Abstract
Abstract The prophetic performance is typically associated with a specific state of mind variously called ecstasy, trance, or possession. This chapter demonstrates that an altered state of consciousness appears as a prerequisite of the prophetic performance in ancient Near Eastern, Greek, and biblical texts. One of the designations of Mesopotamian prophets, muḫḫûm/maḫḫû, implies an ecstatic performance, and many biblical prophets engage in ecstatic behavior, seeing visions, and making spirit journeys. In Greek sources, the divine possession of the Delphic Pythia is taken for granted, and also the prophets of Didyma, Dodona, and Claros are believed to have been influenced by the divine spirit. Neither the Greek nor the Near Eastern sources specify how the altered state of consciousness was reached. The essential thing was that they were divinely inspired, not how the inspiration manifested itself.
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