The Relationships among Greek Oracular Sanctuaries. Rivalry, Cooperation or Desistance?

The main purpose of this paper is to revise the often-taken-for-granted claim that Greek oracles were rivals, or, at least, competitors. The issue will be dealt with by focusing on a rather wide amount of literary evidence arguing against this view. After a brief assessment of the communis opinio and of the current discussion, two clusters of evidence highlighting two different standpoints – i.e. external and internal – will be examined. The focus will be, first, on the ancient sources documenting multiple oracular consultations and, second, on the foundation legends, elaborated at some points by the officials of the sanctuaries, stringing together two or more oracles.