Ancient Greeks’ perceptions of the future in the mirror of divination

The purposes of the article are to identify and summarize the ancient Greeks’ perceptions of the future, drawing on the results of the author’s long-term study of the literary and epigraphic sources on ancient Greek divination. This research includes a general interpretation of the meaning of the events described in the literature which were related to the situation of consulting an oracle, a study of the principle of oracle contexts formation, and the lexical-semantic analysis of the terms used for divination. Based on the sources of the archaic and classical period, the author formulates three main theses reflecting the fundamental principles according to which the ancient Greeks assessed the future and built their relations with it: two types of the future (with one being concrete, one’s own and close, and another being indefinite, alien and distant); an unwritten prohibition to ask oracles about the future; and the inability to change the future presented in the response given as advice. Then the author expands the time frame and formulates the fourth thesis that reflects the development of these concepts during the period of the Roman Empire in Asia Minor dice oracles and alphabetical oracles: the description of future events was combined with advice expressed in the form of an order forming a non-individualized presentation of the future in a narrative-imperative form. Each thesis is formulated as a conclusion accompanied by brief illustrative material.