Oracŭla
（
μαντεῖα, “oracular responses,” or the
“seats of oracles”;
χρηστήρια is used in
the same senses, and also of victims offered by persons consulting an oracle). The seats of
the worship of some special divinity, where prophecies were imparted with the sanction of the
divinity, either by the priests themselves or with their co-operation. There were many such
places in all Greek countries, and these may be divided, according to the method in which the
prophecy was made known, into four main divisions:
- 1. oral oracles
- 2. oracles by signs
- 3. oracles by dreams
- 4. oracles of the dead.
Types of oracles
1. Oral oracles
The most revered oracles were those of the first class, where the divinity, almost
invariably the god Apollo, orally revealed his will through the lips of inspired prophets or
prophetesses. The condition of frenzy was produced, for the most part, by physical
influences: the breathing of earthy vapours or drinking of the water of oracular fountains.
The words spoken while in this state were generally fashioned by the priests into a reply to
the questions proposed to them. The most famous oracle of this kind was that of Delphi (see
further below). Besides this there existed in Greece Proper a large number of oracles of
Apollo, as at Abae in Phocis, in different places of Boeotia, in Euboea, and at Argos, where
the priestess derived her inspiration from drinking the blood of a lamb, one being killed
every month. Not less numerous were the oracles of Apollo in Asia Minor. Among these that of
the Didymaean Apollo at Miletus traced its origin to the old family of the Branchidae, the
descendants of Apollo's son Branchus. Before its destruction by Xerxes, it came nearest to
the reputation of the Delphian. Here it was a priestess who prophesied, seated on a
wheel-shaped disc, after she had bathed the hem of her robe and her feet in a spring, and
had breathed the steam arising from it. The oracle at Clarus, near Colophon (see
Manto), was also very ancient. Here a priest, after
simply hearing the names and the number of those consulting the oracle, drank of the water
of a spring, and then gave answer in verse.
2. Oracles by signs
The most venerated among the oracles where prophecy was given by signs was that of Zeus of
Dodona (q.v.), mentioned as early as Homer (
Od. xiv. 327-xix. 296), where predictions were made from the rustling
of the sacred oak, and at a later time from the sound of a brazen cymbal. Another mode of
interpreting by signs, as practised especially at the temple of Zeus at Olympia by the
Iamidae, or descendants of Iamus, a son of Apollo, was that derived from the entrails
of victims and the burning of the sacrifices on the altar. There were also oracles connected
with the lot or dice, one especially at the temple of Heracles at Bura, in Achaia; and
prophecies were also delivered at Delphi by means of lots, probably only at times when the
Pythia was not giving responses. The temple of the Egyptian Ammon, who was identified with
Zeus, also gave oracles by means of signs.
3. Oracles by dreams.
Oracles given in dreams were generally connected with the temples of Asclepius. After
certain preliminary rites, sick persons had to sleep in these temples; the priests
interpreted their dreams, and dictated, accordingly, the means to be taken to insure
recovery. The most famous of these oracular shrines of the healing god was the temple at
Epidaurus, and next to this the temple founded thence at Pergamum, in Asia Minor. Equally
famous were the similar oracles of the seer Amphiaraüs at Oropus, of Trophonius at
Lebadea, in Boeotia, and of the seers Mopsus and Amphilochus at Mallus, in
Cilicia (q.v.). In later times such oracles were
connected with all sanctuaries of Isis and Serapis.
4. Oracles of the dead.
At oracles of the dead (
ψυχομαντεῖα) the souls of
deceased persons were evoked in order to give the information desired. Thus, in Homer (
Od. xi), Odysseus betakes himself to the entrance of the lower world
to question the spirit of the seer Tiresias. Oracles of this kind were especially common in
places where it was supposed there was an entrance to the lower world; as at the city of
Cichyrus in Epirus (where there was an Acherusian lake as well as the rivers of Acheron and
Cocytus, bearing the same names as those of the world below), at the promontory of Taenarum
in Laconia, at Heraclea in Pontus, and at Lake Avernus, near Cumae, in Italy. At most of
them oracles were also given in dreams; but there were some in which the inquirer was in a
waking condition when he conjured up the spirits whom he wished to question.
Use of oracles
While oracles derived either from dreams or from the dead were chosen in preference by
superstitious people, the most important among oral oracles and those given by means of signs
had a political significance. On all serious occasions they were questioned on behalf of the
State in order to ascertain the divine will: this was especially the case with the oracle of
Delphi. In consequence of the avarice and partisanship of the priests, as well as the
increasing decline of belief in the gods, the oracles gradually fell into abeyance, to revive
again everywhere under the Roman emperors, though they never regained the political
importance they had once had in ancient Greece.
Such investigation of the divine will was originally quite foreign to the Romans. Even the
mode of prophesying by means of lots (see
Sortes),
practised in isolated regions of Italy, and even in the immediate neighbourhood of Rome, as
at Caeré, and especially at Praenesté, did not come into use, at all
events for State purposes, and was generally regarded with contempt. The Romans did not
consult even the Sibylline verses in order to forecast the future. On the other hand, the
growth of superstition in the imperial period not only brought the native oracles into
repute, but caused a general resort to foreign oracles besides. The inclination to this kind
of prophecy seems never to have been more generally spread among the
masses of the people than at this time. Apart from the Greek oracular deities, there were the
oriental deities, whose worship was nearly everywhere combined with predictions. In most of
the famous sanctuaries the most various forms of prophecy were represented, and the stranger
they were the better they were liked. In the case of the oral oracles, the responses in
earlier times were, for the most part, composed in verse; on the decay of poetic
productiveness, they began to take the form of prose, or of passages from the poets, the
Greeks generally adopting lines of Homer or Euripides; the Italians, lines of Vergil. The
public declaration of oracles ended with the official extermination of paganism under
Theodosius at the end of the fourth century.
Particularly important oracles
The following is a list of the most celebrated oracles:
- 1. Of Zeus: at Dodona, in Epirus, the most ancient of all; at Olympia, with the
Iamidae and Clytiades as its priests; and of Zeus Ammon in a Libyan oasis in the northwest
of Egypt.
- 2. Of Apollo: at Delphi (see below); at Abae, in Phocis; at Tegyraia, in Boeotia; at
Mount Ptoön, near Acraephia; of Apollo Ismenius, near Thebes, the national oracle
of the Thebans; of Hysiae, at the base of Mount Cithaeron; at Eutresis, near Leuctra; of
Apollo Didymaeus, in the territory of Miletus, with the Branchidae as its ministers; at
Claros, north of Miletus; at Patara, in Lycia; at Cyaneae, in Lycia; of Apollo Sarpedonius
at Seleucia, in Cilicia; at Hybla, in Magnesia; at Grynea or Grynium, in Asia Minor; at
Methymna, in Lesbos; at Chalcedon; at Delos; at Argos; at Daphne, in Syria (in later
times).
- 3. Of Gaea (the Earth): at Aegira, in Achaia, and at Patrae; of Pluto and
Persephoné at Acharaca, in Asia Minor, near Tralles; of Bacchus, at Amphiclea,
in Phocis, and at Satrae, in Thrace; of Hermes, at Pharae, in Achaia; and of the Nymphs on
Mount Cithaeron.
- 4. There were also oracles of heroes—e. g. of Asclepius, at Epidaurus and
Pergamus; of Trophonius, at Lebadea; of Tiresias, at Orchomenus; of Amphiaraüs,
near Thebes and near Oropus; of Mopsus, at Mallos, in Cilicia; of Calchas and Podalirius,
on Mount Dion, in Southern Italy; of Protesilaüs, at Elaeus, in the Thracian
Chersonesus; of Autolycus, the Argonaut, at Sinopé; and of Odysseus, in Aetolia.
- 5. There were Italian oracles of Faunus at Albunea and of Fortuna at
Praenesté and Antium (De Div. ii. 41, 85). At Caeré
and at Falerii there were “lots” (sortes), from
which oracles or perhaps omens were inferred (Livy, xxii.
1).
Oracle at Delphi.
As the Delphic oracle is by far the most famous and the one to which allusion is oftenest
made in literature, a somewhat more detailed account of it may be of interest. Its seat was
on the southwestern spur of Parnassus in a valley of Phocis. In historical times the oracle
appears in possession of Apollo; but the original possessor, according to the story, was Gaea
(
Eumen. 1, 2). Then it was shared by her with Poseidon (Eurip.
Ion, 446), who gave up his part in it to Apollo in exchange for the
island of Calauria, Themis, the daughter and successor of Gaea, having already given Apollo
her share. According to the Homeric hymn to the Pythian Apollo, the god took forcible
possession of the oracle soon after his birth, slaying with his earliest bow-shot the
serpent Pytho, the son of Gaea, who guarded the spot. To atone for his murder, Apollo was
forced to fly and spend eight years in menial service before he could return forgiven. A
festival, the Septeria, was held every year, at which the whole story was represented: the
slaying of the serpent, and the flight, atonement, and return of the god. Apollo was
represented by a boy, both of whose parents were living. The dragon was symbolically slain,
and his house, decked out in costly fashion, was burned. Then the boy's followers hastily
dispersed, and the boy was taken in procession to Tempé, along the road formerly
followed by the god. Here he was purified and brought back by the same road, accompanied by a
chorus of maidens singing songs of joy. The oracle proper was a cleft in the ground in the
innermost sanctuary, from which arose cold vapours, which had the power of inducing ecstasy.
Over the cleft stood a lofty gilded tripod of wood. On this was a circular slab, upon which
the seat of the prophetess was placed. The prophetess, called Pythia, was a maiden of
honourable birth; in earlier times a young girl, but in a later age a woman of over fifty,
still wearing a girl's dress, in memory of the earlier custom. In the prosperous times of the
oracle two Pythias acted alternately, with a third to assist them. In the earliest times the
Pythia ascended the tripod only once a year, on the birthday of Apollo, the seventh of the
Delphian spring month Bysius. But in later years she prophesied every day, if the day itself
and the sacrifices were not unfavourable. These sacrifices were offered by the supplicants,
adorned with laurel crowns and fillets of wool. Having prepared herself by washing and
purification, the Pythia entered the sanctuary, with gold ornaments in her hair and flowing
robes upon her; she drank of the water of the fountain Cassotis, which flowed into the
shrine, tasted the fruit of the old bay-tree standing in the chamber, and took her seat. No
one was present but a priest, called the
προφήτης (and
προφῆτις), who explained the words she uttered in her
ecstasy, and put them into metrical form, generally hexameters. In later times the votaries
were contented with answers in prose. The responses were often obscure and enigmatical, and
couched in ambiguous and metaphorical expressions, which themselves needed explanation. The
order in which the applicants approached the oracle was determined by lot, but certain
cities, as Sparta, had the right of priority.
The reputation of the oracle stood very high throughout Greece until the time of the
Persian Wars, especially among the Dorian tribes, and among them pre-eminently the Spartans,
who had stood from of old in intimate relation with it. On all important occasions, as the
sending out of colonies, the framing of internal legislation or religious ordinances, the god
of Delphi was consulted, and that not only by Greeks, but by foreigners, especially the
people of Asia and Italy. After the Persian Wars the influence of the oracle declined, partly
in consequence of the growth of unbelief, partly from the mistrust excited by the partiality
and venality of the priesthood, who sometimes were bribed into giving oracles favourable to
the inquirer, and in the case of Philip of Macedon, when Demosthenes said,
ἡ πυθία φιλιππίζει. But it never fell completely into discredit,
and from time to time its position rose again. In the first half of the
second century A.D. it had a revival, the result of the newly awakened interest in the old
region. It was abolished at the end of the fourth century A.D. by Theodosius the Great.
The oldest stone temple of Apollo was attributed to the mythical architects, Trophonius and
Agamedes. It was burned down in B.C. 548, when the Alcmaeonidae, at that time in exile from
Athens, undertook to rebuild it for the sum of 300 talents, partly taken from the treasure of
the temple, and partly contributed by all countries inhabited by Greeks and standing in
connection with the oracle. They put the restoration into the hands of the Corinthian
architect Spintharus, who carried it out in a more splendid style than was originally agreed
upon, building the front of Parian marble instead of limestone. The groups of sculpture in
the pediments represented, on the eastern side, Apollo with Artemis, Leto, and the Muses; on
the western side, Dionysus with the Thyiades and the setting sun; for Dionysus was worshipped
here in winter during the imagined absence of Apollo. These were all the work of Praxias and
Androsthenes, and were finished about B.C. 430. The temple was, on account of its vast
extent, a hypaethral building—that is, there was no roof over the space occupied by
the temple proper. The architecture of the exterior was Doric, of the interior Ionic, as may
still be observed in the surviving ruins. On the walls of the entrance-hall were short texts
written in gold, attributed to the Seven Sages. One of these was the celebrated
“Know Thyself” (
γνῶθι σεαυτόν, Pausan.
x. 24, 1). In the temple proper stood the golden statue of Apollo, and in front of it the
sacrificial hearth with the eternal fire. Near this was a globe of marble covered with
fillets, the
Ὀμφαλός, or centre of the earth. In earlier
times two eagles stood at its side, representing the two eagles which fable said had been
sent out by Zeus at the same moment from the eastern and western ends of the world. These
eagles were carried off in the Phocian War, and their place filled by two eagles in mosaic on
the floor. Behind this space was the inner shrine, lying lower, in the form of a cavern over
the cleft in the earth. Within the spacious precincts (
περίβολος) stood a great number of chapels, statues, votive offerings, and
treasure-houses of the various Greek states, in which they deposited their gifts to the
sanctuary, especially the tithes of the booty taken in war. Here, too, was the
council-chamber of the Delphians. Before the entrance to the temple was the great altar for
burnt-offerings, and the golden tripod, dedicated by the Greeks after the battle of Plataea,
on a pedestal of brass, representing a snake in three coils, and of which the greater part
now stands in the Hippodrome at Constantinople. Besides the treasures accumulated in the
course of time, the temple had considerable property in land, with a population consisting
mainly of slaves (
ἱερόδουλοι), bound to pay contributions
and to render service to the sanctuary. The management of the property was in the hands of
priests chosen from the noble Delphian families, at their head the five
ὅσιοι or consecrated ones. Since the first spoliation of the temple by the
Phocians in B.C. 355, it was several times plundered on a grand scale. Nero, for instance, is
said to have carried off 500 bronze statues. Yet some 3000 statues were to be seen
there in the time of the elder Pliny.
Bibliography
On the oracles in general, see Bouché-Leclercq,
Hist. de la
Divination dans l'Antiquité (Paris, 1879- 1882); Maury,
Histoire des Religions de la Grèce Antique (Paris,
1857); E. Curtius,
Die hellenische Mantik (Göttingen,
1864); Fontaine,
De Divinitatis Origine et Progressu (Rostock,
1867); Stengel,
Griechische Sacralalterthümer. 44-50
(1890); Hartung,
Die Religion der Römer, vol. i. pp. 96
foll.
(1836); and
Hoffmann, Das Orakelwesen im Alterthume
(1877). The oracles that have descended to us are collected by
Henders,
Oracula Graeca Quae Exstant (1877).
On particular oracles, see A. Mommsen,
Delphika (Leipzig,
1878); Hüllmann,
Würdigung des delphischen
Orakels (Bonn, 1837); Kayser,
Delphi (Darmstadt,
1855); Götte,
Das delphische Orakel (Leipzig,
1839); Carapanos,
Dodone et des Ruines (Paris, 1878); id.
Mémoire sur Dodone (1877); Von Lassaulx,
Das pelasgische Orakel des Zeus zu Dodona (Würzburg,
1840); Arneth,
Ueber das Taubenorakel von Dodona (Vienna,
1840); Von Gerlach,
Dodona (Basel, 1859); and Perthes,
Die Peleiaden zu Dodona (Merseburg 1869). On the temple at
Delphi, see a paper by Prof. Middleton in the
Journal of Hellenic Studies,
vol. ix. pp. 282 foll.
