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Oracles :
Shrines where a god speaks to human beings
through the mouths of priests or priestesses.
The concept of the god become vocal in this
manner was by no means confined to Greece or
Egypt. Our object here is to deal with the most
celebrated oracles of all nations as well as
those of antiquity. Probably all the primitive
gods— those, that is to say, of the fetish
class, now under consideration—were consulted as
oracles; it is certain that they derived this
character in a state of animism and that they
transmitted it to gods of the most advanced
type. In early times the great question was
whether man would have food on the morrow or no;
perhaps the first oracle was the spirit which
directed the hungry savage in his hunting and
fishing expeditions. The Esquimaux still consult
spirits for this purpose, and their wizards are
as familiar with the art of giving ambiguous
replies to their anxious clients as were the
well-informed keepers of the oracles of Greece.
As advancement proceeded, the direction of the
gods was obtained in all the affairs of private
and public life.
Greece.—The Oracle of Delphi. When Jupiter was
once desirous to ascertain the central point of
the earth, he despatched two eagles, or two
crows, as they are named by Strabo. The
messengers took flight in opposite courses, from
sunrise and sunset; and they met at Delphi,
which place was thenceforward dignified with the
title " The navel of the earth; " an " umbilicus
" being represented in white marble within its
celebrated temple. Delphi thus became a place of
great distinction, but it was not yet oracular,
till the fumes which issued from a neighbouring
cave were first discovered by a shepherd named
Coretas. His attention was forcibly attracted to
a spot round which whenever his goats were
browsing they gambolled and bleated more than
was their wont. Whether these fumes arose in
consequence of an earthquake, or whether they
were generated by demoniacal art is not to be
ascertained; but the latter hypothesis is
thought by Clasen to be the more probable of the
two. Coretas, on approaching the spot, was
seized with ecstacy, and uttered words which
were deemed inspired. It was not long before the
danger arising in consequence of the excitement
of curiosity among the neighbours, the deadly
stupefaction often produced among those who
inhaled the fumes without proper caution, and
the inclination which it aroused in some to
plunge themselves into the depths of the cavern
below, occasioned the fissure to be covered by a
sort of table, having a hole in the centre, and
called a tripod, so that those who wished to try
the experiment could resort there in safety.
Eventually a young girl, of unsophisticated
manners, became the chosen medium of the
responses, now deemed oracular and called
Pythian, as proceeding from Apollo, the slayer
of Python, to whom Delphi was consecrated. A
sylvan bower of laurel branches was erected over
the spot, and at length the marble temple and
the priesthood of Delphi arose where the
Pythoness, seated on her throne, could be
charged with
the divine " afflatus," and was thus rendered
the vehicle of Apollo's dictation.
As the oracle became more celebrated, its
prophetic machinery was constructed of more
costly materials. The tripod was then formed of
gold, but the lid, which was placed in its
hollow rim, in order to afford the Pythoness a
more secure seat, continued to be made of brass.
She prepared herself by drinking out of a sacred
fountain (Castalia), adjoining the crypt, the
waters of which were reserved for her only, and
in which she bathed her hair; by chewing a
laurel leaf, and by circling her brows with a
laurel crown. The person who made inquiry from
the oracle, first offered a victim, and then
having written his question in a note-book,
handed it to the Pythoness, before she ascended
the tripod ; and he also as well as the
priestess, wore a laurel crown. In early times
the oracle spoke only in one month of the year,
named " Byssus," in which it originated; and at
first only on the seventh day of that month,
which was esteemed the birth-day of Apollo, and
was called '; Polypthonus."
Virginity was at first an indispensable
requisite in the Pythoness; on account, as
Diodorus tells us, of the purity of that state
and its relation to Diana; moreover, because
virgins were thought better adapted than others
of their sex to keep oracular mysteries secret
and inviolate. But an untoward accident having
occurred to one of these consecrated damsels,
the guardians of the temple, in order, as they
imagined, to prevent its repetition for the
future, permitted no one to fulfil the duties of
the office till she had attained the mature age
of fifty; they still indulged her, however, with
the use of a maiden's habit. The response was
always delivered in Greek.
Oracle of Dodona. Another celebrated oracle,
that of Jupiter, was at Dodona, in Epirus, from
which Jupiter derived the name of Dodonus. It
was situated at the foot of Mount Tomarus, in a
wood of oaks; and there the answers were given
by an old woman under the name of Pelias. Pelias
means dove in the Attic dialect, from which the
fable arose, that the doves prophesied in the
groves of Dodona. According to Herodotus, this
legend contains the following incident, which
gave rise to the oracle :—Two priestesses of
Egyptian Thebes were carried away by Phoenician
merchants; one of them was conveyed to Libya,
where she founded the oracle of Jupiter Ammon ;
the other to Greece. The latter one remained in
the Dodonian wood, which was much frequented on
account of the acorns. There she had a temple
built at the foot of an oak in honour of
Jupiter, whose priestess she had been in Thebes;
and here afterwards a regular oracle was
founded. He adds, that this priestess was called
a dove, because her language could not be
understood. The Dodonid and African oracles were
certainly connected, and Herodotus distinctly
states, that the manner of prophecy in Dodona
was the same as that in Egyptian Thebes. Diana
was worshipped in Dodona in conjunction with
Zeus, and a female figure 'was associated with
Amun in the Libyan Ammonium. Besides this, the
dove was the bird of Aphrodite, the Diana of
Zeus, or the Mosaic divine love, which saved
mankind from complete destruction. According to
other authors, there was a %vondrous
intoxicating spring at Dodona; and in later
times more material means were employed to
produce the prophetic spirit.
Several copper bowls, namely, were placed upon a
column, and the statue of a boy beside them.
When the wind moved a rod or scourge having
three bones attached to chains, it struck upon
the metallic bowls, the sound of which was heard
by the applicants. These Dodonian tones gave
rise to a proverb : as Dodon<sum—a.n unceasing
babbler.
The oracle at Dodona was dedicated to the
Pelasgian Zeus, who was worshipped here at the
same time as the almighty ruler of the world,
and as the friendly associate of mankind. In the
course of the theogonic process, Diana was
associated with him as his wife,—the mother of
Aphrodite. The servants of Zeus were Selles, the
priests of Diana, the so-called Peliades.
According to Homer, the Selles inhabited the
sanctum at Dodona, sleeping upon the earth, and
with naked unwashed feet; they served the
Pelasgian Zeus. It is probable that they slept
upon the earth on the hides of newly-sacrificed
animals, to receive prophetic dreams, as was
customary at other places, Calchos and Oropus,
with many others.
As regards the mantic of Dodona, it was partly
natural, from the excitement of the mind, partly
artificial. Of the latter we may mention three
modes—the ancient oak of Zeus, with its
prophetic doves, the miraculous spring, and the
celebrated Dodonian bowls of brass.
The far-spreading, speaking tree, the
"incredible wonder, as jEschylus calls it, was
an oak, a lofty beautiful tree, with evergreen
leaves and sweet edible acorns, which according
to the belief of the Greeks and Romans, were the
first sustenance of mankind. The Pelasgi
regarded this tree as the tree of life. In this
tree the god was supposed to reside, and the
rustling of its leaves and the voices of birds
showed his presence. When the questioners
entered, the oak rustled, and the Peliades said,
" Thus speaks Zeus." Incense was burned beneath
it, which may be compared to the altar of
Abraham under the oak Ogyges, which had stood
there since the world's creation. According to
the legend, sacred doves continually inhabited
the tree, like the Marsoor oracle at Tiora
Mattiene, where a sacred hawk foretells futurity
from the top of a wooden pillar.
At the foot of the oak a cold spring gushes as
it were from its roots, and from its murmur the
inspired priestesses prophesied.
Of this miraculous fountain it is related, that
lighted torches being thrust into it were
extinguished, and that extinguished torches were
re-lit; it also rose and fell at various
seasons. " That extinction and rekindling has,"
says Lassaulx, " perhaps the mystical
signification that the usual sober life of the
senses must be extinguished, that the prophetic
spirit dormant in the soul may be aroused. The
torch of human existence must expire, that a
divine one may be lighted; the human must die
that the divine may be born; the destruction of
individuality is the awakening of God in the
soul, or, as the mystics say, the setting of
sense is the rising of truth."
The extinguishing of a burning light shows that
the spring contained carbonic acid gas, which
possesses stupi-fying and deadly properties,
like all exhalations arising especially from
minerals. The regular rising and sinking of the
water is a frequent phenomenon, and has been
observed from the earliest ages.
It appears that predictions were drawn from the
tones of the Dodonian brass bowls, as well as
from the rustling of the sacred oak and the
murmuring of the sacred well.
The Dodonian columns, with that which stood upon
them, appears to express the following:—The
medium-sized brazen bowl was a hemisphere, and
symbolised of heaven ; the boy-like male statue
a figure of the Demiurgos, or constructor of the
universe ; the bell-like notes a symbol of the
harmony of the universe and music of the
spheres. That the Demiurgos is represented as a
boy is quite in the spirit of Egypto-Pelasgian
theology as it reigned in Samo-thrace. The
miraculous bell told all who came to Dodona to
question the god that they were on holy ground,
must inquire with pure hearts, and be silent
when the god replied. It is easily imagined that
these tones, independent and uninfluenced by
human will, must have made a deep
impression upon the minds of pilgrims. Those who
questioned the god were also obliged to take a
purificatory bath in the temple, similar to that
by which the Delphian Pythia prepared herself
for prophecy.
Besides this artificial soothsaying from signs,
natural divination by the prophetic movements of
the mind was practised. Where there are
prophesying priestesses, there must also be
ecstatic ones, similar to those in the magnetic
, state. Sophocles calls the Dodonean
priestesses divinely inspired : Plato (Phaedrus)
says, more decidedly, that the prophetess at
Delphi and the priestesses at Dodona had done
much good in sacred madness, in private and
public affairs, to their country, but in their
senses little or nothing. We may see from this
that the Delphian Pythia, as well as the
Dodonian priestesses, did not give their oracles
in the state of common waking consciousness, but
in real ecstasy, to which the frequent incense —
and drink — offerings would assist. Aristides
states, still more clearly than the others, that
the priestesses at Dodona neither knew, before
being seized upon by the spirit, what would be
said, nor remembered afterwards, when their
natural consciousness returned, what they had
uttered ; so that all others, rather than they,
knew it.
Oracle oj Jupiter Trophonius. — Trophonius,
according to Pausanias, was the most skilful
architect of his day. Concerning the origin of
his oracle there are many opinions. Some say he
was swallowed up by an earthquake in the cave
which afterwards became prophetic ; others, that
after having completed the Adytum of Apollo at
Delphi (a very marvellous specimen of his
workmanship, which Dr. Clarke thought might at
some time be discovered on account of its
singularity), he declined asking any specific
pay, but modestly requested the god to grant him
whatever was the greatest benefit a man could
receive ; and in three days afterwards he was
found dead. This oracle was discovered after two
years of scarcity in its neighbourhood, when the
Pythoness ordered the starving population, who
applied to her, to consult Trophonius in
Lebadaea. The deputation sent for that purpose
could not discover any trace of such an oracle,
till Saon, the oldest among them, obtained the
desired information by following the flight of a
swarm of bees. The responses were given by the
genius of Trophonius* to the inquirer, who was
compelled to descend into a cave, of the nature
of which Pausanias has left a very lively
representation. The votary resided for a certain
number of days in a sanctuary of good fortune,
in which he underwent customary lustrations,
abstained from hot baths, but dipped in the
river Hercyna, and was plentifully supplied with
meat from the victims which he sacrificed. Many,
indeed, were the sacred personages whom he was
bound to propitiate with blood ; among them were
Trophonius himself and his sons, Apollo, Saturn,
Jupiter, Vasileus, Juno Henioche, and Ceres
Eurbpa, who is affirmed to have been the nurse
of Trophonius. From an inspection of the
entrails, a soothsayer pronounced whether
Trophonius was in fit humour for consultation.
None of the " exta," however favourable they
might have been, were of the slightest avail,
unless a ram, immolated to Agamedes at the mouth
of the cave on the very night of the descent,
proved auspicious. When that propitious signal
had been given ,the priests led the inquirer to
the river Hercyna, where he was anointed and
washed by two Lebadeean youths, thirteen years
of age, named " Hermai." He was then carried
farther to the two spring-heads of the stream,
and there he drank first of Lethe, in order that
he might forget all past events and present his
mind to the oracle as a " tabula rasa " ; and
secondly of Mnemosyne, that he might firmly
retain remembrance of every occurrence which was
about to happen within the cave. An image,
reputed to be the workmanship of Daedalus, was
then exhibited to him, and so great was its
sanctity, that no other eyes but those of a
person about to undertake the adventure of the
cave were ever permitted to behold it. Next he
was clad in a linen robe, girt with ribbons, and
shod with sandals peculiar to the country. The
entrance to the oracle was a very narrow
aperture in a grove on the summit of a mountain,
protected by a marble parapet about two cubits
in height, and by brazen spikes above it. The
upper part of the cave was artificial, like an
oven, but no steps were cut in the rock, and the
descent was made by a ladder brought to the spot
on each occasion. On approaching the mouth of
the adytum itself the adventurer lay flat, and
holding in each hand some honeyed cakes, first
inserted his feet into the aperture, then drew
his knees and the remainder of his body after
them, till he was caught by some hidden force,
and carried downward as if by a whirlpool. The
responses were given sometimes by a vision,
sometimes by words; and a forcible exit was then
made through the original entrance, and in like
manner feet foremost. There was only a single
instance on record of any "person who had
descended failing to return and that one
deserved his fate; for his object was to
discover treasure, not to consult the oracle.
Immediately on issuing from the cavern, the
inquirer was placed on a seat called that of
Mnemosyne, not far from the entrance, and there
the priests demanded a relation of everything
which he had seen and heard; he was then carried
once again to the sanctuary of good fortune,
where he remained for some time overpowered by
terror and lost in forget-fulness. By degrees
his former powers of intellect returned, and, in
contradiction to the received opinion, he
recovered the power of smiling.
Dr. Clarke, in his visit to Lebadaea, found
everything belonging to the hieron of Trophonius
in its original state, excepting that the narrow
entrance to the adytum was choked with rubbish.
The Turkish governor was afraid of a popular
commotion if he gave permission for cleansing
this aperture. Mr. Cripps, however, introduced
the .whole length of his body into the cavity,
and by thrusting a long pole before him found it
utterly stopped. The waters of Lethe and
Mnemosyne at present supply the washerwomen of
Lebadaea.
Oracles of Delos and Branchus.—The oracle of "
Delos," notwithstanding its high reputation, had
few peculiarities : its virtue was derived from
the nativity of Apollo and Diana in that island.
At Dindyma, or Didyma, near Miletus, Apollo
presided over the oracle of the " Branchi-dse,"
so called from either one of his sons or of his
favourites Branchus of Thessaly, whom he
instructed in soothsaying while alive, and
canonized after death. The responses were given
by a priestess .who bathed and fasted for three
days before consultation, and then sat upon an
axle or bar, with a charming-rod in her hand,
and inhaling the steam from a hot spring.
Offerings and ceremonies were necessary to
render the inspiration effectual, including
baths, fasting, and solitude, and lamblichus
censures those who despise them.
Oracle of the Clarian Apollo at Colophon.—Of the
oracle of Apollo at Colophon, lamblichus relates
that it prophesied by drinking of water. " It is
known that a subterranean Spring exists there,
from which the prophet drinks; after he has done
so, and has performed many consecrations and
sacred customs on certain nights, he predicts
the future; but he is invisible to all who are
present. That this water can induce prophecy is
clear, but how it happens, no one knows, says
the proverb." It, might appear that the divine
spirit pervades this water, but it is not so.
God .is in all things, and is reflected in this
spring, thereby giving it the prophetic power.
This inspiration of the water is not of an
entirely divine nature, for it only prepares us
and purifies the light of the soul, so that we
are fit to receive the divine spirit. There the
divine presence is of such a nature that it
punishes every one who is capable of receiving
the god. The soothsayer uses this spirit like a
work-tool over which he has no control. After
the moment of prediction he does not always
remember that which has passed ; often he can
scarcely collect his faculties. Long before the
water-drinking, the soothsayer must abstain day
and night from food, and observe religious
customs, which are impossible to ordinary
people, by which means he is made capable of
receiving the god. It is only in this manner
that he is able to hold the mirror of his soul
to the radiance of free inspiration."
Oracle of Amphiaraus.—Another very celebrated
oracle was that of Amphiaraus, who distinguished
himself so much in the Theban war. He was
venerated at Oropus, in Bceotia, as a seer. This
oracle was consulted more in sickness than on
any other occasion. The applicants bad here,
also, to lie upon the skin of a sacrificed ram,
and during sleep had the remedies of their
diseases revealed to them. Not only, however,
were sacrifices and lustrations performed here,
but the priests prescribed other preparations by
which the minds of the sleepers were to be
enlightened. They had to fast one day, and
refrain from wine three. Amphilochus, as son of
Amphiaraus, had a similar oracle at Mallos, in
Cilicia, which Pausanias calls the most
trustworthy and credible of the age. Plutarch
speaks of the oracles of Amphilochus and Mopsus
as being in a very flourishing state; and Lucian
mentions that all those who wished to question
the oracle had to lay down two oboles.
Egyptian Oracles.—The oracles of Ancient Egypt
were as numerous as those of Greece. It must
have been due to foreign influence that the
oracle, that played so important a part in the
Greek world at this time, was also thoroughly
established on the banks of the Nile. Herodotus
knew of no fewer than seven gods in Egypt who
spake by oracles. Of these, the most reliable
was considered to give an intimation of their
intentions by means of remarkable events. These
are carefully observed by the Egyptians, who
write down what follows upon these prodigies.
They aiso consider that the fate of a person is
fixed by the day of his birth, for every day
belongs to a special god. The oracle of Jupiter
Ammon at the oasis of that name and the same
deity at Thebes existed from the twentieth to
the twenty-second Dynasty. He was consulted not
only concerning the fate of empires but upon
such trifling matters as the identification of a
thief. In all serious matters, however, it was
sought to ascertain his views. Those about to
make their wills sought his oracle, and
judgments were ratified by his word.
'' According to the inscriptions, intercourse
between king and god was arranged as follows
:—The King present himself before the god and
preferred a direct question, so framed as to
admit of an answer by simple yes or no ; in
reply the god nodded an affirmative, or shook
his head in negation. This has suggested the
idea that the oracles were worked by
manipulating statues of divinities mechanically
set in motion by the priests. But as yet no such
statues have been found in the Valley of the
Nile, and contrivances of this kind could have
had no other object than to deceive the
people,—a supposition apparently excluded in
this case by the fact that it was customary fcr
the king to visit the god alone and in secret.
Probably the king presented himself on such
occasions before the sacred animal in which the
god was incarnate, believing that the divine
will would be manifested by its movements."
The Apis bull also possessed oracles. Bes, too,
god of pleasure or of the senses, had an oracle
at Abydos.
American Oracles.—Among the American races the
oracle was frequently encountered. All the
principal gods of aboriginal America universally
act as oracles. With the ancient inhabitants of
Peru, the huillcas partook of the nature of
oracles. Many of these were serpents, trees, and
rivers, the noises made by which appeared to the
primitive Peruvians—as, indeed, they do to
primitive folk all over
-the world—to be of the quality of articulate
speech. Both
-the Huillcamayu and the Apurimac rivers at
Cuzco were huillca oracles of this kind, as
their names, " Huillca-
•river" and " Great Speaker," denote. These
oracles often set the mandate of the Inca
himself at defiance, occasionally supporting
popular opinion against his policy.
The Peruvian Indians of the Andes range within
recent generations continued to adhere to the
superstitions they had inherited from their
fathers. A rare and interesting account of these
says that they " admit an evil being, the
inhabitant of the centre of the earth, whom they
consider as the author of their misfortunes, and
at the mention of whose name they tremble. The
most shrewd among them take advantage of this
belief to obtain respect, and represent
themselves as his delegates. Under the
denomination of mohanes, or agoreros, they are
consulted even on the most trivial occasions.
They preside over the intrigues of love, the
health of the community, and the taking of the
field. Whatever repeatedly occurs to defeat
their prognostics, falls on themselves; and they
are wont to pay for their deceptions very
dearly. They chew a species of vegetable called
piripiri, and throw it into the air,
accompanying this act by certain recitals and
incantations, to injure some, to benefit others,
to procure rain and the inundation of rivers,
or, on the other hand, to occasion settled
weather, and a plentiful store of agricultural
productions. Any such result, having been
casually verified on a single occasion, suffices
to confirm the Indians in their faith, although
they may have been cheated a thousand times.
There is an instance on record of how the
huillca could refuse on occasion to recognise
even royalty itself. Manco, the Inca who had
been given the kingly power by Pizarro, offered
a sacrifice to one of these oracular shrines.
The oracle refused to recognise him, through the
medium of its guardian priest, stating that
Manco was not the rightful Inca. Manco therefore
caused the oracle, which was in the shape of a
rock, to be thiown down, whereupon its guardian
spirit emerged in the form of a parrot and flew
away. It is probable that the bird thus
liberated had been taught by the priests to
answer to the questions of those who came to
consult the shrine. But we learn that on Manco
commanding that the parrot should be pursued it
sought another rock, which opened to receive it,
and the spirit of the huillca was transferred to
this new abode.
Like the greater idols of Mexico, most of the
principal hua-
•cas of Peru seem to have been also oracles. The
guardians of the great speaking huacas appear to
have exercised in virtue of their office an
independent influence which -was sometimes
sufficiently powerful to resist the
Apu-Ccapac-Inca himself. It was perhaps natural
that they should be the exponents of the popular
feeling which supported them, rather than of the
policy of the sovereign chiefs, whose interest
it was to suppress them : there was even a
tradition that the Huillac-umu, a venerable
huillac whom the rest acknowledged as their
head, had i,p old times possessed jurisdiction
over the supreme war-chiefs.
Many Indian tribes employ fetishes as oracles,
and among the ancient Mexicans practically all
the great gods were rracular.
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