Oracles of Hystaspes A new translation and introduction by Vicente Dobroruka with Robert A. Kraft The sheer volume of vaticinia and prophecies, not to mention the many visionary activities attributed to Hystapes makes any effort in the guise of a short presentation, such as this, very difficult. However, it has been our intention to treat what is left attributed to Hystaspes as a coherent collection of texts, even if not as a different oracle in itself. 1 Such an admonition is considered necessary by the authors of this entry, so that the reader does not think that by collating several bits and pieces of passages in ancient authors we may have a full-fledged text called the “Oracle of Hystaspes”. This is one reason why we chose, instead, to present the lengthier passages and deal with them as they should be: as separate pieces of evidence of possibly more than one oracle attributed to a Persian seer. 2 This does not mean that the texts presented herein do not make sense when taken as a whole: rather, we wish to avoid an all too common mistake that former scholars of immense ability and intelligence have done in dealing with such fragmentary material. This mistake can be summarised as trying to collate pieces of “evidence” found scattered in order to make a complete text. 3 Our aim, in this respect, has been more modest but nonetheless fruitful. While it is quite possible that there was more than one oracle attributed to Hystaspes, this does not 1 This has been tried before, albeit with distinct results than those we present here; cf. John R. Hinnells. “The Zoroastrian doctrine of salvation in the Roman world - A study of the Oracle of Hystaspes” in: Eric J. Sharpe and John R. Hinnells (eds.). Man and his Salvation. Studies in memory of S.G.F. Brandon. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1973. 139-142. Before Hinnells’ text, the most remarkable attempt to frame the Oracle of Hystaspes in meaningful, historical-cultural frameworks were those of Joseph Bidez and Franz Cumont. Les mages hellénisés: Zoroastre, Ostanès et Hystaspe d’après la tradition grecque. Paris: Belles Lettres, 2007 [repr. from 1938 ed.]. Vol.I. 215-22; Vol.II, 359-76 and of Hans Windisch. Die Orakel des Hystaspes. Afdeling Letterkunde, Nieuwe Reeks, deel 28.3 Amsterdam: Verhandelingen der Koninklijke Akademie van Wetenschappen te Amsterdam, 1929 - by today’s standards both can still be seen as remarkable tour-de-forces of scholarship, but their claims in terms of mutual borrowings will appear too exaggerated. Among recent works, there are many worthy of our attention, and one of the most relevant is Oliver Nicholson. “Broadening the Roman Mind: Foreign Prophets in the Apologetic of Lactantius” in: Studia Patristica 36 [Oxford Conference, 1999] Leuven: Peeters 2001. 364-374. 2 The same problem is faced by scholars dealing with the Zand-i Wahman Yasn, a Zoroastrian apocalypse of which extant mss. are too late (i.e. later than the Arab invasion of Iran). Many posit a pre-CE dating without any further warrant, and this seems to have been a trend in studies of the Oracles of Hystaspes until quite recently. A good example of such treatment can be found in Samuel K. Eddy. The King is Dead. Studies in the Near Eastern Resistance to Hellenism 334-31 B.C. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1961. 343-349. To a certain extent these are the same problems affecting Bidez - Cumont and Windisch conclusions. 3 This seems to be an even more common mistake when evaluating the Oracles of Hystaspes and especially taking into account the “organized” for m in which Justin, the Martyr posits their existence as an organized literary corpus, such as the Prophets.