Quick Note: Trivial Questions For The Gods
Phil Harland, Associate Professor at York University in Toronto, reminds us that not all questions posed to oracles and other divine intermediaries were matters of great import.
“The questions asked could range from what we would consider quite important political decisions (should be go to war with this or that power?) or important health concerns (how can we conceive?) to what we would consider more mundane matters. In reading Pierre Bonnechere’s chapter on “Divination” (A Companion to Greek Religion, p. 157) today I came across this inscriptional gem in which a man consults Zeus and Zeus’ wife, Dione, about some missing bedding: “Agis asks Zeus Naios and Dione about his blankets and pillows, whether he has lost them or whether someone else has stolen them” (SIG, 3rd edition 1163). Sounds a bit like me consulting the local oracle on a wintery day: ‘Alright, who stole my gloves. Cheryl, have you seen my gloves?’”
So the next time you get scolded for making a request or asking a question that is too “trivial” for a certain deity to answer, just remember old Agis and his missing pillows.
2 responses so far
Every time I slip into thinking of the ancient past as somehow alien to us, I see something like this to remind me that they weren’t any different.
Then or now, people never change – a fact which is both comforting and terrifying.
I wonder if Agis ever found his bedding?
I believe that in response to the question “how can we conceive?” Zeus stated that the querent had to engage in intercourse for three days and nights (!) on Agis’ bedding, and then burn it. Which illustrates the God/ess’ great understanding of both the curiosity of humans, our sense of rightful indignation, and a damn good sense of humor. Unless I am mistaken, the response to the missing bedding question was: “trust me, you don’t want it back.”