Ancient Greece

Lesson 6: Greek Religion and Philosophy

Oracles and Soothsayers

One aspect of Ancient Greek religion that most modern students find difficult to understand is the enormous emphasis placed on oracles.

In our society, we generally associate 'oracles' with fortune-tellers and newspaper horoscopes. Again, this is probably due to the influence of Judeo-Christian thought. (In the Bible, for example, there is a warning against the practice of consulting soothsayers)

The Ancient Greeks, on the other hand, placed a great deal of emphasis on predictions and oracles.

No Greek army was considered to be complete without its soothsayer (known in Greek as a 'mantis').

The predictions of the 'mantis' were taken into consideration even in the heat of battle.

At the battle of Plataea, for example, the Spartan army patiently endured a withering stream of missiles being hurled at it by the Persians until the correct rituals had been completed by its accompanying 'mantis'.

The most famous of the oracles was the Oracle of Apollo at Delphi.

Delphi was a holy city in Central Greece. At the temple of Apollo in Delphi, there was a priestess known as the Pythia, who would go into a trance and make predictions about the future.

Although the predictions of these oracles were taken very seriously, it was generally accepted that these predictions were never made in straightforward terms.

For example, the Lydian king Croesus was said to have sent to the oracle at Delphi, asking if it would be advisable for him to go to war against the Persians.

In reply, the oracle gave him the prediction that if he crossed the river Halys, he would destroy a powerful kingdom. Croesus took this to mean that he would destroy the Persians and therefore went ahead with his invasion.

However, he himself was defeated by the Persians, and it was only then that he realised that the powerful kingdom referred to in the prediction was his own.

The story may or may not be true, but it beautifully illustrates the point that the sayings of these oracles were always oblique and had to be interpreted correctly.

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