Divine Messages from Mortal Pen - Pseudepigraphic Oracles and their Disseminators in Athens from the 6th to 4th Centuries BC

• Applicant: Dr. Jens Fischer
• Subject Area: Ancient History
• Term: since 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 512516566

Oracles are a famous as well as central part of ancient beliefs. In addition to the oracles associated with permanent sanctuaries such as Delphi, Didyma or Klaros, there also existed pseudepigraphic oracles that were ascribed to mythical seers of the past. But whilst the importance of the great sanctuaries has long been the focus of numerous studies, the concrete influence of those pseudepigraphic oracles and their disseminators on the political sphere, as well as on the social developments and the cultural production, is still very little explored. The aim of the project is therefore to bring forth the first monographic study of these pseudepigraphic oracles that circulated in the Athenian population and their disseminators in the time from the tyranny of Peisistratos to Athens Defeat in the Lamian War. The central object of the investigation is the influence of these oracles on the political sphere as well as on social developments and cultural production, which is still very evident in our sources. To make it tangible, a broad material base is created in the course of methodological preparatory work, in which the many testimonies that are scattered throughout our ancient sources are gathered. In the next steps of the investigation, the data obtained is then further analyzed, discussed and consistently contextualized with suitable parallel sources, always taking the results of modern religious, historical and cultural studies research into account. As a result, the study makes a contribution to the religious and cultural reconstruction of the epoch in question.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants