Undergraduate Course: Reading Greek Prophecy (CLTR10038)
Course Outline
| School | School of History, Classics and Archaeology |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | Greek prophecy is Greek literature and it continues throughout antiquity. Uniquely, it speaks with the voice of a deity and speaks about the future. Dealing with Greek prophecy in this course, we will explore the rich set of ways in which Greek literature expressed, incorporated and critiqued these divine depictions of future time. |
| Course description |
Greek prophecy is Greek literature. Greek oracles are poems almost invariably adapting early Greek hexameter idiom and oracular interpretation is a major theme of many later prose and verse texts. Yet Greek prophecy also stands apart in that it alone as a literary form was understood to mediate a god's voice and to instantiate a god's communication to mortals and in that it holds a privileged position as the genre through which Greeks typically articulated an interest in future time, the uncertain, and the potential. So how did antiquity read Greek prophecy, how and when was it appropriate to critique the oracle or challenge the mechanisms for its delivery and how did such understandings develop over time and in different locales?
This course pursues those questions by exploring a range of Greek texts in translation from the Archaic period to the Imperial period, which will offer divergent but complementary perspectives on prophecy as both a contemporary cultural phenomenon and as a historical artefact. The prescribed texts will allow us to examine the early history of oracles and their role at the heart of Greek literature as well as track the changing forms of oracular pronouncement down to the second century C.E., and to examine the diverse frameworks within which oracles and the giving of an oracle can be read and interpreted, both today and in antiquity: from the theological to the historical and from the philosophical to the philological.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | A pass in Classical Literature 2: Greek and Roman Epic (CLTR08008), or equivalent experience at the discretion of the Course Organiser. |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | Visiting students should usually have at least 3 courses in Classics, History or Archaeology (at least 1 of which should be in Classical Literature at grade B or above (or be predicted to obtain this)) for entry to this course. We will only consider University/College level courses.
** as numbers are limited, visiting students should contact the Visiting Student Office directly for admission to this course ** |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2025/26, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 0 |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 22,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
174 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Coursework:
1,000 word Short Assessment (20%)
1,500 word Short Assessment (30%)
2,500 word Essay (50%) |
| Feedback |
Students are expected to discuss their coursework with the Course Organiser at least once prior to submission, and are encouraged to do so more often. Meetings can take place with the Course Organiser during their published office hours or by appointment. Students will also receive feedback on their coursework, and will have the opportunity to discuss that feedback further with the Course Organiser. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- analyse a wide range of primary texts, placing them in their proper literary and historical context
- reflect critically on the set text(s) and the modern debate on the text(s), showing their ability to take an independent and well-argued stance
- show in research-led, argument-driven coursework their ability to conduct a sustained individual enquiry into a particular aspect of the topic
- engage in active scholarly debate with their peers and express their arguments in written form
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Reading List
Barker, E. (2006) 'Paging the Oracle: Interpretation, Identity And Performance In Herodotus 'history', Greece & Rome 53, 1-28.
Cairns, D. (2013) 'Divine and human action in the Oedipus Tyrannus', in W. Allan and D. Cairns (eds), Tragedy and Archaic Greek Thought (Swansea) 119-71
Hornblower, S. (2018) Lykophron's Alexandra, Rome, and the Hellenistic world (Oxford).
Kindt, J. (2006) 'Delphic Oracle Stories and the Beginning of Historiography: Herodotus' Croesus Logos', Classical Philology 101, 34-51.
Muecke, F. (1998) 'Oracles in Aristophanes', SemRom 1, 257-74.
Nagy, G. (1990) 'Ancient Greek Poetry, Prophecy, and Concepts of Theory', in J.L. Kugel (ed.), Poetry and Prophecy (Ithaca, NY) 56-64.
Parke, H.W. and Wormell, D.E.W. (1956) The Delphic oracle. Vol. 2, The oracular responses. (Oxford).
Pillinger, E.J. (2019) Cassandra and the poetics of prophecy in Greek and Latin literature (Cambridge).
Simonetti, E.G. (2017) A perfect medium?: Oracular divination in the thought of Plutarch (Leuven).
Thonemann, P. (2021) Lucian: Alexander, or, The false prophet (Oxford).
Woodard, R.D. (ed.) (2023) Divination and prophecy in the ancient Greek world (Cambridge).
Whitmarsh, T. (2022) 'When Oracles Don't Come True: Oedipus Tyrannus and Oracular Crisis', in M. Koiv, M. Laanemets, K. Drob-Krupe and S. Fink (eds), Crisis in Early Religion (Wiesbaden) 119-32. |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
- Thorough understanding of the development of prophecy from the Archaic to Imperial Period
- Experience in close reading and critical evaluation of prophecies and the prophetic style
- Experience in analysing the contexts in which ancient discussions about prophecy arose
- Ability to express an informed opinion and to communicate effectively with audiences of peers and experienced scholars
- Capacity to produce clear, concise and supported arguments in written form
- Ability to evaluate and synthesize scholarly debates |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Max Leventhal
Tel:
Email: mleventh@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | |
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