Divination and Prophecy in the Ancient Greek World

This volume examines the phenomena of ancient Greek prophecy and divination. With contributions from a distinguished, international cast of scholars, it offers fresh perspectives and interpretations of key aspects of these practices. Considering issues such as comparativism, ethnography, cognitive function, orality, and intertextuality, the volume demonstrates their relevance to the elucidation of Greek prophetic practices. The volume also shows how multi- and inter-disciplinary approaches can be applied to a range of topics, from an examination of the very inception of Greek divination, explored within the frame of more archaic cult ideas, through emic elaboration of divinatory practice in Archaic and Classical periods, to consideration of intentional manipulation of prophecy, as depicted in Hellenistic and Imperial Roman sources. Collectively, the essays deepen our understanding of ancient Greek prophecy by offering insights into divinition astéhknē, the centrality or marginality of Delphi and the Pythic priestess, prophetic ambiguity, and cognition, including cognitive dissonance.

About the Author

Roger D. Woodard is Andrew van Vranken Raymond Professor of Classics at the University of Buffalo (The State University of New York). He has held fellowships and visiting appointments at, among other institutions, the Center for Hellenic Studies of Harvard University, the American Academy in Rome, and the University of Oxford. Woodard is author or editor of numerous books, including; The Textualization of the Greek Alphabet (Cambridge University Press, 2014), Myth, Ritual, and the Warrior in Roman and Indo-European Antiquity (Cambridge University Press, 2013) and The Cambridge Companion to Greek Mythology (Cambridge University Press, 2007).  He is series editor of Cambridge's Elements of Greek and Roman Mythology.