The Highest God and His Oracular Disclosure

Abstract

The question of the Most High God is very difficult to address from many points of view. First, because of the disproportionality of ancient sources. Most sources are epigraphic in nature, including simple dedications or those resulting from a covenant, and contain rather little information that can be addressed in detail. The literary sources are four in number and raise serious problems of interpretation. The numismatic ones are completely missing from the context in the case of Hypsistos. Moreover, the way the subject has been treated in modern historiography, especially in relation to pagan sympathisers or God-fearers orbiting around the synagogue environment, makes this sensitive issue even more cautious. Finally, the perception itself of the identity of this Most High god, as well as the typology of the cult, its potential unitary character is another thorny issue. Two of the epigraphs discovered in the Lycian town of Oinoanda, that of Chromatis and the oracular response of Apollo of Claros, are, we believe, a very good starting point for clarifying some of the imagological aspects of this abstract and anonymous god.