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The Voice of the Pythia ______ The Voice of the Pythia _______________________________________________________________ A narratological analysis of the oracles in Herodotus’ Histories Aegeus Consults the Pythia Seated on a Tripod. Attic red-figure c.440 BC. University of Amsterdam MA-Thesis Classics and Ancient Civilizations: Classics Alban Thung Name: A.D.Thung Student ID: 10086544 Email: [email protected] Supervisor: I.J.F. De Jong Word Count: 23639 Table of Contents Introduction 1 1. Narrator and focalization 4 2. Oracles and speech mode 11 3. Oracles and time 17 4. Reaction and fulfilment 31 Conclusion 51 Appendix I: Table of oracles and their presentation in the Histories 56 Appendix II: Vocabulary 59 Appendix III: Index of oracles 61 Bibliography 63 Introduction A feature that is unlikely to escape the attention of any reader of Herodotus’ Histories, is the prominent place taken by oracles in this work. Not only do oracles appear with great frequency, but they are also presented at crucial points in the narrative, often at the beginning of stories or prior to the occurrence of important events. Moreover, Herodotus mentions oracles on many occasions when discussing causes and effects in history. For more than half a century, the oracles in the Histories have been the subject of systematic research by classical scholars. Most of them adopted what De Bakker (2007: 2) calls a ‘referential approach’ focusing on the historical ‘reality’ to which Herodotus refers. Thus, the oracles and the stories in which they appear are considered as useful source-material for our understanding of the ancient world and, more specifically, of the workings of the Delphic oracle. Drawing from the Histories and other, mainly literary, sources, some scholars invested their efforts in determining the authenticity of the oracles transmitted to us, compiling oracle collections such as those by Parke and Wormell (1956) and Fontenrose (1978). However, their research is seriously impeded by a lack of non-literary evidence of both the oracles and, in many cases, even the events to which these allegedly refer. The reliance on literary texts for the authentication of oracles has been severely criticized by Maurizio (1997) who argues that the oracles recorded in writing have emerged from a process of oral transmission and reflect the opinions and beliefs of a community rather than the words of the Pythia. Acknowledging that the authenticity of the oracles recorded in the Histories cannot be determined as long as other, independent evidence is lacking, we may also opt for another approach, one that sets aside the question of historicity, and instead focuses on the ways the oracles are presented in the Herodotean narrative. Such a ‘presentational approach’ can be applied in order to determine the religio-philosophical concepts underlying Herodotus’ work, more specifically, his views on the role of the divine in history as reflected in his presentation of oracles. One of the first scholars to have systematically dealt with this subject is Kirchberg (1965), whose study on the function of oracles in Herodotus’ work remains a valuable contribution to this field of research. Others have followed in her footsteps of whom I mention Lachenaud (1978), Harrison (2000), Mikalson (2003) and Kindt (2006). A representational approach to oracles offers other possibilities as well. Barker (2006), for instance, has sought to establish a connection between the process of interpretation of oracles 1 as presented in the Histories and the notions of individual freedom and institutional governance. Manetti (1993) and Hollmann (2011: 94-118) applied the theoretical framework provided by semiotics in order to analyse the mechanisms involved in oracle interpretation. The aim of this thesis is to investigate the oracles presented in Herodotus’ Histories from a narratological perspective. Narratology, founded in the 1960’s as a new branch of literary criticism, offers a theoretical framework that can be applied to any kind of ‘narrative’, whether conveyed by language, written and oral, or by image, moving and fixed.1 Its central concept is that of the narrator who presents his narrative to an audience: the narratees. The narrator cannot be equated with the author, but rather is a creation of him, just a his characters are. Thus, the narrator of the Histories, who introduces himself as Herodotus of Halicarnassus on the first page of book 1, is a construction of the historical Herodotus who is likely to have lived between 484-425 BC. To what extend the two coincide is a question that does not concern narratology: our Herodotus is the narrator presenting the narrative of the Histories. Can narratology be applied to historiographical texts? I will not dwell on this question here for long, but rather refer to De Jong (2014: 167-72) who has discussed the issue with special reference to classical literature and comes up with a positive answer. To my view, the most convincing argument is the fact that most of the narrative devices used in fictional literature can be found in classical historiography as well. The use of these devices in the presentation of oracles by Herodotus will be my main point of attention in this thesis. They fall into different narratological categories, such as time, rhythm, focalization, status of the narrator and structure of the narrative. These categories have provided the framework of my thesis. In the first section, I discuss the different narrators-focalizers involved in the presentation of the oracles in the Histories. This is followed by a section focusing on the form in which the oracles are presented, more specifically, the use of direct versus indirect speech and prose versus metrical form. The third section deals with the category of time, paying attention to the point in time at which an oracle is presented within the narrated events and the function of the oracle in relation to these events. In this section, I distinguish between different kinds of ‘oracle stories’ consisting of specific elements presented in a specific order. The narrative patterns followed by Herodotus in his oracle stories are further elaborated in the fourth section 1 Cf. Barthes (1966: 1). 2 which deals with the ways the oracles are reacted upon by the characters, and how they are evaluated by the narrator. Narratology focuses on the formal characteristics of the narrative, but does so in order to attribute meaning to these characteristics. As this study will show, Herodotus uses a wide range of narrative devices in his presentation of oracles. My aim is to investigate to what narrative purposes these devices are used and, on a more general level, how oracles function within the Herodotean narrative. 3 1. Narrator and focalization When an oracle is presented in the Histories, different voices may be involved. In the first place, there is the voice of the Herodotean narrator: Παρὰ τούτων ῾Ηρακλεῖδαι ἐπιτραφθέντες ἔσχον τὴν ἀρχὴν ἐκ θεοπροπίου, ἐκ δούλης τε τῆς ᾿Ιαρδάνου γεγονότες καὶ ῾Ηρακλέος, ἄρξαντες ἐπι δύο τε καὶ εἴκοσι γενεὰς ἀνδρῶν, ἔτεα πέντε τε καὶ πεντακόσια, παῖς πατρὸς ἐκδεκόμενος τὴν ἀρχήν, μέχρι Κανδαύλεω τοῦ Μύρσου. By them, the Heraclids were entrusted with the rule, obtaining it through the sanction of an oracle. They were descendants of a slave-woman of Iardanos and Heracles. They governed for twenty-two generations, 505 years, handing down the rule from father to son until it reached Candaules, son of Myrsus. (1.7.4)2 Herodotus, the primary narrator-focalizer, is an external narrator since he does not himself take part in the events recounted.3 The oracle presented here is the first one mentioned in the Histories. The oracle is only briefly referred to and its contents are not further specified. Yet, its presentation is significant for more than one reason. First of all, the oracle is part of a genealogy tracing the origins of a dynasty of rulers, a subject of major importance in the Histories. The Herodotean narrator establishes a causal relationship between the oracle and the rise of the Heraclidean dynasty, as indicated by ἔσχον τὴν ἀρχὴν ἐκ θεοπροπίου. The oracle, together with the mythical ancestor of Heracles, thus serves to provide both an explanation and a source of legitimacy to the rule of the Heraclids. Moreover, since Herodotus refers back to a remote past of more than half a millennium before his time, he cannot have had any other than mythical sources at his disposal. The mentioning of an oracle may be seen as an attempt to make up for this lack. Hence, the oracle also serves to establish the authority of the Herodotean narrator. The other voice presenting oracles in the Histories, is that of the priest issuing the oracle. As in the following example, this is in most cases the voice of Pythia of Delphi: 2 The citations of Herodotus’ Histories are taken from the Oxford text of Hude (1927). The translations of the texts quoted from the Histories are based on Strassler (2007) with some adaptations of my own. 3 On the characteristics of the Herodotean narrator, cf. De Jong (2013: 256-67). 4 Λυκούργου τῶν Σπαρτιητέων δοκίμου ἀνδρὸς ἐλθοντος ἐς Δελφοὺς ἐπι τὸ χρηστήριον, ὡς ἐσήιε ἐς τὸ μέγαρον, ἰθυς ἡ Πυθίη λέγει τάδε· ἥκεις, ὦ Λυκόοργε, ἐμὸν ποτὶ πίονα νηὸν Ζηνὶ φίλος καὶ πᾶσιν ᾿Ολύμπια δώματ᾿ ἔχουσι. Δίζω ἤ σε θεὸν μαντεύσομαι ἢ ἄνθρωπον· ἀλλ᾿ ἔτι καὶ μᾶλλον θεὸν ἔλπομαι, ὦ Λυκόοργε. Lycurgus, one of Sparta´s most worthy men, went one day to the oracle at Delphi, and as soon as he entered its inner shrine, the Pythia spontaneously proclaimed: ‘You have come, Lycurgus, to my rich temple, You are dear to Zeus and to all on Olympus, Do I speak to a god or a man? I know not, Yet, I rather think to a god, Lycurgus.’ (1.65.3) Here, the Pythia acts as a secondary narrator presenting the oracle in direct speech and metrical form.
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