Prophets & Emperors: Human & Divine Authority from Augustus to Theodosius

Revealing Antiquity

by David Stone Potter

To practical modern minds, the idea of divine prophecy is more ludicrous than sublime. Yet to our cultural forebears in ancient Greece & Rome, prophecy was anything but marginal. It was the basic medium for recalling significant past events & expressing hopes for the future. It offered assurance that divinities truly cared about mortals. Prophecy also served political ends & was often invoked to support or condemn an emperor's actions. In Prophets & Emperors, David S. Potter shows us how prophecy worked, how it could empower & how the diverse inhabitants of the Roman Empire used it to make sense of their world. This is a fascinating account of prophecy as a religious & sociopolitical phenomenon. The various systems of prophecy--including sacred books, oracles, astrological readings, dream interpretation, the sayings of the holy--come into sharp relief. Potter explores the use of prophecy as a means of historical analysis & political communication, & he describes it in the context of the ancient city. Finally, he traces the reformation of the prophetic tradition under the influence of Christianity in the 4th century. Drawing on diverse evidence--from inscriptions & ancient prophetic books to Greek & Roman historians & the bible--he's produced a study that will engage all interested in the religions of the ancient Mediterranean & in the history & politics of the Roman Empire.

293 pages, Hardcover

First published December 30, 1994

About the author

David Potter is the author of Constantine the Emperor and The Victor’s Crown: A History of Ancient Sport from Homer to Byzantium. He is the Francis W. Kelsey Collegiate Professor of Greek and Roman History and Arthur F. Thurnau Professor at the University of Michigan.

Reviews

[Stephen Crawford · Rating 3 out of 5]

Most of this book is fascinating. The author can clearly explain complex topics without boring or confusing the reader.

However...

...the Epilogue undoes much of this excellent work, to the point that I almost gave it three stars. After explaining the incredible nuance of ancient Roman views on divination, prophecy, astrology, etc., the author veers off into an incredibly simplistic and hostile caricature of Christianity, which is somehow bad, mean, controlling, etc.

I hope that someone who took the time to parse out the widely divergent views on prophecy in the pagan world would do the same with Christianity and its relation to pagan and Christian oracles. You can't pretend that suddenly Christianity came along and smothered all individuality and private revelation. It has never been the case and it never will be.

The author doesn't follow up on ideas already present in his text - better to placate academia and move on. At least he pointed out that Zoroastrianism is a highly unreliable tradition that probably was neither original nor had so much influence on Christianity as other lazy scholars (Cohn comes to mind) like to do.

[R.G. Price · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an academic book. As such, book provides a valuable overview of the relevant information, but it is much like reading a textbook. I certainly learned a lot from the book and think the book is worth reading for those studying this topic. I would consider this book a solid introduction to the material. It does provide a broad overview of a range of material, but doesn't go in-depth into much. Nevertheless, I'm glad I read it.

[Erik Graff · Rating 3 out of 5]

This didn't do it for me. It was like one of Grant's histories: a compendium of ancient citations covering the surface of the matter but offering little insight. My interest is in why people believed in prophets and their ostensible sources and what such beliefs were like from the inside. I want to be convinced that it made sense--at least within its historical and cultural context.