Le mirage des oracles militaires en Grèce ancienne : l'exemple de Leuctres (-371)
Divination, in both ancient sources and modern historiography, is closely linked to the ‘Great History’: political and military concerns. According to our sources, cities used oracles before every single battle. However, some historians, sceptical of this dependence on literary sources, are nonetheless confronting this paradigmatic vision. The recent publication of thousands of oracular strips from Dodona tends to vindicate those scholars. Indeed, a simple study of the content of those epigraphic documents, authentic and contemporary to the facts, reveals the ‘banal’ nature of the questions and the private character of the requests; far enough from military preoccupations. Hence, the content of those strips leads to an increasing suspicion of the authenticity of literary oracles, as presented by our ancient sources. In this thesis, an attentive review of those that are associated with the great battle of Leuktra, leaves no doubt that such oracles should not be studied as part of factual History.
Religion Oracles History Greece Omens Military Leuctra Dodona