Epiphanies and Dreams in Greek Polytheism: Textual Genres and "Reality" from Homer to Heliodorus by Michael Lipka

Reviewed by: Epiphanies and Dreams in Greek Polytheism: Textual Genres and "Reality" from Homer to Heliodorus by Michael Lipka Mirjam E. Kotwick Epiphanies and Dreams in Greek Polytheism: Textual Genres and "Reality" from Homer to Heliodorus. By Michael Lipka. Berlin and Boston: De Gruyter (MythosEikonPoiesis Band 13). 2022. Pp. 319. Michael Lipka's book is clear about the thesis it defends. It wants to debunk the scholarly assumption that the ancient Greeks regarded epiphanies as real.1 Lipka denies that "epiphany-mindedness" (1 and passim) was ever widespread in ancient Greek culture; however, there was "dream-mindedness" (4 and passim). He argues that if Greeks generally believed epiphanies to be real phenomena, we would find epiphanic experiences represented across all genres (2). But since they appear only in specific genres and with specific narrative or dramatic functions, Lipka concludes, there was no widespread belief in the reality of epiphanic encounters with the divine. Lipka moves cursorily through an impressive range of Greek literature from Homer to Neoplatonic treatises to show that apart from epos and drama, actual reports of gods appearing to humans are few and far between. Since the book's goal is a negative one—to show that there was no Greek "epiphany-mindedness"—it covers a lot of ground without being engaged in detailed analysis of how (and why) ancient authors appropriated the concept of epiphany for their own purposes. Lipka works with a narrower definition of epiphany than most of the scholars he argues against. For him epiphanies are "visible apparitions of temporary, metaphysical manifestations of human-like entities to human individuals in a waking state" (4; Lipka's italics). In his emphasis on "visual contact" (4), Lipka constricts the wider understanding of epiphany as "various forms of divine presence"' (5) but grants that the ancient [End Page 373] term epiphaneia was wider in meaning. An epiphany dream is given when an epiphany occurs in a dream (6). Yet, it seems that Lipka is not interested in such dreams for their own sake but as a foil through which epiphany comes into sharper relief. Lipka operates with complex concepts such as reality and fiction which he leaves underexplored. While he addresses reality in the introduction, distinguishing three "modes of reality" ("lifeworld reality," "intentional reality," and "invented reality = fiction," 18–19), Lipka neither problematizes the application of the term "fiction" to a great variety of ancient texts nor discusses the crucial question of precisely how fiction sheds light on what he calls the "mindedness" of an audience or authors. Additionally, given that the notion of "belief" has received considerable interest in the study of ancient religion for some time, a theoretically informed reflection on what is implied in the question of an ancient belief in epiphany would have been helpful to the project. Lipka's focus lies elsewhere. Most important is genre, which plays a two-fold role. First, genre guides his approach to epiphany. (He writes: "genres offer numerous patterns for the representation of epiphanies . . . . [I]t is a primary goal of this book to identify these genre-bound patterns," 13). More generally, Lipka calls on religious studies to pay more attention to the generic parameters of their sources (1, 3, 12). Second, genre structures the book, with each chapter looking at a different one (e.g., Epic, Narrative Hymns, Didactic Poetry, Sappho's Lyric, etc.). The first chapter, "Epic" (25–50), looks at epiphany in Iliad and Odyssey, Apollonius of Rhodes' Argonautica, and Quintus Smyrnaeus' Posthomerica. In Homer, epiphanies are mostly part of type scenes and their "stereotypy suggests representational . . . conventions" (26). Lipka concludes: "unless proven otherwise, they are artificial poetic devices without any claim to relevance to—or veracity in—the lifeworld of the poet" (26). Whereas Quintus Smyrnaeus' Posthomerica imitates Homer closely, the Argonautica moves consciously beyond "Homeric conventions" (35). Homer is the starting point for the concept of Greek epiphany. From Plato to modern scholars, epic epiphanies are considered as expression of "polytheistic 'lifeworld' reality" (46). Against this assumption Lipka holds that they are fiction and were perceived as such by Homer's audience (49–50). The chapter "Narrative...

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