Prophet

The Greek word προφητης means literally ‘who one speaks for another’ (from the verb φημι, ‘I speak’) , i.e. a spokesman, in particular for a deity: in other words one through whom a god or goddess speaks. Apollo, for instance, was known as Διος προφητης at the Delphic oracle. This does not mean the interpreter of Zeus, as some maintain, but rather his mouthpiece. Similarly, Μουσων προφηται are the mouthpieces or prophets of the Muses, not their interpreters: in other words, poets. This distinction between prophetic utterance and interpretation is an important one. Interpretation is what happens after the god or goddess has made his or her utterance (whether through another or in propria persona); prophecy, on the other hand, is the divinely-inspired utterance itself. The realm of interpretation belongs to the messenger god, Hermes, hence the Greek word for interpreter is ἑρμηνευς (hermeneus).

προφητης can be used quite loosely, as it is by Euripides in his Bacchae, to mean the followers of a god, in this case Dionysus. The Chorus asks the god if he can see σους προφατας (‘your advocates’) suffering on his behalf. Not only are the Bacchae divinely-inspired advocates of the eastern god to their fellow Greeks, but they are also inspired by him to perform various (unspeakable) deeds. In other words, they are living expressions of the god’s will. They are not, however, interpreters of it. That is a task for Hermes and his crafty crew. The confusion of the realms of the two gods, Apollo and Hermes (prophecy and interpretation), might have something to do with the fact that almost the first act of Hermes on leaving his cradle was to steal Apollo’s cattle. Before long he had become the patron deity of thieves. And there, perhaps, lies a fruitful path for another day: the connection between theft and interpretation.

The Latin word for prophet, vates, also derives from the Greek verb φημι or rather from its root form φαω, which is cognate with φαος meaning ‘light’. The common radical sense is that of ‘bringing to light’ or ‘making known’. Apollo as Phoebus, ‘the shining one’, was of course the god of light.