The title of this dissertation emerged from an undergraduate Honours paper that investigated modern scholarly views concerning the authenticity of the Pythia’s possession. An attempt to answer one particular subquestion (Was the Pythia the priesthood’s puppet?) elicited significantly more divergent modern opinions than the discussions concerning the other possible causations of the Pythian prophecies (divine inspiration, clairvoyance, intoxication, and/or charlatanry) that the paper examined. The mere suggestion of the possibility that the Pythia may have enjoyed some degree of autonomy while performing her role in the consultative procedure stirred considerable controversy among modern scholars. This reaction identified a need for further reexamination of the Pythia’s role in the Delphic Oracle as depicted in both ancient literature and the commentaries of modern scholars. However, this dissertation is concerned more with what ancient and modern sources claim the Pythia actually did (i.e. the role she performed) during a mantic consultation than with how the Pythia managed to produce the oracles she uttered (i.e. the underlying causation of her ability to produce prophecies). Ancient sources, in particular Herodotus, Diodorus Siculus, and Pausanias, depict and apparently accept the Pythia as the speaker of the oracles, for, after all, the Pythia functioned as Apollo’s mouthpiece “and as such she counted for little.”1 Most early 20th century modern scholars, all with access to the same ancient sources, nevertheless contend (perhaps because they do not believe in Apollo) that the Delphic priesthood was (must have been) responsible for at least the composition, or the interpretation, or even the actual delivery to the enquirers, of the oracles. However, some later modern scholars acknowledge, even if they cannot fully comprehend or embrace, the ancient sources’ portrayal of the Pythia as speaking the oracles directly to enquirers. Compton commences an article on the Delphic mantic session with these words: “As one reads through important treatments of the operation of the Delphic oracle, disparities in interpretation are striking.”2 The discrepancies between both ancient authors and modern scholars and between early 20th century and some later modern scholars warrant a reexamination of how all sources depict the Pythia’s role in the Delphic Oracle. Modern (20th and 21st century for the purpose of this dissertation) scholars all have access to the same ancient sources. However, an examination of modern commentaries on the role of the Pythia in the Delphic mantic (divinatory, oracular) consultation (session) appears to indicate a watershed year for a shift in modern perspective: 1978. Pre-1978 modern scholars depart from the ancient authors and depict the Delphic priesthood as the major player in the mantic procedure whereas several later modern scholars, in and after 1978, return to the ancient depiction of the Pythia as the one who delivers the Delphic oracles directly to the enquirers. A search for an explanation for this shift in modern interpretations of ancient literature underlies this dissertation, which seeks to answer not only how and also why modern classical scholarship on the topic of the Pythia evolved as it did. An investigation of this evolving view of the Pythia’s role includes examination of ancient literature and the commentaries on these ancient sources by modern scholars as found in English literature (including English translations and/or secondary quotations of Danish, French and German scholars) for information both about the person and role of the Pythia and about the composition and role of other Delphic temple personnel, referred to as the Delphic priesthood in this dissertation. Ancient and modern depictions of every step of the consultative process that culminated in the enquirers receiving the oracles that they accepted as Apollo’s answers to their enquiries—in effect, the entire process of oracular consultation, including its physical location, and the process of transfer of communications at Delphi—are also relevant. This dissertation uses the term “chain of communication” to indicate the elements in the communicative process whereby the Pythia learned the content of enquirers’ questions, and, in turn, enquirers learned the content of Apollo’s replies to their questions. Answers to specific questions such as those that follow must, therefore, be sought first in ancient literature before divergent modern scholarly contentions can be evaluated. Who was the Pythia, and what was her role? Who comprised the Delphic priesthood, and what was its role? Who put the enquirer’s question to the Pythia? Who heard the Pythia’s reply? Who spoke the response to the enquirer? Was the response oral or written, in prose or verse form? Who wrote the response down and/or composed the verse? These are some of the questions that indicate a direction for investigation in order to evaluate the division of roles within the Delphic Oracle’s administration. The findings in Chapters 3-6 of this dissertation are, therefore, consistently arranged under the headings of the Pythia (her person and role), the Delphic priesthood (its structure and overall function in the Delphic Oracle), the chain of communication (who did and said what, and how, and to whom, during a Delphic mantic session), and the location in which this mantic consultation took place. Because the first three headings all address aspects of the respective roles played by the Pythia and priesthood during an oracular consultation, some overlap of content is inevitable. Chapters 1 and 2 outline and review ancient Greek divinatory methods, seers, and oracles. Chapter 3 explores relevant ancient references to the Delphic Oracle as found in 8th-4th century BCE sources, including Homer, 5th century BCE tragic poets, and the historian Herodotus. Chapter 4 investigates post-4th century BCE ancient sources, including the works of historian Diodorus Siculus, Delphic priest, historian, and prose commentator Plutarch, and geographer Pausanias. Chapters 5 and 6 cover relevant modern scholarly views. Parke’s 1939 and Parke and Wormell’s 1956 authoritative works on the Delphic Oracle dominate the early 20th century (pre-1978) period, and Fontenrose’s innovative 1978 work on the same subject introduces the later period of modern scholarship on the Delphic Oracle. The conclusion attempts an explanation for and reconciliation of the various ancient and modern views. This dissertation essentially seeks to answer two questions: how do ancient and modern scholars view the role of the Pythia in the mantic procedure at Delphi, and can the variety of interpretations be explained and reconciled? / Classics and Modern European Languages / M.A. (Classical Studies)

Thesis--Halle, 1913. / "Ex Dissertationum philologicarum Halensium vol. XXI, 3 seorsum expressum"--T.p. verso. Includes bibliographical references.

The sea has two major roles in Greek mythology. It is associated with the voyage into Hades, and as the primordial water, Oceanus, it represents vitality and even eternal life. Until now, scholars have viewed these two aspects as fundamentally antinomic. I propose to treat them as complementary to show that the sea is an intermediary locus between the earth and the Underworld that allows initiatory passages to adulthood, heroization, and divinization by symbolic death and return to life. For women, immersion, just like a nuptial bath, is a one-way, irrevocable transformation from parthenos to gynê that separates them forever from their families. In myths such as those of Danae and Auge, girls find a husband and a new community in foreign lands as well as a new identity as queens after having been exposed on the sea by their families. The chest in which they are shut with their illegitimate children conveys the double meaning of the myth: it saves the heroines' lives, but it was also used as a bier in Antiquity. Conversely, girls such as Britomartis leap into the sea to get away from their lovers. Their immersion is an escape from the power of Eros, an anti-initiation into adulthood. This denial of Eros is also present in Sappho's leap at Leucas. The poet escapes Eros and enters Hades by leaping down the cliff and she returns to the earth free from passion. For adolescent men, immersion into the sea is a two-way passage accomplished under no compulsion. Taras' and Theseus' passage in the sea results in their recognition as the sons of gods. They return to their communities as fully integrated leaders. / text

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Dept. of Classical Languages and Literatures, June 1999. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, 1941. / Reproduced from type-written copy. Bibliography: p. 96-97.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Princeton University, 1921.

Habilitationsschrift--Tübingen. / Bibliography: p. [435]-439.

Rev. version of the editor's thesis: The Diegeseis of Konon (Universität Bern, 1998). / Epitome of Conon's Narrationes (a collection of 50 stories now lost except for 42 lines containing parts of two stories) from Photius' Bibliotheca. Includes bibliographical references (p. [353]-368) and indexes.

Diss. / Filmed with 71 other items from the Dittenberger-Vahlen collection of German dissertations and Programmschriften on classical studies.

In the first chapter we intend to present, although in a restricted sense, some of the positions of the most recent critics, which will allow us to determine the meaning of our Author. / The next chapter is mainly dedicated to giving information which establishes the relationships between the most important mythological traditions and classical works. Such information will serve to find and establish the components of the Pavesian culture. / Cesare Pavese was born in Piemonte, Italy, in 1908, he lived in the historical period during which fascism and nazism triumphed and through all the horrors of the immediate after-war. Pavese's incapacity to be concretely active in the political field brings him to relive, in his writings, the ancient Italian cult of the Evocativo. This technique of his is a hermetic method of going through with his ethical social mission. To evoke a god in a moment of national crisis is a traditionally Italian ritual; while the invocation to a God or a Muse is also part of the literary tradition. The classicism of Pavese is now recognized by different critics. Their basis for this decision is his work Dialoghi con Leuco. However, our attention is more focused on the romance Il diavolo sulle colline which occupies the central part of the trilogy La Bella Estate. / This text Il diavolo sulle colline contains many meanings which requires different approaches--such as the cultural precedents of other authors, and even those of Pavese himself--to decipher. The many messages in this work can all be traced back to the concept of death and rebirth. Pavese uses themes which are beloved to Dante and the humanists, who were themselves inspired by the great Greek and Latin authors. / And thus, we are left wondering whether Il diavolo sulle colline was conceived according to the norms of the classical tragedy, which was based on the celebrations in honor of the god Dionisus (the Hellenic demon venerated by the Latins under the name of Bacchus, and affiliated with an old Italian divinity whose symbolic name was Liber Pater). Poli, a dominating figure in Il diavolo sulle colline could be the double of this god. Our discussion will therefore be founded on the testimony of mythographers. / From a methodological point of view, our analysis will not take into account the chronological sequences, but rather the themes which imply the operation of segmenting the text.