both these areas the Greeks were great believers in fatalism.
Fatalism is the belief that whatever happens is predestined. We find this
belief all over the world, not only throughout history but in our own day as
welt. Here in the Nordic countries we find a strong belief in “lagnadan,” or fate,
in the old Icelandic sagas of the Edda.
We also find the belief, both in Ancient Greece and in other parts of the
world, that people could learn their fate from some form of oracle. In other
words, that the fate of a person or a country could be foreseen in various
ways.
There are still a lot of people who believe that they can tell your fortune
in the cards, read your palm, or predict your future in the stars.
A special Norwegian version of this is telling your fortune in coffee cups.
When a coffee cup is empty there are usually some traces of coffee grounds
left. These might form a certain image or pattern—at least, if we give our
imagination free rein. If the grounds resemble a car, it might mean that the
person who drank from the cup is going for a long drive.
Thus the “fortune-teller” is trying to foresee something that is really quite
unforeseeable. This is characteristic of all forms of foreseeing. And precisely
because what they “see” is so vague, it is hard to repudiate fortune-tellers’
claims.
When we gaze up at the stars, we see a veritable chaos of twinkling
dots. Nevertheless, throughout the ages there have always been people who
believed that the stars could tell us something about our life on Earth. Even
today there are political leaders who seek the advice of astrologers before
they make any important decisions.
The Oracle at Delphi
The ancient Greeks believed that they could consult the famous oracle
at Delphi about their fate. Apollo, the god of the oracle, spoke through his
priestess Pythia, who sat on a stool over a fissure in the earth, from which
arose hypnotic vapors that put Pythia in a trance. This enabled her to be
Apollo’s mouthpiece. When people came to Delphi they had to present their
question to the priests of the oracle, who passed it on to Pythia. Her answer
would be so obscure or ambiguous that the priests would have to interpret it.
In that way, the ieople got the benefit of Apollo’s wisdom, believing that e
knew everything, even about the future.
There were many heads of state who dared not go to war or take other
decisive steps until they had consulted the oracle at Delphi. The priests of
Apollo thus functioned more or less as diplomats, or advisers. They were
experts with an intimate knowledge of the people and the country.
Over the entrance to the temple at Delphi was a famous inscription:
KNOW THYSELF! It reminded visitors that man must never believe himself to
be more than mortal—and that no man can escape his destiny.
The Greeks had many stories of people whose destiny catches up with
them. As time went by, a number of plays—tragedies—were written about
these “tragic” people. The most famous one is the tragedy of King Oedipus.
History and Medicine
But Fate did not just govern the lives of individuals. The Greeks believed