Divine Epiphany in Lucian's Account of The Oracle of Alexander of Abonuteichos PDF

Divine Epiphany in Lucian's Account of the Oracle of Alexander of Abonuteichos
Author(s): MATTHEW DICKIE

Source: Illinois Classical Studies, Vol. 29, Diving Epiphanies in the Ancient World (2004), pp.
159-182
Published by: University of Illinois Press
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9
Divine Epiphany in Lucian's Account of the Oracle of

Alexander of Abonuteichos
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.
Discussion of the pattern of responses to which epiphanies gave rise will be

based on Lucian's portrayal of the reaction of the people of Abonuteichos
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
fortune of the prophet Alexander of Abonuteichos. Lucian's tale is not
exactly a reliable historical document, but it is not wholly devoid of

historical worth. There is, after all, incontrovertible evidence, mainly in the
form of coins, that Alexander established between 140 and 145 C.E. an
oracular shrine in Abonuteichos, a sea-port on the southern coast of the
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

160 Illinois Classical Studies 29 (2004)
Granted then that Lucian is hardly a trustworthy witness to the events
leading up to the epiphany in Abonuteichos of the god Asclepius, we can

still with some confidence use the story he tells to illustrate the structure
that men in describing an epiphany impose on the tale they tell. Accounts of
epiphanies follow a certain discernible pattern. That is demonstrable. The

literary historian will be content, if he can show what the pattern is. For the
social historian matters cannot end there. What he has to settle is the
relationship between the narrative and the reality it purports to portray.

Unless he is prepared to come to grips with the problem, there is not very
much to be said about the emotions and actions to which epiphanies gave
rise. I shall argue that what writers such as Lucian describe is the pattern of
learned responses to be witnessed in those who had persuaded themselves
they had been in the presence of the divine.
II. The Story told by Lucian
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
performances of magic to fleece the rich. In Pella in Macedonia they

acquired a large tame snake and decided with its help to establish an oracle
(6-9). The place they settled on was Abonuteichos, since those who dwelt
in its hinterland were simple-minded, excessively credulous and fearful of
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
proceeded to use a sieve to practice divination, they gaped open-mouthed at

him as though he were a god.3 That is to say the people who lived in the
vicinity of Abonuteichos were so inclined in their fearful credulity to see

the hand of the divine in everything that they were prepared to view the
least regarded of all seers, the kookiv6h<xvti.<;, as a divine being.4 Before
setting up shop in Abonuteichos, Alexander and his partner contrived to
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 naÂaYowxc tlvai e<t>aoK€v fmepoiKoöirai; tõ tou 'Apüvou
tei-xoc. Õ€uu5a iôvai; 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.

Matthew Dickie 161
bury bronze tablets in the temple of Apollo in Chalcedon; their providential

discovery would spread the word that Asclepius would come in the
company of his father Apollo to Pontus and take possession of
Abonuteichos. On hearing this, the citizens of Abonuteichos voted to erect a

temple to Asclepius and set to work digging foundations for it (10).
Alexander now went ahead to Abonuteichos to herald the arrival of the
divinities. He appeared with flowing locks, wearing a tunic of purple shot

through with white; above it a white himation; in his hands he carried a
sickle in the manner of Perseus, from whom he said he was descended on
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
5 tõ otoîoc piföiox; 6c toOto

HeHTivemi upooiroioünefoc kvimc Kai dtJjpoCimouiiinAäiiewc
Qäov n
$oxavr\<; tf)V pt(av 6i.afiaorioa(icv(^' toi<; 6e
unfjpxev aire/, aipouGtou tfjq pa<t>tKfj<;
Kai <j>o|3ep6i; eõoKti Kai o atjjpo;.
6
Weinreich 1921: 141 remarks on the religious termini lechnici used here. For 6exeo9ai.
used of receiving a god, cf. Callim., Hymn 5. 138; Diod. Sic. 4. 51. 2; Paus.l. 14. 2; 1. 37.
2; 2.35.4; 7.27.9; Efym. Afagn. s.v. Aejjuov.

7 Kai Ytpoixn Kai uaiõioii;.
owõeSpanriKei yap axeõov ftuaoa r| noXig aua YUM!tlCi
to
Chariton describes in similar terms the way in which all of the citizens of Miletus flocked
'tv
see Callirhoe, whom they imagined to be Aphrodite come amongst them: oiiK direA.eu|>0r|
Chaer. 3.2. 17.
tatg olKiaic ovi Tiat8ioy, ou ykpuiv, äXX' ou5' kv toIc Xi(i£Oi, Chariton,

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).
III. Epiphany Narratives
a) False Epiphany Stories
A story with very much the same narrative-pattern is told in Diodorus

Siculus about the deception worked by Medea on Pelias, the king of Iolcus
in Thessaly: after transforming her appearance into that of an old woman by
using certain potencies and preparing a hollow statue of Artemis that she
filled with all kinds of special drugs whose effect would be to throw the
masses into a state of fearful consternation (õicoK6uao[ievr|v KaTaulriKtiKcõc;
elg õx>mv õeimõainoraav), she entered the town at dawn (qi' rpepa)
carrying the statue; acting as one who was possessed (ev0ea£ouoTi<; 6'
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.

Matthew Dickie 163
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
town at dawn in a possessed state and imposes on its credulous and
superstitious inhabitants by performing illusions, persuading them,

thunderstruck at seeing what they take to be a god, to receive into their
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
to hear what had happened:
ciic CTeiõri r\ irupct, evgpiaÄev õf cjjepcov eautõv

dvri<t>0r| nev õ npwreüc,
oeio|ioO npötepov Yevo|i€vou oüv (xiiKr|0ji(õ xf)C yf|(;, yuij/ äva.Tn:ä|ieyoc; 4k

|ifor|c xfjc (jjA-oyoc oixolto cc, tov oüpavõv dvGpwiruJTi neyaÄ.ri trj 4)uvfj
Xcyojv,
"fXiTrow yav, pcuvco 5' kt; "OAi)(iirov"
eKflvoL (ifv ouv exeOi]TTfoay Kai upoaeKwouv ünocfipiTTomei; (De mort.
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
They were struck with astonishment and with a frisson of fear

Olympus."
performed an act of reverence.
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
9 in a town, cf. Chariton,

For sacrifices performed when a god is believed to have appeared
Chaer. 3. 2. 15.

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
b) Stories of True Epiphanies
Roughly the same narrative-pattern is to be seen in Ovid's account in the
Metamorphoses of the epiphany of Asclepius on the occasion of the Roman
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:
territa turba pavet: cognovit numina castas

evinctus vitta erines albente sacerdos.
en deus est, deus est! animis linguisque favete,
quisquis adest! dixit, sis, o pulcherrime, visus
utiliter populosque iuves tua sacra colentes!
quisquis adest, visum venerantur numen, et omnes

verba sacerdotis referunt geminata piumque
Aeneadae praestant et mente et voce favorem (15. 675-82).
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.

Matthew Dickie 165
they had assumed to be Telemachus' companion Mentor disappears in the

form of a bird, whereupon Nestor takes Telemachus by the hand to declare
that Telemachus' having a god as his escort is proof in his eyes that
Telemachus will not turn out to be some sorry coward (371-79). Nestor
now prays to the goddess asking her that she be well disposed and bestow
fame on himself, his offspring and his wife; on the morrow he will sacrifice
a heifer to her, after sheathing its horns in gold:
&\hx, ävaoaa 'lXt)0l, õiõwGi õe (ioi kXeo<; soGXov,

aÜTW Kat naiõeaoL Kai alõoifl itapaKOLTi (Horn., Od. 3. 380-81)."
My lady, may you be benign and grant goodly fame to myself, my

children and my wife.
c) Stories About Human Beings Mistaken for Gods

In Acts, when Paul and Barnabas come to the Roman colony of Lystra, Paul
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
11 tol npokioTa 0t<3v XXaoao[i"M\\vr\v, ii |ioi evap^fn; t^Xöe

Horn., Od. 3. 419-20: &4>p'
0eoü eg 8aVta 0aA.ei.av. For appeals to gods who have appeared in an epiphany to be benign,
cf. Ap. Rhod., Argon. 2. 693: dAA' '£Xt|0l ava!;, 'Uri0i <t>aav0eii;; Eur., 77"270-71: o5 uovtCai;
Tiat AtuKO0€ai;, vetõv cjiüXa^, õcairota IlaAaX|iov, ilea); rptv ytvoO; Chariton, Chaer. 2. 3.
'
6: OnxcOfiti'o; oiv o Aiovuoioc dvcpõrioev la((jc g5 'A<t>poõtTTi, Kai en cxvcxOg)
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
Aphrodite herself who is about to embark on their vessel. They respond by

rushing en masse towards Callirhoe in an act of adoration:
lõõvTCq oi vaOxoa 6eL|icm KaxeoxeGrioay, w<; tf|<; 'A^poõiirn; autfji;

€pXOH6vri<;, "tva enPfj, Kai (jpp.r|oav äSpooi. irpooKuufiaai.
The masses in Miletus itself were convinced that Callirhoe was a

Nereid who had appeared from the sea or, taking their lead from the sailors,
a goddess; they gathered around the Temple of Concord, where the
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
Ephesus to the sanctuary of Artemis, it caused men to acts of

perform
adoration to her as though she were Artemis; when she was seen the crowd
acclaimed her with a variety of cries: some in their astonishment declared
that she was the goddess and others that she was the creation of the
goddess; but all performed acts of adoration in her honour, addressed
prayers to her and pronounced her parents blessed:
noAAaKic aüiTii' enl toü Teêi/oui; lõövxei; 'Eijieoioi npooeKuvrioav cög

"ApTSfHV. Kai tot' ouv 64>06iar|<; äve|3ör|oe to irXrjOog, Kal floav uouaAai
tTapa twv 0€U(isvwv ((juvai, twv jiev utt' 6khA.^€(o<; tt)v 9e6v elvai
XeyovTcov, \€>v & aAAr|u timx fmo Tfj<; 0eoO neTroi.r)H€vr|v Tipoar|üxoyTO
8e naiaeq Kai irpoaeKuvouv Kai toOc yovelc; eiiaKapifoy (1. 2. 7).

Matthew Dickie 167
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
festival celebrating the divine sojourn is enacted:14

to KaAAoq züv muõcov KataireirXriYOTei;, Kai oõk eativ ooxic t<5v
lõovTcov napf|A.06 oicoirüv äXX' oi (iff 'etayov EiriÕTtyuav aiolwv Beüv,
oi 6k irpoaeKVUow Kai npooriuxovto. taxu õe õt' oA.t|i; Tfjq nöAeajq
'
5L6U6(|)OiTiiK6t to ow^ta 'A|3p0KÖ(i0U Kai AvBiaq. eireüxomai õe avxolQ
ÕT)|iooia Kai Suoiat; re Güouai itoÄAac Kai eopTT)i' ayouoi ttjv eiuöripiai'
ocfrcwv(l.12. 1-2).
Abrocomes and Anthia are brought to Tyre by the leader of a band of
their beauty causes astonishment; those who see them

pirates. Again
imagine that they are gods and pronounce the pirate leader blessed for
having slaves such as they:
mvzet; exeSauâKeoau to KaAAog, Kal avGpcoiroi fictpfiapoi priuw itpotepov

Tooautriv lõõvteg füpopcjnau Geoix; fôpiCoi* etvoa toik; pXfnoiifuoui;,
6|iaKapi.Cov õe ibv "Ai(/uproi> oioug oiKftat; KeKtripivot; (2. 2. 4).
In Metamorphoses, Psyche, the youngest of the three

Apuleius'
daughters of a king and queen, is so remarkably beautiful that citizens and
make their to see her; dumbstruck in amazement over her
strangers way
beauty they move their right hand to their lips as though performing an act
of adoration to Venus herself:
multi denique civium et advenae copiosi, quos eximii spectaculi rumor

studiosa celebritate inaccessae formonsitatis admiratione
congregebat,
stupidi et admoventes oribus suis dexteram primore digito in erectum
residente ut ipsam prorsus deam Venerem venerabantur
pollicem
religiosis adorationibus (4. 28. 3).
14 1973.1 have omitted from my paraphrase what

The text reproduced is that of Papanikolaou
is conjecture.

IV. Elements in the Epiphany Narrative: Astonishment and Fear
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 (õfLâxi 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
regularly portrayed being struck by amazement, even to the point of
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
appearance of the god has completely overcome him:
©dtppei, T6KV0V Kai aÄA.ou<; itoAi.oi)C T) 9tõ<; Eiri<|>avr)c yap «jti

Kai Õ6LKVU01U 6aUTT)V evapywi; (3. 6. 4).
Be of good cheer, my son; the goddess has caused consternation in many

others, for she is in the habit of making appearances and showing herself
clearly.
Her assumption is an understandable one, since Chaereas' response is
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 4kxiût|<;. 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:

Matthew Dickie 169
V. nPOSKYNHSIS
At Olympia, Lucian's gullible audience perform an act of adoration

(irpootKwow uTTocJ)plttovt€(; Peregr. 39), convinced that they had just
missed seeing Peregrinus' translation into the divine, so to do the
superstitious and simple-minded people of Abonuteichos when they hear of
the imminent arrival of a god amongst them {Alex. 13). The inhabitants of
Iolcus do exactly the same thing when they see, as they think, a goddess
coming into their town (Diod. Sic. 4. 51. 3), as do those who see Chaereas
and Callirhoe (Charit. Chaer et Call. 1. 1. 16, 3. 2. 14, 4. 1. 9, 5. 9. 1) and
again Abrocomes and Anthia (Xen. Ephes. 1. 1.3,2.7). Ovid in his account
of the epiphany of Asclepius at his temple in Epidaurus uses the verb
venerari to describe the response of those present to the god. It is to be
imagined that Ovid refers to the same ritual response to an epiphany as do

Lucian, Diodorus Siculus and the novelists Chariton and Xenophon. But
what was it that people did when they performed a upooKuvipic and, more
what do those authors who portray the reaction of men to the

particularly,
of a deity have in mind when they write of acts of
appearance
TTpOOKWTlOlC?16
The term is used to refer to a certain category of reverential
upooKuveiv
actions.17 Gods receive trpooKwrioic as do men who are honored as gods;
men may receive it.'8 The etymology of the term
particularly powerful
It
suggests that the basic meaning is "to direct a kiss towards someone."
does not follow that kissing was an integral part of all actions described as
The term well have been used to characterize
irp00Kuvr|06L(;. may
particularly reverential actions in which a kiss was not attempted. Context

does that kissing was very often part of irpooKuvr|oi.<;.'9 There is no
suggest
Latin for the term. Latin has to make do with the more general
caique
venerari and salutare.20 There were a number of ways in
terms, adorare,
which the kiss of respect might be delivered: it might be bestowed more
which is to falling on the ground at the feet of the party
Persico, say
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,
might naturally assume that he had witnessed an act of irpooKUvriaic;. There

are indications that in Roman North Africa in the middle of the second
century AD men on passing a temple might be expected to kiss their hands
as an act of reverence: Apuleius declares his accuser so scorned religion
that he thought it wrong on passing a shrine to bring the hands to the lips in
a kiss.25 Somewhat later, perhaps at the end of the third century AD,
Minucius Felix in the Octavius says that his friend Octavius had reproached
him for doing nothing to correct the fault when a friend of both of them on
passing a statue of Serapis brought his hand to his lips in a kiss; it was a
fault that the superstitious masses were wont to commit.26 Minucius now
attempts to persuade Caecilius of the error of his ways and of the
superiority of Christianity to the superstitious practices he had previously

followed. The passage rather suggests that bringing the hand to the lips in a
kiss on being confronted with something connected with the divine was a
common pagan ritual gesture.
At an earlier date, Romans on performing the gesture had turned
themselves around to the right.27Pliny the Elder testifies to the practice.28 It
21. Dio Cass. 62.2.4,68. 18.2.

22. Lucian, Nigrin. 21 (cf. Nekyom. 12); Dio Cass. 59. 27. 1.
23. So Neil 1901,28; Pulleyn 1997, 191-94.
24. tea! TiV X€^Pa T<? OTOâTi npooayayõvrog oiiScv aJA' irpooKui>elv imeA«(xpavov.
25. Apol. 56: sifanum aliquodpraetereat, nefas habet adorandigratia manum labris
admovere.
26. Oct. 2.4: Caecilius, simulacro Serapidis denotato, ut vulgus superstitiosus solet, manum
ori admovens osculum labiis pressit.
27. The evidence for the ritual is collected by Appel, 1909, 213-14.

Matthew Dickie 171
is impossible to say whether the practice had fallen into desuetude by

Apuleius' day or whether he and Minucius Felix just omit mention of it.
The ritual of turning to the right on greeting the gods in npooKÜvrioK; goes
back at least to the end of the third century BC;29 Plutarch credits Numa
with having taught the Romans the ritual.30 The act of adoration may have
taken a variety of forms. Vitellius' covering his head, whenever he came
into Claudius' presence, and falling prostrate to the ground, after he had
turned himself round, as though doing reverence to a god, is, to judge by

Suetonius' comment on Vitellius' amazing ingenuity in raising adulation to
new levels likely to have been an unusual and extreme form of adoration.31
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
interpret the event as ominous, Marcellus brought the horse completely

round while making obeisance to the Sun, as though that is what he had
intended to do all along. Plutarch calls the act of obeisance a irpooKUvriOK;
and remarks that it was the custom of the Romans to turn round on
a irpooKWTioic;.33 Since Marcellus used the horse's reins to bring

performing
it round, he necessarily will have had only one hand free. It is reasonable to
suppose that Plutarch imagined him kissing his right hand in the direction
of the sun.
Prayer might be accompanied by irpooKwr)oi<;. Whether irpooKuvrioic

was and parcel of prayer the evidence does not allow us to
always part
decide. Lucian, speaking about Indian prayer rituals, does remark that
Indians, in contrast to Greeks, do not think that a prayer is incomplete, if the
hand is not kissed.34 The implication of the remark is that prayers in
Lucian's were accompanied by irpooKwrioie and that the upooKuvrpic

day
consisted in kissing the hand.35 The terms are very often coupled in the
Greek of the To judge from Valerius Flaccus, the ritual

Imperial Age.36
28. HN 28.25: in adorando dextram ad osculum referimus totumque corpus circumagimus,

quod in laevum fecisse Galliae religiosius credunt.
29. Plaut. Cure. 70: si deos salutas, dextrovorsum censeo.
30. Plut. Num. 14. 7-8.
31. Suet. Vitell. 25.5:
32. Camillus: Liv. 5. 21.6; Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 12. 16.23; Plut. Cam. 5. 7; Marcellus: Plut.
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
question can be rephrased: what, if no furtherindications are given, are we

to understand by a reference to ttpookuvt]oi<; in Greek prose of the High
Roman Empire? That there was in reality no one set response to a divine
epiphany is virtually certain. Aeneas and Anchises, for instance, are
portrayed falling to the ground (summissi petimus terram) outside the
temple of Apollo on Delos when the god signals his arrival by an

earthquake and a roaring and a rumbling that emanates from the tripod after
the temple-doors have opened of their own accord (Verg. Aen. 3.93). When
in Apuleius' Metamorphoses Psyche appeared in public, the response of 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
TTpooKuvr)oic, if there are no further indications, what we should understand

is a bringing of the right hand to the lips in a kiss.
VI. Acclamation
What the people of Abonuteichos are said to have done when they saw the
newly-born Asclepius make his appearance was to cry out (dveKpayov),

greet the god (ipird(ovTo toy Geov), pronounce their city blessed (t?|v ttoA.iv
€(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
37. 8.44: sic ait etprimis supplex dedit oscula palmis.

38. Apul. Metam. 4. 28. 3: inaccessaeformonsitatis admiratione
stupidi et admoventes
oribus suis dexteram primore digito in erectum pollicem residente eam ut ipsam prorsus deam
Venerem religiosis venerabuntur adorationibus.
39
For discussion of dwxKpaCau and other verbs of acclamation and the acclamation in the
Lucian, De mort. Peregr., see Robert 1965: 215 n. 4; 1982: 55 n.19.

Matthew Dickie 173
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
in Ephesus (Xen., Eph. 1. 2. 7). Indications exist in the epigraphic record

that acclamations prompted by the epiphany of a god were a standard
response to his appearance: there is the cry of the people of Stratoniceia in
Caria when Zeus Panamaros appeared in 39 B.C.E. to intervene against the
Parthians, preserved in an inscription of around 200 C.E.:

<=u 0€ dvapoüv[Twv] nfyaXfl tfj tJjajvrj Meyav duai Aia Ilavdjiapov (I.
Straton. 10.13).42
And they cried out with a great voice, "Great is Zeus Panamaros."
VII. Greeting the God
Greeting ((biraCeoGou) a god goes hand in hand with npooKÜvriaic.43

even constitute part of what is meant by ao7Ta(€o9ai when
npooKwriOLC may
used of greeting a god.44 'AoirafeoSai used of greeting a god probably
meant utteringthe words So in the second half of the second century
C.E. we find the people of Sidyma in Lycia clapping their hands and
the words 'AttoAAwv as a greeting (doirdonaxi) whenever
uttering xalpe
they enter a cave at Lopta associated with the god:

6lõ Kai ao[€]iTaon<m
' Kpot€LV
Xatpe AttöXXcov õ ty Aöirxcov
4>uvoüfiev {JAMII. 174. 68-70; SEG 50. 1356. 68-70).45

eloepxonevoi
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 4aôao4>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
epiphany of Arpoi; in Aristophanes' Equites draws from the Chorus the

words:
Xoctp', o5 (kcntaC twi/EAAiiwoi'' Kai aoi £iuvâipoêv rpeiq (1333).46
In Callimachus' Hymn 5, Athena's imminent appearance is announced

and the chorus of maidens is told to receive the goddess with words of good
omen, with prayers and with ululations, which leads to Athena's being
greeted with the word xa^Pe and being asked to take care of Argos (137—
40). The chances are then that something quite specific is meant by
r|o™Covto tõv 0e6v: the Abonuteichans are to be understood to utter the
greeting, xaipe, and perhaps to declare that they shared in rejoicing in the
presence of the god.
VIII. The MAKAR1SMOS
The blessing that Alexander pronounces on Abonuteichos, because it is to

receive a striking manifestation of the divine presence, and the immediate
response of the Abonuteichans to the epiphany, which is to pronounce their
city blessed, have parallels in other epiphany narratives. Nestor comes very
close to pronouncing Telemachus blessed when he realizes it is Athena who
has been his escort (Horn., Od. 3. 376-78). There is another class of
epiphanies besides those in which a god chooses to manifest himself either
to his worshippers or those whom he especially favours in which the
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
composed in the firstcentury C.E. by one Thessalus the Philosopher, and an

incident in Porphyry's Life of Plotinus describe such epiphanies.47 In the
preface to the astral-herbal, Thessalus explains how Asclepius had dictated
the book to him, after having been summoned by a high priest from
Egyptian Thebes (Diospolis). What Thessalus saw was so startling to him
that he suffered a physical and mental collapse (kcu €Kluo|aevou toC
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.

Matthew Dickie 175
oo(iato<; Kod zt\q õia tõ Trapaõoôv trjg Beat;)- At this point, the god
stretched out his right hand and pronounced a makarismos (12):
co paKapLS, napa 0e(£ xuxcoi' rupfie 0eaaaXe, npoLOVTO? 6e tou xpövou

Kai yvo)o06VT(oi' tüv owv eiuTeuypaTtov cj? 9eov avGpwiroi oe
0pr)aK€Ü<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
õai|iovQv eli/ai yevoix;), whereupon the Egyptian declared:
[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.
Those who had looked on or been looked on by a Roman Emperor in
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
Augustus.50 Ovid, in a poem in which Maximus Cotta is thanked for having

sent three silver statues of Augustus, Tiberius, and Livia to him in his exile
in Tomi, a blessing on those who have seen the gods in person
pronounces
and not just in the form of a likeness:51
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

felices illi, qui non simulacra, sed ipsos,
quique deum coram corpora vera vident (Ov., Pont. 2. 8. 57-58).
Happy are they who see not likenesses but the true selfs and who face-to
face see the true bodies of the gods.
The immediate context of Ovid's makarismos is a prayer on the part of the
poet in which he dwells on the advantages of having a god present in person
rather than just his likeness (51-62).52 A panegyric on the accession of

Constantine as Caesar leaves no room for doubt that those who saw the new
Caesar were blessed, precisely because he was a deus praesens. Constantine
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:
O fortunata et nunc omnibus beatior terris Britannia, quae Constantinum

Caesarem prima vidisti (Pan. Lat. 6. 9. 1).
Britannia, how fortunate you are and more blessed than all other lands to
have been first to see Constantine as Caesar.
The panegyricist proceeds to dilate on the natural advantages of Britain

(9. 2-3), before asking the gods why new divinities always come down to
earth from the furthermost parts of the world: Mercury and Liber showed
themselves as present gods to the peoples of the earth, in one case from the
Nile and in the other amongst the Indians:
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).
Those who pronounce makarismoi do so in the conviction that the
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
experienced or are about to experience an epiphany, it follows that to 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.

Matthew Dickie 177
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 toooêS' 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.
The temple-attendant who hastens to the aid of Chaereas, after he has
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
says of the rare appearances made by Asclepius in the form of a snake in
Epidaurus that these appearances were never without great benefit to the
Epidaurians.56 Behind the prayer with which the priest of Asclepius in

Ovid's Metamorphoses addresses the deus praesens, asking that his
appearance be attended by good fortune (sis, o pulcherrime, visus / utiliter

15. 678-79) is the idea that the sight of a god brings benefits to those who
have experienced it.
IX. Prayer and Sacrifice
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
behalf of the worshippers; they for their part respond by expressions of

veneration for the deity and by repeating his prayer (15. 678-79). Nestor
both a sacrifice to Athena and prays to her, after realizing he has
promises
seen her (Horn., Od. 3. 380-84). The people of Iolcus honour the deity that
has entered their city with sacrifices (Diod. Sic. 4. 51. 3), while the priest of
Zeus at Lystra bulls to the gates of the city, so that there can be a
brings
communal sacrifice (Acts 14:13). Some of the people of Ephesus on seeing
Abrocomes are moved both to perform acts of adoration and to pray to him
(Xen., Eph. 1. 1.3), while the appearance on Rhodes of Abrocomes and
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.

Anthia gives rise to public prayers and sacrifices and to a festival

celebrating the eiuõrpia or sojourn of the gods in Rhodes (Xen., Eph. 1. 12.
1-2). Prayer and sacrifice are hardly to be separated. Prayers could be
offered to the gods without sacrifices necessarily being performed, but it

will very often have been accompanied by sacrifice.57 It is difficult to
believe, on the other hand, that a sacrifice could take place without a prayer
being offered up.

The form that prayers take in the aftermath of an epiphany reflect the
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
sign of his anger. Prayers to the god in these circumstances represent an
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
harbinger of good fortune.
X. Epiphany and Initiation
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
Seeing a god is an equally disturbing experience, leading on some accounts

to the; mental and physical collapse of the individual. Although the
experience of being inducted into the mysteries may be terrifying and
disturbing, those who have undergone it are nonetheless set apart from
other men: they will enjoy good fortune in this life and the next. They may,
in consequence, have a makarismos pronounced over them, precisely
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.

Matthew Dickie 179
because of the revelatory experience they have undergone.59 Those who
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,
characteristically lasting for three or seven days, preceding the revelation.60
In one formulary, in fact, a person who has enjoyed a revelation of the
divine is told that if he wishes to share that experience with another, he

must ensure that his fellow-initiate remain pure for seven days and refrain
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
(npooKuio|oig), which goes hand in hand with a greeting being extended to

the god; the god may next be acclaimed; someone present may pronounce
the persons who have had the experience blessed; finally, there are prayers
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 amûtatr) 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
pattern is warrant for denying that a reality is described; in their view,

literature has a self-generating life of its own that stands apart from the
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
did what was appropriate in the circumstances and expressed adoration.
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
bestow blessings on them. Lucian's portrayal of the response of the
onlookers to the epiphany of Glycon, the newly-born Asclepius, is at one

level conventional in form, but at the same time it brings to life both what
was said and done when an epiphany occurred and gives us an insight into
what went on in the minds of men when they felt that they had been in the
presence of the divine.
University of Illinois at Chicago
62
See Lane Fox 1986: 102-67.

Matthew Dickie
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