The terminology was rather imprecise.Prophe ̄te ̄s(feminineprophe ̄tis) could signify
either the man who entered into contact with the deity or the one who, after listening
to words uttered by a medium (such as the Pythia), proclaimed them or gave them
form. In both senses, this ‘‘magistrate’’ served a specific oracular deity, while the
mantiswas more of a generalist. In addition, the twelve sibyls, prophetesses lost in the
mists of myth, formed a counterpart to the legendary diviners (Parke 1988).
Some Representative Sanctuaries
Delphi
Established in a magnificent setting in Phocis, Delphi was the most prestigious,
the richest, and the most consulted oracle, and, even in myth, it was obviously the
ultimate one. A mass of personal and political interests converged there, and these are
attested by buildings, epigraphy, and literature (Amandry 1950; Fontenrose 1978;
Jacquemin 1999). In addition to the oracle itself, one could find there a great many
buildings, temples, a theatre, and structures needed for the cult and for the penteteric
Pythian games. The origins of this site, its allegiance to Apollo, and the history of its
divinatory method are disputed (Quantin 1992). But we can say that the oracle was
functioning from at least the eighth century BC, the age of the ‘‘Greek renaissance’’
and the rapid rise of Apollo, that it built up its prestige in the seventh century and
reached its zenith in the sixth and early fifth centuries BC.
Consultation originally took place once a year, it was said, but it quickly became
monthly, and two or even three Pythias acted in relay. Taking account ofpromanteia
(orders of precedence granted by the Delphians: Roux 1990), the consultants,
whether acting on their own behalf or in a public capacity, purified themselves with
water at the spring of Castalia and made a monetary offering (pelanos). They sacrificed
on the altar of Apollo before the temple, in order to obtain omens, then they made
their way to a room in the foundations of the temple, theadyton, the configuration of
which remains a mystery. The Pythia, who had drunk water and chewed bay leaves,
prophesied down below. Since one listened to her without seeing her, a curtain or a
screen must have separated the priestess from her consultants. She sat in a bowl
mounted on a tripod. The mantic significance of this remains unexplained, but it is
related to sacrificial cooking.
Finally, the prophet clarified the divine message. Did he meddle with the responses
in so doing? He could surely modify it in one way or another, but as no oracle that
produced forgeries on a daily basis would have survived throughout antiquity, who
would have been so foolish as to alter the will of the god? The consultant, who also
listened to the Pythia, could validate the final text, and the very few ancient allega-
tions of fraud focused upon the Pythias themselves rather than the interpreters.
Dodona
At Dodona in Epirus, the panhellenicmanteionof Zeus and Dione flourished from
the archaic period to the hellenistic one. Zeus’ oak leaves produced a divinatory
rustling which was interpreted by the priestesses, the Peleiads. The method fell
Divination 155