gained in each individual case by understanding religious interaction in terms of rivalry and competition. In doing so, the volume hopes to open a more explicit debate on the analytical tools with which ancient religion is currently being studied.

This volume examines the ways in which divination, often through oracular utterances and other mechanisms, linked mortals with the gods, and places the practice within the ancient sociopolitical and religious environment. Whether humans sought knowledge by applying to an oracle through which the god was believed to speak or used soothsayers who interpreted specific signs such as the flight of birds, there was a fundamental desire to know the will of the gods. In many cases, pragmatic concerns – personal, economic or political – can be deduced from the context of the application. Divination and communication with the gods in a post-pagan world has also produced fascinating receptions. The presentation of these processes in monotheistic societies such as early Christian Late Antiquity (where the practice continued through the use of curse tablets) or medieval Europe, and beyond, where the role of religion had changed radically, provides a particular challenge and this topic has been little discussed by scholars. This volume aims to rectify this desideratum by providing the opportunity to address questions related to the reception of Greco-Roman divination, oracles and prophecy, in all media, including literature and film. Several contributions in this volume originated in the 2015 Classics Colloquium held at the University of South Africa and the volume has been augmented with additional contributions.

A study of the question tablets from the oracle at Dodona and binding-curse tablets from across the ancient Greek world, These tablets reveal the hopes and anxieties of ordinary people, and help us to understand some of the ways in which they managed risk and uncertainty in their daily lives.

Vols. 1-8, 1880-87, plates published separately and numbered I-LXXXIII.

This Is A New Release Of The Original 1916 Edition.

"Surveying all kinds of evidence—historiographical, literary, dramatic, and visual—Flower provides a comprehensive, readable, and engaging account of the operations of 'seers' during the Classical period."—Mark Griffith, editor of Prometheus Bound and Antigone "In a page-turning tour de force of anthropological reconstruction, classicist Michael Flower revisits hundreds of ancient texts to tease out his case for the absolutely central role of seercraft at all levels of ancient Greek society. Thanks to Flower's invitingly-woven tapestry of their mesmerizing stories and anecdotes, we can now savor, and comprehend through his lucid and persuasive interpretations."—Peter Nabokov, author of Where the Lightning Strikes: American Indian Ways of History

Cultures of all epochs have consulted oracles in times of need. This fascinating exploration of the enduring popularity of oracles examines how they are interpreted and why. Taking examples from literature and history, from the oracles at Delphi to those in Macbeth, and further still to the works of Kafka and Bob Dylan, and even in the film The Matrix, Wood combines storytelling and commentary to provide a lively account of humanity's persistent faith in signs, which continues to exert an important influence on the course of civilization.

Greek Epigraphy and Religion explores the insights provided by inscribed texts into the religious practices of the ancient Greek world. The papers study material ranging geographically from Epiros to Egypt and chronologically from the Classical to the Roman period.