Kassandra: Mantic, Maenadic or Manic? Gender and the Nature of Prophetic Experience in Ancient Greece

Abstract

Cassandra was a virgin prophetess who, unlike the other prophets (virgin or otherwise) of ancient Greece, was destined never to be believed or to have her prophecies given credence. Cassandra's role was very much a gendered one, as in ancient Greece, inspired prophecy, in which a prophet gave an oral answer to a question being asked or spontaneously provided advice, was the province of women, while the art of interpreting divine signs was the sphere of men. Cassandra received her gift of prophecy from the god Apollo in return for promised favours. But while the women followers – maenads – of Bacchus were manic, victims of the mania of possession sent by this god, in what sense was Cassandra's prophetic ability maenadic or manic? Why was it that to predict the future women became 'possessed' by a god and spoke direct oral prophecies, while men never spoke the words of a god directly, but learned divination as an art (techne) and had to interpret signs sent by the gods but were never in direct communication with them.