| 1. Pindar, Olympian Odes, 13.76 (6th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: •oracles (italic), oracles of the dead (nekyomanteia/psychomanteia) Found in books: Renberg (2017), Where Dreams May Come: Incubation Sanctuaries in the Greco-Roman World, 8 |
2. Plato, Charmides, None (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: •oracles (italic), oracles of the dead (nekyomanteia/psychomanteia) Found in books: Renberg (2017), Where Dreams May Come: Incubation Sanctuaries in the Greco-Roman World, 526 | 156d. Then I, on hearing his approval, regained my courage; and little by little I began to muster up my confidence again, and my spirit began to rekindle. So I said,—Such, then, Charmides, is the nature of this charm. I learnt it on campaign over there, from one of the Thracian physicians of Zalmoxis, who are said even to make one immortal. This Thracian said that the Greeks were right in advising as I told you just now: but Zalmoxis, he said, |
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3. Aristophanes, The Rich Man, 669, 671-672 (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: •nan Found in books: Renberg (2017), Where Dreams May Come: Incubation Sanctuaries in the Greco-Roman World, 8| 672. κἀγὼ καθεύδειν οὐκ ἐδυνάμην, ἀλλά με | |
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4. Herodotus, Histories, 4.94-4.96, 5.92.7, 8.134 (5th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: •oracles (italic), oracles of the dead (nekyomanteia/psychomanteia) •oracles (italic), dream-oracle of priestess at thyateira •oracles (italic), question of incubation at nekyomanteia/psychomanteia Found in books: Renberg (2017), Where Dreams May Come: Incubation Sanctuaries in the Greco-Roman World, 8, 324, 325, 526 | 4.94. Their belief in their immortality is as follows: they believe that they do not die, but that one who perishes goes to the deity Salmoxis, or Gebeleïzis, as some of them call him. ,Once every five years they choose one of their people by lot and send him as a messenger to Salmoxis, with instructions to report their needs; and this is how they send him: three lances are held by designated men; others seize the messenger to Salmoxis by his hands and feet, and swing and toss him up on to the spear-points. ,If he is killed by the toss, they believe that the god regards them with favor; but if he is not killed, they blame the messenger himself, considering him a bad man, and send another messenger in place of him. It is while the man still lives that they give him the message. ,Furthermore, when there is thunder and lightning these same Thracians shoot arrows skyward as a threat to the god, believing in no other god but their own. 4.95. I understand from the Greeks who live beside the Hellespont and Pontus, that this Salmoxis was a man who was once a slave in Samos, his master being Pythagoras son of Mnesarchus; ,then, after being freed and gaining great wealth, he returned to his own country. Now the Thracians were a poor and backward people, but this Salmoxis knew Ionian ways and a more advanced way of life than the Thracian; for he had consorted with Greeks, and moreover with one of the greatest Greek teachers, Pythagoras; ,therefore he made a hall, where he entertained and fed the leaders among his countrymen, and taught them that neither he nor his guests nor any of their descendants would ever die, but that they would go to a place where they would live forever and have all good things. ,While he was doing as I have said and teaching this doctrine, he was meanwhile making an underground chamber. When this was finished, he vanished from the sight of the Thracians, and went down into the underground chamber, where he lived for three years, ,while the Thracians wished him back and mourned him for dead; then in the fourth year he appeared to the Thracians, and thus they came to believe what Salmoxis had told them. Such is the Greek story about him. 4.96. Now I neither disbelieve nor entirely believe the tale about Salmoxis and his underground chamber; but I think that he lived many years before Pythagoras; ,and as to whether there was a man called Salmoxis or this is some deity native to the Getae, let the question be dismissed. 8.134. This man Mys is known to have gone to Lebadea and to have bribed a man of the country to go down into the cave of Trophonius and to have gone to the place of divination at Abae in Phocis. He went first to Thebes where he inquired of Ismenian Apollo (sacrifice is there the way of divination, as at Olympia), and moreover he bribed one who was no Theban but a stranger to lie down to sleep in the shrine of Amphiaraus. ,No Theban may seek a prophecy there, for Amphiaraus bade them by an oracle to choose which of the two they wanted and forgo the other, and take him either for their prophet or for their ally. They chose that he should be their ally. Therefore no Theban may lie down to sleep in that place. |
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5. Lycophron, Alexandra, 1050, 800, 799 (4th cent. BCE - 3rd cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: •nan Found in books: Renberg (2017), Where Dreams May Come: Incubation Sanctuaries in the Greco-Roman World, 526| 799. μάντιν δὲ νεκρὸν Εὐρυτὰν στέψει λεὼς | |
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| 6. Hyperides, Pro Euxenippo, 18, 14 (4th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: •nan Found in books: Renberg (2017), Where Dreams May Come: Incubation Sanctuaries in the Greco-Roman World, 8 |
7. Cicero, On Divination, 1.79 (2nd cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: •oracles (italic), oracles of the dead (nekyomanteia/psychomanteia) Found in books: Renberg (2017), Where Dreams May Come: Incubation Sanctuaries in the Greco-Roman World, 297| 1.79. Quid? amores ac deliciae tuae, Roscius, num aut ipse aut pro eo Lanuvium totum mentiebatur? Qui cum esset in cunabulis educareturque in Solonio, qui est campus agri Lanuvini, noctu lumine apposito experrecta nutrix animadvertit puerum dormientem circumplicatum serpentis amplexu. Quo aspectu exterrita clamorem sustulit. Pater autem Roscii ad haruspices rettulit, qui responderunt nihil illo puero clarius, nihil nobilius fore. Atque hanc speciem Pasiteles caelavit argento et noster expressit Archias versibus. Quid igitur expectamus? an dum in foro nobiscum di immortales, dum in viis versentur, dum domi? qui quidem ipsi se nobis non offerunt, vim autem suam longe lateque diffundunt, quam tum terrae cavernis includunt, tum hominum naturis implicant. Nam terrae vis Pythiam Delphis incitabat, naturae Sibyllam. Quid enim? non videmus, quam sint varia terrarum genera? ex quibus et mortifera quaedam pars est, ut et Ampsancti in Hirpinis et in Asia Plutonia, quae vidimus, et sunt partes agrorum aliae pestilentes, aliae salubres, aliae, quae acuta ingenia gigt, aliae, quae retunsa; quae omnia fiunt et ex caeli varietate et ex disparili adspiratione terrarum. | 1.79. And what about your beloved and charming friend Roscius? Did he lie or did the whole of Lanuvium lie for him in telling the following incident: In his cradle days, while he was being reared in Solonium, a plain in the Lanuvian district, his nurse suddenly awoke during the night and by the light of a lamp observed the child asleep with a snake coiled about him. She was greatly frightened at the sight and gave an alarm. His father referred the occurrence to the soothsayers, who replied that the boy would attain unrivalled eminence and glory. Indeed, Pasiteles has engraved the scene in silver and our friend Archias has described it in verse.Then what do we expect? Do we wait for the immortal gods to converse with us in the forum, on the street, and in our homes? While they do not, of course, present themselves in person, they do diffuse their power far and wide — sometimes enclosing it in caverns of the earth and sometimes imparting it to human beings. The Pythian priestess at Delphi was inspired by the power of the earth and the Sibyl by that of nature. Why need you marvel at this? Do we not see how the soils of the earth vary in kind? Some are deadly, like that about Lake Ampsanctus in the country of the Hirpini and that of Plutonia in Asia, both of which I have seen. Even in the same neighbourhood, some parts are salubrious and some are not; some produce men of keen wit, others produce fools. These diverse effects are all the result of differences in climate and differences in the earths exhalations. |
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8. Cicero, Tusculan Disputations, 1.115 (2nd cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: •oracles (italic), oracles of the dead (nekyomanteia/psychomanteia) •oracles (italic), dream-oracle of priestess at thyateira •oracles (italic), question of incubation at nekyomanteia/psychomanteia Found in books: Renberg (2017), Where Dreams May Come: Incubation Sanctuaries in the Greco-Roman World, 325| 1.115. qua est sententia in Cresphonte usus Euripides: fr. 449 Nam no/s decebat coe/tus celebranti/s domum Luge/re, ubi esset a/liquis in lucem e/ditus, Huma/nae humana X corr. V 1 vitae va/ria reputanti/s mala; At, qui/ labores mo/rte finisse/t gravis, Hunc o/mni omni Dav. omnes amicos lau/de et laetitia e/xsequi. exequi K simile quiddam est in Consolatione Crantoris: ait enim Terinaeum terieum GKR tirenęum V (i et prius e in r. V c ę ex e al. m. ) cf. Ps. Plut. 109b quendam Elysium, helysium GR 1 ( )helisium V cum graviter filii mortem maereret, maeret X corr. K 2 R 2 V c venisse in psychomantium sichomantium X quaerentem, quae fuisset tantae calamitatis causa; huic in tabellis tris huius modi versiculos datos: Ignaris homines in vita mentibus errant: Euthynous potitur fatorum numine leto. laeto X (loeto K) Sic fuit utilius finiri ipsique tibique. | |
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9. Diodorus Siculus, Historical Library, 1.53.8, 5.62.2 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE) Tagged with subjects: •oracles (italic), oracles of the dead (nekyomanteia/psychomanteia) Found in books: Renberg (2017), Where Dreams May Come: Incubation Sanctuaries in the Greco-Roman World, 8, 526 | 1.53.8. There are those who say that he was urged to acquire empire over the whole world by his own daughter Athyrtis, who, according to some, was far more intelligent than any of her day and showed her father that the campaign would be an easy one, while according to others she had the gift of prophecy and knew beforehand, by means both of sacrifices and the practice of sleeping in temples, as well as from the signs which appear in the heavens, what would take place in the future. 5.62.2. But the chest was washed up upon Delos, where she gave birth to a male child and called the babe Anius. And Rhoeo, who had been saved from death in this unexpected manner, laid the babe upon the altar of Apollo and prayed to the god to save its life if it was his child. Thereupon Apollo, the myth relates, concealed the child for the time, but afterwards he gave thought to its rearing, instructed it in divination, and conferred upon it certain great honours. |
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10. Plutarch, Lucullus, 23.3-23.6 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •oracles (italic), oracles of the dead (nekyomanteia/psychomanteia) Found in books: Renberg (2017), Where Dreams May Come: Incubation Sanctuaries in the Greco-Roman World, 526| 23.3. αἰσθόμενος δʼ ὁ Λούκουλλος καὶ παρελθὼν εἰς τὴν πόλιν ὀκτακισχιλίους αὐτῶν τοὺς ἐγκαταλειφθέντας ἀπέκτεινε, τοῖς δʼ ἄλλοις ἀπέδωκε τὰ οἰκεῖα καὶ τῆς πόλεως ἐπεμελήθη μάλιστα διὰ τὴν τοιαύτην ὄψιν. ἐδόκει τινὰ κατὰ τοὺς ὕπνους εἰπεῖν παραστάντα πρόελθε, Λούκουλλε, μικρόν ἥκει γὰρ Αὐτόλυκος ἐντυχεῖν σοι βουλόμενος. 23.4. ἐξαναστὰς δὲ τὴν μὲν ὄψιν οὐκ εἶχε συμβαλεῖν εἰς ὅ τι φέροι, τὴν δὲ πόλιν εἷλε κατʼ ἐκείνην τὴν ἡμέραν, καὶ τοὺς ἐκπλέοντας τῶν Κιλίκων διώκων ὁρᾷ παρὰ τὸν αἰγιαλὸν ἀνδριάντα κείμενον, ὃν ἐκκομίζοντες οἱ Κίλικες οὐκ ἔφθησαν ἐμβαλέσθαι τὸ δʼ ἔργον ἦν Σθένιδος τῶν καλῶν, φράζει οὖν τις, ὡς Αὐτολύκου τοῦ κτίσαντος τὴν Σινώπην ὁ ἀνδριὰς εἴη. 23.5. λέγεται δʼ ὁ Αὐτόλυκος γενέσθαι τῶν ἐπὶ τὰς Ἀμαζόνας ἐκ Θετταλίας Ἡρακλεῖ συστρατευσάντων, Δηιμάχου παῖς· ἐκεῖθεν δʼ ἀποπλέων ἅμα Δημολέοντι καὶ Φλογίῳ τὴν μὲν ναῦν ἀπολέσαι περιπεσοῦσαν τῆς Χερρονήσου κατὰ τὸ καλούμενον Πηδάλιον, αὐτὸς δὲ σωθεὶς μετὰ τῶν ὅπλων καὶ τῶν ἑταίρων πρὸς τὴν Σινώπην ἀφελέσθαι τοὺς Σύρους τὴν πόλιν· 23.6. Σύροι γὰρ αὐτὴν κατεῖχον ἀπὸ Σύρου γεγονότες τοῦ Ἀπόλλωνος, ὡς λέγεται, καὶ Σινώπης τῆς Ἀσωπίδος. ταῦτʼ ἀκούων ὁ Λούκουλλος ἀνεμιμνῄσκετο τῆς Σύλλα παραινέσεως· παρῄνει δὲ διὰ τῶν ὑπομνημάτων ἐκεῖνος μηδὲν οὕτως ἀξιόπιστον ἡγεῖσθαι καὶ βέβαιον, ὡς ὅ τι ἂν ἀποσημανθῇ διὰ τῶν ἐνυπνίων. | 23.3. 23.4. 23.5. 23.6. |
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| 11. New Testament, 2 Timothy, 1 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •oracles (italic), oracles of the dead (nekyomanteia/psychomanteia) Found in books: Renberg (2017), Where Dreams May Come: Incubation Sanctuaries in the Greco-Roman World, 526 |
12. Josephus Flavius, Jewish Antiquities, 11.327 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •oracles (italic), oracles of the dead (nekyomanteia/psychomanteia) Found in books: Renberg (2017), Where Dreams May Come: Incubation Sanctuaries in the Greco-Roman World, 8 | 11.327. whereupon God warned him in a dream, which came upon him after he had offered sacrifice, that he should take courage, and adorn the city, and open the gates; that the rest should appear in white garments, but that he and the priests should meet the king in the habits proper to their order, without the dread of any ill consequences, which the providence of God would prevent. |
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| 13. Plutarch, On The Obsolescence of Oracles, None (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •oracles (italic), oracles of the dead (nekyomanteia/psychomanteia) Found in books: Renberg (2017), Where Dreams May Come: Incubation Sanctuaries in the Greco-Roman World, 8 |
| 14. Epictetus, Discourses, 2.16.17 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •oracles (italic), oracles of the dead (nekyomanteia/psychomanteia) Found in books: Renberg (2017), Where Dreams May Come: Incubation Sanctuaries in the Greco-Roman World, 8 |
15. Arrian, Anabasis of Alexander, 7.26.2 (1st cent. CE - missingth cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •oracles (italic), oracles of the dead (nekyomanteia/psychomanteia) Found in books: Renberg (2017), Where Dreams May Come: Incubation Sanctuaries in the Greco-Roman World, 8| 7.26.2. λέγουσι δὲ αἱ ἐφημερίδες αἱ βασίλειοι ἐν τοῦ Σαράπιδος τῷ ἱερῷ Πείθωνά τε ἐγκοιμηθέντα καὶ Ἄτταλον καὶ Δημοφῶντα καὶ Πευκέσταν, πρὸς δὲ Κλεομένην τε καὶ Μενίδαν καὶ Σέλευκον, ἐπερωτᾶν τὸν θεὸν εἰ λῷον καὶ ἄμεινον Ἀλεξάνδρῳ εἰς τὸ ἱερὸν τοῦ θεοῦ κομισθέντα καὶ ἱκετεύσαντα θεραπεύεσθαι πρὸς τοῦ θεοῦ· καὶ γενέσθαι φήμην τινὰ ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ μὴ κομίζεσθαι εἰς τὸ ἱερόν, ἀλλὰ αὐτοῦ μένοντι ἔσεσθαι ἄμεινον. | |
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| 16. Pliny The Elder, Natural History, 2.95.208 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •oracles (italic), oracles of the dead (nekyomanteia/psychomanteia) Found in books: Renberg (2017), Where Dreams May Come: Incubation Sanctuaries in the Greco-Roman World, 297 |
| 17. Plutarch, Letter of Condolence To Apollonius, 8 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •oracles (italic), oracles of the dead (nekyomanteia/psychomanteia) •oracles (italic), dream-oracle of priestess at thyateira •oracles (italic), question of incubation at nekyomanteia/psychomanteia Found in books: Renberg (2017), Where Dreams May Come: Incubation Sanctuaries in the Greco-Roman World, 325 |
| 18. Aelian, Nature of Animals, 7.13 (2nd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •oracles (italic), oracles of the dead (nekyomanteia/psychomanteia) Found in books: Renberg (2017), Where Dreams May Come: Incubation Sanctuaries in the Greco-Roman World, 8 |
| 19. Philostratus The Athenian, On Heroes, 14, 16, 15 (2nd cent. CE - missingth cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •nan Found in books: Renberg (2017), Where Dreams May Come: Incubation Sanctuaries in the Greco-Roman World, 526 |
| 20. Aelian, Fragments, 92 (2nd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •oracles (italic), oracles of the dead (nekyomanteia/psychomanteia) Found in books: Renberg (2017), Where Dreams May Come: Incubation Sanctuaries in the Greco-Roman World, 8 |
21. Philostratus The Athenian, Lives of The Sophists, 2.4 (2nd cent. CE - missingth cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •oracles (italic), oracles of the dead (nekyomanteia/psychomanteia) Found in books: Renberg (2017), Where Dreams May Come: Incubation Sanctuaries in the Greco-Roman World, 8| 2.4. ̓Αντίοχον δὲ τὸν σοφιστὴν αἱ Κιλίκων Αἰγαὶ ἤνεγκαν οὕτω τι εὐπατρίδην, ὡς νῦν ἔτι τὸ ἀπ' αὐτοῦ γένος ὑπάτους εἶναι. αἰτίαν δὲ ἔχων δειλίας, ἐπεὶ μὴ παρῄει ἐς τὸν δῆμον, μηδὲ ἐς τὸ κοινὸν ἐπολίτευεν, “οὐχ ὑμᾶς”, εἶπεν “ἀλλ' ἐμαυτὸν δέδοικα”, εἰδώς που τὴν ἑαυτοῦ χολὴν ἄκρατόν τε καὶ οὐ καθεκτὴν οὖσαν. ἀλλ' ὅμως ὠφέλει τοὺς ἀστοὺς ἀπὸ τῆς οὐσίας, ὅ τι εἴη δυνατός, σῖτόν τε ἐπιδιδούς, ὁπότε τούτου δεομένους αἴσθοιτο, καὶ χρήματα ἐς τὰ πεπονηκότα τῶν ἔργων. τὰς δὲ πλείους τῶν νυκτῶν ἐς τὸ τοῦ ̓Ασκληπιοῦ ἱερὸν ἀπεκάθευδεν ὑπέρ τε ὀνειράτων ὑπέρ τε ξυνουσίας, ὁπόση ἐγρηγορότων τε καὶ διαλεγομένων ἀλλήλοις, διελέγετο γὰρ αὐτῷ ἐγρηγορότι ὁ θεὸς καλὸν ἀγώνισμα ποιούμενος τῆς ἑαυτοῦ τέχνης τὸ τὰς νόσους ἐρύκειν τοῦ ̓Αντιόχου. ἀκροατὴς ὁ ̓Αντίοχος ἐν παισὶ μὲν Δαρδάνου τοῦ ̓Ασσυρίου, προιὼν δὲ ἐς τὰ μειράκια Διονυσίου ἐγένετο τοῦ Μιλησίου κατέχοντος ἤδη τὴν ̓Εφεσίων. διελέγετο μὲν οὖν οὐκ ἐπιτηδείως — φρονιμώτατος δ' ἀνθρώπων γενόμενος διέβαλλεν αὐτὸ ὡς μειρακιῶδες, ἵνα ὑπερεωρακὼς αὐτοῦ μᾶλλον ἢ ἀπολειπόμενος φαίνοιτο — τὰ δὲ ἀμφὶ μελέτην ἐλλογιμώτατος: ἀσφαλὴς μὲν γὰρ ἐν ταῖς κατὰ σχῆμα προηγμέναις τῶν ὑποθέσεων, σφοδρὸς δὲ ἐν ταῖς κατηγορίαις καὶ ἐπιφοραῖς, εὐπρεπὴς δὲ τὰς ἀπολογίας καὶ τῷ ἠθικῷ ἰσχύων, καὶ καθάπαξ τῆν ἰδέαν τοῦ λόγου δικανικῆς μὲν σοφιστικώτερος, σοφιστικῆς δὲ δικανικώτερος. καὶ τὰ πάθη ἄριστα σοφιστῶν μετεχειρίσατο, οὐ γὰρ μονῳδίας ἀπεμήκυνεν, οὐδὲ θρήνους ὑποκειμένους, ἀλλ' ἐβραχυλόγει αὐτὰ ξὺν διανοίαις λόγου κρείττοσιν, ὡς ἔκ τε τῶν ἄλλων ὑποθέσεων δηλοῦται καὶ μάλιστα ἐκ τῶνδε: κόρη βιασθεῖσα θάνατον ᾕρηται τοῦ βιασαμένου: μετὰ ταῦτα γέγονε παιδίον ἐκ τῆς βίας καὶ διαμιλλῶνται οἱ πάπποι, παρ' ὁποτέρῳ τρέφοιτο τὸ παιδίον. ἀγωνιζόμενος οὖν ὑπὲρ τοῦ πρὸς πατρὸς πάππου “ἀπόδος” ἔφη “τὸ παιδίον, ἀπόδος ἤδη, πρὶν γεύσηται μητρῴου γάλακτος.” ἡ δὲ ἑτέρα ὑπόθεσις τοιαύτη: τύραννον καταθέμενον τὴν ἀρχὴν ἐπὶ τῷ ἐκλελύσθαι ἀπέκτεινέ τις εὐνοῦχος ὑπ' αὐτοῦ γεγονὼς καὶ ἀπολογεῖται ὑπὲρ τοῦ φόνου. ἐνταῦθα τὸ μάλιστα ἐρρωμένον τῆς κατηγορίας τὸν περὶ τῶν σπονδῶν λόγον ἀπεώσατο περίνοιαν ἐγκαταμίξας τῷ πάθει: “τίσι γὰρ” ἔφη “ταῦτα ὡμολόγησε; παισὶ γυναίοις μειρακίοις πρεσβύταις ἀνδράσιν: ἐγὼ δὲ ὄνομα ἐν ταῖς συνθήκαις οὐκ ἔχω.” ἄριστα δὲ καὶ ὑπὲρ τῶν Κρητῶν ἀπολελόγηται τῶν κρινομένων ἐπὶ τῷ τοῦ Διὸς σήματι φυσιολογίᾳ τε καὶ θεολογίᾳ πάσῃ ἐναγωνισάμενος λαμπρῶς. τὰς μὲν οὖν μελέτας αὐτοσχεδίους ἐποιεῖτο, ἔμελε δὲ αὐτῷ καὶ φροντισμάτων, ὡς ἕτερά τε δηλοῖ τῶν ἐκείνου καὶ μάλιστα ἡ ἱστορία, ἐπίδειξιν γὰρ ἐν αὐτῇ πεποίηται λέξεώς τε καὶ ῥητορείας, ἐσποιῶν ἑαυτὸν καὶ τῷ φιλοκαλεῖν. περὶ δὲ τῆς τελευτῆς τοῦ ἀνδρός, οἱ μὲν ἑβδομηκοντούτην τεθνάναι αὐτόν, οἱ δὲ οὔπω, καὶ οἱ μὲν οἴκοι, οἱ δὲ ἑτέρωθι. | |
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| 22. Zenobius, Proverbs of Lucillus Tarrhaeus And Didymus, 2.22 (2nd cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •oracles (italic), oracles of the dead (nekyomanteia/psychomanteia) •oracles (italic), dream-oracle of priestess at thyateira Found in books: Renberg (2017), Where Dreams May Come: Incubation Sanctuaries in the Greco-Roman World, 323 |
| 23. Lucian, Parliament of The Gods, 12 (2nd cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •oracles (italic), oracles of the dead (nekyomanteia/psychomanteia) Found in books: Renberg (2017), Where Dreams May Come: Incubation Sanctuaries in the Greco-Roman World, 526 |
| 24. Tertullian, On The Soul, 46.11 (2nd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •oracles (italic), oracles of the dead (nekyomanteia/psychomanteia) •oracles (italic), dream-oracle of priestess at thyateira Found in books: Renberg (2017), Where Dreams May Come: Incubation Sanctuaries in the Greco-Roman World, 31, 323 |
25. Pausanias, Description of Greece, 1.34.2, 1.34.4-1.34.5, 2.13.7, 2.27.2, 10.32.13 (2nd cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •oracles (italic), oracles of the dead (nekyomanteia/psychomanteia) •oracles (italic), dream-oracle of priestess at thyateira Found in books: Renberg (2017), Where Dreams May Come: Incubation Sanctuaries in the Greco-Roman World, 8, 31, 297, 526| 1.34.2. λέγεται δὲ Ἀμφιαράῳ φεύγοντι ἐκ Θηβῶν διαστῆναι τὴν γῆν καὶ ὡς αὐτὸν ὁμοῦ καὶ τὸ ἅρμα ὑπεδέξατο· πλὴν οὐ ταύτῃ συμβῆναί φασιν, ἀλλά ἐστιν ἐκ Θηβῶν ἰοῦσιν ἐς Χαλκίδα Ἅρμα καλούμενον. θεὸν δὲ Ἀμφιάραον πρώτοις Ὠρωπίοις κατέστη νομίζειν, ὕστερον δὲ καὶ οἱ πάντες Ἕλληνες ἥγηνται. καταλέξαι δὲ καὶ ἄλλους ἔχω γενομένους τότε ἀνθρώπους, οἳ θεῶν παρʼ Ἕλλησι τιμὰς ἔχουσι, τοῖς δὲ καὶ ἀνάκεινται πόλεις, Ἐλεοῦς ἐν Χερρονήσῳ Πρωτεσιλάῳ, Λεβάδεια Βοιωτῶν Τροφωνίῳ· καὶ Ὠρωπίοις ναός τέ ἐστιν Ἀμφιαράου καὶ ἄγαλμα λευκοῦ λίθου. 1.34.4. ἔστι δὲ Ὠρωπίοις πηγὴ πλησίον τοῦ ναοῦ, ἣν Ἀμφιαράου καλοῦσιν, οὔτε θύοντες οὐδὲν ἐς αὐτὴν οὔτʼ ἐπὶ καθαρσίοις ἢ χέρνιβι χρῆσθαι νομίζοντες· νόσου δὲ ἀκεσθείσης ἀνδρὶ μαντεύματος γενομένου καθέστηκεν ἄργυρον ἀφεῖναι καὶ χρυσὸν ἐπίσημον ἐς τὴν πηγήν, ταύτῃ γὰρ ἀνελθεῖν τὸν Ἀμφιάραον λέγουσιν ἤδη θεόν. Ἰοφῶν δὲ Κνώσσιος τῶν ἐξηγητῶν χρησμοὺς ἐν ἑξαμέτρῳ παρείχετο, Ἀμφιάραον χρῆσαι φάμενος τοῖς ἐς Θήβας σταλεῖσιν Ἀργείων. ταῦτα τὰ ἔπη τὸ ἐς τοὺς πολλοὺς ἐπαγωγὸν ἀκρατῶς εἶχε· χωρὶς δὲ πλὴν ὅσους ἐξ Ἀπόλλωνος μανῆναι λέγουσι τὸ ἀρχαῖον, μάντεών γʼ οὐδεὶς χρησμολόγος ἦν, ἀγαθοὶ δὲ ὀνείρατα ἐξηγήσασθαι καὶ διαγνῶναι πτήσεις ὀρνίθων καὶ σπλάγχνα ἱερείων. 1.34.5. δοκῶ δὲ Ἀμφιάραον ὀνειράτων διακρίσει μάλιστα προ ς κεῖσθαι· δῆλος δέ, ἡνίκα ἐνομίσθη θεός, διʼ ὀνειράτων μαντικὴν καταστησάμενος. καὶ πρῶτον μὲν καθήρασθαι νομίζουσιν ὅστις ἦλθεν Ἀμφιαράῳ χρησόμενος· ἔστι δὲ καθάρσιον τῷ θεῷ θύειν, θύουσι δὲ καὶ αὐτῷ καὶ πᾶσιν ὅσοις ἐστὶν ἐπὶ τῷ βωμῷ τὰ ὀνόματα· προεξειργασμένων δὲ τούτων κριὸν θύσαντες καὶ τὸ δέρμα ὑποστρωσάμενοι καθεύδουσιν ἀναμένοντες δήλωσιν ὀνείρατος. 2.13.7. ὄπισθεν δὲ τῆς ἀγορᾶς ἐστιν οἶκος ὀνομαζόμενος ὑπὸ Φλιασίων μαντικός. ἐς τοῦτον Ἀμφιάραος ἐλθὼν καὶ τὴν νύκτα ἐγκατακοιμηθεὶς μαντεύεσθαι τότε πρῶτον, ὡς οἱ Φλιάσιοί φασιν, ἤρξατο· τέως δὲ ἦν Ἀμφιάραος τῷ ἐκείνων λόγῳ ἰδιώτης τε καὶ οὐ μάντις. καὶ τὸ οἴκημα ἀπὸ τούτου συγκέκλεισται τὸν πάντα ἤδη χρόνον. οὐ πόρρω δέ ἐστιν ὁ καλούμενος Ὀμφαλός, Πελοποννήσου δὲ πάσης μέσον, εἰ δὴ τὰ ὄντα εἰρήκασιν. ἀπὸ δὲ τοῦ Ὀμφαλοῦ προελθοῦσι Διονύσου σφίσιν ἱερόν ἐστιν ἀρχαῖον, ἔστι δὲ καὶ Ἀπόλλωνος καὶ ἄλλο Ἴσιδος. τὸ μὲν δὴ ἄγαλμα τοῦ Διονύσου δῆλον πᾶσιν, ὡσαύτως δὲ καὶ τὸ τοῦ Ἀπόλλωνος· τὸ δὲ τῆς Ἴσιδος τοῖς ἱερεῦσι θεάσασθαι μόνον ἔστι. 2.27.2. τοῦ δὲ Ἀσκληπιοῦ τὸ ἄγαλμα μεγέθει μὲν τοῦ Ἀθήνῃσιν Ὀλυμπίου Διὸς ἥμισυ ἀποδεῖ, πεποίηται δὲ ἐλέφαντος καὶ χρυσοῦ· μηνύει δὲ ἐπίγραμμα τὸν εἰργασμένον εἶναι Θρασυμήδην Ἀριγνώτου Πάριον. κάθηται δὲ ἐπὶ θρόνου βακτηρίαν κρατῶν, τὴν δὲ ἑτέραν τῶν χειρῶν ὑπὲρ κεφαλῆς ἔχει τοῦ δράκοντος, καί οἱ καὶ κύων παρακατακείμενος πεποίηται. τῷ θρόνῳ δὲ ἡρώων ἐπειργασμένα Ἀργείων ἐστὶν ἔργα, Βελλεροφόντου τὸ ἐς τὴν Χίμαιραν καὶ Περσεὺς ἀφελὼν τὴν Μεδούσης κεφαλήν. τοῦ ναοῦ δέ ἐστι πέραν ἔνθα οἱ ἱκέται τοῦ θεοῦ καθεύδουσιν. 10.32.13. τοῦ δὲ Ἀσκληπιοῦ περὶ τεσσαράκοντα ἀπέχει σταδίους περίβολος καὶ ἄδυτον ἱερὸν Ἴσιδος, ἁγιώτατον ὁπόσα Ἕλληνες θεῷ τῇ Αἰγυπτίᾳ πεποίηνται· οὔτε γὰρ περιοικεῖν ἐνταῦθα οἱ Τιθορεεῖς νομίζουσιν οὔτε ἔσοδος ἐς τὸ ἄδυτον ἄλλοις γε ἢ ἐκείνοις ἐστὶν οὓς ἂν αὐτὴ προτιμήσασα ἡ Ἶσις καλέσῃ σφᾶς διʼ ἐνυπνίων. τὸ δὲ αὐτὸ καὶ ἐν ταῖς ὑπὲρ Μαιάνδρου πόλεσι θεοὶ ποιοῦσιν οἱ καταχθόνιοι· οὓς γὰρ ἂν ἐς τὰ ἄδυτα ἐσιέναι θελήσωσιν, ἀποστέλλουσιν αὐτοῖς ὀνειράτων ὄψεις. | 1.34.2. Legend says that when Amphiaraus was exiled from Thebes the earth opened and swallowed both him and his chariot. Only they say that the incident did not happen here, the place called the Chariot being on the road from Thebes to Chalcis . The divinity of Amphiaraus was first established among the Oropians, from whom afterwards all the Greeks received the cult. I can enumerate other men also born at this time who are worshipped among the Greeks as gods; some even have cities dedicated to them, such as Eleus in Chersonnesus dedicated to Protesilaus, and Lebadea of the Boeotians dedicated to Trophonius. The Oropians have both a temple and a white marble statue of Amphiaraus. 1.34.4. The Oropians have near the temple a spring, which they call the Spring of Amphiaraus; they neither sacrifice into it nor are wont to use it for purifications or for lustral water. But when a man has been cured of a disease through a response the custom is to throw silver and coined gold into the spring, for by this way they say that Amphiaraus rose up after he had become a god. Iophon the Cnossian, a guide, produced responses in hexameter verse, saying that Amphiaraus gave them to the Argives who were sent against Thebes . These verses unrestrainedly appealed to popular taste. Except those whom they say Apollo inspired of old none of the seers uttered oracles, but they were good at explaining dreams and interpreting the flights of birds and the entrails of victims. 1.34.5. My opinion is that Amphiaraus devoted him self most to the exposition of dreams. It is manifest that, when his divinity was established, it was a dream oracle that he set up. One who has come to consult Amphiaraus is wont first to purify himself. The mode of purification is to sacrifice to the god, and they sacrifice not only to him but also to all those whose names are on the altar. And when all these things have been first done, they sacrifice a ram, and, spreading the skin under them, go to sleep and await enlightenment in a dream. 2.13.7. Behind the market-place is a building which the Phliasians name the House of Divination. Into it Amphiaraus entered, slept the night there, and then first, say the Phliasians, began to divine. According to their account Amphiaraus was for a time an ordinary person and no diviner. Ever since that time the building has been shut up. Not far away is what is called the Omphalos (Navel), the center of all the Peloponnesus , if they speak the truth about it. Farther on from the Omphalos they have an old sanctuary of Dionysus, a sanctuary of Apollo, and one of Isis. The image of Dionysus is visible to all, and so also is that of Apollo, but the image of Isis only the priests may behold. 2.27.2. The image of Asclepius is, in size, half as big as the Olympian Zeus at Athens , and is made of ivory and gold. An inscription tells us that the artist was Thrasymedes, a Parian, son of Arignotus. The god is sitting on a seat grasping a staff; the other hand he is holding above the head of the serpent; there is also a figure of a dog lying by his side. On the seat are wrought in relief the exploits of Argive heroes, that of Bellerophontes against the Chimaera, and Perseus, who has cut off the head of Medusa. Over against the temple is the place where the suppliants of the god sleep. 10.32.13. About forty stades distant from Asclepius is a precinct and shrine sacred to Isis, the holiest of all those made by the Greeks for the Egyptian goddess. For the Tithoreans think it wrong to dwell round about it, and no one may enter the shrine except those whom Isis herself has honored by inviting them in dreams. The same rule is observed in the cities above the Maeander by the gods of the lower world; for to all whom they wish to enter their shrines they send visions seen in dreams. |
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| 26. Iamblichus, Concerning The Mysteries, 4.1 (3rd cent. CE - 4th cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •oracles (italic), oracles of the dead (nekyomanteia/psychomanteia) Found in books: Renberg (2017), Where Dreams May Come: Incubation Sanctuaries in the Greco-Roman World, 297 |
27. Origen, Against Celsus, 3.34-3.35 (3rd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •oracles (italic), oracles of the dead (nekyomanteia/psychomanteia) Found in books: Renberg (2017), Where Dreams May Come: Incubation Sanctuaries in the Greco-Roman World, 526 | 3.34. I am, however, of opinion that these individuals are the only instances with which Celsus was acquainted. And yet, that he might appear voluntarily to pass by other similar cases, he says, And one might name many others of the same kind. Let it be granted, then, that many such persons have existed who conferred no benefit upon the human race: what would each one of their acts be found to amount to in comparison with the work of Jesus, and the miracles related of Him, of which we have already spoken at considerable length? He next imagines that, in worshipping him who, as he says, was taken prisoner and put to death, we are acting like the Get who worship Zamolxis, and the Cilicians who worship Mopsus, and the Acarians who pay divine honours to Amphilochus, and like the Thebans who do the same to Amphiaraus, and the Lebadians to Trophonius. Now in these instances we shall prove that he has compared us to the foregoing without good grounds. For these different tribes erected temples and statues to those individuals above enumerated, whereas we have refrained from offering to the Divinity honour by any such means (seeing they are adapted rather to demons, which are somehow fixed in a certain place which they prefer to any other, or which take up their dwelling, as it were, after being removed (from one place to another) by certain rites and incantations), and are lost in reverential wonder at Jesus, who has recalled our minds from all sensible things, as being not only corruptible, but destined to corruption, and elevated them to honour the God who is over all with prayers and a righteous life, which we offer to Him as being intermediate between the nature of the uncreated and that of all created things, and who bestows upon us the benefits which come from the Father, and who as High Priest conveys our prayers to the supreme God. 3.35. But I should like, in answer to him who for some unknown reason advances such statements as the above, to make in a conversational way some such remarks as the following, which seem not inappropriate to him. Are then those persons whom you have mentioned nonentities, and is there no power in Lebadea connected with Trophonius, nor in Thebes with the temple of Amphiaraus, nor in Acaria with Amphilochus, nor in Cilicia with Mopsus? Or is there in such persons some being, either a demon, or a hero, or even a god, working works which are beyond the reach of man? For if he answer that there is nothing either demoniacal or divine about these individuals more than others, then let him at once make known his own opinion, as being that of an Epicurean, and of one who does not hold the same views with the Greeks, and who neither recognises demons nor worships gods as do the Greeks; and let it be shown that it was to no purpose that he adduced the instances previously enumerated (as if he believed them to be true), together with those which he adds in the following pages. But if he will assert that the persons spoken of are either demons, or heroes, or even gods, let him notice that he will establish by what he has admitted a result which he does not desire, viz., that Jesus also was some such being; for which reason, too, he was able to demonstrate to not a few that He had come down from God to visit the human race. And if he once admit this, see whether he will not be forced to confess that He is mightier than those individuals with whom he classed Him, seeing none of the latter forbids the offering of honour to the others; while He, having confidence in Himself, because He is more powerful than all those others, forbids them to be received as divine because they are wicked demons, who have taken possession of places on earth, through inability to rise to the purer and diviner region, whither the grossnesses of earth and its countless evils cannot reach. |
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| 28. Solinus C. Julius, Collectanea Rerum Memorabilium, 1.61 Tagged with subjects: •oracles (italic), oracles of the dead (nekyomanteia/psychomanteia) Found in books: Renberg (2017), Where Dreams May Come: Incubation Sanctuaries in the Greco-Roman World, 526 |
| 29. Artifact, Limc Iii, €Œdanaidesâ€, 6 Tagged with subjects: •oracles (italic), oracles of the dead (nekyomanteia/psychomanteia) •oracles (italic), dream-oracle of priestess at thyateira Found in books: Renberg (2017), Where Dreams May Come: Incubation Sanctuaries in the Greco-Roman World, 324 |
| 30. Ancient Near Eastern Sources, Saa Iii, None Tagged with subjects: •oracles (italic), oracles of the dead (nekyomanteia/psychomanteia) •oracles (italic), dream-oracle of priestess at thyateira Found in books: Renberg (2017), Where Dreams May Come: Incubation Sanctuaries in the Greco-Roman World, 31 |
| 31. Epigraphy, Tam, None Tagged with subjects: •nan Found in books: nan nan |
| 32. Tzetzes John, Ad Lycophronem, 799 Tagged with subjects: •oracles (italic), oracles of the dead (nekyomanteia/psychomanteia) Found in books: Renberg (2017), Where Dreams May Come: Incubation Sanctuaries in the Greco-Roman World, 526 |
33. Strabo, Geography, 3.1.9, 6.3.9, 7.3.5, 11.7.1, 12.3.11, 14.1.44, 16.2.35, 16.2.39, 17.1.17 Tagged with subjects: •oracles (italic), oracles of the dead (nekyomanteia/psychomanteia) Found in books: Renberg (2017), Where Dreams May Come: Incubation Sanctuaries in the Greco-Roman World, 8, 526 | 3.1.9. Next after [Cadiz ] is the port of Menestheus, and the estuary near to Asta and Nebrissa. These estuaries are valleys filled by the sea during its flood-tides, up which you may sail into the interior, and to the cities built on them, in the same way as you sail up a river. Immediately after are the two outlets of the Baetis. The island embraced by these mouths has a coast of a hundred stadia, or rather more according to others. Hereabouts is the Oracle of Menestheus, and the tower of Caepio, built upon a rock and washed on all sides by the sea. This is an admirable work, resembling the Pharos, and constructed for the safety of vessels. For the mud carried out by the river forms shallows, and sunken rocks are also scattered before it, so that a beacon was greatly needed. Thence sailing up the river is the city of Ebura and the sanctuary of Phosphorus, which they call Lux Dubia. You then pass up the other estuaries; and after these the river Ana, which has also two mouths, up either of which you may sail. Lastly, beyond is the Sacred Promontory, distant from Gadeira less than 2000 stadia. Some say that from the Sacred Promontory to the mouth of the Ana there are 60 miles; thence to the mouth of the Baetis 100; and from this latter place to Gadeira 70. 6.3.9. From Barium to the Aufidus River, on which is the Emporium of the Canusitae is four hundred stadia and the voyage inland to Emporium is ninety. Near by is also Salapia, the seaport of the Argyrippini. For not far above the sea (in the plain, at all events) are situated two cities, Canusium and Argyrippa, which in earlier times were the largest of the Italiote cities, as is clear from the circuits of their walls. Now, however, Argyrippa is smaller; it was called Argos Hippium at first, then Argyrippa, and then by the present name Arpi. Both are said to have been founded by Diomedes. And as signs of the dominion of Diomedes in these regions are to be seen the Plain of Diomedes and many other things, among which are the old votive offerings in the sanctuary of Athene at Luceria — a place which likewise was in ancient times a city of the Daunii, but is now reduced — and, in the sea near by, two islands that are called the Islands of Diomedes, of which one is inhabited, while the other, it is said, is desert; on the latter, according to certain narrators of myths, Diomedes was caused to disappear, and his companions were changed to birds, and to this day, in fact, remain tame and live a sort of human life, not only in their orderly ways but also in their tameness towards honorable men and in their flight from wicked and knavish men. But I have already mentioned the stories constantly told among the Heneti about this hero and the rites which are observed in his honor. It is thought that Sipus also was founded by Diomedes, which is about one hundred and forty stadia distant from Salapia; at any rate it was named Sepius in Greek after the sepia that are cast ashore by the waves. Between Salapia and Sipus is a navigable river, and also a large lake that opens into the sea; and the merchandise from Sipus, particularly grain, is brought down on both. In Daunia, on a hill by the name of Drium, are to be seen two hero-temples: one, to Calchas, on the very summit, where those who consult the oracle sacrifice to his shade a black ram and sleep in the hide, and the other, to Podaleirius, down near the base of the hill, this sanctuary being about one hundred stadia distant from the sea; and from it flows a stream which is a cure-all for diseases of animals. In front of this gulf is a promontory, Garganum, which extends towards the east for a distance of three hundred stadia into the high sea; doubling the headland, one comes to a small town, Urium, and off the headland are to be seen the Islands of Diomedes. This whole country produces everything in great quantity, and is excellent for horses and sheep; but though the wool is softer than the Tarantine, it is not so glossy. And the country is well sheltered, because the plains lie in hollows. According to some, Diomedes even tried to cut a canal as far as the sea, but left behind both this and the rest of his undertakings only half-finished, because he was summoned home and there ended his life. This is one account of him; but there is also a second, that he stayed here till the end of his life; and a third, the aforesaid mythical account, which tells of his disappearance in the island; and as a fourth one might set down the account of the Heneti, for they too tell a mythical story of how he in some way came to his end in their country, and they call it his apotheosis. 7.3.5. In fact, it is said that a certain man of the Getae, Zamolxis by name, had been a slave to Pythagoras, and had learned some things about the heavenly bodies from him, as also certain other things from the Egyptians, for in his wanderings he had gone even as far as Egypt; and when he came on back to his home-land he was eagerly courted by the rulers and the people of the tribe, because he could make predictions from the celestial signs; and at last he persuaded the king to take him as a partner in the government, on the ground that he was competent to report the will of the gods; and although at the outset he was only made a priest of the god who was most honored in their country, yet afterwards he was even addressed as god, and having taken possession of a certain cavernous place that was inaccessible to anyone else he spent his life there, only rarely meeting with any people outside except the king and his own attendants; and the king cooperated with him, because he saw that the people paid much more attention to himself than before, in the belief that the decrees which he promulgated were in accordance with the counsel of the gods. This custom persisted even down to our own time, because some man of that character was always to be found, who, though in fact only a counsellor to the king, was called god among the Getae. And the people took up the notion that the mountain was sacred and they so call it, but its name is Cogaeonum, like that of the river which flows past it. So, too, at the time when Byrebistas, against whom already the Deified Caesar had prepared to make an expedition, was reigning over the Getae, the office in question was held by Decaeneus, and somehow or other the Pythagorean doctrine of abstention from eating any living thing still survived as taught by Zamolxis. 11.7.1. Those nomads, however, who live along the coast on the left as one sails into the Caspian Sea are by the writers of today called Daae, I mean, those who are surnamed Aparni; then, in front of them, intervenes a desert country; and next comes Hyrcania, where the Caspian resembles an open sea to the point where it borders on the Median and Armenian mountains. The shape of these mountains is crescent-like along the foothills, which end at the sea and form the recess of the gulf. This side of the mountains, beginning at the sea, is inhabited as far as their heights for a short stretch by a part of the Albanians and the Armenians, but for the most part by Gelae, Cadusii, Amardi, Vitii, and Anariacae. They say that some of the Parrhasii took up their abode with the Anariacae, who, they say, are now called Parsii; and that the Aenianes built a walled city in the Vitian territory, which, they say, is called Aeniana; and that Greek armour, brazen vessels, and burial places are to be seen there; and that there is also a city Anariace there, in which, they say, is to be seen an oracle for sleepers, and some other tribes that are more inclined to brigandage and war than to farming; but this is due to the ruggedness of the region. However, the greater part of the seaboard round the mountainous country is occupied by Cadusii, for a stretch of almost five thousand stadia, according to Patrocles, who considers this sea almost equal to the Pontic Sea. Now these regions have poor soil. 12.3.11. Then one comes to Sinope itself, which is fifty stadia distant from Armene; it is the most noteworthy of the cities in that part of the world. This city was founded by the Milesians; and, having built a naval station, it reigned over the sea inside the Cyaneae, and shared with the Greeks in many struggles even outside the Cyaneae; and, although it was independent for a long time, it could not eventually preserve its freedom, but was captured by siege, and was first enslaved by Pharnaces and afterwards by his successors down to Eupator and to the Romans who overthrew Eupator. Eupator was both born and reared at Sinope; and he accorded it especial honor and treated it as the metropolis of his kingdom. Sinope is beautifully equipped both by nature and by human foresight, for it is situated on the neck of a peninsula, and has on either side of the isthmus harbors and roadsteads and wonderful pelamydes-fisheries, of which I have already made mention, saying that the Sinopeans get the second catch and the Byzantians the third. Furthermore, the peninsula is protected all round by ridgy shores, which have hollowed-out places in them, rock-cavities, as it were, which the people call choenicides; these are filled with water when the sea rises, and therefore the place is hard to approach, not only because of this, but also because the whole surface of the rock is prickly and impassable for bare feet. Higher up, however, and above the city, the ground is fertile and adorned with diversified market-gardens; and especially the suburbs of the city. The city itself is beautifully walled, and is also splendidly adorned with gymnasium and marked place and colonnades. But although it was such a city, still it was twice captured, first by Pharnaces, who unexpectedly attacked it all of a sudden, and later by Lucullus and by the tyrant who was garrisoned within it, being besieged both inside and outside at the same time; for, since Bacchides, who had been set up by the king as commander of the garrison, was always suspecting treason from the people inside, and was causing many outrages and murders, he made the people, who were unable either nobly to defend themselves or to submit by compromise, lose all heart for either course. At any rate, the city was captured; and though Lucullus kept intact the rest of the city's adornments, he took away the globe of Billarus and the work of Sthenis, the statue of Autolycus, whom they regarded as founder of their city and honored as god. The city had also an oracle of Autolycus. He is thought to have been one of those who went on the voyage with Jason and to have taken possession of this place. Then later the Milesians, seeing the natural advantages of the place and the weakness of its inhabitants, appropriated it to themselves and sent forth colonists to it. But at present it has received also a colony of Romans; and a part of the city and the territory belong to these. It is three thousand five hundred stadia distant from the Hieron, two thousand from Heracleia, and seven hundred from Carambis. It has produced excellent men: among the philosophers, Diogenes the Cynic and Timotheus Patrion; among the poets, Diphilus the comic poet; and, among the historians, Baton, who wrote the work entitled The Persica. 14.1.44. On the road between the Tralleians and Nysa is a village of the Nysaeans, not far from the city Acharaca, where is the Plutonion, with a luxurious grove and a temple of Pluto and Kore, and also the Charonium, a cave that lies above the sacred precinct, by nature wonderful; for they say that those who are diseased and give heed to the cures prescribed by these gods resort thither and live in the village near the cave among experienced priests, who on their behalf sleep in the cave and through dreams prescribe the cures. These are also the men who invoke the healing power of the gods. And they often bring the sick into the cave and leave them there, to remain in quiet, like animals in their lurking-holes, without food for many days. And sometimes the sick give heed also to their own dreams, but still they use those other men, as priests, to initiate them into the mysteries and to counsel them. To all others the place is forbidden and deadly. A festival is celebrated every year at Acharaca; and at that time in particular those who celebrate the festival can see and hear concerning all these things; and at the festival, too, about noon, the boys and young men of the gymnasium, nude and anointed with oil, take up a bull and with haste carry him up into the cave; and, when let loose, the bull goes forward a short distance, falls, and breathes out his life. 16.2.35. An Egyptian priest named Moses, who possessed a portion of the country called the Lower [Egypt] * * * *, being dissatisfied with the established institutions there, left it and came to Judaea with a large body of people who worshipped the Divinity. He declared and taught that the Egyptians and Africans entertained erroneous sentiments, in representing the Divinity under the likeness of wild beasts and cattle of the field; that the Greeks also were in error in making images of their gods after the human form. For God [said he] may be this one thing which encompasses us all, land and sea, which we call heaven, or the universe, or the nature of things. Who then of any understanding would venture to form an image of this Deity, resembling anything with which we are conversant? on the contrary, we ought not to carve any images, but to set apart some sacred ground and a shrine worthy of the Deity, and to worship Him without any similitude. He taught that those who made fortunate dreams were to be permitted to sleep in the temple, where they might dream both for themselves and others; that those who practised temperance and justice, and none else, might expect good, or some gift or sign from the God, from time to time. 16.2.39. What truth there may be in these things I cannot say; they have at least been regarded and believed as true by mankind. Hence prophets received so much honour as to be thought worthy even of thrones, because they were supposed to communicate ordices and precepts from the gods, both during their lifetime and after their death; as for example Teiresias, to whom alone Proserpine gave wisdom and understanding after death: the others flit about as shadows.Such were Amphiaraus, Trophonius, Orpheus, and Musaeus: in former times there was Zamolxis, a Pythagorean, who was accounted a god among the Getae; and in our time, Decaeneus, the diviner of Byrebistas. Among the Bosporani, there was Achaicarus; among the Indians, were the Gymnosophists; among the Persians, the Magi and Necyomanteis, and besides these the Lecanomanteis and Hydromanteis; among the Assyrians, were the Chaldaeans; and among the Romans, the Tyrrhenian diviners of dreams.Such was Moses and his successors; their beginning was good, but they degenerated. 17.1.17. Canobus is a city, distant by land from Alexandreia 120 stadia. It has its name from Canobus, the pilot of Menelaus, who died there. It contains the temple of Sarapis, held in great veneration, and celebrated for the cure of diseases; persons even of the highest rank confide in them, and sleep there themselves on their own account, or others for them. Some persons record the cures, and others the veracity of the oracles which are delivered there. But remarkable above everything else is the multitude of persons who resort to the public festivals, and come from Alexandreia by the canal. For day and night there are crowds of men and women in boats, singing and dancing, without restraint, and with the utmost licentiousness. Others, at Canobus itself, keep hostelries situated on the banks of the canal, which are well adapted for such kind of diversion and revelry. |
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| 34. Epigraphy, I.Cret., None Tagged with subjects: •oracles (italic), oracles of the dead (nekyomanteia/psychomanteia) Found in books: Renberg (2017), Where Dreams May Come: Incubation Sanctuaries in the Greco-Roman World, 297 |
| 35. Anon., Scholia Ad Persium, 2.56.1-2.56.2 Tagged with subjects: •oracles (italic), oracles of the dead (nekyomanteia/psychomanteia) •oracles (italic), dream-oracle of priestess at thyateira Found in books: Renberg (2017), Where Dreams May Come: Incubation Sanctuaries in the Greco-Roman World, 324 |
