Oracle of Siwa

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Temple of the Amun Oracle

The oracle of Siwa or oracle of Ammon was an ancient oracle site in the Siwa oasis (today Egypt ).

History of the oracle site

Entrance to the oracle site

When and how the Siwa oasis became an oracle site is still unknown. Herodotus wrote in the 5th century BC Two legends of its origin: “The priestesses told me the following: Two black pigeons once flown from Thebes . A pigeon flew to them in Dodona, where it sat down on an oak tree and called in a human voice that an oracle of Zeus must be founded here! The other pigeon flew to Libya and asked the Libyans to found an oracle of Amon. ”In the second genesis, Phoenicians kidnapped two priestesses from Thebes . One was sold to Libya and the other to Greece.

The oracle of Siwa was next to the oracles of Delphi (Apollo) and Dodona (Zeus) the most famous oracle site in antiquity . Since the 6th century BC It was located in a temple ( Ammonion ), which was only built at this time and dedicated to the ancient Egyptian god Amun . However, the archaeologists today agree that Siwa was known as an oracle site even before this Amun temple was built. Ferdinand Tönnies already suspected in 1876 that the oracle of Siwa was located in an original sanctuary of Apollon Carneios on the same place before the Amun Temple was built.

The most famous visitor to the oracle is undoubtedly Alexander the Great , who probably used the power and influence of the oracle and was welcomed in Siwa by the high priest as "Son of God" (Zeus Amun).

During the Second World War , the Siwa oasis was occupied three times by Rommel's Africa Corps . Some of his soldiers bathed naked in the stone-lined basin of the famous holy fountain near the Amun temple, which the locals regarded as sacrilege and a bad omen .

Course of an oracle

Unlike in Delphi or Dodona, there were no oracles in Siwa, only yes and no answers. If the Amun figure moved towards the questioner, the answer was "yes". If the figure moved away from the questioner, the answer was "No". The Amun figure was moved by the priests.

However, royal oracles had a different sequence: kings or priests asked their questions alone in the sanctum of the temple. Then they received a divine oracle letter from the high priest or the high priest announced Amun's answer to the questions, which ostensibly could not be known to anyone except the questioner. However, archaeological evidence shows that there was a secret chamber above the Holy of Holies, in which a hidden priest could hear the questions.

Well-known oracles

Cambyses II, 523 BC Chr.

The Greek historian Herodotus reports that the Persian king Cambyses II , the son of Cyrus the Great, 523 BC. . AD wanted to plunder the sacred oracle at Siwa with 50,000 men, as it was the demise of King prophesied. Before he and his men had reached their destination, however, they were caught in a sandstorm.

Kimon, 449 BC Chr.

Kimon , the son of Miltiades the Younger , sent his messengers to Siwa to clarify "certain secret matters". The oracle did not answer the messengers. It sent them back because Kimon was already with Amun. When they got back to their homeland, the messengers saw the meaning of the answer: Kimon had died on the day they asked the question.

Alexander the Great, 331 BC Chr.

After Alexander the Great conquered Egypt and the role of Pharaoh had taken over by in Heliopolis which Re and in Memphis in the temple of Ptah the Apis had sacrificed, he traveled with his entourage through the desert to Siwa. Alexander u. a. by Kallisthenes von Olynth , whose tradition later served as a source for the three historians Strabo , Diodor (both in the 1st century BC) and Plutarch (1st century). He wanted to ask the oracle about the future as well as about his own origins, because:

he attributed part of its origin to Ammon, similar to how the myths Heracles and Perseus have descended from Zeus.

Arrived in Siwa, Alexander's entourage had to wait outside the temple on the hill of Aghurmi, according to the sequence of a royal oracle, and Alexander entered the holy of holies alone, where he asked his questions in front of the cult image. Diodorus writes that the high priest asked him if he would like to submit as the son of Amun. Alexander replied in the affirmative and asked him whether his father (Amun) would allow him to rule the world. He exclaimed that Amun would grant him the wish with absolute certainty. After Plutarch, Alexander only asked about his father's murderer.

When Alexander came out of the temple, he said to his companions that he had heard what he wanted to hear. The recognition of Alexander as the son of Amun by the oracle undoubtedly gave the legitimation of his rule over Egypt an even more solid basis.

This was followed by the public procession oracle for Alexander's entourage. Eighty priests carried the cult image of Amun on a barque from Aghurmi on the straight road to the Amun temple of Umm Ubayda opposite. The boat answered questions from the audience by tilting it accordingly. The image is described as resembling an "umbilical stone" ( omphalos ). Possibly it was the portrait of Min- Amun, covered up to the head .

The Greeks identified Amun with Zeus-Amun, who was worshiped as a Libyan Amun in Greece. Since the late 5th century BC A significant place of worship in the Macedonian Aphytis on the Chalkidike peninsula is documented. Alexander could feel especially connected to the god of the oracle.

literature

Web links

Commons : Temple of Amun in Siwa  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ De Iove Ammone questionum specimen. Tübingen 1877; see. Uwe Carstens : Ferdinand Tönnies. Norderstedt 2005, pp. 67 + 70.
  2. ↑ Hölbl: History of the Ptolemaic Empire. Darmstadt 1994, p. 11.
  3. ↑ FrGrHist. 124 F 14
  4. ^ Strabo : Geographika. 17.1.43
  5. ↑ Diodor : Bibliotheca historica. 17.51
  6. ^ Plutarch : Alexander. 27
  7. ↑ Arrian : Anabasis Alexandrou. 3.3.2
  8. ↑ Diodor: Bibliotheca historica. 17.50.6; Curtius Rufus Historiae Alexandri Magni Macedonis 4.7.23
  9. ↑ Hölbl: History of the Ptolemaic Empire. Darmstadt 1994, p. 282, note 9.
  10. ↑ Hölbl: History of the Ptolemaic Empire. Darmstadt 1994, p. 10.