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MATTHEW DICKIE
I. Introduction
The aim of this paper is to recapture something of what men who were
convinced that they had experienced the presence of a god felt, did and said.
to the emergence before their eyes of the god Asclepius. There are in
ancient literature few more detailed and immediate accounts of the actions
and emotions of persons who felt that they had been in the presence of the
divine than that contained in Lucian's account of the rise to fame and
Black Sea, and Alexander's place of birth. That his career followed
the path and that the measures he took to set up the oracle were
precisely
those that Lucian relates is to be doubted. That does not mean that
exactly
Lucian's essay is to be written off in its entirety and condemned as an
exercise in invective and character-assassination.1 In its broad lineaments it
does depict the way in which cults came to be established; it also contains
accurate and detailed information about the operation of the cult founded by
Alexander.2
1
The position of Bompaire 1958: 480-82. For a more balanced assessment, see Lane Fox
1986: 243-44. Branham 1989: 179-210 concentrates mainly on what he believes is the dis
concerting persona that Lucian's narrator assumes in the Alexander. For a sensitive and nu
anced treatment of the evidentiary value of a Lucianic text of a rather different order, the De
Syria Dea, see Lightfoot 2003:209—21.
2
Weinreich 1921: 141. "Wir besitzen nicht viele Schilderungen, die so unmittelbare
Einblicke gewähren in das wirkliche religiöse Leben einer nai'v-glaubigen Masse, in die
that men in describing an epiphany impose on the tale they tell. Accounts of
According to Lucian, Alexander, had as a youth been the lover and protege
of a doctor who practiced magic (5). After the doctor died, Alexander
teamed up with a man called Cocconas. The pair went around putting on
the divine; they were in fact so fearful of the divine that if a man appeared
amongst them accompanied by a piper or a castanet-player and then
religiöse Psyche der Armen im Geiste, die rettungslos der ungemein geschickt inszenierten
Epiphanie des Gottes und dem faszinierenden Einfluss seines Propheten erliegen, ais die
Lukianische."
3
Lucian, Alex. 9: o & AAfijav&poi; eiiitaXiw Ta o'Ckoi TTpouKpiKCK,ieycov õirep älT]0c? f|v,
upõc züv toioutuv ipxtF Kai žirixetprpiv dvöpcõiruv 6elv uax«ov Kai fiXiSiuv tiõv
utio6€5o;i£vcov, o'iou? toüg na^AaYowxc tlvai e<t>aoK€v fmepoiKoöirai; tõ tou 'Apüvou
tei-xoc. Õ€uu5a i^ovai; T0O5 iroXXoix; Kai ^Xiöioui;, Kai \iovov el (jjafeiti tic aüA.tiTT)i/rj
Tupuanotrii' fi Kuppkiixnc Kpoxoüirca širayoiiEivc. kookii^ tõ toü Xõyou (lavreuõnevoc,
aiiTiKa \ia\a ncuaac Kexil^ÖTac upõc aiiTÕv Kai uoncp Tiva töv žitoupainwi'
npoapjinoirai;.
4
See Philostr., VA 6. 11 on old women with sieves attached to them who approach
shepherds and cowherds and cure sick beasts by divination.
his mother's side (11). His arrival in Abonuteichos was a spectacular one:
he burst into the city frothing at the mouth, as though demented and
possessed by a god, an effect achieved, according to Lucian, by chewing the
root of a quince-like the froth around his mouth was taken to be as a
plant;
sign of the divine (12).5 Alexander's next move was to bury at night in a
puddle that had formed in the newly-dug foundations of the temple of
Asclepius the egg of a goose into which had been inserted a recently
hatched snake. At dawn Alexander came dashing into the market
(ewGtv),
he
place of the town, dressed only in a loin-cloth, though a golden one;
carried a sickle; his hair, which was allowed to flow free, he tossed
in the manner of the possessed persons who begged on behalf of
vigorously
the Mother Goddess tt)v k6ht)u avexov coairep ol trj |ir|tpl
(oeiuv qicc
te xal He mounted a high altar and pronounced a
dyeCpovtes evGeaCovteg).
makarismos on the city, because it was just about to receive a god in a
visible form tr|v ttoA.iv e[iaKapi(ev afrciKa paXa Ö€i;o|ievT]v
strikingly (koci
and children,
evapyfi toy 0e6v).6 The whole city, including women, old men
to watch the spectacle:7 were filled with wonder,
had by now gathered they
and an act of adoration (exeGTiireoav kocI r|üxovto Kal
they prayed performed
for his uttered expressions that his hearers
irpoaeKuvow). Alexander, part,
could not understand, some Hebrew, some Phoenician, though interspersed
the unintelligible the names and Asclepius were to be made
amongst Apollo
out (13). Then he set off at a run for the temple-to-be; reaching the pool of
water and standing in it, he sang in a loud voice hymns addressed to
Asclepius and Apollo, calling on the god to come bringing good luck to the
city (tyivoug te fjõev 'AokAt|iuou Kal 'AitõAAxovoc (aeyaA-r) trj tjiuvfj Kai
eKaXei xov 0e6v t]K€iv tu^t) xfj <xya0fi el; rf)v noliv); that is to say, he
sang a cletic hymn calling on the god to be present and to bring good luck
with him.8 At this juncture, Alexander dipped a phiale into the pool and
brought out the egg in which the snake was encased; he told his audience
that he now held Asclepius in his hands; they gazed intently at him to see
what was going to happen. What happened was that he broke the egg to let
the little snake fall into the hollow of his hand; it then wound itself around
his fingers. At this, the spectators called out, greeted the god and
pronounced their city blessed: individually they uttered prayers to the god,
asking him for treasures, wealth, health and other goods (aveKpayov ei)0u<;
tea! ipnd(0UT0 xov 9eov Kai tt]v nõ/Uv €|iaKapi(ov Kai xavõov eKaaToq
tveuifiTrlato tcõv eüxwv, 0t]oaupoü<; Kai irXoutoug Kai üyieia<; Kai ta aXXa
'
äya0a altcõv nap auroti). Alexander next set out at a run for his house
bringing the lately-born Asclepius with him. The whole crowd followed,
now themselves in a possessed and maddened state, a condition brought
about by the hopes they entertained (14; irame; evGeoi Kai [xe^Tivotec uttõ
twv eAmõuv).
afrrfj;),she commanded the crowd that had gathered to receive the goddess
with due reverence (õexeoOai xr|v 0eov eüoeptõt;), for Artemis was present
from the Hyperboreans for the good fortune of the whole city and its king
(irapelvat. yap aurf]v ef; 'Yireppopewv en' äya0(3 õai|ioui tfj te iroXei Kal
tc5 paoiM); everybody did reverence to the god and performed sacrifices
in her honour (irdvtwv õe irpooKuvowTcov Kai xlhuvtuv tt)v 0e6v Guoiaic);
the whole city was in a state of possession (Kal to awoXov trie; irolecoq
8
Weinreich 1921: 141 saw that a cletic hymn is referred to. Festugiere 1939a: 231 noted
that the text gives in indirect speech the form of the 4hikA.t|oic.
äiraor)<; aw0ea(ouar|<;);9 Medea now burst into the royal palace and struck
Pelias and his daughters with such a fear of the divine by the prodigies she
performed as to convince them in their bewilderment (el? õeioiõca|iõva
õiaSeoiv €|iPodelv . . . õia tf}<; tepaieia<; eit; toiauxriv Katairir|!;LV
äyayelv) that the goddess was present to make the king and his household
fortunate and that he, as the most pious of rulers, had been chosen to
establish her cult in Iolcus and to organize her rites for time without end (4.
51. 1-4).
In both stories, a person with some expertise in magic-working enters a
midst a deity who is going to take up residence amongst them; they are told
that they are blessed indeed to have had a god choose to appear to them and
that great good fortune lies before them; the people, for their part,
a mass-possession. The narrative-pattern may be called the
experience
false-epiphany story.
Lucian himself provides a variation on the false epiphany-story form. It
is the story that he says he himself concocted as a piece of theater
xi trap' enautoO) for the benefit of the gullible fools who were
(kpaywõow
too late to see the Cynic Peregrinus throw himself on to a pyre, just after the
conclusion of the Olympic Games of 165 C.E., but who wished nonetheless
Peregr. 39).
When the pyre was kindled and Proteus had hurled himself on to it, a
vulture flew up from the center of the flames and went away towards
heaven, crying out loudly in a human voice: "I have left earth; I go to
The story Lucian tells is told in such a way as to convince the gullible
fools for whom he has made it up that they have narrowly missed being in
the presence of a god. It is the earthquake accompanied by a roaring and
Hecate is
rumbling of the god that are a sign of the divine presence. When
about to appear to Aeneas and the Sibyl of Cumae, her arrival is signaled by
the ground beneath their feet rumbling and by a movement of the tree-clad
mountain-ridges.10
delegation to that city to bring the god to Rome. There are terrifying
manifestations: the marble floor of the temple and its gilded pediments
shake and a snake rears up within the temple and looks around, its eyes
flashing with fire. The crowd is fear-struck, but the priest recognizes the
signs for what they are and calls on those present to conduct themselves
properly, both in word and thought; he then prays to the god on behalf of
those who have witnessed his appearance. The crowd responds
appropriately:
Fear held the terrified crowd: the priest with his chaste hair tied with a
white fillet recognized the divine. He said: "Behold, here is the god, here
is the god. Be careful what you think and say, whoever you are who are
present. May the sight that we have had of you, most fair one, be attended
by good and may you help the peoples who worship you." Whoever was
present, did reverence to the god; all of them repeated the words the priest
had uttered, while the sons of Aeneas imposed a pious restraint on their
words and thoughts.
Stories about men realizing that they have been in the presence of a
god necessarily do not take quite the same form as those in which the
arrival of the god is heralded by the shaking of buildings and subterranean
rumblings, but thereafter the narrative pattern is very much the same. In
Odyssey 3, wonder (Ga^pot;) strikes the assembled company when the being
10
Verg., A en., 6. 256-57: sub pedibus mugire solum et iuga coepta moveri / silvarum. See
also Callim., Hymn. 2. 1-7; Verg., Aen. 3. 90-93; Ov., Met. 9. 782-84; Stat., Theb. 7.64-60.
On shaking and roaring as signs of the imminent arrival of a god, see Weinreich 1929: 200
56.
bids a man crippled from birth to get to his feet. He jumps up and walks
around, which moved the masses to say in their local tongue that gods in the
likeness of men had come down to them; Paul they called Hermes and
Barnabas Zeus. The priest of the precinct of Zeus that was on the outskirts
of the city brought bulls and wreathes to the city-gates, since he wished to
join the masses in performing a sacrifice (14:8-13).
In two Greek novels, Chariton's Chaereas et Callirhoe and Xenophon
of Ephesus' Ephesiaca, and in one Roman novel, Apuleius'
the hero and/or the heroine are, because of their beauty,
Metamorphoses,
mistaken for gods and worshipped as such.12 It should be acknowledged
that the novels of Xenophon and Chariton are not completely independent
but one is either on the other or both depend on a
creations, dependent
common source. In Chariton's novel, when the beautiful hero and heroine
appear in public for their marriage, wonder (Galipot;) lays hold of everbody
on what looked to be Artemis amongst a crowd of hunters; many of
seeing
those an act of adoration (irpooeKuvrioav); as for the hero,
present performed
Chaereas, looked in awe (e9ai>|iaCov) at him and pronounced
everybody
Callirhoe blessed When Callirhoe is to be brought by sea
(ejiaKapiCoy).'3
4>aveir|?.
12 on its origin, see
On the motif in novels of humans mistaken for gods and for speculation
Kenney 1990: 117.
13 1.16.1.
from a sanctuary outside Miletus to be married in the city itself, the sailors
who are to take her are seized by fear, as they are convinced that it is
wedding was to take place and cried out that Aphrodite was marrying
(iravtet; ouv avepoipav f] 'A^poõuri yotfie!), when Callirhoe scanned the
crowd with her eyes (3. 2. 14-17). Another public appearance in Miletus, a
funeral for Chaereas, at which the satraps of Ionia and Caria were present,
drawn by tales of Callirhoe's beauty, leads to some persons turning away
from her, unable to stand the brilliance of her beauty, and an act
performing
of adoration (irpoo£Kwr|aav); the satrap of Caria collapses on the ground
open-mouthed (äxavf)<; Kateneoev) and has to be carried away by attendants
(4. 1. 9). Later in the tale, eunuchs bring Callirhoe into the presence of the
Persian without the queen
queen forewarning her; jumps up from her couch
under the impression that Aphrodite is standing over her and performs an
act of adoration (npooeKwriaev); a eunuch, seeing that the queen is quite
dumbfounded (yofjoac; rr]v £kttXt)5lv aüxf|<;), explains who Callirhoe is (5. 9.
1-2).
Xenophon in his Ephesiaca, in introducing the hero of the novel,
Abrocomes, says that he was such a splendid youth that the citizens of
Ephesus looked on him as a god and that some of them even performed acts
of adoration in his presence and prayed to him (npooelxov õe wc; 9ew xcõ
[if ipaKLor Kai e laiu tiõt| tl vee oi Kat irpoo€Kiivr)oav lõovteq Kai
irpoor|!ji;avTo 1. 1. 3). As for the heroine, Anthia, her beauty as a fourteen
year old girl was such that when dressed as a huntress for a procession from
When Abrocomes and Anthia land on Rhodes, the Rhodians gather and
are thunderstruck by their beauty; not one of the spectators is not moved:
some declare that it is a visit to their city of gods, while others perform acts
of adoration; their name quickly spreads throughout the community; public
prayers are directed at them, many sacrifices are offered to them and a
beauty they move their right hand to their lips as though performing an act
of adoration to Venus herself:
Those who hear Alexander proclaim the imminent arrival of the god are
struck by amazement (€te0r|TTeoav Lucian., Alex. 13); the fools who are
more than eager to believe Lucian's tall story about Peregrinus' translation
into a god behave in exactly the same way; they too are struck by
amazement (eteGriireaav Lucian., De mort. Peregr. 39). In epiphany
narratives the appearance of the god or of a person mistaken for a god is
regularly met with wonder and fear: wonder lays hold of those who at Pylos
have witnessed Mentor disappearing in the form of a bird (Horn., Od. 3.
372); the signs that signal the arrival of Asclepius in his temple at
Epidaurus strike the assembled crowd with terror (territa turba pavet Ov.,
Met. 15. 675), while the sailors who are to take Callirhoe to Miletus are
seized by fear (õfL^axi Kateoxe0r|oav), convinced that Aphrodite is to board
their ship (Chariton, Chaer 3. 2. 14); those who see Chaereas and Callirhoe
are overcome by astonishment that even leads to physical collapse
(Chariton, Chaer. 1. 1. 16, 4. 1. 9, 5. 9. 1-2), as are those who catch sight of
Abrocomes and Anthia (Xen., Eph. 1. 2. 7, 2. 2. 4) and those who see
Psyche (Apul., Met. 4. 28. 3).
Those who believe that they have been in the presence of a god are
collapsing and falling to the ground. The assumption that the sight of a
divinity is such an overwhelming experience that it leads to physical and
mental collapse can be illustrated from an incident in Chariton's Chaereas
and Callirhoe in which Chaereas catches sight in a temple of Aphrodite of a
statue of his lost beloved; it is set beside the cult-statue of the goddess. He
is so overcome by the experience that he faints. A female attendant hastens
towards him with some water to revive him; she assumes that the
exactly what literature assumes that those who have seen a god will do.15
15
Cf. Chariton, Chaer 2. 3. 6: ouv 6 Alovuöio? avcfkntacv iXccoc cTtk, w
0€<xaojievo<;
'A<t>po6iTTi, Kai cu' ayaScji (ioi 4kxi^ut|<;. Kocramircovra 6c avxbv f|Sr| Aeuväi; mreA«pc;
Corp. Herm. 1. 7-8: fiitovTog taOta eui uAttoixx xpow <Htg5itt)oc (ioi <3oxe he Tpqieiv
afrroü tt]i> l6cav ... 6c kv cku^ci (iou ovxog, <|>t)at iraJ.iv qioi; Apul., Met. 11.7. 1:
V. nPOSKYNHSIS
numen invictum in se recessit. nec mora, cum somno protinus absolulus pavore et gaudio ac
dein sudore nimio permixtus exurgo summeque miratus deae potentis lam claram
praesenliam.
16. Clauss 1999,90, 120, 333 assumes that irpoaKurnioic;means falling to the knees.
17. There is a good discussion of the term with bibliography in Pulleyn 1997,191-94.
18. Ärist. Rhet. 1361 a36 holds that directing upooKuwioeu; at men as a mark of honor is a
barbarian custom.
19. Cf. Dio Cass. 65.5.2: Kai. irpooKuvounefciK irpög mwwv, of oteele ou6c <}>lXfjoal notf
r|6«d<; r|0€^riofv.
20. Cf. Nep. Con. 3.3: necesse esi enim, si in conspectum veneris, venerari te regem (quod
TTpoaKuniaiy illi vocanl).
honored; it might be given on bended knee with the head lowered to the
ground;21 the extended right hand or foot or even the breast of the person
honored might be kissed as a form of TipooKwr)oi,c;22 finally, a person
performing a TrpooKuvr|oi<; might kiss his own hand. There is some reason to
suppose that irpoaKÜvr)OL<; very often took this form, at least in the High
Roman Empire, and possibly earlier also.23 A character (Archias) in the
pseudo-Lucianic Demosthenis encomium, sent to arrest Demosthenes, who
had taken refuge in the sanctuary of Poseidon at Calauria, reporting back on
his failure to accomplish his mission, says that he had supposed
Demosthenes' putting his hand to his mouth was done as an act of
trp00Ki)vr|0Li; when what Demosthenes was doing was taking the poison that
he had concealed about his person (49).24 It was natural that Archias should
imagine that Demosthenes was going to perform some religious ritual, since
Demosthenes had told him that he would follow him voluntarily from the
temple, after addressing the god (toy 0eov irpooeLiruv). It follows that a
man, seeing someone putting his hands to his lips on leaving a temple,
into Claudius' presence, and falling prostrate to the ground, after he had
It is clear from tales about Camillus and Marcellus performing the ritual
that it could be carried out standing up.32 In Marcellus' case, his horse had
wheeled round as he led his troops towards the enemy; lest his soldiers
and remarks that it was the custom of the Romans to turn round on
Marc. 6.6.
33. Cf. Plut. Quaest. Rom. 267b.
34.Sall. 17:oi!>x dootrep tf|V xeip<* KÜoaiTec f|you(i€9a žwreXf) fmtõv dual ff]v
35. It is difficult to tell from Pulleyn 1997,190-94, what he thinks the relationship was
between prayer and upoaKwriaii;.
36. Joseph AJ 10.29. 7; Lucian VH 2.47, Gall. 9.
occurred after the prayer had been uttered: Jason, after addressing a prayer
to the Moon, kisses the ends of his hands in an act of obeisance.37
So what then do Lucian, Diodorus Siculus and the novelists Charition
and Xenophon have in mind when they write of irpooKiW|aei<; being
performed by those who feel that they are in the presence of a deity? The
persons who saw her and supposed her to be a goddess was quite different:
they brought their right hands to their mouths with the thumb upright and
the index finger resting on it, as though they were paying their respects to
Venus herself.38 The evidence that we have suggests in the High Roman
Empire TipooKÜyrioLi; consisted for the most part in performing the gesture
that Apuleius describes. That should mean that when Lucian writes of
VI. Acclamation
What the people of Abonuteichos are said to have done when they saw the
€(iaK<xpifov) and utter personal prayers to the god (kcci xavõov eKaotog
evetriHTTlaTO iwv euxwv). Lucian uses the phrase aveKpocyov eüGug on two
other occasions for a spontaneous acclamation.39 When a crowd of poor
men hear that the Cynic Peregrinus is going to distribute his inherited
wealth, they cry out immediately, acclaiming him "The one philosopher, the
one patriot, the one true follower of Diogenes and Crates."40 We may
conclude then that Lucian means us to understand that the people of
Abonuteichos cried out acclaiming the god. The same pattern is to be seen
in Chariton, when Aphrodite, as they imagine, casts her gaze on them, all of
Milesians are moved to cry out: "Aphrodite marries."41 Acclamations on
the part of the crowd (dyep6r|oe to nA.f|0o<;) greet the appearance of Anthia
And they cried out with a great voice, "Great is Zeus Panamaros."
40 Kai irpoc
Lucian, De mort. Peregr. 15: touto (i? tikouo€i> o 6fj|ao<;, Trei^r)Te<;avflpconoi.
tva (JilXototplv, era Aioyevout; Kai
õiai>o|jä<; KexrpoTti; dweKpayov füGuq 'iva 4a^oao4>ou,
Kpatiyuoc; CriXcotiV.Cf. Lucian, Phal. 1.11.
41
Chariton, Chaer. 3. 2. 17.
42
For the verb dvapodv in acclamations, see Robert 1965:215 n. 14; 1982: 55 n. 19.
43
Cf. Poll. 15. 1. 6: oil povov raOc 8eoüi; dairdoaivro Kai ttju yfjv upooKuvnaaicv, Kaöäwep
«mv eöoi; Tote aAloi; dvOpoSirout;.
44 the Sun at dawn, says that they do
Lucian, speaking of the prayers that Indians address to
not think kissing the hand makes the prayer complete, but greet (doitdCovmi.) the Sun with
dancing (Salt. 17).
45 190-93
SEG 50. 1356 reproduces the text of Merkelbach 2000: 115-25. Chaniotis 1988:
But an fmxojia is an incantation and not a
suggests line 68 should read: KpotoOutei; enSaiian.
greeting.
They did so because not so long before a woman, who wished to spy
on the god, had silently entered the cave. She had as a result been turned
into stone as a warning to spies. It is certainly the case that the epiphany of
a deity moves those who witness the appearance of the god to say x^pe: the
greeting, xaipe, and perhaps to declare that they shared in rejoicing in the
presence of the god.
recipient of the experience is proclaimed happy and blessed: they are the
epiphanies in which a god is induced by magical means to show himself.
The preface to an astral-herbal compendium that purports to have been
46
The passage was ably analyzed by Kleinknecht 1939: 58-69. Landfester 1967: 94-96
insists with some reason that the epiphany is not of Afjioc, but of ipxaiai.'A8f|ucu. See also
Horn 1970: 5,27. In fact, the language of epiphany is used of both entities. I am indebted to
W. J. Slater for the reference to Kleinknecht.
47
The text of the De virtutibus herbarum cited is that of Friedrich 1968.
oo(iato<; Kod zt\q õia tõ Trapaõo^ov trjg Beat;)- At this point, the god
stretched out his right hand and pronounced a makarismos (12):
0pr)aKۆ<a>oixnv.48
O blessed one, Thessalus who has been granted honour in the presence of
the god; as time goes on and your successes become known, men will
worship you as a god.
Porphyry has a similar story to tell about an epiphany that Plotinus had
experienced in Rome (Porph., Plot. 10): an Egyptian priest, asked Plotinus
whether he would like to see his familiar daemon; Plotinus assented; when
the daemon was summoned, it was no mere daemon who appeared but a
god (kAt|9€vt(x õe etc; autoij/icw toy õcujiova Geov eX0eiv kcu (if| toü
[i(XKapio<; ei 0€ov tyuv töv õaijiova Kai ou tou ixt>anevoi) yevouc; tov
owovtol.
You are blessed for you have as your attendant spirit a god and not a being
from a subordinate category.
the flesh were called blessed. Such makarismoi have their origins in the
of blessed those who had seen a god and in the
practice pronouncing
conviction that to have seen or been seen by a god brought blessings in its
train.49 The belief that the Emperor as a deus praesens brought prosperity to
those who had seen or been seen by him is first attested in the reign of
48 The makarismos has been reconstructed on the basis of the Latin translation of the
fourteenth century. The Greek of Paris, cod. Gr. 41 is: 6 (iaK(xpi.oc trapa 0«i> tcp exoiri
QtaaaXt. The Latin has: o beate Thessale, transeunte tempore et cognitis studiis tuis
honorabunt te homines sicut deum.
49
Cf. Ov., Pont. 2. 2. 91-92: felices, quibus, o, licuit spectare triumphos / et ducis ore deos
10. 6. 1-2: felices, quibus
aequiparente frui. Galasso 1995: 175 compares Mart., Sped.
urna dedit spectare coruscum /solibus Arctois sideribusque ducem.
50
Clauss 1999 holds that eagerness on the part of the populace for the presence of a god
contributed to the cult of the emperors as gods.
51 In a later to the statues
poem written after the death of Augustus, Ovid speaks of praying
each day at dawn in his house in Tomi and offering them incense; by then busts of
Happy are they who see not likenesses but the true selfs and who face-to
face see the true bodies of the gods.
was in Britain in 305 C.E. when he was elevated to the position of Caesar.
That enables the panegyricist to pronounce a makarismos on Britannia:
Britannia, how fortunate you are and more blessed than all other lands to
have been first to see Constantine as Caesar.
themselves as present gods to the peoples of the earth, in one case from the
di boni, quid hoc est quod semper ex aliquo supremo fine mundi nova
deum numina universo orbi colenda descendunt?53 sic Mercurius a Nilo,
cuius fluminis origo nescitur,54 sic Liber ab Indis prope consciis solis
orientis deos se gentibus ostendere praesentes (9. 4).
person they call blessed currently enjoys or is about to enjoy some great
good. If it was the custom to pronounce makarismoi on those who have
seen a god was thought to be a blessing that brought benefits in its train.
The most straightforward statement of the notion is to be found in
Callimachus' Hymn to Apollo, where we learn that the god only shows
Germanicus and Drusus had been added to the gallery {Pont. 4. 9. 105-12). On the cult paid
the emperor in private households, see Gradel 2002: 198-212.
52
Cf. esp. 52: praesentis aliquidprosit habere deos.
53
For descendere used in appeals to deities to appear, cf. Hor., Carm. 3. 4. 1,21.7. Norden
1913: 148 classifies descende (Hor., Carm. 3. 21. 7) as one of the verbs used at the
beginning of prayers calling on the god to appear.
54
Cf. Cic., Nat. D. 3. 56: quartus (sc. Mercurius) Nilo patre, quem Aegyptii nefas habent
nominare.
himself to the good and that those who have looked on him may expect to
be the recipients of great benefits:
(õnöM.coi' ou ttocvtl (|)aeiv€Tai, &XX' ötu; £o9ä.6i;'
ög niv Lõtl, neya<; oöto<;, ö<; oik tõe, Xuõg eKetvoq.
õi)/ö(j.€0'; g3 'EKaepye, Kai tooo^eS' ouiroie Xltol (9—11).
Apollo does not appear to everyone, but to whomseover is good; who sees
him, this one will be great, who does not see him, that one will be of no
consequence. We shall look upon you, Far-Worker, and we shall never be
of no consequence.
fainted, tells him to be of good cheer, since those to whom Aphrodite shows
herself in her temple are attended by good fortune.55 Valerius Maximus
Epidaurus that these appearances were never without great benefit to the
We learn that the Abonuteichans resort to prayer, first when they are told
that they are about to receive a god and then when they see the god make
his appearance (Lucian, Alex. 13, 14). In Ovid's Metamorphoses, the priest
of Asclepius at Epidaurus takes the lead in praying to the deus praesens on
55
Chariton, Chaer. 3. 6. 4: dXA.' dya0oü (ieyaXou tout'
eau oivetov.
56
1. 8. 2: si quidem is anguis, quern Epidauro raro, sed numquam sine magno ipsorum
bono visum in modum Aesculapii venerati fueranl, per urbis celeberrimas partes mitibus
oculis el leni tractu labi coepit triduoque inter religiosam omnium admirationem
conspectus.
meaning with which epiphanies were invested. Those who had witnessed
the epiphany of a god were predisposed to believe that the god had singled
them out for special favor, although they could not be altogether sure that
the god was pleased that he had been seen or that his appearance was not a
attempt to capitalize on one's good fortune in having seen a god. The way
in which the desire to capitalize on the experience of the epiphany is given
expression varies: the inhabitants of Abonuteichos in their greed pray to be
able to discover buried treasures and for wealth and health {Alex. 14); the
prayer of Asclepius' priest is less crassly put, but in essence amounts to the
same thing (Ov., Met. 15. 678-79). The prayers of both parties reflect the
conviction that seeing a god, in whatever form he may appear, is a
Descriptions of coming into contact with the divine have a good deal in
common with descriptions of the experience of initiation into the mysteries.
In both cases there is a shattering and transforming revelatory experience.
Induction into the mysteries characteristically causes terror and wonder.58
57
Pulleyn 1997 in his study of prayer in Greek religion rather overstates the case in
insisting that prayer was accompanied by sacrifice.
58
oi Tfioüneuoi . . . 5e Kai õeiKvuneucov xüv iepüv wpooexouai-v r]6r| (xera
(jiopou Kai aia)TTTi<;(Plut., De. prof. virt. 81b); eita upo tou t£j.ou<; auioö ta õeiva iravca,
<t>piKTiKai tpo(xog Kai Lõpcõq Kai fla^po; (Plut., fr. 178 Sandbach). Further examples in
Richardson 1974: 306.
have been privileged to see a god are also believed to be marked out from
other men, not because of any spiritual transformation they have undergone,
but because of the successes they will enjoy in this life. For that reason they
too are pronounced blessed.
There must at some level have been a feeling that the revelations
granted initiates in the mysteries and divine epiphanies were closely related.
It is the case that divine epiphanies conjured up by magical means require
the same kind of preparations prescribed for initiation in the mysteries: the
magical formularies lay down a period of ritual abstinence,
from bathing.61
XI. Conclusion
It is undoubtedly the case that writers portraying men who believed that
they had come into contact with the divine follow a set form. There is first
of all astonishment and/or fear, then there is a gesture of adoration
59
Horn. Hymn Dem. 480; Pi. fr. 137a Snell; Soph. fr. 837 Radt. On makarismoi pronounced
on those who have seen the mysteries, see Norden 1913: 100 n. 1; Dirichlet 1914: 62-64;
Burkert 1987: 93.
Festugiere 1956: 79-82; Dodds 1960: 75; Richardson 1974: 313-14;
who have
Closely related to such makarismoi are the the makarismoi pronounced over those
had a revelatory vision as, for instance, those who through their understanding of the stars
are able to see the divine (Corpus Hermeticum fr. VI. 18 Festugiere).
60PGM 1. 55-56, II. 148-50, III. 304, IV. 26, 54-55, 785, 1099-1100, 3207. PGMl. 290
92 spells out what this may mean: Kai airfx<Vf navzw |iuaapwv itpay^Twi' Kal
mean that the
nääri? lx9U0<t)aY"ltC Kal uamy; auvoixnac. Smith 1978: 180 takes ayituav to
is to restrict the meaning of äyveuf iv
priest commands Thessalus to fast for three days; that
too much. The Latin translation has: praecipiens mihi esse purum et mundum per triduum.
61
PGM IV. 733-36: caw & OeAgq Kal am^utatr) xpifa«00ai mote xa Afyoixeva fKfivw
(iõfow ouv oot aKOuei.i', awayvfuera aoi { finepac Kal diroax«J0ai. enij/üxuv Kal
about to be initiated at Cenchreae into the mysteries of Isis is first given
paXavctou. Lucius,
a ritual bath and then told by the priest he should refrain from eating animal flesh and
continuis illis diebus cibariam
drinking wine for ten days (sacerdos... praecepil, decern
essem. Apul. Met. 11. 23. 2).
voluptalem cohercerem neque ullum animal essem et invinius
Cf. Hopfner 1974:1. 862: "Auch iiber die verschiedenen Arten dieser Reinigung liegen viele
einzelne Nachrichten vor, und auch hierin steht der Zauber in enger Verbindung mit dem
offiziellen Kult, besonders der chthonischen Mächte und dem Mysterienwesen."
and sacrifices. There will be those who believe that the presence of such a
world in which men live. The truth cannot be as simple as that. It can be
taken for granted that in antiquity many men were prepared and conditioned
to believe that they might come into contact with a god.62 There is nothing
spontaneous about their response to the experience: it belongs to the same
learned cultural pattern as the experience itself. Men knew what signs the
gods gave of their presence. With that awareness in mind they could easily
persuade themselves that unusual lights or rumbling noises were proof that
a god had come to visit them. They were furthermore ready to believe that
seeing a god was a shattering experience, precisely because they had heard
it was just that. They were appropriately overwhelmed. But they also knew
that the god required expressions of extreme respect and reverence, so they
They might also be moved to acclaim the god. At the same time, they knew
that the gods only showed themselves to those whom they favored and that
they were lucky and privileged to have seen the god. The appropriate
response in the circumstances was to acclaim the god, pronounce
themselves or their city blessed, perform sacrifices and pray to the god to
62
See Lane Fox 1986: 102-67.
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