Monday, April 17, 2023

Conditional Oracles in Ancient Greek Literature

I have discussed the conditional nature of biblical (and modern) prophecy (see Resources on Joseph Smith's Prophecies for posts addressing this). This is not unique to biblical and modern revelation. One can find conditional prophecies in other literature from antiquity: 

 

Conditional Oracles.

 

One of the more common types of the two-part response oracle is the conditional oracle. When the condition(s) described in the protasis (introduced by such particles as “if” and “when”) was fulfilled, then the prediction expressed in the apodosis was expected to take place. This oracular form is of particular relevance for the study of early Christian prophetic speech forms since it resembles the “pronouncement of sacral law” . . . a typical example of a conditional oracle is the following two-line oracle in hexameter preserved in an inscription from the sanctuary of Grynaion Apollo in Aetolia:

 

When you honor Leto’s son Phoebus [Apollo] and Zeus Patroios,
you will receive fame; then fasten your shackles here on the tree.

 

In this oracle the predictive statement in line two is dependent on the fulfilment of the vaguely worded ritual prescription in the first line. In another example a sick and dissolute youth from Assyria reportedly received this incubation oracle in the temple of Asklepios at Aegae:

 

If you would consult Apollonius you would get better. (Philostratus, Vita Apoll. i.9)

 

This oracle is an uncommon example of a conditional oracle containing both protasis and apodosis in a single prose line.

 

Many conditional oracles were couched in such ambiguous language that the “proper” interpretation of the oracle was difficult if not impossible to determine. An example of a conditional homonymic oracle, one whose obscurity was based on a double entendre, is the Delphic oracle given to Aristomenes and Theoclus the mantic, who had come from Eira in Messene to inquire about the safety of their homeland:

 

When a goat [tragos] drinks of the winding stream of Neda,
no longer do I protect Messene, for destruction is at hand. (Pausanias iv.20.1)

 

Only Theoclus understood that the tragos did not refer to a goat, but was a distinctive Messenian term for a wild fig tree. Since such a tree was known to be bent over into the waters of the Neda River, Theoclus and Aristomenes knew that the days of Messene were numbered.

 

A conditional oracle in a different form is the oldest recorded oracle (third century B.C.) from the sanctuary of Apollo at Claros. It related to the refounding of Smyrna, which had been destroyed early in the third century by Lysimachus:

 

Thrice, yes, four times blest [makares] will those men be
who shall dwell in Pagus beyond the Sacred Meles. (Pausanias vii.5.2)

 

In this oracle the apodosis is in the first line and contains a promise, the enjoyment of which is conditional, based on the future fulfilment of the protasis, which constitutes the second line.

 

Many of the conditional oracles which we have discussed are conditional promises of fame, health, and general well-being. A great many conditional oracles, however, are conditional threats of disaster and destruction frequently propounded as riddles. In form such oracles resemble the conditional formulas found in ancient epitaphs. (David E. Aune, Prophecy in Early Christianity and the Ancient Mediterranean World [Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1983], 60-61)