Cave Experiences and Ancient Greek Oracles

Time฀and฀Mind:฀ The฀Journal฀of฀ Archaeology,฀ Consciousness฀฀ and฀Culture Volume฀2—Issue฀3 November฀2009 pp.฀265–286 DOI:฀ 10.2752/175169609X12464529903092 Reprints available directly from the publishers Photocopying permitted by license only © Berg 2009 Cave฀Experiences฀and฀ Ancient฀Greek฀Oracles Yulia฀Ustinova Yulia Ustinova is an Associate Professor at the Department of General History, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel. Her research focuses on ancient Greek religion and makes use of a multidisciplinary approach based on the application of results of neuroscience, anthropology, and sociology to the interpretation of historical phenomena. Among her publications are articles on various aspects of religion and culture in the Mediterranean area, and two books: The Supreme Gods of the Bosporan Kingdom: Celestial Aphrodite and the Most High God (Brill, 1999) and Caves and the Ancient Greek Mind: Descending Underground in the Search for Ultimate Truth (Oxford University Press, 2009). yulia@bgu.ac.il Abstract A great number of Greek oracular cults focused on caves, notwithstanding the divergent nature of the divine patrons of these cults. The fundamental reason for locating prophetic activities in caves was the need of the gods’ mediums to attain divine inspiration, that is, to alter their state of consciousness. For the purposes of divination the Greeks used at least two methods. The easiest and universally practiced technique was sensory deprivation. Modern research demonstrates that reduction of external stimuli leads to dream-like states, involving release of internal imagery. In the geographic setting of Greece, caverns and grottos provide an easy way to achieve total or near-total isolation. The second technique was based on special geological conditions, namely, a source of poisonous gas having euphoriant or psychotropic effect. The psychotropic or, in the opinion of the Greeks, numinous quality of the caves was common knowledge to such a degree that the association of seers and prophets with caves became universal. Key words: caves, altered states of consciousness, sensory deprivation, ancient Greece, oracles Time and Mind Volume 2—Issue 3—November 2009, pp. 265–286 266 Cave Experiences and Ancient Greek Oracles Introduction1 In contrast to tradition in many other cultures, oracles, and especially oracles directly inspired by the gods, played an extremely important role in ancient Greek religion and culture. The will of the immortals was announced to the mortals either in established sanctuaries, by members of temple personnel, or simply by laymen who believed they were in direct contact with the gods (Vernant 1974; Rosenberger 2001; Burkert 2005). The sheer number of oracles known to be focused on caves is no less than astonishing. Of the forty centers marked by V. Rosenberger on his map of the important Greek oracles (Rosenberger 2001: 214–15), natural and artificial grottos played a crucial role in the vatic practices of eleven (those at Delphi, Lebadeia, Ptoion, Oropus, Aegira, Bura, Olympia, Lycosoura, Delos, Hierapolis, and Claros). With the addition of less famous oracular grottos, this number increases considerably. Entering caves regularly occurs as a major requirement for a prophetic séance, both in established cults and in the activities of individual seers. There must be an important reason for locating prophetic activities in caves. I suggest that it was the need of the gods’ mediums to attain divine inspiration, that is, to alter their state of consciousness. The quest for the ultimate truth is the kernel of inspired prophecy. For the Greeks, its knowledge belonged to the gods alone, and could not be perceived by the limited human mind, held back by mundane thoughts (Plato, Phaedo 66 DE; Snell 1960: 136; Starr 1968: 349, 351). To share in the immortals’ knowledge, one had to liberate the soul from the burden of the mortal body by Yulia Ustinova becoming entheos, “having the god inside him- or herself ”: the seer or prophet served as mediums, conveying superhuman knowledge by means of their bodies. In the grip of the god, the medium could display a wide range of abnormal behavior, from mere detachment and aloofness to violent paroxysms. These mental states, which today would be referred to as “altered states of consciousness” or “non-ordinary consciousness” were enthousiasmos (divine possession) or mania (madness, frenzy) for the Greeks (Plato Timaeus 71 E–72 B; Phaedrus 244AB; Delatte 1934: 5; Motte 2004: 247–52; Dodds 1973: 64–101). Whatever was perceived or uttered in these states, prophecy, poetry, or mystical insights, was considered to be inspired by the gods and immeasurably superior to anything deliberated by the senses in sobriety (Cornford 1952: 88–106; Chadwick 1942; Vernant 1974: 12–13; Murray 1981). In modern words, attaining altered states of consciousness was a socially approved and admired way of arriving at visions, which were very different from any thoughts produced by the normal waking consciousness and interpreted encounters with ultimate divine reality. This article demonstrates that one of the most common techniques of attaining prophetic revelations in Greece was a sojourn in an isolated chamber or grotto. The fundamental reason for the predilection for such places in the quest of divine truth was that they provided an environment where consciousness could be manipulated with least difficulty. The easiest and universally practiced technique was sensory deprivation. The second technique was based on special geological conditions, Time and Mind Volume 2—Issue 3—November 2009, pp. 265–286 Cave Experiences and Ancient Greek Oracles 267 Yulia Ustinova namely, a source of poisonous gas having euphoriant or psychotropic effect. Caves and Sensory Deprivation Caves humble and overwhelm human beings (Devereux 2000: 87–96). His rationality notwithstanding, Seneca succumbed to the numinosity of a huge cavern: “When a cave supports a mountain on rocks deeply eroded from within, not made by human hand, but excavated to such size by natural causes, your soul is seized by a religious apprehension” (Epistulae 4.41.3). Cave experiences are many-sided. Caves are sometimes difficult to get to; entering a cave means crossing the border between the worlds of the familiar and the unknown, a very significant action bringing about discomfort, fear, and even true claustrophobia (Whitehouse 2001; Roux 1999: 320–1). Disorientation and diminished vision, as well as changes in olfactory and auditory perception, make even a short stay in a deep cave very different from the routine experience of most people, notwithstanding their cultural and social diversity. Ridden by fear, people who enter caves even for a short time may lose control of their actions and feelings, just as it happened in the Marabar Caves to the characters of E.M. Foster’s A Passage to India. Deep caves are pitch black and almost entirely sound-proof. When modern guides leading cave tours switch off electricity, and the visitors find themselves in absolute darkness, with only the gentle plop of distant drops of water or flutter of bat wings breaking the complete silence, even those with strong nerves grow tense. Now let us imagine a mystic, shaman, or visionary voluntarily entering a cave, perhaps after a fast, and staying there alone for some time. In a deep cave, under conditions of almost total suppression of sensory input, our mind enters a state of severe “stimulus hunger,” and the subjective self emerges forcefully (Solomon 1965; Zubek 1969; Austin 1998: 102–4; La Barre 1980: 39; Wulff 1997: 76; West 1975: 300; Martindale 1981: 316; Geels 1982; 44; Siikala 1982: 105; Merkur 1985: 172; Joseph 2003: 9). Cavers and geologists who specialize in the study of caves report visual and auditory hallucinations, especially after remaining underground for long periods (Clottes 2004). When awake, the human mind needs to be occupied permanently. Elimination of external stimuli forces the mind to concentrate within itself, and brings about intensive discharge of inner imagery. This condition is known as sensory deprivation. Normal people participating in laboratory tests, when placed in dark sound-proof spaces, start to hallucinate after a few hours, experience the sensation of floating, or press the “panic button” to be let out (Suedfeld 1969; Kubie 1965; Vernon et al. 1965; Freedman et al. 1965; Martindale 1981: 99, 255; Winkelman 2000: 149; Austin 1998: 102). In an autobiographic account of experiments with solitude-isolation tanks, physician and psychoanalyst J.C. Lilly describes his own “dreamlike states, trancelike states, mystical states,” which comprised encounters with celestial teachers and divine guardians (Lilly 1972: 40, 42). Sensory deprivation is one of the common techniques of inducing altered states of consciousness. They can be attained by different methods, and involve different experiences, but they share a Time and Mind Volume 2—Issue 3—November 2009, pp. 265–286 268 Cave Experiences and Ancient Greek Oracles most important common characteristic: they silence the waking consciousness and free the mind from the limitations of the alert ego, allowing self-transcendence and awareness undisturbed by the external world (James 1961: 329; Hood 1997; Ellwood 1980: 15–17; Geels 1982: 28–9; Laski 1990: 41; Hollenback 1996: 40–1; Shanon 2002: 262–3; Austin 1998: 24–30; Gimello 1978: 178; D’Aquili and Newberg 1998: 193–4; Lex 1979: 122–30; Ludwig 1968; Martindale 1981: 316–20; Wulff 1997: 188–99; Winkelman 2000: 148–52; 2002: 1878; 2004: 198; Pearson 2002: 74). Non-ordinary or altered states of consciousness vary in their intensity, from conditions in which the experiencer remains aware of his environment to deep unconscious states (Siikala 1982; LewisWilliams 2002: 134; Harner 1990: 48–9; Austin 1998: 21). They are actively sought within many societies (Shanon 2002: 324–6). For example, in ancient Greece, certain forms of madness, considered to be inspired by supernatural forces, were actively sought. “Our greatest blessings come to us by way of madness, provided it is given us by divine gift,” says Socrates in Plato’s Phaedrus (244A; Dodds 1973: 64). In contrast, other kinds of madness were expunged, either by purifications or other religious means, or by more rational methods (Ustinova 1992–8, with refs). For the experiencer the truth attained in hallucinations is purer than mundane knowledge and immutable (D’Aquili and Newberg 1998: 195; Ellwood 1980: 20; Shanon 2002: 264–6; Streng 1978: 146). Altered states of consciousness create “an enhanced sense of reality,” their noetic quality manifests itself in the feelings of Yulia Ustinova illumination and ultimate salience, and they change the experiencer’s attitude to life (Ramachandran and Blakeslee 1998: 180, 185–7; cf. Winkelman 2000: 152; Newberg et al. 2001: 110; Andresen 2001: 268; Shanon 2002: 265). These states involve wordless comprehension and are hence difficult to describe; as a consequence, experiencers and their community often regard them as ineffable (Austin 1998: 515–16; Geels 1982: 52). Floating in an isolation tank is the most radical way to cut off somatosensory input. However, sensory deprivation does not need to be extreme in order to result in altered states of consciousness. Withdrawal to caves and solitary places is known to lead to the attainment of visions and revelations. Even reductions in information input force the alert mind to start projecting its own contents onto the consciousness: the individual then has vivid fantasies or hallucinates (Hastin Bennet 1965; Shurley 1962; La Barre 1980: 43; Merkur 1985: 172; Wulff 1997: 76.). Lack of external input forces the mind to focus on every minimal stimulus the environment offers. Thus, rare sounds or a spot of light in the dense darkness of a cave may lead to vivid hallucinations (Martindale 1981: 317; Austin 1998: 102). Mystics and ascetics practicing social isolation in order to achieve enlightenment attained alterations of consciousness by reducing external stimuli: dwelling in a cave, in a hollow tree, in an isolated cell, or at the top of a pillar not only reduced the distractions of the human society, but also caused disturbances in body image and auditory and visual hallucinations (Ludwig 1968: 71; Wulff 1997; Blacker 1975: 50, 53, 63–4; Hollenback 1996: 96–119; Merkur 1993: 30–3; Roux Time and Mind Volume 2—Issue 3—November 2009, pp. 265–286 Cave Experiences and Ancient Greek Oracles 269 Yulia Ustinova 1999: 300–7; 310–15). Examples from various periods and cultures are abundant. Social isolation and sensory deprivation are among the most common techniques used by shamans in their deliberate vision quest. Round about puberty, the individual suffering anxiety and/or sensing his shamanic vocation withdraws to a lonely place, such as a cave, den, or hole in the snow, and stays there for several days, fasting. During this vigil the future shaman has a vision, which would guide him for the rest of his life (Merkur 1985: 134, 144, 171–6; Merkur 1993: 31; Winkelman 2002: 1876; Harner 1990: 22; Lewis 1989: 32). D. Lewis-Williams (2002), looking for the origins of the Palaeolithic parietal art, argues convincingly that it was mental imagery of shamanistic trances experienced in the depth of the caves that led the prehistoric painters to image-making in caverns. Accounts of the rigorous spiritual discipline followed by Celtic seers, before uttering prophecy, include preliminary period of seclusion, special diet, and absence of distraction (Chadwick 1942: 6). Early Buddhists believed that in order to obtain supernatural powers (of invisibility, clairvoyance, traveling through the air, etc.) one had to “bring his thoughts to a state of quiescence, practice diligently the trances, attain to insight, and be a frequenter of lonely places” (Hollenback 1996: 190; 199; Gimello 1978: 180–3). The account of a yogic method of achieving knowledge of Brachman, the Absolute in the Svetasvatara Upanishad, entails retirement to a solitary place, such as a mountain cave, as a prerequisite for meditation and realization of the truth (Ellwood 1980: 49; Stace 1960: 42). In Senegal, the Wolof marabouts still withdraw into caverns in order to obtain visions (Rouget 1990: 47, 52). According to the Jewish tradition, encounters of several spiritual leaders with their God took place in caverns. Moses spoke to the Lord in the Meeting Tent, but when he asked to see God’s glory, the Lord placed him in a hollow of a rock (Ex. 33.22). Having fled from Jezebel, Elijah the prophet abided in a cave in the wilderness, and heard the voice of God (1 Kings 19.9–18). Jewish apocalyptists combined isolation in nocturnal darkness, fasting, sleep deprivation, and deliberate mood alteration, in order to attain visions and spiritual communion with the divine (Merkur 1989). Rabbi Simeon ben Yohai, miracle worker and sage, spent more than twelve years in a cave together with his son, left it by the god’s order, and performed miracles and purifications (Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Shabbat, 33B–34A; Rosenfeld 1999). These narratives seem to reflect the popular belief that the withdrawal into a cave was inductive to numinous experiences of hearing or seeing the god. The most famous revelation ever recorded, the Apocalypse of St. John, is supposed to have been written in a cave on the island of Patmos, where St. John was banished in AD95 (Euseb. Hist. Eccl. 3.18.1; 3.20.8–9). The cave, known as the Holy Grotto of Revelation, is now encircled by the monastery of St. John the Theologian. The legend associating the vision of the Apocalypse with a cave may have been prompted by the tradition of solitary contemplation as a way to enlightenment, which is attested in later Christianity (Roux 1999: 301–7; McGinn 2005: 243; Stace 1960: 186–96). The contemplative life of Carmelite nuns is based on “stripping away” Time and Mind Volume 2—Issue 3—November 2009, pp. 265–286 270 Cave Experiences and Ancient Greek Oracles of all the distractions by living in a bare cell, and by absolute silence (Chadwick 1942: 66–8; Rouget 1990: 44). The Shakers of Saint Vincent (the Antilles) withdraw into “secret rooms” where they undertake their spiritual journeys in isolation and immobility (Rouget 1990: 54). Thus, mystics of assorted denominations seek a “kind of mentally induced anesthesia of corporeal senses” (Hollenback 1996: 170) in order to achieve the state of consciousness leading to mystical experience. Chemical aspects of sensory deprivation are most revealing. Many hallucinogenic drugs act by impairing sensory input (Iversen 2001: 53). Altered states of consciousness, usually associated with drug consumption, can also be reached without these external aids (Zuckerman 1969: 122). Endorphins, natural opiates in the brain, act as natural euphoriants in the human body, and one of the triggers of endorphin discharge is sensory deprivation (Lewis 1989: 10, 34; Blackmore 1993: 107; Winkelman 2004: 208) Hence, blocking sensory input in any way seems to lead to visions and hallucinations, irrespective of the technique employed, whether drug use or withdrawal to an isolated place. In neurological terms, there is no consensus on the biochemical and neurophysiological mechanism of hallucination in a state of sensory deprivation (Wulff 1997: 77; D’Aquili and Newberg 1998: 194; Newberg et al. 2001: 40; Lex 1979: 132–47; Newberg and D’Aquili 2000: 56; cf. Andresen 2001: 260–1). Subjective senses of absolute spacelessness and of limitlessness of self are prominent in the descriptions of sensory deprivation. Another subjective result of sensory isolation may be reaching Yulia Ustinova an out-of-body experience (OBE), known also as ecsomatic state, transport, soul flight, soul journey, or astral projection. Such experiences range from brief, “everyday” sensations of watching oneself from a distance, which can be felt while quite awake, to a deep mystical state (Blackmore 1993; Gabbard and Twemlow 1984: 22–3; Green 1968). Cross-cultural distribution of these experiences suggests that they result from the common neurological characteristics of the human mind. Thus caves and dark spaces, creating conditions of stimulus hunger or sensory deprivation, can be instrumental in attaining various altered states of consciousness, ranging from intense contemplation to visions, hallucinations, and out-of-body experiences. Haruki Murakami weaves these ideas into the plot of his novel The Windup Bird Chronicle, making its main character descend into a deep well to live through a breathtaking adventure of hallucinations and visions. Cave Oracles To comprehend the reasons which impelled the Greeks to associate inspired divination with caves and grottos, we will now briefly survey textual and archaeological evidence on some oracular shrines and reassess the nature of their cults. Then we will juxtapose this data with observations on the neuropsychology of altered states of consciousness. The resulting insights will provide some keys to the Greek predilection for caves in their quest of divine wisdom. Oracles of the Nymphs and Pan Caves were often sacred to the Nymphs, youthful and mischievous residents of Time and Mind Volume 2—Issue 3—November 2009, pp. 265–286 Cave Experiences and Ancient Greek Oracles 271 Yulia Ustinova water-springs, rivers, mountains, and groves (Larson 2001). Pan, the god of wild nature, dwelt in caves, and was often worshiped in conjunction with the Nymphs (Borgeaud 1988: 49). Dozens of caves sacred to the Nymphs and to Pan are known today (Amandry 1984: 404–9; Faure 1964: 141–2, 149–50; Edwards 1985: 19–27; Borgeaud 1988: 48–9, 151–4, 207; Lavagne 1988: 60–2; Larson 2001: 226–58; Herter 1937; Brommer 1956: 992–1007). Pan was also able to seize or invade human beings, making them panoleptic, possessed by the god. Panolepsy brings about divine inspiration, which confers mantic abilities. Both panic and panolepsy are numinous, both are indicative of the god’s presence, but in different ways (Borgeaud 1988: 103–13). Panic is entirely negative, it paralyses every emotion but fear, while panolepsy, in contrast, like other types of divine possession, is a temporary elevation above the normal human condition. It may be frightening and seem weird, but it inspires hallucinations that have noetic quality. No wonder that in his native Arcadia, Pan was the foremost oracular deity (Borgeaud 1988: 3, 47; Jost 1985: 491). He was credited with the ability to inspire vatic utterings in Attica as well as in Arcadia (Menander Dyscolus 571–2; Gomme and Sandbach 1973: 134, 223). Prophetic inspiration and poetic rapture, as well as other kinds of madness, were ascribed to nympholepsy, possession by the Nymphs (Plato, Phaedrus 238CD; Pollux 1.19; Hesychius s.v. numpholêptoi; Iamblichus De mysteriis 3.10; Pausanias 4.27.4, 9.3.9, 10.12.11; Borgeaud 1988: 106; Connor 1988: 160). In the cave of the Nymphs on Mt. Cithaeron many local inhabitants became nympholepts, possessed and endowed with oracular powers (Plutarch Aristides 11; Pausanias 9.3.9). A fascinating case of possession by the Nymphs is attested to by inscriptions from the cave at Vari in Attica (Schörner and Goette 2004): in the late fifth–early fourth century BC, Archedamus of Thera, who devoted much time and care to the cave, experienced states of trance there, most probably on numerous occasions, which he describes as “seizure by the Nymphs” (Inscriptiones Graecae I³ 977–80). In one of these seizures, as his dedication states, he had a vision of the Nymphs instructing him “to work out” the cave. According to the inscriptions, Archedamus embellished the cave and planted a garden near its entrance. He even carved his self-portraits there: crude low reliefs of a man holding stoneworking tools appear twice near inscriptions mentioning his name. The inner part of the cave is dominated by a rudely cut and mutilated enthroned figure, as well as by an oval object, both hewn out of the rock. These are most probably representations of a Nymph and of an omphalos. The omphalos is a recognized symbol of the oracular center at Delphi (see below) and designates the prophetic function of Archedamus’ cave. Omphaloi are found in other prophetic caves, for instance at Claros. It is noteworthy that the oracular god Apollo was worshiped in the cave together with the Nymphs (Inscriptiones Graecae I³ 981; Wickens 1986: 2: 115; Farnell 1907: 4: 130; Schörner and Goette 2004: 47–9). The Vari cave, rich in natural and manmade awe-inspiring features, offers a rare opportunity to contemplate the emotions of a believer, and in particular of a nympholept, inside a cave Nymphaeum. Archedamus Time and Mind Volume 2—Issue 3—November 2009, pp. 265–286 272 Cave Experiences and Ancient Greek Oracles returned to the darkness of the cave, lighted by a torch or a lamp, to worship the Nymphs, engrave his dedications, and depict himself on the rock. The intentions behind the extraordinary act of self-portraiture can only be surmised, but it could not been mere mundane self-commemoration. Was it a wish to merge with the walls of the sacred cave? To stay forever together with the Nymphs? To dedicate himself to them? Regrettably, he did not explain. We can speculate how the altered state of consciousness described by Archedamus as nympholepsy was reached. A stay in the darkness and silence of the cave was perhaps sufficient; if a person entered it with some faint source of light, the powerful figure of the seated Nymph, stalactites, and other natural features could inspire fantastic visions (Connor 1988: 184–9). Mental images passing through the mind during such a sojourn could readily be interpreted as prophetic revelations. Several other cases of nympholepsy (Larson 2001: 238, 257; Mitford 1980; Masson 1966: 20–1; Masson 1981) attested epigraphically suggest a remarkably constant pattern which includes, first, a cave as the mise-en-scène, second, possession by the Nymphs or at least their cult, and third, endowment of chosen devotees with inspired visions, vatic or poetic abilities (Larson 2001: 18). The cave itself became in some cases just an emblem of divinely enthused prophecy: in several popular centers of divination (for instance, the Corycian cave), the emphasis shifted from inspired vaticination to lot oracles, which even then retained the patronage of the Nymphs (Amandry 1984; Larson 1995: 347). Many less frequented Yulia Ustinova caves preserved their reputation as places of nympholepsy or panolepsy. It is almost self-evident that Pan and the Nymphs, unrefined deities of nature, would be worshiped in the wild, in their pristine abodes. It is also only to be expected that men born and bred to live in human society, when separated from it in an untamed landscape, would feel a spectrum of emotions from fear to bucolic delight, and would ascribe these sensations to the gods of the countryside. No commonsensical explanation can clarify why a stay in a cave supposedly belonging to Pan and the Nymphs would cause people to hallucinate and utter prophecies. However, if the effects of isolation and sensory deprivation are considered, panolepsy and nympholepsy become less mysterious: they ensued from a normal reaction of the human mind to these conditions. Cave Oracles along the Valley of Meander Caves, dark and menacing, seemed bottomless to people who did not dare to penetrate their damp depths. Unsurprisingly, they invited the image of the netherworld, were often considered entrances to Hades, and called Charonia or Plutonia, after Charon the ferryman of the dead and Pluto the lord of the netherworld. The idea that caves served as passages to the netherworld was so common that even relatively unimposing grottos could be given the title of Plutonium. Many of these caverns were used for divination. Oracles of the dead were usually placed at the entrances to the Netherworld. More often than not, these nekuomanteia were located in caves: out of the “big four” named Time and Mind Volume 2—Issue 3—November 2009, pp. 265–286 Cave Experiences and Ancient Greek Oracles 273 Yulia Ustinova by D. Ogden, the oracles at Taenarum and at Heracleia Pontica were based in caves, and the one at Avernus near Cumae was intrinsically associated with caves in myth (Ogden 2001). The valley of Meander in Asia Minor presents a distinctive type of oracles. Strabo reports the existence of three Charonia along the Meander: at Hierapolis, at Acharaca and the Aornum near Magnesia, and explains the multiplicity of cave oracles by soil conditions, favoring the formation of caves (Strabo 12.8.17; 14.1.11; Ustinova 2002). They were located in caves emitting mephitic gases, deadly or dangerous for ordinary people. For instance, at Hierapolis (modern Pamukkale) there was a deep cave with a narrow opening filled with misty poisonous vapors which killed every animal entering the cave. Only the eunuch priests of the goddess Cybele were able to enter the cave, either due to their techniques of holding their breath, or antidotes, or a phenomenon like enthousiasmos (Strabo 13.4.14; Pliny Historia Naturalis 2.95; Dio Cassius 68.27.3). The Plutonium has been identified: it is a deep chamber and a hole, emitting highly poisonous gases. Thus, ancient accounts of gas discharge have been verified by modern scientists and found precise (Bean 1989: 202–4, fig. 82; Cross and Aaronson 1988; Negri and Leucci 2006). A fragment from a treatise by a sixthcentury AD Neoplatonist, Damascius, gives a description of a temple of Apollo at Hierapolis, with a descent into the noxious grotto and visions he experienced there, including the promise of escape from Hades (Zintzen 1967: 176). Excavations of the site revealed a temple of Apollo adjacent to the cavern. There was direct access to the Plutonium from inside the temple of Apollo, and recently geophysical research demonstrated that a fault passed immediately beneath the temple. The existence of a direct connection between the mephitic cavern and the temple of Apollo suggests that Damascius’ description is correct: one could enter the grotto from the temple (Bean 1989: 206–7; de Bernardi Ferraro 1993: 138–43; Negri and Leucci 2006). The most probable explanation of this connection would be utilization of the hallucinogenic qualities of the gas, in order to produce (prophetic) visions. Cave Oracles of Gaia That Gaia, the goddess of the Earth, would be worshiped near or inside openings leading into the depth of the earth appears as self-evident as the location of Ploutonia and oracles of the dead at such places. The association of divination with the goddess of the earth seems to be very ancient (BouchéLeclercq 1879–82: 2, 251–60). In several cases, Gaia’s oracle is unequivocally focused on a natural cleft or cavern. An oracle of the Gaia at Aegira in Achaia was located in a cave into which the priestess descended to utter prophecy (Pliny Historia Naturalis 28.41.147; Pausanias 7.25.13). There was an oracle of Gaia in Olympia, above what is called “the Cave” (Pausanias 5.14.10; Sinn 2000: fig. 2; Parke 1967: 27). Oracles of Underground Dwellers The list of seers who uttered gods’ orders, not only when alive but also after their death, includes the famous Orpheus and less famous figures such as Trophonius, Amphiaraus, and others. The evidence Time and Mind Volume 2—Issue 3—November 2009, pp. 265–286 274 Cave Experiences and Ancient Greek Oracles on the cults of subterranean dwellers reveals a pattern based on a series of common features. Etiological legends on disappearances into chasms and caves vary from place to place, but in most cases vanishing into a chasm is a divine blessing, rendering a mortal hero immortal. These tales look like explanations invented to account for the daimon’s life in the depth of the earth: myths that give reasons for an ancient cult type. The status of these characters is that of extreme liminality: they belong neither to the living nor to the dead nor to the gods. Thus, they are able to act as mediators between the worlds, disclosing to the living secret knowledge normally confined to the dead or to the gods (Ustinova 2002, with refs). Trophonius, whose oracle was in Lebadeia (Boeotia), was also believed to have vanished there beneath the earth. From then on, he lived in a cave under a hill as an oracular god.2 The oracle in Lebadeia already existed by the sixth century BC. In both literary and epigraphic sources, the act of consultation of the oracle is described as descent—catabasis. We are lucky to possess both a detailed description of the procedure there by Pausanias (9.39.1–40.1), and a unique account of the enquirer’s experience by Plutarch, in the dialogue The Daimonion of Socrates (Moralia 590B–592F). The preparation for the consultation took several days and included not only preliminary sacrifices, but also secluded lodging in a small building, cold baths, prayers, special diet, and sexual abstinence, as well as music and dancing. Only when well-prepared for the tremendous experience—that is, exhausted, tense with anticipation, and disposed to hallucinating—did the consulter Yulia Ustinova descend to Trophonius’ cave. The symbolism of the Trophonium was that of the netherworld: at night two boys personifying Hermes, the conductor of the souls to Hades, led the inquirer to the oracular cave (Bonnechere 2003: 139–64; 236–48). The prophetic grotto was most probably an artificial circular hole, several meters deep: the inquirer lay on the ground, and then, according to Pausanias, he was swiftly drawn into another hole, as if by an eddy (Pausanias 9.39.11). The inner space appears to have been a small recess at the bottom of the larger grotto, where only the feet of the consulter entered, while he remained stretched out on the floor (Bonnechere 2003: 159–63). In fact, the image of the whirl could derive from the vortex experienced by the inquirers at the beginning of their prophetic trance—that is, altered state of consciousness—induced by the immersion into the dark coolness of the grotto. Plutarch’s description of the consulter’s experience in the Trophonium is a fascinating account of the communication of a young man named Timarchus, who spent two nights and a day in the cave, in a world beyond normal experience. He could not discern whether he was awake or dreaming, but it seemed to him that after passing through profound darkness, he was struck on the head, “the sutures parted and released his soul.” In a sleep or in trance, Timarchus’ soul flew above an ocean with shining isles, and in a mixture of joyfulness and awe he heard voices that explained to him the mystery of metempsychosis and predicted his imminent death (Hani 1975; Babut 1984; Bonnechere 2003: 154–64). The most substantial inference from Plutarch’s description is that an inquirer in Time and Mind Volume 2—Issue 3—November 2009, pp. 265–286 Cave Experiences and Ancient Greek Oracles 275 Yulia Ustinova the Trophonium lived through an out-ofbody experience: lack of awareness of the surroundings, passage through darkness to translucent and pure light, flight over a magnificent country, visual and auditory hallucinations, feeling of unearthly happiness, and the final gift of clairvoyance. Quite predictably, Timarchus’ altered state of consciousness was accompanied by culturally patterned visions, reflecting Greek religious and philosophical ideas, such as mythical geography of the netherworld, as well as the notions of the soul, its liberty, and need of purification. The variance in the kind of hallucinations experienced in the Trophonium was known to Pausanias (9.39.11), who observes that inside the cavern different inquirers learn the future in different ways, sometimes by sight and at other times by hearing. Thus, the oracle of Trophonius presents an example of direct inspiration of the inquirers by a deity, which took place in the closed space of the grotto, after complex preparation. Regrettably, this detailed account is the exception to the rule: testimony on other oracular centers consists of indirect allusions or brief hints to altered states of consciousness experienced by consulters or personnel. However, the evidence on the Trophonium suggests that under similar conditions, namely cultic preparations, isolation inside a cave, and religious awe, ancient Greek consulters would have attained similar experiences and interpreted them in a similar way. The baffling status of the immortal subterranean daimons who do not fit into any of the usual Greek categories, and the artificial provision of mythical explanations of their cults’ focus on prophecy and initiations, suggest that it was the firm connection to the caves and underground chambers that constituted the core of the cult. This core, revelation of hidden knowledge in a cave, could not be changed; it had therefore to be explained and preserved (Ustinova 2002). The Apolline Prophecy No other Olympian could be farther from the subterranean world (Plutarch Moralia 566C), but it was Apollo who returned there time and again, prophesying from the darkness of natural caves and artificial grottos. The god of arts is even portrayed standing near the omphalos inside a vault, presumably the Delphic grotto, on the famous relief by Archelaos of Priene, known as “Apotheosis of Homer” (Richter 1969: fig. 248). The sanctuary of Apollo at Claros in Asia Minor was associated with prophecy from a very early date (Robert 1967: 306–8; Parke 1985: 219–24). The mantic session at Claros was held in a grotto (Tacitus Annales 2.54, Pliny Historia Naturalis 2.232). The lifestyle of the medium comprised seclusion, purifications, fasting, and other austerities, and indeed the strain of possession by the god. The underground holy of holies consists of two chambers with a passage between them (Robert 1967: 309–10, fig. 117; Bean 1979: 158–9; Parke 1985: 138). In the almost total darkness, this intricate passage must have given the impression of a maze. Influenced by his faith, the confusing subterranean passage, and by purifications he had undergone before entering the grotto, he drank the sacred water and started singing (Iamblichus De mysteriis 3.11). In modern terms, at Claros the medium attained altered Time and Mind Volume 2—Issue 3—November 2009, pp. 265–286 276 Cave Experiences and Ancient Greek Oracles state of consciousness due to the effect of his descent into the underground grotto, enhanced by earlier preparations. In the sanctuary of Apollo Ptoios on Mt Ptoion in Boeotia, behind the temple was an artificial grotto (Guillon 1943: 96; 137, 140, pl. 14.). An early third-century BC hexameter inscription on a base of a statue dedicated to Apollo Ptoios provides valuable information on the mantic procedure at the sanctuary. The god described as “nightly” appeared to the dedicant in the gloomy grotto, and inspired his revelation. The contact between the god and the mortal at Ptoion is pictured as a direct encounter, the communication including not only auditory, but also visual messages (Guillon 1943: 109–10, 144; Guillon 1946). It seems that the prophet attained his visions in an ecstatic state, which affected his articulation, at least on some occasions, as Herodotus’ story of the prophecy given to the Persian Mys hints (Herodotus 8.135; Robert 1950; Schachter 1981–94: 1: 66). At Nea Paphos on Cyprus, Apollo Hylates is mentioned in two fourth-century BC syllabic inscriptions placed at the entrance and within a cave, actually a rock-cut tomb furnished for the god’s use by the dedicant of the complex (Mitford 1960; Mlynarczyk 1980). Oracular activities are likely to have been performed at the site. The conversion of an abandoned tomb into Apollo’s shrine would be unthinkable if it had not been done in accordance with the demands of the god’s cult. The middle of the Greek world was in Delphi. It was marked with the omphalos, the umbilical midpoint of the universe. The heart of Delphi was a cavern, which accommodated the omphalos and the seat of the greatest of the Greek oracles. Although only few were allowed into “the innermost Yulia Ustinova part of the temple,” the ceremony of oraclegiving has never been a secret from the public: not only Delphic clergy attended it, but also the inquirers themselves, after they had performed the customary purifications and sacrifices (Parke and Wormell 1956: 1, 17). Ancient authors referred to this ceremony freely, and painters depicted it on vases. Prophecy was delivered by a simple woman from Delphi, known as the Pythia. The Pythia had to live in isolation from all contact and relation with strangers, to forestall any emotion which would interfere with her function as a mouthpiece of the god. Having purified herself, the Pythia entered the holy of holies in the innermost part of the temple known as the adyton (“space not to be entered”). The adyton contained the omphalos, a round stone believed to designate the navel of the world, a laurel tree, a golden statue of Apollo, and a tripod, which the Pythia mounted during the oracular session (Courby 1927: 59–69, fig. 61; Roux 1976: 134–5, figs 7 and 8; Roux 2000: 195, fig. 13; Parke 1939: 22; 27–30; Delcourt 1981: 42; Green 1989: 110). Inspired by Apollo, the Pythia responded to the questions posed by inquirers (Parke 1939: 32; Parke and Wormell 1956: 1, 34–40; Flacelière 1938: 76–9; Roux 1976: 64–84; Latte 1940; Maurizio 1995; 1998). After the Pythia had been asked the question, she entered an altered state of consciousness, known to the Greeks as prophetic mania (Rohde 1925: 312–13; Dodds 1973: 65–101; Maurizio 1995: 70–9; Delcourt 1981: 54–5; Roux 1976: 157). Although possessed by the god, she was neither frenzied nor hysterical. In both painted and verbal depictions, she appears calm and concentrated. Her utterance, heard by Time and Mind Volume 2—Issue 3—November 2009, pp. 265–286 Cave Experiences and Ancient Greek Oracles 277 Yulia Ustinova the consulters present in the adyton, was articulate and could be rendered in verse or in prose, even if the meaning remained obscure: the oracular Apollo was Loxias, “the ambiguous” (Strabo 9.3.5; Amandry 1950: 164; Delcourt 1981: 54–5; Roux 1976: 157; Maurizio 1995: 70). Since the fifth century BC the written tradition refers to the Delphic adyton, holy of holies, as an artificial vault, located below the floor level of the rest of the temple. Athenian dramatists describe the god living in this grotto: in Aeschylus’ trilogy Oresteia, the Delphic Apollo is praised as “[the god] who dwells in the great well-built cavern” (Aeschylus Choephori 797, cf. 803–5; 954; Eumenides 180; Euripides Ion 220–9, 233, 245; Andromache 1093; Phoenissae 237). The Boeotian poet Pindar returns to the same image (Pythian Odes 5.68, 8.63). In Aristonoos’ hymn, composed in the fourth century BC, the Corinthian poet mentions “the inner recess in the umbilical center of the earth and the Delphic laurel tree” (Furley and Bremer 2001: 1: 116–18; 2: 38–45) The Delphic cavern is pictured as a manmade vault. If indeed it is so, the fact that the cavity in the Delphic adyton was artificial does not contradict other testimonies and does not indicate that it was not used in the mantic procedure. Actually, in Trophonius’ oracle at Lebadeia and in Apollo’s sanctuary at Claros, the grottos in which consulters descended were also man-made. The first accounts of the prophetic breath in the adyton are Hellenistic: “the breath,” pneuma, emanating from the earth through a chasm in the adyton, is considered to be a material substance inspiring the Pythia to utter oracles (Strabo 9.3.5; PseudoLonginus On the sublime 13.2; cf. Diodorus of Sicily 16.26). At the beginning of the second century AD, Plutarch witnessed the Pythia’s behavior and the layout of the Delphic temple directly during his long service there as a priest. These subjects are mentioned by Plutarch in two dialogues, The Oracles at Delphi No Longer Given in Verse and The Obsolescence of Oracles. The testimony of Plutarch, who had profound first-hand knowledge of the Delphic ritual, and wrote for people he could hardly deceive on these matters, attests to the same three basic elements of the action in the holy of holies as described by Strabo: a hollow, emanations, and the subsequent mantic inspiration of the Pythia (Moralia 397C, 404F, 437C–D; Flacelière 1943; 1947; 1962; Schröder 1990; Jaillard 2007).3 Until the beginning of the twentieth century, this tradition had never been questioned. The archaeological excavations in Delphi, which yielded no substantial remains of the adyton (Courby 1927: 65–6; Will 1942/43: 16; Bourguet 1914: 249–50; Roux 1976: 93), brought about a completely different approach to the reconstruction of the prophetic séance (Oppé 1904). The prevailing opinion now was that neither subterranean hollows nor gases affecting the mental state of the Pythia ever existed in the adyton (Will 1942/43; Amandry 1950: 215–30; Fontenrose 1978: 197; Parke 1939: 21; Nilsson 1961–1967: 1, 172; Dietrich 1978: 6; Rosenberger 2001: 53). As a result, the entire ancient tradition had to be explained away, and this task was ingeniously carried out by several scholars (Poulsen 1920: 22–3; Will 1942/43: 174; Flacelière 1965: 51; Roux 1976: 156–7; Dodds 1973: 73; Lloyd-Jones 1976: 67; Parke 1967: 80; Green 1989: 102). Time and Mind Volume 2—Issue 3—November 2009, pp. 265–286 278 Cave Experiences and Ancient Greek Oracles This skepticism is astonishing. In 458 BC, when Aeschylus’ trilogy Oresteia was staged, some of the people in the audience had attended mantic séances in Delphi: we know about official Athenian delegations to Delphi during the first decades of the fifth century BC , to say nothing about private persons who also consulted the oracle. All these inquirers visited the adyton and were present at the Pythia’s prophesying. Even if Aeschylus had wished to invent or lie about the Delphic adyton, he would not have been able to mislead his audience on this subject. In the Eumenides the god himself appears twice in his oracular shrine, “the bright god who dwells in the cave” (verse 221). How could Apollo be placed in the wrong surroundings? The idea to attribute a nook in the earth to the “bright god” would be bizarre, unless the audience knew about the subterranean vault. And why would a pious Athenian poet wish to fabricate details concerning the sacred Delphic temple? It seems much more probable and simple to hold that, in the fifth century BC, there was an artificial vault in the Delphic adyton. Moreover, the first French excavators have already taken note of the fact that only meager traces of the adyton had been preserved, and that these remains did not contradict the traditional image of the temple (Courby 1927: 47–80; Roux 1976: 94). Although there was no trace of a natural cleft below the temple floor, indications of the existence of an artificial grotto were discovered: the area, indicated by the break in the pavement near the back wall of the temple, is sunken, lying more than two meters below the surrounding floor (Courby 1927: 66, fig. 55; Roux 1976: 110; Suárez de la Torre 2005: 22). Recent Yulia Ustinova geological discoveries in the area of Delphi have succeeded in identifying the prophetic vapor and in demonstrating that both fracturing and emissions of intoxicating gases occurred under the temple of Apollo (de Boer and Hale 2001; de Boer et al. 2001; Spiller et al. 2002). These gases, methane and ethane and ethylene, are colorless and can produce mild narcotic effects. Ethylene in particular was used as a surgical anesthetic till the 1970s, and in light doses, it allows full control of the body, but creates a sensation of euphoria (Hale et al. 2003; de Boer et al. 2001).4 Thus, after a century of disbelief, the ancient tradition declared “unsatisfactory” has been proven to offer quite an accurate account of the layout of the temple and ritual at Delphi. Yet notwithstanding the reassessment of the ancient tradition on pneuma, testimonies regarding the existence of a submerged vault in the Delphic adyton are still misinterpreted, and only a few authors acknowledge the role of pneuma in Pythia’s inspiration (Mikalson 2005: 106; Ogden 2001: 245; Curnow 2004: 56; Bowden 2005: 19). Thus, it is essential that written accounts of the layout of the Delphic adyton are basically coherent in their own right, and cannot be disregarded in their entirety as fallacious nuisance. It is clear now that at Delphi the holy of holies was an artificial grotto. There the Pythia experienced a state of trance, which was induced by inhalation of hydrocarbon gases emitted from the fissure in the bedrock. The whole temple appears to have been erected in order to take in a strip of the prophetic ground. The chasm connects the holy of holies to the depth of the earth. The omphalos represents the navel of the Time and Mind Volume 2—Issue 3—November 2009, pp. 265–286 Cave Experiences and Ancient Greek Oracles 279 Yulia Ustinova Fig 1 The ruins of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi (Photo: Paul Devereux) world, while the laurel tree symbolizes its summit, and from this tree Apollo himself speaks. Accordingly, the inner sanctum of the Delphic temple, considered the umbilical center of the cosmos, comprises its two extremities, linking the highest and the lowest spheres. The action in the adytum is focused on the Pythia, who conveys the words of the god. Thus, similarly to many other prophetic caves, the Delphic cavern served as a place where the medium attained altered states of consciousness, but unlike most other oracular centers, the method employed there relied on the use of narcotic gases rather than on sensory deprivation. Interpretation We have seen that a great number of Greek oracular cults focused on caves, irrespective of the divergent nature of the divine patrons of these cults. In some instances, the association with caves may be explained, at least superficially, by recourse to the divine personalities of the gods. For instance, the Nymphs were the deities of wild nature, dwelling in caves. What could be more self-evident than to ascribe to their power those cases of trance, sometimes prophetic or poetic, which occurred in caves to people isolated from society and from the light of day? Another category of prophecy given in Time and Mind Volume 2—Issue 3—November 2009, pp. 265–286 280 Cave Experiences and Ancient Greek Oracles caves is connected to the chthonic realm. Myth tended to place entrances to the netherworld in multiple caves, and many among them became seats of prominent oracles, where predictions were given either by the dead or by deities of the netherworld. However, the issue becomes more complicated when we move on to oracles belonging to Apollo, whose personality was not connected with the chthonic realm. It would be logically fallacious to devise an individual explanation for each instance of prophecy in caves. It may be assumed that the fundamental reason for locating prophetic activities in caves was the need of the gods’ mediums to attain divine inspiration, that is, to alter their state of consciousness. Ages-long experience had taught the Greeks to induce altered states of consciousness by a variety of means, and for the purposes of divination they used at least two methods. The easiest and universally applicable technique was sensory deprivation. In the geographic setting of Greece, caverns and grottos provided an easy way to achieve total or almost-total isolation. The second method required special geological conditions, namely, a source of poisonous gas having a euphoriant or psychotropic effect. It is essential that the gas be inhaled in sufficient concentration, therefore in a closed space. Natural combination of these requirements was provided by clefts opening into caves in the Meander valley, whereas in Delphi the prophetic gas was to be inhaled inside an artificial grotto. Inspired divination was in many cases based on direct contact between the god and the consulter. Even if we assume that at the sanctuary of Trophonius inquirers Yulia Ustinova who did not appear likely candidates for surrender to trance were segregated at the stage of preliminary ceremonies, their number remained limited. Cases of alteration of consulters’ consciousness and ensuing reports of divine revelations must have been common enough to allow institutions like this oracular center to operate smoothly. Apparently visitors to caves sacred to the Nymphs did not necessarily become nympholepts, but their trances were sufficiently frequent to inspire numerous jokes and allusions. Thus, cave experiences of ordinary Greeks were quite widespread. In addition, well-established oracular centers like Delphi and Claros employed fulltime intermediaries of the gods. Although the neurological mechanisms of their trances and revelations did not differ from those of laymen, their ascetic lifestyle, expertise, and natural proclivity allowed them to manipulate their consciousness much more efficiently. As a result, their predictions were especially impressive and well-known—as well as their oracular techniques. Prophetic priests, members of sacred embassies, sent to Delphi and Claros by cities all over the Mediterranean, private consulters who applied to these oracles for advice, and individuals who personally experienced altered states of consciousness in caves—all these people knew that descent into caves evoked noetic sensations. Thus, caves were instrumental in stimulating altered states of consciousness in two ways, either as places of isolation causing sensory deprivation, or as closed spaces allowing inhalation of narcotic gases in appropriate dosage. This psychotropic or, in the opinion of the Greeks, numinous quality of the caves was common knowledge to Time and Mind Volume 2—Issue 3—November 2009, pp. 265–286 Cave Experiences and Ancient Greek Oracles 281 Yulia Ustinova such a degree that the association of seers and prophets with caves became universal. Notes 1 This and related subjects are treated in detail in my book on Greek cave experiences (Ustinova 2009). The research was supported by the Israel Science Foundation (Grant No. 557/05). 2 The most systematic and profound research on Trophonius was conducted by P. Bonnechere (2003). For the oracle and its history, see also Schachter 1967; Schachter 1981–94: 3, 66–89; Schachter 1984; Clark 1968. 3 The reliability of Roman authors on Delphic matters has been even more sweepingly refuted by scholars, than that of the Greek writers. Re-reading of the pertinent passages in Latin literature (e.g. Lucan Pharsalia 5. 67–236, cf. Bayet 1946: 69; Cicero De divinatione 1. 19. 38; 1. 36. 79; 1. 50. 115) demonstrates however that this approach is based on a preconception. 4 A different approach to the location of the faults and the nature of gaseous emissions is suggested by Etiope et al. (2006). These studies have recently been questioned by D. Lehoux (2007), whose criticism is based mainly on a return to the century-long refusal to accept ancient evidence of the existence of a chasm and gases in Delphi at its face value. Moreover, Lehoux’s arguments are compromised by his prima facie antagonism regarding the line of interpretation used by J. Z. de Boer, G. Etiope and their teams. In Lehoux’, opinion, any attempt to account for ancient religious phenomena using results of modern science is methodologically erroneous. This approach, based on the understanding of human beings as social actors separated from their biological nature, limits historical research. Although at present the exact composition of the “oracular breath” at Delphi may not be established exactly, it is essential that geological and physiological aspects of oracle-giving in Delphi be studied along with written and archaeological evidence. References Amandry, P., 1950. La Mantique apollinienne à Delphes. Paris: Boccard. Amandry, P., 1984. “Le culte des nymphes et de Pan à l’antre Corycien.” Bulletin de correspondance hellénique Suppl. 9: 395–425. Andresen, J., 2001. “Conclusion: Religion in the Flesh: Forging New Methodologies for the Study of Religion.” in J. Andresen (ed.), Religion in Mind: Cognitive Perspectives on Religious Belief, Ritual, and Experience. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 257–87. Austin, J., 1998. Zen and the Brain: Toward and Understanding of Meditation and Consciousness. Cambridge, MA and London: MIT Press. Babut, D., 1984. “Le dialogue de Plutarque ‘Sur le démon de Socrate.’ Essai d’interprétation.” Bulletin d’Association Guillaume Budé: 51–76. Bayet, J., 1946. “La Mort de la Pythie: Lucain, Plutarque et la chronologie delphique.” Mélanges dédiés à la mémoire de Félix Crat. Paris. 1: 53–76. Bean, G. E., 1979. Aegean Turkey. London: J. Murray. Bean, G. E., 1989. Turkey Beyound the Meander. London: E. Benn. Blacker, C., 1975. “Other World Journeys in Japan.” in H.R.E. Davidson (ed.), The Journey to the Other World. Cambridge: Brewer/Rowman/Littlefield, pp. 42–72. Blackmore, S., 1993. Dying to Live: Near-Death Experiences. Buffalo, NY: Prometheus. Bonnechere, P., 2003. Trophonios de Lébadée. Leiden: Brill. Borgeaud, P., 1988. The Cult of Pan in Ancient Greece. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press. Bouché-Leclercq, A., 1879–82. Histoire de la divination. Paris: Leroux. Bourguet, E., 1914. Les ruines de Delphes. Paris: Fontemoing. Bowden, H., 2005. Classical Athens and the Delphic Oracle. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Time and Mind Volume 2—Issue 3—November 2009, pp. 265–286 282 Cave Experiences and Ancient Greek Oracles Brommer, F., 1956. “Pan.” Pauly-Wissowa Realencyclopädie für Altertumswissenschaft Suppl. 8: 949–1008. Burkert, W., 2005. “Mantik in Griechenland.” Thesaurus Cultus et Rituum Antiquorum. Los Angeles: Getty Publications, 3: 1–51. Chadwick, N.K., 1942. Poetry and Prophecy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Clark, R.J., 1968. “Trophonios: The Manner of His Revelation.” Transactions of the American Philological Association 99: 63–75. Yulia Ustinova Delcourt, M., 1981. L’Oracle de Delphes. Paris: Payot. Devereux, P., 2000. The Sacred Place: The Ancient Origins of Holy and Mystical Sites. London: Cassell. Dietrich, B.C., 1978. “Reflections on the Origins of the Oracular Apollo.” Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies 25: 1–18. Dodds, E.R., 1973. The Greeks and the Irrational. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. Edwards, C.M., 1985. Votive Reliefs to Pan and the Nymphs. Ph.D. thesis, New York University. Clottes, J., 2004. “Hallucinations in Caves.” Cambridge Archaeological Journal 14(1): 81–2. Ellwood, R.S., 1980. Mysticism and Religion. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. Connor, W.R., 1988. “Seized by the Nymphs: Nympholepsy and Symbolic Expression in Classical Greece.” Classical Antiquity 7(2): 155–89. Etiope, G., Papatheodorou, G., Christodoulou, D., Geraga, M., and Favali, P., 2006. “The Geological Links of the Ancient Delphic Oracle (Greece): A Reappraisal of Natural Gas Occurrence and Origin.” Geology 10(34): 821–4. Cornford, F.M., 1952. Principium Sapientiae: The Origins of Greek Philosophical Thought. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Courby, F., 1927. Fouilles de Delphes. Vol. II. La terrasse du temple. Paris. Cross, T.M. and Aaronson, S., 1988. “The Vapours of One Entrance to Hades.” Antiquity 62: 88–9. Curnow, T., 2004. The Oracles of the Ancient World. London: Duckworth. D’Aquili, E. and Newberg, A.B., 1998. “The Neuropsychological Basis of Religions, Or Why God Won’t Go Away.” Zygon 33(2): 187–201. de Bernardi Ferraro, D., 1993. “Hierapolis.” Arslantepe, Hierapolis, Iasos, Kyme. Venice: Marsilio, pp. 105–89. de Boer, J.Z. and Hale, J.R., 2001. “The Geological Origins of the Oracle at Delphi, Greece.” in W.G. McGuire, D.R. Griffiths, P.L. Hancock, and O.S. Stewart (eds), The Archaeology of Geological Catastrophes. London: pp. 399–412. de Boer, J.Z., Hale, J.R., and Chanton, J., 2001. “New Evidence for the Geological Origins of the Ancient Delphic Oracle (Greece).” Geology 29(8): 707–10. Delatte, A., 1934. Les Conceptions de l’enthousiasme chez les philosophes présocratiques. Paris: Les Belles Lettres. Farnell, L.R., 1907. The Cults of the Greek States. Oxford: Clarendon. Faure, P., 1964. Fonctions des cavernes crétoises. Paris: Ecole Française d’Athènes. Flacelière, R., 1938. “Le fonctionnement de l’oracle de Delphes au temps de Plutarque.” Annales de l’École des Hautes Études de Gand 2: 69–107. Flacelière, R., 1943. “Plutarque et la Pythie.” Revue des études grecques 56: 72–109. Flacelière, R., 1947. Plutarque: Sur la disparition des oracles. Paris: Les Belles Lettres. Flacelière, R., 1962. Plutarque: Dialogue sur les oracles de la Pythie. Edition, introduction et commentaire. Paris: Les Belles Lettres. Flacelière, R. (1965). Greek Oracles. London: Elek Books. Fontenrose, J., 1978. The Delphic Oracle. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. Freedman, S.J., Grunebaum, H.U. and Greenblatt, M., 1965. “Perceptual and Cognitive Changes in Sensory Deprivation.” in P. Solomon (ed.), Sensory Deprivation. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, pp. 58–71. Time and Mind Volume 2—Issue 3—November 2009, pp. 265–286 Cave Experiences and Ancient Greek Oracles 283 Yulia Ustinova Furley, W.D. and Bremer, J.M., 2001. Greek Hymns. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck. Gabbard, G.O. and Twemlow, S.W., 1984. With the Eyes of the Mind: An Empirical Analysis of Out-of-Body States. New York: Praeger. Geels, A., 1982. “Mystical Experience and the Emergence of Creativity.” in N.G. Holm (ed.), Religious Ecstasy. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell, pp. 27–62. Hollenback, J.B., 1996. Mysticism: Experience, Response, and Empowerment. University Park, PA: Penn State University Press. Hood, R.W., Jr., 1997. “The Empirical Study of Mysticism.” in B. Spilka and D.N. McIntosh (eds), The Psychology of Religion. Boulder, CO and Oxford: Westview, pp. 222–32. Iversen, L., 2001. Drugs: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Gimello, R.M., 1978. “Mysticism and Meditation.” in S. Katz (ed.), Mysticism and Philosophical Analysis. New York: Sheldon, pp. 170–99. Jaillard, D., 2007. “Plutarque et la divination: la piété d’un prêtre philosophe.” Revue de l’histoire des religions 24: 149–69. Gomme, A.W. and Sandbach, F.H., 1973. Menander. A Commentary. Oxford: Oxford University Press. James, W., 1961. The Varieties of Religious Experience. London: Collins. Green, C., 1968. Out-of-the-Body Experiences. London: Hamish Hamilton. Joseph, R. (ed.), 2003. NeuroTheology: Brain, Science, Spiritituality, Religious Experience. San Jose, CA: California University Press. Green, P., 1989. Classical Bearings: Interpreting Ancient History and Culture. London: Thames & Hudson. Guillon, P., 1943. Les Trépieds du Ptoion. 2: Depositif matériel. Signification historique et religieuse. Paris: Ecole Française d’Athènes. Guillon, P. 1946. “L’Offrande d’Aristichos et la consultation de l’oracle du Ptoion au début du IIIe s. av. J.-C.” Bulletin de correspondance hellénique 70: 216–32. Jost, M., 1985. Sanctuaires et cultes d’Arcadie. Paris: J. Vrin. Kubie, L.S., 1965. “Theoretical Aspects of Sensory Deprivation.” in P. Solomon (ed.), Sensory Deprivation. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, pp. 208–20. La Barre, W., 1980. Culture in Context. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. Hale, J.R., de Boer, J.Z., Chanton, J.P. and Spiller, H.A., 2003. “Questioning the Delphic Oracle.” Scientific American, August. Larson, J. (1995). “The Corycian Nymphs and Bee Maidens of the Homeric Hymn to Hermes.” Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies 36(4): 341–57. Hani, J., 1975. “Le Mythe de Timarque chez Plutarque et la structure de l’exstase.” Revue des études grecques 88: 105–20. Larson, J., 2001. Greek Nymphs. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Harner, M., 1990. The Way of the Shaman. San Francisco: Harper. Hastin Bennet, A.M., 1965. “Sensory Deprivation in Aviation.” in P. Solomon (ed.), Sensory Deprivation. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, pp. 161–73. Herter, H., 1937. “Nymphen.” Pauly-Wissowa Realencyclopädie für Altertumswissenschaft 17: 1527–81. Laski, M., 1990. Ecstasy in Secular and Religious Experiences. Los Angeles, CA: Jeremy P. Tarcher. Latte, K., 1940. “The Coming of the Pythia.” Harvard Theological Revue 33: 9–18. Lavagne, H., 1988. Operosa antra: Recherches sur la grotte à Rome de Sylla à Hadrien. Rome: Ecole française de Rome. Lehoux, D., 2007. “Drugs and the Delphic Oracle.” Classical World 101(1): 41–56. Time and Mind Volume 2—Issue 3—November 2009, pp. 265–286 284 Cave Experiences and Ancient Greek Oracles Yulia Ustinova Lewis, I.M., 1989. Ecstatic Religion: A Study of Shamanism and Spirit Possession. London and New York: Routledge. Merkur, D., 1993. Gnosis: An Esoteric Tradition of Mystical Visions and Unions. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. Lewis-Williams, D., 2002. The Mind in the Cave. London: Thames & Hudson. Mikalson, J.D., 2005. Ancient Greek Religion. Oxford: Blackwell. Lex, B.W., 1979. “The Neurobiology of Ritual Trance.” in E. D’Aquili, C.D. Laughlin, and J. McManus (eds), The Spectrum of Ritual. New York: Columbia University Press, pp. 117–51. Mitford, T.B., 1960. “Paphian Inscriptions Hoffmann Nos. 98 and 99.” Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies 7: 1–10. Lilly, J.C., 1972. The Centre of the Cyclone: An Autobiography of Inner Space. New York: Julian Press. Lloyd-Jones, H., 1976. “The Delphic Oracle.” Greece and Rome 23: 60–73. Ludwig, A.M., 1968. “Altered States of Consciousness.” in R. Prince (ed.), Trance and Possession States. Montreal: R.M. Rucke Society, pp. 69–95. Martindale, C., 1981. Cognition and Consciousness. Homewood, IL: Dorsey Press. Masson, O., 1966. “Kypriaka.” Bulletin de correspondance hellénique 90: 1–31. Masson, O., 1981. “A propos des inscriptions chypriotes de Kafizin.” Bulletin de correspondance hellénique 105: 623–49. Maurizio, L., 1995. “Anthropology and Spirit Possession: A Reconstruction of the Pythia’s Role at Delphi.” Journal of Hellenic Studies 115: 69–86. Maurizio, L., 1998. “Narrative, Biographical and Ritual Conventions at Delphi.” in I. Chirassi Colombo and T. Seppilli (eds), Sibille e linguaggi oracolari. Pisa and Rome: Istituti Editoriali e Poligrafici Internazionali, pp. 133–58. McGinn, B., 2005. “Visions and Visualizations in the Here and Hereafter.” Harvard Theological Revue 98(3): 227–46. Merkur, D., 1985. Becoming Half Hidden: Shamanism and Initiation Among the Inuit. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell. Merkur, D., 1989. “The Visionary Practices of Jewish Apocalyptists.” The Psychoanalytic Study of Society 14: 119–48. Mitford, T.B., 1980. The Nymphaeum of Kafizin: The Inscribed Pottery. Berlin and New York: W. de Gruyter. Mlynarczyk, J., 1980. “The Paphian Sanctuary of Apollo Hylates.” Report of the Department of Antiquities of Cyprus: 239–52. Motte, A., 2004. “Le Sacré dans la nature et dans l’homme: la perception du devin chez les Grecs.” in J. Ries, A. Motte, and N. Spineto (eds), Les Civilisations méditerranéens et le sacré. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 229–54. Murray, P., 1981. “Poetic Inspiration in Early Greece.” Journal of Hellenic Studies 101: 87–100. Negri, S. and Leucci, G., 2006. “Geophysical Investigation of the Temple of Apollo (Hierapolis, Turkey).” Journal of Archaeological Science 33: 1505–13. Newberg, A.B. and D’Aquili, E., 2000. “The Creative Brain/The Creative Mind.” Zygon 35(1): 53–68. Newberg, A., D’Aquili, E. and Rause, V., 2001. Why God Won’t Go Away? Brain Science and the Biology of Belief. New York: Ballentine. Nilsson, M.P., 1961–1967. Geschichte der griecheischen Religion. Munich: C.H. Beck. Ogden, D., 2001. Greek and Roman Necromancy. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press. Oppé, A.P., 1904. “The Chasm at Delphi.” Journal of Hellenic Studies 24: 214–40. Parke, H.W., 1939. A History of the Delphic Oracle. Oxford: Blackwell. Parke, H.W., 1967. Greek Oracles. London: Hutchinson. Parke, H.W., 1985. The Oracles of Apollo in Asia Minor. London: Croom Helm. Time and Mind Volume 2—Issue 3—November 2009, pp. 265–286 Cave Experiences and Ancient Greek Oracles 285 Yulia Ustinova Parke, H.W. and Wormell, D.E.W., 1956. The Delphic Oracle. Oxford: Blackwell. Schörner, G. and Goette, H.R., 2004. Die Pan-Grotte von Vari. Mainz: Philipp Von Zabern. Pearson, J.L., 2002. Shamanism and the Ancient Mind: A Cognitive Approach to Archaeology. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press. Schröder, S., 1990. Plutarchs Schrift De Pythiae oraculis: Text, Einleitung und Kommentar. Stuttgart: B.G. Teubner. Poulsen, F., 1920. Delphi. London: Gyldenal. Shanon, B., 2002. The Antipodes of the Mind: Charting the Phenomenology of the Ayahuasca Experience. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Ramachandran, V.S. and Blakeslee, S., 1998. Phantoms in the Brain. London: Fourth Estate. Richter, G.M.A., 1969. A Handbook of Greek Art. London and New York: Phaidon. Robert, L., 1950. “Le Carien Mys et l’oracle du Ptöon.” Hellenica VIII. Paris: A. Maisonneuve, 23–38. Robert, L., 1967. “L’Oracle de Claros,” in C. Delvoye and G. Roux (eds), La Civilisation grecque. Bruxelles: Renaissance du livre, pp. 305–12. Rohde, E., 1925. Psyche. London: Kegan, Trench, Trubner. Rosenberger, V., 2001. Griechische Orakel: Eine Kulturgeschichte. Darmstadt: Theiss. Rosenfeld, B., 1999. “R. Simeon b. Yohai, Wonder Worker and Magician: Scholar, Saddiq and Hasid.” Revue des études juives 58: 349–84. Rouget, G., 1990. La Musique et la trance. Paris: Gallimard. Roux, G., 1976. Delphes: son oracle et ses dieux. Paris: Les Belles Lettres. Roux, G., 2000. “L’Architecture à Delphes: un siècle de découvertes.” in A. Jacquemin (ed.), Delphes: Cent ans après la Grande fouille. Essai de bilan. Paris: Ecole Française d’Athènes, pp. 181–99. Roux, J.-P., 1999. Montagnes sacrées, montagnes mythiques. Paris: Fayard. Schachter, A., 1967. “A Boeotian Cult Type.” Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies 14: 1–16. Shurley, J.T., 1962. “Hallucination in Sensory Deprivation and Sleep Deprivation,” in J.L. West (ed.), Hallucinations. New York and London: Grune & Stratten, pp. 87–91. Siikala, A.-L., 1982. “The Siberian Shaman’s Technique of Ecstasy.” in N.G. Holm (ed.), Religious Ecstasy. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell, pp. 103–21. Sinn, U., 2000. Olympia. Princeton: M. Wiener. Snell, B., 1960. The Discovery of the Mind: The Greek Origins of European Thought. New York: Harper Torchbooks. Solomon, P. (ed.), 1965. Sensory Deprivation. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Spiller, H.A., Hale, J.R., and de Boer, J.Z., 2002. “The Delphic Oracle: A Multidisciplinary Defense of the Gaseous Vent Theory.” Clinical Toxicology 40(2): 189–96. Stace, W.T., 1960. The Teachings of the Mystics. New York: New American Library. Starr, C.G., 1968. “Ideas of Truth in Early Greece.” La Parola del passato 23: 348–59. Streng, F.J., 1978. “Language and Mystical Awareness,” in S. Katz (ed.), Mysticism and Philosophical Analysis. London: Sheldon Press, pp. 141–69. Suárez de la Torre, E., 2005. “Delphes.” Thesaurus Cultus et Rituum Antiquorum. Los Angeles: Getty Publications, 3: 16–31. Schachter, A., 1981–94. Cults of Boeotia. London: University of London, Institute of Classical Studies. Suedfeld, P., 1969. “Introduction and Historical Background.” in J.P. Zubek (ed.), Sensory Deprivation: Fifteen Years of Research. New York: Appleton Century Crofts, pp. 3–15. Schachter, A., 1984. “A Consultation of Trophonios (IG 7. 4136).” American Journal of Philology 105: 258–70. Ustinova, Y., 1992–98. “Corybantism: The Nature and Role of an Ecstatic Cult in the Greek Polis.” Horos 10–12: 503–20. Time and Mind Volume 2—Issue 3—November 2009, pp. 265–286 286 Cave Experiences and Ancient Greek Oracles Ustinova, Y., 2002. ‘‘‘Either a Daimon, or a Hero, or Perhaps a God:’ Mythical Residents of Subterranean Chambers.” Kernos 15: 267–88. Ustinova, Y., 2009. Caves and the Ancient Greek Mind: Descending Underground in the Search for Ultimate Truth. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Vernant, J.-P. (ed.), 1974. Divination et rationalité. Paris: Editions du Seuil. Vernon, J.A., McGill, T.E., Gulick, W.L., and Candland, D.K., 1965. “The Effect of Human Isolation upon Some Perceptual and Motor Skills.” in P. Solomon (ed.), Sensory Deprivation. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, pp. 41–57. West, L.J., 1975. “A Clinical and Theoretical Overview of Hallucinatory Phenomena.” in R.K. Siegel and L.J. West (eds), Hallucinations: Behavior, Experience, and Theory. New York: Wiley, pp. 287–311. Whitehouse, R.D., 2001. “A Tale of Two Caves: The Archaeology of Religious Experience in Mediterranean Europe.” in P.F. Biehl and F. Bertemes (eds), The Archaeology of Cult and Religion. Budapest: Archaeolingua Foundation, pp. 161–7. Wickens, J.M., 1986. The Archaeology and History of Cave Use in Attica, Greece, from Late Prehistoric Yulia Ustinova Through Roman Times, Ph.D. thesis, Indiana University. Will, E., 1942/43. “Sur la nature du pneuma delphique.” Bulletin de correspondance hellénique 66/67: 161–75. Winkelman, M., 2000. Shamanism: The Neural Ecology of Consciousness and Healing. Westport, CT: Bergin & Garvey. Winkelman, M., 2002. “Shamanism as Neurotheology and Evolutionary Psychology.” American Behavioral Scientist 45(12): 1873–85. Winkelman, M., 2004. “Shamanism as the Original Neurotheology.” Zygon 39(1): 193–217. Wulff, D.M., 1997. Psychology of Religion. New York: Wiley. Zintzen, C., 1967. Damascii Vitae Isidori Reliquiae. Heidelsheim: G. Olms. Zubek, J.P. (ed.), 1969. Sensory Deprivation: Fifteen Years of Research. New York: Appleton Century Crofts. Zuckerman, M., 1969. “Hallucinations, Reported Sensations, and Images.” in J.P. Zubek (ed.), Sensory Deprivation: Fifteen Years of Research. New York: Appleton Century Crofts, pp. 85–125. Time and Mind Volume 2—Issue 3—November 2009, pp. 265–286