DOI: 10.53084/22209050_2022_26_44

E.V. Prikhodko
What Alexander was told about the oracle of Ammon – on the incorrect translation of a passage from Arrian's "The Anabasis of Alexander"

Abstract: In studies of ancient sources, it frequently comes across the fact that the meaning of the whole passage depends on the correct translation of one word. Unacquainted with the subtleties of mantic terms, translators, without noticing it, might misinterpret the translated text. P.I. Prozorov translated the word χρησμός («prophecy») as «oracle», and for more than a hundred years, all scholars have been writing about the oracle of Achilles on the island of Leuke. M.E. Sergeyenko, on the contrary, translated τὸ μαντεῖον τοῦ Ἄμμωνος instead of «the oracle (that is, the prophetic spirit) of Ammon» as «the prophecies of Ammon», and then she, not paying attention to the medial voice of the infinitive χρήσασθαι, attributed to it the meaning of the active voice χράω – «to speak the prophecy», while the medial voice of this verb has the meaning «to consult the oracle / the god». As a result, in Sergeyenko's translation the circumstances of the visit to the sanctuary of Ammon by Perseus and Hercules turned into the responses of Ammon. This error was not corrected in the 1993 edition, despite
the assurance of the publishers that the translation had been rechecked with the text.

Keywords: oracle of Ammon in Libya, sanctuary of Achilles on Leuke, μαντεῖον, Arrian,
Periplus of the Euxine Sea, Anabasis of Alexander, χράω, M.E. Sergeyenko, translation

To cite this article: Prikhodko E.V. What Alexander was told about the oracle of Ammon – on the incorrect translation of a passage from Arrian's «The Anabasis of Alexander». Aristeas. XXVI (2022): 55–62.

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Author:

E.V. Phikhodko