Contenu du sommaire : Divination et révélation dans les mondes grec et romain

Plutarch speculated on divination on the basis of his own Delphic, priestly experience. His account of a Pythia's death through disrespect of the rules of oracular consultation is that of a man involved in ritual knowledge and duties. His Middle-Platonic critical examination of philosophical theories partly relies on rite and piety as constituents of tradition. Ritual concern and philosophical training are thus closely linked in producing a dynamical understanding of divination for which Plutarch's attempt at sketching a general theory of signs and divine manifestations provides an example. Pursuing of philosophical Truth may be considered as the highest form of hosiotes because of the light it shades on ritual enactment. In the new garb of the philosopher-priest, Plutarch was acting for the accomplishment of ancestral piety.

Which reasons might explain the wish for a revealed rule in order to found or legitimate religious realities? Being rooted on a theological representation, the main, active motive for divine intervention within the religious realm lies in the social function of oracles, which are invested with truth's garments related to gods' direct communication. As a consequence, in late period, search for salvation's paths and speculative theology's revelations did not dry the flow of oracles with cultic contents. Therefore, it is wondered if emphasis on questions concerned with theological matters is not a “magnifying glass” effect, at a time when literature is invaded with religious interests.

During the first two centuries the Christian discourse relates the figures of prophet and martyr to each other. Early Christian texts of that time took part in the contemporary philosophical and religious debates about the philosophical meaning and the religious authority of divination and oracles in the Roman Empire. The Christian discourse tries to disassociate himself from the contemporary world of sophists, rhetors and philosophers. At the same time, Christian authors were seeking an original position in order to legitimate their own religious discourse; they found it in the marginal position of the prophesying martyr.

From the time Auguste Bouché-Leclercq's Histoire de la divination dans l'Antiquité was published, magic and divination have been carefully separated, whereas ancient sources give evidence for the existence of a relationship between these fields. This relationship can be understood better through an anthropological approach that pays attention to ancient categories. Such an approach demonstrates how the Greeks conceived the notion of magic, starting from a cluster of representations belonging to their own culture, in the context of a favourable historical conjuncture. During the fifth century BCE, the negative connotations associated with the new developing notion of magic were indeed used in polemics against traditional knowledge in order to stigmatise diviners, disqualify their practices and denounce their political influence.

This article presents a cultural approach to Alexandrian allegorical interpretation. It analyses it in terms of contemporary assumptions about the revelatory nature of traditional texts and how this belief resulted in casting the reader or commentator in the role of a contemplative and in the use of traditional texts in spiritual and moral education. Commentaries by Origen, Evagrius, Didymus, Hermeias, and Olympiodorus are examined. The controversial question of the Catechetical and Neoplatonic Schools of Alexandria is also addressed. The purpose of the article is to demonstrate how allegorical exegesis was coherent and meaningful within Late Antique Alexandrian culture and how allegorical exegesis was used in practice.

Studies on the Sibyl have multiplied these last years, proof, if needed, of the liveliness of the question of divination and oracular poetry. Due to the long-lasting and broad influence of her message, the Sibyl, truthful recipient of divine communication, lent herself to many uses and appropriations in the areas of religion and the arts. She inspired poets, painters and composers and nourished the hopes of various religious groups. The present review article benefits from recent publications to report on current views about the ancient prophetess and her survival through the ages.