THE
PETE RITE. Vol . . V.
JUNE, 1883 .
No . 36.
THE PRIESTHOOD IN ANCIENT GREECE.
T
IIE chief importance of the priesthood in Greece was in connection with the oracles . It would indeed be difficult to exaggerate the
influence of the oracles, and therefore of the priests in whose hands they were, upon early Greek history . Herodotus furnishes us with numerous instances in which their interference or their responses brought about important results . At the request of Delphi the Lacedaemouians "liberated" Athens ; on the warning of Delphi the Cnidians abstained from turning their peninsula into an island, and in consequence fell a prey to the Persians ; at the bidding of one oracle or another, many colonies were founded, Cyrene for instance . And others besides Greeks resorted for advice to those shrines ; the Lydian Croesus sent to Delphi, to Lebedeia, to Dodona, to Abae and to Thebes, and the answers he received " ruined a mighty empire ." Thus the priests who pulled the strings of these oracles must have been very important personages. At the same time they must have used their power warily and not, as a rule, in the interests of any one political party . Had they acted otherwise, Herodotus might have been deceived, but Thucydides would surely have let fall some indication of their conduct, instead of passing them over with a silent contempt . It is natural to suppose that Delphi could not have retained its reputation for omniscience through so man ages withou the aid of agents scattered through the country who insinuated them_ selves into the confidence of the unsuspecting and kept the oracle supplied with the latest information, but there is no evidence for this. On the other hand, we hear much that is to the credit of Delphi. Liberality in religious matters is not usually supposed to be a characteristic `of priestly aristocracies, but the case of Socrates shows that, in his time at least, Delphi was far more liberal than average Athenian sentiment .