13 Testing the Oracles (§§46.2-52)

Perhaps still shaken by his inability to interpret his dream correctly, Croesus decides to make a trial of various oracles. As far as I can tell, this is the first instance of such a testing recorded in European history.^[1] It is remarkable both for what it does and does not suggest. Croesus does not question the fundamental veracity of oracles or the whole process of divination. Oracles, like everything human, could be manipu­lated for personal political purposes, and Herodotus records several instances of corruption at Delphi (5.63, 6.66). In such instances the oracle’s pronouncement could be used by politicians to bolster public support for some enterprise.^[2] But here the act of testing the oracles seems to show that Croesus is genuinely interested in their advice. His belief in the gods’ communication with humans has been clearly seen in the story of Atys’s foretold death. Yet the belief is not indiscriminate, for it recognizes that some oracles might not be true oracles. This sophistication seems to contrast with the apparent simplicity with which Croesus interprets the later ambiguous oracle as predicting his victory over Persia. We have already observed a similar contrast between his appropriate anxiety over the dream and the ease with which he yields to Atys’s argument about a boar’s having no hands. The contrasts are Herodotus’s way of showing a tormented soul: Croesus, like Achilles, is a man driven in contradictory directions, trying to lead a stable life in a world of misfortune and accident, struggling to achieve what he considers to be happiness.

Croesus’s emissaries were to ask the various oracles what Croesus was doing on the one hundredth day after they had left Sardis. Only the response of Delphi is recorded, and it accurately describes the king’s actions: cooking chopped lamb and tortoise together in a bronze-covered pot. The combination of foods must have been very unusual, for, as Herodotus says, Croesus had to put his wits to work to think of a clever (and difficult to predict) activity. Croesus also declared true the unrecorded oracle of Amphiaraus. On the one hand, the test shows the monarch’s intelligence and fairness; on the other hand, it shows his arrogance in testing the gods, in checking their references as an employer might investigate the various applicants for a job.^[3] It establishes the importance and veracity of the Delphic Oracle, as well, a veracity that will be important to Athens in the Persian Wars. If, as I have argued here, the History is intended as a warning to Athens to control her imperialistic policies and to behave with moderation, this validation of Delphi will have a contemporary importance as well: Delphi was taking a decidedly pro-Spartan position. Athens might wish to adjust her policies in the light of the preference of a true oracle.^[4]

To propitiate the god at Delphi Croesus now presents a fantastic number of gifts. Of the different kinds of sacrificial animals (the number of kinds is not mentioned) he sacrifices three thousand of each. Then come enormous objects of silver and gold, perhaps the most impressive of which is a gold statue of a lion weighing ten talents (580 pounds). The accounting takes a very long time to tell and the effect is that of accumulation: the abundant splendor of the gifts is dazzling.

The historian pauses in his description of the gifts to point out that one of the vases is wrongly attributed to the Spartans (an inscription having been falsely cut by a Delphian who wanted to curry favor with Sparta).^[5] Does Herodotus mention the vase in order to remind his hearers of the special relationship between Delphi and Sparta? Of course, at the same time the reference reminds the audience that Delphi has a sullied reputation; it thus sets off an alarm to be wary even when it comes to the oracle at Delphi.^[6]

To the oracle of Amphiaraus Croesus also gives gifts, for it too answered correctly about the king’s behavior on the hundredth day. The gifts, a gold shield and spear, seem very slight in comparison to those given to Delphi. No gifts to the other oracles are mentioned here. Later (1.92), when Herodotus is summarizing Croesus’s gifts to other shrines in the Greek world, he reveals that Croesus gave to the Branchidae in Miletus, one of the oracles he tested, gifts equal in weight to those he gave to Delphi. Here Herodotus lists gifts to numerous other shrines. We can only imagine why Croesus propitiated these other oracles and what major project induced him to be so generous to the oracle in Miletus. We may also wonder why, if he had been satisfied with the services of these oracles on previous occasions, he still felt it necessary to test them before deciding whether to confront Cyrus. The most likely explanation seems to be that Croesus is a highly insecure, highly anxious individual. The desire for reassurance from Solon combined with the constant reassurance he would derive from reflecting on his wealth are psychologically consistent with his anxious use and re-use of oracles.

That Croesus continues to think the god somehow will be propitiated by gifts shows a rather commercial view of the gods. Xenophanes has pointed out that people make gods resemble themselves (frs. 15, 16). Clearly Croesus sees the gods as affected by the kind of sacrifices by which he himself would be affected. He is the same king who thought that his wealth made him the happiest of men. Surely he thinks that gifts of wealth will make the god happy too!