The Validity Of Manteis In Homer's Social Class

But, who could become a seer and what was his social status? Homer addresses a number of great manteis and all of them appear to have descended from exalted generations of manteis. If he did not explain directly that seers belonged to the demiurgic workers class, along with craftsmen and fishermen, we would easily identify them as part of the aristocracy; for they appear to be extraordinary figures in Homer, just as his heroes are . Withal, Solon listed manteis in the same social class as Homer did . However, there might have been a diversification between historical manteis of the upper class and those that came from lower classes regarding their credibility and intentions . On the contrary, a mythical seer’s quality of mantikē does not appear

As Dillery cited, ‘we have clear cases of diviners involved in colonization’ , which means that a mantis could be part of the oikistes group, or be the oikistis himself . For this case Dillery mentions the Athenian seer Lampon, who became the oikistis of the Athenian colony Thurii in 444 BC . But this was not the only socio-political event that Lampon was part of. He appears to have been a prominent, and according to both Dillery and Flower, an ‘important person’ as well as a close friend of Pericles . We find Lampon involved into Eleusinian ‘first-fruits’ offering, and Dillery states that Lampon managed to become ‘the sole drafter’ of olive oil . In addition to that, he implies that Lampon might have acted in this way to gain economical profit . Not only that, but he was also the “first Athenian signer of the Peace of Nicias” . So far, we do not know of a mythological seer who have acted in the same manner as Lampon. However, we can take Lampon as an example to justify the fact that a mantis in history was not a figure that could only be consulted whenever a community or individuals were in need of advice or a solution to a critical issue. On the contrary, a historical seer could act independently, as a citizen and a person with personal interests as well – without implying that he was necessarily taking advantage of his divinatory