DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14696#0275
214
The Pythia and the
Direct proof is wanting. But the following facts deserve to be
weighed. Dodona, as well as Delphoi, had an oracular caldron1.
A queer tale is told about it by Herakleides Pontikos (c. 390-
c. 310 B.C.), who is known to have written a treatise On Oracles"-:
' When the Thebans came to consult the oracle about a war, the prophetess
at Dodona made answer that they would be victorious, if they had committed
impiety. Hereupon one of the sacred envoys caught up Myrtila the prophetess,
and cast her into a caldron of hot water that was set there3.'
ing the boar Ssehrtmnir (Grimnismdl 22, translated by O. Bray The Elder or Poetic
Edda London 1908 p. n ; Gylfaginning 38, translated by K. Simrock op. cit. p. 273),
but quite wrong in his explanation of the motif) can be capped—as my daughter points
out to me—by 'The Three Cows' (J. Jacobs More English Eairy Tales London 1894
pp. 82—84, 228) and an incident in ' Rushen Coatie ' (id. id. pp. 150—155, 233—237).
See also 'The Sharp Grey Sheep' (J. F. Campbell Popular Tales of the West Highlands
Edinburgh i860 ii. 286—292 no. 43 English translation and Gaelic text). The same trait
reappears in sundry miracles ascribed to the saints (e.g. Jacobus de Voragine Legenda
Aurea cap. 107 p. 450 Graesse2 St Germanus and the calf, S. Baring-Gould The Lives of
the Saints Edinburgh 1914 xii. 653 St Abban and the calf, J. W. Wolf in his Zeitschrift
fiir deutsche Mythologie tind Sittenkunde Gottingen 1853 i. 213 St Mochua and the
stags; W.J. A. von Tettau—J. D. H. Temme Die Volkssagen Oslpreusseus, Litthanens
und Westprenssens Berlin 1837 p. 33 St Adalbert's finger).
1 Clem. Al. protr. 2. 11. 1 p. 10, 20 ff. Stahlin advra to'lvvv adea fxr) TroXvirpayfioveiTe
/nyde fiapadpuv ffrop-ara repareias epirXea 17 \ej3r]Ta QeairpooTLov 77 rpiwoSa Ktppatof rj
Audwvaiov xaXKewv k.t.X., a passage quoted by Euseb. praep. ev. 2. 3. 1 lot idem verbis
and paraphrased by Theodoret. Graec. affect, cur. 10. 3 p. 243, 3 ff. Raeder.../cat rrjv
KacraXtas wrjyijv /cat to KoXo<p<l)viov peWpov feat ttjv lepav 5pvv /cat to AwSawatof xaA/cetof
/cat tov Kippaiov rpiwoSa /cat tov Qecrirpuiriov \e(3r)Ta, k.t.X. On caldrons and tripods at
Dodona see further the Journ. Hell. Stud. 1902 xxii. 5 ff.
2 Frag. hist. Gr. ii. 197 Miiller, Daebritz in Pauly—Wissowa Real-Enc. viii. 481 f.
3 Zenob. 2. 84 Boicotois p:avrevaaio' avrij KaraparLKri eariv. 'Hpa/cXet'S^s yap <p7)<ri,
/xavrevof-ievoLS tols Qr)j3aioLS irepi woXi/xov aTreKpivaro 17 TrpcxprjTis 17 ev AwSlovti v'lktiv clvtois
acrefirjcracrii' 'icreadat.. eh de tQiv deupwv apiracras MvprlXav ttjv irpoipriTiv ivlfitxKev eh deppiov
TrapaKeipievov \e[3rjra.. dXXot §e (paaiv, on Q-q^aiois iro\epLov<Ti B6,a/3os p-avTis ifkelovs e<prj
viKTjaeLv, el irpodvaaiev t&v iryepLovwv eva. oi 5£ diroKTeivavres tov B6p.j3ov eviKijcrav. Plout.
prov. Alex. r. 9 repeats both explanations, but reads B6p.fipo<s and B6p./3pov.
Fig. 148.
The Pythia and the
Direct proof is wanting. But the following facts deserve to be
weighed. Dodona, as well as Delphoi, had an oracular caldron1.
A queer tale is told about it by Herakleides Pontikos (c. 390-
c. 310 B.C.), who is known to have written a treatise On Oracles"-:
' When the Thebans came to consult the oracle about a war, the prophetess
at Dodona made answer that they would be victorious, if they had committed
impiety. Hereupon one of the sacred envoys caught up Myrtila the prophetess,
and cast her into a caldron of hot water that was set there3.'
ing the boar Ssehrtmnir (Grimnismdl 22, translated by O. Bray The Elder or Poetic
Edda London 1908 p. n ; Gylfaginning 38, translated by K. Simrock op. cit. p. 273),
but quite wrong in his explanation of the motif) can be capped—as my daughter points
out to me—by 'The Three Cows' (J. Jacobs More English Eairy Tales London 1894
pp. 82—84, 228) and an incident in ' Rushen Coatie ' (id. id. pp. 150—155, 233—237).
See also 'The Sharp Grey Sheep' (J. F. Campbell Popular Tales of the West Highlands
Edinburgh i860 ii. 286—292 no. 43 English translation and Gaelic text). The same trait
reappears in sundry miracles ascribed to the saints (e.g. Jacobus de Voragine Legenda
Aurea cap. 107 p. 450 Graesse2 St Germanus and the calf, S. Baring-Gould The Lives of
the Saints Edinburgh 1914 xii. 653 St Abban and the calf, J. W. Wolf in his Zeitschrift
fiir deutsche Mythologie tind Sittenkunde Gottingen 1853 i. 213 St Mochua and the
stags; W.J. A. von Tettau—J. D. H. Temme Die Volkssagen Oslpreusseus, Litthanens
und Westprenssens Berlin 1837 p. 33 St Adalbert's finger).
1 Clem. Al. protr. 2. 11. 1 p. 10, 20 ff. Stahlin advra to'lvvv adea fxr) TroXvirpayfioveiTe
/nyde fiapadpuv ffrop-ara repareias epirXea 17 \ej3r]Ta QeairpooTLov 77 rpiwoSa Ktppatof rj
Audwvaiov xaXKewv k.t.X., a passage quoted by Euseb. praep. ev. 2. 3. 1 lot idem verbis
and paraphrased by Theodoret. Graec. affect, cur. 10. 3 p. 243, 3 ff. Raeder.../cat rrjv
KacraXtas wrjyijv /cat to KoXo<p<l)viov peWpov feat ttjv lepav 5pvv /cat to AwSawatof xaA/cetof
/cat tov Kippaiov rpiwoSa /cat tov Qecrirpuiriov \e(3r)Ta, k.t.X. On caldrons and tripods at
Dodona see further the Journ. Hell. Stud. 1902 xxii. 5 ff.
2 Frag. hist. Gr. ii. 197 Miiller, Daebritz in Pauly—Wissowa Real-Enc. viii. 481 f.
3 Zenob. 2. 84 Boicotois p:avrevaaio' avrij KaraparLKri eariv. 'Hpa/cXet'S^s yap <p7)<ri,
/xavrevof-ievoLS tols Qr)j3aioLS irepi woXi/xov aTreKpivaro 17 TrpcxprjTis 17 ev AwSlovti v'lktiv clvtois
acrefirjcracrii' 'icreadat.. eh de tQiv deupwv apiracras MvprlXav ttjv irpoipriTiv ivlfitxKev eh deppiov
TrapaKeipievov \e[3rjra.. dXXot §e (paaiv, on Q-q^aiois iro\epLov<Ti B6,a/3os p-avTis ifkelovs e<prj
viKTjaeLv, el irpodvaaiev t&v iryepLovwv eva. oi 5£ diroKTeivavres tov B6p.j3ov eviKijcrav. Plout.
prov. Alex. r. 9 repeats both explanations, but reads B6p.fipo<s and B6p./3pov.
Fig. 148.