On the Cessation of Oracles

by Plutarch

Plutarch spent the last thirty years of his life serving as a priest in Delphi. He thus connected part of his literary work with the sanctuary of Apollo, the processes of oracle-giving and the personalities who lived or traveled there. One of his most important works is the "Why Pythia does not give oracles in verse".

The bulk of Plutarch's surviving work is collected under the title of the Moralia (loosely translated as Customs and Mores). It is an eclectic collection of seventy-eight essays and transcribed speeches, including On Fraternal Affection—a discourse on honor and affection of siblings toward each other, On the Fortune or the Virtue of Alexander the Great—an important adjunct to his Life of the great king, On the Worship of Isis and Osiris (a crucial source of information on Egyptian religious rites), along with more philosophical treatises, such as On the Cessation of the Oracles, On the Delays of the Divine Vengeance, On Peace of Mind and lighter fare, such as Odysseus and Gryllus, a humorous dialogue between Homer's Odysseus and one of Circe's enchanted pigs. The Moralia was composed first, while writing the Lives occupied much of the last two decades of Plutarch's own life.

84 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 5, 2017

About the author

Plutarch (later named, upon becoming a Roman citizen, Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus; AD 46–AD 120) was a Greek historian, biographer, and essayist, known primarily for his Parallel Lives and Moralia. He is classified as a Middle Platonist. Plutarch's surviving works were written in Greek, but intended for both Greek and Roman readers.

Reviews

[Chase]

In summary, after Christ died and rose again, the "gods" (demons) that controlled the oracles and spoke through the Pythia lost their powers. This puzzled the Greek thinkers in the early first centuries, such as Plutarch and his buddies. In essence, this book is a secular source that inadvertently proves that Mark 3:27 is a true statement, in that Jesus historically bound Satan and his armies. Cool stuff.

[Maan Kawas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a great essay about the oracles, though some passages were difficult to understand.

[Per · Rating 4 out of 5]

https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/...

[Maya · Rating 2 out of 5]

"we are not investigating which of the two lambdas in the verb 'hurl'⁠ is the one that it loses in the future tense [...] for these and similar problems may set the face in hard lines"