Herodotus Literary Analysis

In ancient Greek literature, an Oracle is a person, sometimes a priest or priestess which acts as a medium to deliver a message from a divine entity. Herodotus speaks about oracle 's several times throughout his work; some of these times he writes about the messages they have received, and other times he criticizes them. Despite his few criticisms of some of the oracles, it is quite apparent that Herodotus, as well as the rest of the ancient Grecian world trusts them and holds them to a very high degree. Herodotus includes them in his work because he as well as the rest of the grecian world trust them and take them very seriously. Authors such as Rosaria Munson, Aubrey Selincourt, and James Romm have analyzed Herodotus’ writings, including oracles

Firstly, Romm discusses the arguments that are made against some oracles; he focuses directly on the oracle at Delphi. He brings up the point many people use. saying oracles can be bribed or swayed by political motives. “Although he acknowledges on two occasions that the priestess who delivered the oracles at Delphi could be bribed, he mostly ignores the possibility.” (Romm 144) Furthermore, Romm discusses his faith in lesser known and trusted oracles, such as Bakis. Historically, Bakis has been known to be vague, and really up for interpretation. This led many historians (at this time) to distrust this specific site. Herodotus however, defends it tooth and nail. “I cannot refute oracles by saying they are not true...When Bakis speaks without ambiguity, I do not dare to utter counterarguments about oracles, nor will I accept them from others.” (Herodotus 8.77) As mentioned earlier, many historians did not trust and criticized Bakis and other oracles; Romm analyzes Herodotus’s tone and offers a point of defense. “The vehemence of Herodotus’s tone here indicates he is responding to particular critics of Bakis or of prophecy verses in general…” (Romm 145) While many continue to criticize Herodotus, his inclusions of oracles, or oracles at all, one fact remains. The oracles were included in The Histories because many people believed them wholeheartedly; took them and believed in them. Many times they gave sound advice, others, they could prove to be just as human as Herodotus. However the general public, even scholars such as Herodotus believed in