Between the third and first centuries BC divination suffered from the effects of incessant wars in Greece. The appearance of decline is reinforced by the complete loss of hellenistic literature, whilst that of the Second Sophistic, which was interested in divination, experienced a much better fate. The philosophical schools discussed divination at length in their treatises, which are now lost, and Plutarch naturally follows them (S. Levin 1989). Divination evolved little, because, if any field was ruled by tradition, it was that one which involved contact with the gods. Nonetheless, some oracles of Apollo, especially in Asia Minor, became more theological or philosophical (Lane Fox 1997:216-54). For this reason inquiries were made that sought to uncover the truths of existence, such as the question posed by Oenoanda, a little city in Asia Minor, on the nature of the deity (Milner 2002).
The end of the Greek oracles is a varied story. It is connected with the rise of Christianity, but not in a simple way, because Christianity formed part of a culture in which this type of need was transformed. The vogue for astrology came to its zenith, and incubation continued to be practiced by Christians. It is true, however, that numerous laws of the Christian empire attempted to close down sanctuaries and others explicitly banned the oracles, notably those of Theodosius in 385 AD.
I would like to conclude on a note of drama and revelation. Alexander Demandt (1970) established the dates of all the eclipses in ancient sources and confronted them with the irrefutable data of astronomy: at least two hundred cases are bogus. We must be cautious about the veracity of signs and oracles invoked, but we must also be sensitive to the trust that the ancients placed in them.
GUIDE TO FURTHER READING
EGuch{:-Ledercq 1879-82 remains the only substantial synoptic study of divination in antiquity, but note also Sordi 1993, Chirassi Colombo and Seppili 1998, and Sfameni Gasparro 2002. For the various types of inductive divination, see Bodson 1978 (animals), Lissarrague 1990a, Jameson 1991, and Van Straten 1995 (hieroscopy), Pollard 1977, Dillon 1996, and Collins 2002 (ornithomancy), Peradotto 1969 (cledonomancy), and Cordano and Grottanelli 2001 (cleromancy). For dreams see Hanson 1980 and Holowchak 2001. For necromancy, see Ogden 2001. For the major oracle sanctuaries, see Amandry 1950, Fontenrose 1978, Malkin 1987, and Maurizio 1995 (Delphi), Parke 1967 (Olympia, Dodona, and Siwah), Fontenrose 1988 (Didyma), Merkelbach and Stauber 1996 (Claros), and Bonnechere 2003 (Trophonios). For oracles and politics, see Parker 1985 [=2000a] and Bowden 2005. For the ‘‘decline’’ of oracles see Levin 1989. For prophets see Sordi 1993 and Sfameni Gasparro 2002, and for Sibyls see Parke 1988 and Chirassi Colombo and Seppili 1998.
World History
