Bakis (also Bacis; ) is a general name for the inspired

prophet In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divinity, divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings ...

s and dispensers of

oracle An oracle is a person or thing considered to provide insight, wise counsel or prophetic predictions, most notably including precognition of the future, inspired by deities. If done through occultic means, it is a form of divination. Descript ...

s who flourished in

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

from the 8th to the 6th century B.C. Philetas of Ephesus,

Suda The ''Suda'' or ''Souda'' (; ; ) is a large 10th-century Byzantine Empire, Byzantine encyclopedia of the History of the Mediterranean region, ancient Mediterranean world, formerly attributed to an author called Soudas () or Souidas (). It is an ...

s. v. Βάκις Aelian and

John Tzetzes John Tzetzes (; , Constantinople – 1180, Constantinople) was a Byzantine poet and grammarian who lived at Constantinople in the 12th century. He is known for making significant contributions in preserving much valuable information from ancien ...

distinguish between three: a

Boeotia Boeotia ( ), sometimes Latinisation of names, Latinized as Boiotia or Beotia (; modern Greek, modern: ; ancient Greek, ancient: ), is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the modern regions of Greece, region of Central Greece (adm ...

n, an Arcadian and an

Athenian Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

The Boeotian

The first Bakis, a native of Eleon in Boeotia, who was the most famous, was said to have been inspired by the nymphs of the Corycian Cave. His oracles, of which specimens are extant in

Herodotus Herodotus (; BC) was a Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus (now Bodrum, Turkey), under Persian control in the 5th century BC, and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria, Italy. He wrote the '' Histori ...

and Pausanias, were written in

hexameter Hexameter is a metrical line of verses consisting of six feet (a "foot" here is the pulse, or major accent, of words in an English line of poetry; in Greek as well as in Latin a "foot" is not an accent, but describes various combinations of s ...

verse, and were considered to have been strikingly fulfilled. Apocryphal oracular pronouncements in

dactylic hexameter Dactylic hexameter is a form of meter used in Ancient Greek epic and didactic poetry as well as in epic, didactic, satirical, and pastoral Latin poetry. Its name is derived from Greek (, "finger") and (, "six"). Dactylic hexameter consists o ...

s circulated under his name during times of stress, such as the Persian and

Peloponnesian War The Second Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC), often called simply the Peloponnesian War (), was an Ancient Greece, ancient Greek war fought between Classical Athens, Athens and Sparta and their respective allies for the hegemony of the Ancien ...

The Arcadian

The Arcadian Bakis was believed to have originated from

Caphyae Caphyae or Kaphyai () was a city of ancient Arcadia situated in a small plain, northwest of the lake of Orchomenus. It was protected against inundations from this lake by a mound or dyke, raised by the inhabitants of Caphyae. The city is said to h ...

and to have also been known as Aletes or Cydas. He was said to have cured the women of

Sparta Sparta was a prominent city-state in Laconia in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (), while the name Sparta referred to its main settlement in the Evrotas Valley, valley of Evrotas (river), Evrotas rive ...

of a fit of madness.

Scholia Scholia (: scholium or scholion, from , "comment", "interpretation") are grammatical, critical, or explanatory comments – original or copied from prior commentaries – which are inserted in the margin of the manuscript of ancient a ...

Aristophanes Aristophanes (; ; ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek Ancient Greek comedy, comic playwright from Classical Athens, Athens. He wrote in total forty plays, of which eleven survive virtually complete today. The majority of his surviving play ...

, ''Peace'', 1070; on ''Birds'', 962 Many of the oracles which were current under his name have been attributed to Onomacritus.

The Athenian

Extant sources provide no information on this Bakis. However, according to Suda, Bakis was also an epithet of

Peisistratus Pisistratus (also spelled Peisistratus or Peisistratos; ; – 527 BC) was a politician in ancient Athens, ruling as tyrant in the late 560s, the early 550s and from 546 BC until his death. His unification of Attica, the triangular ...

. From this one may conclude that oracular poetry was popular at the times of Peisistratus, and that he himself wrote poetry of this kind.

Evolution of the term "Bakis"

According to Erwin Rohde, "Bakis" was a title originally applied to any one of a class of ecstatic seers, but later came to be thought of as the proper name of an individual. There was also a verb βακίζω "to prophesy", secondarily derived from the name Bakis (similar to the case of σιβυλλίζω : Σίβυλλα "

Sibyl The sibyls were prophetesses or oracles in Ancient Greece. The sibyls prophet, prophesied at holy sites. A sibyl at Delphi has been dated to as early as the eleventh century BC by Pausanias (geographer), PausaniasPausanias 10.12.1 when he desc ...

").''

Realencyclopädie der Classischen Altertumswissenschaft The Pauly encyclopedias or the Pauly-Wissowa family of encyclopedias, are a set of related encyclopedias on Greco-Roman world, Greco-Roman classical studies, topics and scholarship. The first of these, or (1839–1852), was begun by compiler A ...

'', Band II, Halbband 4, Artemisia-Barbaroi (1896), ss. 2801 – 2802

Notes

References

* which in turn cites: **

, ''Histories'', 8. 20, 77, 9. 43 ** Pausanias, ''Description of Greece'', 4. 27, 9. 17, 10. 12 **

, ''Peace'', 1070 ** Göttling, ''Opuscula Academica'' (1869) 7th-century BC clergy 6th-century BC clergy Classical oracles Archaic Greek seers Ancient Boeotians {{AncientGreece-stub