Bakis

Bakis, also rendered Bacis in Latin sources, refers to a legendary figure in ancient Greek literature described as an Egyptian prophet whose utterances were collected as a body of oracles. The Bakian tradition is treated by later authors as an old, quasi-divine source of prophecy, and the name appears in various works as a stand‑in for ancient, enigmatic wisdom.

The Bakian oracles are known primarily from fragments and quotations rather than from a single surviving text. They are typically brief and cryptic, composed in verse, and reputed to foretell political events, natural phenomena, and the fortunes of cities and rulers. The style is admonitory and aphoristic, often framed as warnings or consolations delivered by a seer with ancient authority.

In antiquity, the Bakian material circulated as a venerable, if obscure, source of prophecy. Its perceived antiquity and Egyptian aura made it appealing to writers seeking venerable precedents for political or religious arguments. Because the original compilation never survived intact, the attributions and dating of the fragments vary among authors, contributing to uncertainty about the figure of Bakis himself.

Modern scholarship generally views the Bakis tradition as a later Hellenistic or Roman-era construction that drew on older Egyptian and Near Eastern prophetic motifs. Rather than reflecting a historical figure living in a known historical period, Bakis is considered a legendary or composite author name used to lend authority to the oracles and to illustrate the cross-cultural exchange between Egyptian and Greek prophetic traditions.

The Bakian tradition influenced later Greco-Roman pseudo-prophetic literature and contributed to the broader classical fascination with ancient, mysterious oracular voices.