Some “heroes” were clearly local deities absorbed into this category as the pantheon of major Greek gods crystallized. Both Amphiaraos and Trophonios possessed mantic powers, unusual for heroes, which hint at former divine status. Amphiaraos, the Argive seer who fought as one of the Seven Against Thebes, was swallowed into a chasm as he fled the battle in his chariot. Thereafter he lived beneath the earth, still practicing the profession of seer through the medium of a priestess. According to Herodotus (1.46, 1.52, 8.134), his oracle at or near Thebes was well known in the late Archaic period. Though a former enemy, Amphiaraos became a benefactor of Thebes, following a common cult pattern according to which hostile heroic figures are reconciled through worship and appeasement.20 Later the Athenians popularized their own cult of Amphiaraos at the rival site of Oropos, on the much-contested border area between Attica and Boiotia. The buildings at the site, which has been extensively studied, date no earlier than the late fifth century. Here, the focus of the oracle shifted to healing (a much more common occupation of heroes) and Amphiaraos’ cult functioned in many ways like that of Asklepios, except that it charged a fee like an oracular shrine.21 Pausanias (1.34.1-3) describes the fourth-century altar of Amphiaraos, which was divided into five sections for different groups of gods and heroes. To be healed, visitors made purification sacrifices (normally a piglet was used for this purpose) to all the deities named on the altar, then sacrificed a ram and slept on its fleece in the temple. The resulting dreams were interpreted as prescriptions for the proper treatment of the disease.
Boiotia was a land unusually rich in oracles, and the concept of the hero who is swallowed by the earth seems to have been endemic to this area. Trophonios, the Boiotian master builder who with his brother Agamedes constructed Apollo’s first temple at Delphi, disappeared into a chasm at Lebadeia and became an oracular deity. Consultation at this oracle, already renowned in the Archaic period, was a unique and terrifying experience. Pausanias (9.39.2-9.40.3) wrote from personal knowledge about the elaborate purifications and sacrifices required as preparation for an encounter with Trophonios, many of which must have been operative in earlier times. The key preliminary was the sacrifice of a ram at the bothros (pit) where Trophonios disappeared, with an invocation to Agamedes and the examination of the entrails to determine the mood of Trophonios. Another Archaic feature was the statue of Trophonios attributed to Daidalos, which was revealed only to those about to consult the oracle. Those who received acceptable omens climbed into a man-made subterranean chamber and poised themselves at a small opening in the floor, carrying honey-cakes as a gift. They were sucked down into “the second place” by means unknown, where they came into personal contact with the divine power. Eventually they were expelled by the same route, dazed and disoriented. Whatever they saw or heard, they were required to record on wooden tablets. In the time of Pausanias, it is clear that consultation of Trophonios was similar to initiation into one of the mystery cults, but in the Archaic period, it may have been more narrowly focused on pragmatic oracular responses.22
Figure 15.1 Marble votive relief dedicated to the healing hero Amphiaraos. Background: incubation. The foreground shows the sleeper’s dream: the hero treats his shoulder ailment, fourth century. National Archaeological Museum, Athens. Erich Lessing/Art Resource.
World History
