Promanteia was the privilege, bestowed upon cities or individuals by the

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

, to ask the

Pythia Pythia (; ) was the title of the high priestess of the Temple of Apollo (Delphi), Temple of Apollo at Delphi. She specifically served as its oracle and was known as the Oracle of Delphi. Her title was also historically glossed in English as th ...

in priority.

History

In the course of the classical period the priests of

Delphi Delphi (; ), in legend previously called Pytho (Πυθώ), was an ancient sacred precinct and the seat of Pythia, the major oracle who was consulted about important decisions throughout the ancient Classical antiquity, classical world. The A ...

established a series of honours bestowed upon those who offered benefactions to the sanctuary, whether they were cities or individuals. The institution of promanteia was one of the privileges offered initially to cities which had offered aided the sanctuary financially. Promanteia was in fact the right to acquire an oracle before the others (yet still after the priests and the citizens of Delphi). Given the fact that oracle-giving was taking place on specific – and limited – periods of time, this right could actually be very important. From the beginning of the 4th century BC, this right continued to be accorded to individuals and to be combined with other privileges, such as prothysia and

proxenia Proxeny or () in ancient Greece was an arrangement whereby a citizen (chosen by the city) hosted foreign ambassadors at his own expense, in return for honorary titles from the state. The citizen was called (; plural: or , "instead of a foreign ...

.Sokolowski, F., 1954, "On Promanteia and Prothysia in Greek Cults", ''The Harvard Theological Review'', 47.3, pp.165-171

Naxians

On the base of the Sphinx of the Naxians in

, there is an inscription dated to 328–327 BC, renewing the ''promanteia'' for the inhabitants of

Naxos Naxos (; , ) is a Greek island belonging to the Cyclades island group. It is the largest island in the group. It was an important centre during the Bronze Age Cycladic Culture and in the Ancient Greek Archaic Period. The island is famous as ...

Bibliography

Christine Sourvinou-Inwood: What is polis religion? In: Oswyn Murray, Simon R. F. Price (Hrsg.): The Greek city. From Homer to Alexander. Clarendon, Oxford 1990

References

{{reflist Delphi Ancient Greek religion Divination