Greek mythology narrates the stories of great Greek manteis such as Calchas or Melampus mentioned in Homer and Herodotus. What one first notices in the narratives of mythological seers is the fact that they all belong to great families of diviners, for instance Theoclymenus , a fact which implies that the μαντική τέχνη was genetically transmitted . Apart from that, as Flower and Sara Johnston support, a god could also choose an individual to teach them or offer them the gift of being a mantis. Apollo appears to offer the mantikē to Cassandra and Branchus, while Zeus, or Athena, gifted Tiresias, a famous Greek seer, with the skill of divination. Historical manteis seem to have connected the origins of their divination skills with that of mythical
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Homeric seers appear to know what the god is thinking about an incident and, according to John Hanson, they have the ability to speak the mind of the god . One would assume that this type of connection to a particular deity requires extraordinary abilities that cannot be simply taught by another individual. That kind of ability could be equalized to the divine possessions observed in priests or priestesses who served particular gods, for instance in the case of Pythia who is a diviner herself, but not with the meaning of mantis. Additionally, what we notice in Homeric epics is that manteis are never seen interpreting the sacrificial entails . Mythical seers in Homer appear to practice divination in a different way than historical manteis did, which will be mentioned later. As Hanson pointed out, in the Iliad one can see Calchas invited by Achilles to express his opinion about the reason that a plague had struck the Greek army; what the seer appears to express is the view of the god Apollo himself, who caused the plague, and he explained that the god was angry because of the misbehaviour of Agamemnon towards to one of the gods priestesses, Chrysies . Concerning this incident, Hanson cites that Calchas ‘asked’ the god and then he just ‘informed’ the Greeks of the god’s state of mind . Is there a direct communication between the mantis and the
Homeric seers appear to know what the god is thinking about an incident and, according to John Hanson, they have the ability to speak the mind of the god . One would assume that this type of connection to a particular deity requires extraordinary abilities that cannot be simply taught by another individual. That kind of ability could be equalized to the divine possessions observed in priests or priestesses who served particular gods, for instance in the case of Pythia who is a diviner herself, but not with the meaning of mantis. Additionally, what we notice in Homeric epics is that manteis are never seen interpreting the sacrificial entails . Mythical seers in Homer appear to practice divination in a different way than historical manteis did, which will be mentioned later. As Hanson pointed out, in the Iliad one can see Calchas invited by Achilles to express his opinion about the reason that a plague had struck the Greek army; what the seer appears to express is the view of the god Apollo himself, who caused the plague, and he explained that the god was angry because of the misbehaviour of Agamemnon towards to one of the gods priestesses, Chrysies . Concerning this incident, Hanson cites that Calchas ‘asked’ the god and then he just ‘informed’ the Greeks of the god’s state of mind . Is there a direct communication between the mantis and the