Greece Case

In "de Defectu Oraculorum," Plutarch answers the question as to why many oracles in Greece have ceased to function is because the population is much less than it was so there is no need to for oracles now than there was in earlier times. In the text "Memory in Culture," Erll defines "medium of memory" as something that exists when people think it does. A medium of a memory is not given, but instead comes into being through a complex interplay of various material and social factors. Media of memory always emerges against the backdrop of existing configurations of memory and it constructs versions of past reality. In this essay, the way in which media shape memory, storage circulation (cues), media frameworks, and prosthetic will be discussed in terms of this primary text.

Media frameworks of memory enable and shape the remembering and interpreting of different types of experience- both one's own and the second hand accounts. Traditionally the Greeks believed that the gods revealed their will at special sites, in English commonly referred to as "oracles". The gods determined these sites and as a result of this, the site was an essential element of the oracle process. The availability of divine direction was limited by the geographical location. At many of those sites the gods used human media to pass on their messages. But whether indirectly through a medium, or directly by means of a dream to the enquirer, it was always the oracular site that functioned as a 'port key' between the Greeks and their god. Delphi is the local setting of "De Defectu Oraculorum" and is the site of the most famous oracle in Greek history. As this site was dedicated to Apollo, one would expect a noticeable role in Apollo in "De Defectu Oraculorum." (Plutarch 2003:200-203)

Prosthetic memory emerges at the interface of a person and a historical narrative of the past, at an experimental site, such as a movie or a museum. In the process of prosthetic memory, a person does not simply apprehend a historical narrative but yet takes on a more personal, deeply felt memory of a past event through which they did not live. This results in the ability to shape a person's subjectivity and politics. "De Defectu Oraculorum" does this in that the text discusses the disappearance of the articles as a crisis of faith. Ammonius tried to form an explanation and prove that the disappearance of the oracles was due to the decrease in population. This gets the reader to feel bad for the people of that time, even though there is no direct evidence saying that this is actually true. However, The real reason of their decline in popularity may be very simple; when the Greek cities became Roman provinces, the fashion of consulting oracles fell off, as unsuited to the more practical influences of Roman thought and politics. The interchangeability of this primary text emphasizes the bodily, experimental,