ABSTRACT
Although a number of studies have focused on Greek epiphany during the 8th through 4th centuries, this chapter employs the paradigm of “presence,” Gods, heroes, and daimones were often powerfully felt as close by in daily life, working in the world, even when direct epiphanic encounters did not occur. Greek sources reflect the very real possibility of divine presence and power in the lives of individuals, rather than a world noteworthy for distant gods who did not make themselves felt to their followers. Supernatural beings were there in the successes, victories, and blessings passed on to devotees, and very much present in mortal bodies and minds, strengths and sufferings, dreams and even souls. Gods and heroes possessed the limbs and thoughts of prophets, poets, devotees, and those who received divine punishments. Miraculously healed body parts, diseases and convulsions, physical suffering, and even fertile bodies cannot be separated from embodied divine works in the Greek world. The impact of supernatural beings, such as ghosts and demons, overlapped with ancient experiences of divine presence in surprising ways. They were experienced as very real, found in cemeteries and homes, dreams and bodies, and at work in people's successes and failures.
