Dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

:-836 - OPSONIUN. I ORACULUIM.
Irticies were taken from the vegetable kinlgdom, was his duty, by learning what flavours were mbst
but were much more pungent and savoury than acceptable to him, by observing what most delighted
bread, such as olives, either fresh or pickled, his eyes, stimulated his appetite, and even overradishes, and sesamum. (Plato, de Repub. ii. p. 85, came his nausea, to satisfy as much as possible all
ed. Bekker; Xen. Oecon. viii. 9.) Of animal food the cravings of a luxurious palate. (Sen. Epist. 47;
by much the most common kind was fish, whence compare Hoer. Sat. i. 2. 9, ii. 7. 106; Plaut. Al:ethe terms under explanation were in the course of naec/. ii. 2. 1, Mil. iii. 2. 73.) We may also infer,
time used in a confilled and special sense to denote from an epigram of Martial (xiv. 217), that there
fish only, but fish variously prepared, and more were opsonatores, or purveyors, who furnished
especially salt fish, which was most extensively dinners and other entertainments at so much per
employed to give a relish to the vegetable diet head, according to the means and wishes of their
either at breakfast (Menander, p. 70, ed. Meineke), employers. Spon (Mdiisc. Er2ed. A4t. p. 214) has
or at the principal meal. (Plaut. Aulul. ii. 6. 3.) published two inscriptions from monuments raised
For the same reason 6bo4'ayos mean't a.gourmand to the memory of Romans who held the office of
or epicure, and b`ooayi gluttony. (Athen. ix. purveyors to the Imperial family. At Athens both' 1 —37.) In maritime cities the time of opening the sale and the use of all kinds of opsonia were
tlhe fish-market was signified by ringing a bell, so superintended by two or three special officers, apthat all might have an equal opportunity for the pointed by the senate, and called o4'ovoioLi. (Athen.
purchase of delicacies. (Strab. xiv. 1. ~ 21; P]ut. vi. 12.) [J. Y.]
Sympos. Prob. p. 11 87, ed. Steph.) O'PTIO. [ExERacTus, p. 506, a.]
Of the different parts of fishes the roe was the OPTIMA'TES. [NosILES.]
most esteemed for this purpose. It is still pre- ORA'CULUM (eUasre7o,, XpIoTrTpIoV)'was
pared from the fish in the very same waters adjoin- used by the ancients to designate the revelations
ing Myus in Ionia, which were given to Themiis- made by the deity to man, as well as the place ill
tolries by the King of Persia. (Thuc. i. 138; which such revelations were made. The deity
Corn. Nepos.'iThem. x. 3; Diod. xi. 57.) A jar was in none of these places believed to appear in
Twas found at Pompeii, containing caviare made from person to man, and to communicate to him his
the roe of the tunny. (Geil, Powpeiana, 1832, will or knowledge of the future; but all oracular
v-ol. i. p. 178.) revelations were made through some kind of meSome of the principal TrapiXE7lt, or establish- dium, which, as we shall see hereafter, was diffements for curing fish, were on the southern coast rent in the different places where oracles existed.
of Spain (Strab. iii. 4): but the Greeks obtained It may, on first sight. seem strange that there
their chief supply from the Hellespont (Hermippis were, comparatively speaking, so few oracles of
arp. Ath/en. i. 49, p. 27, e); and more especially Zeus, the father and ruler of gods and men. But
Byzantium first rose into importance after its although, according to the belief of the ancients,
establishment by the Milesians in'consequence of Zeus himself was the first source of all oracular rethe active prosecution of this branch of industry. velations, yet he was too far above men to enter
Of all seas the Euxine was accounted by the an- with them into any close relation; other gods
cients the most abundant in fish, and the catching therefore, especially Apollo, and even heroes, acted
of them was aided by their migratory habits, as in as mediators between Zeus and men, and formed as
the autumn they passed through the Bosporus it were the organs through which he communicated
towards the South, and in spring returned to the his will. (Soplh Oed. Col. 629; Aesch. Eum. 19,
Euxine, in order to deposit their spawn in its tri- 611, &c.) The fact that tile ancients consulted
butary rivers. At these two seasons they were the will of the gods on all important occasions of
caught in the greatest quantity, and, having been public and private life, arose partly from the uniculled, were shipped in Milesian bottoms, and sent versal desire of men to know the issue of what they
to all parts of Greece and the Levant. The princi- are going to undertake, and partly from the great
pal ports on the Euxine engaged in this traffic reverence for the gods, so peculiar to the ancients,
were Sinope and Panticapaeum. (Heoewisch, Co- by which they were led not to undertake anylonieens der Griechlen, p. 80.) thing of importance without their sanction; for
Among the fish used for curing were different it should be borne in mind that an oracle was not
kinds of sturgeon (&vrTacaLos, Heriod. iv. 53; merely a revelation to satisfy the curiosity of man,
Schneider, Ecl. PL/hys. i. p. 85, ii. p. 48), tanliy bult at the same time a sanction or authorisation by
(oaco,uapbs, Hermippus, 1. c.; scomlber; 7rl7Na,eu s the deity'of what man was intending to do or not
a name still in use with some modification among to do. We subjoin a list of the Greek oracles,
the descendants of the ancient Phocaeans at Mar- ciassed according to the deities to whom they. beseiiles, Passow-, Ieand&tlsrte1rbuc, s. v.), and mullet. longed.
A minute discussion of their qualities, illustrated
by quotations, may be seen in Athenaeus. (iii. 84
-93.) 1. Thle oracle of Delpthi was the most celebrated
Plato mentions the practice of salting eggs, of all the oracles of Apollo. Its ancient name was
which was no doubt intended to convert them into Pytho, which is either of the same root as ree'a kind of opsonium (Synmp. p. 404, ed. Bekker). Oai, to consult, or, according to the Homeric hymn
The treatise'of Apicius, de Opsosiis, is still extant on Apollo (185, &e.) derived from -rvOeoe0at, to
in ten books. putrefy, with reference to the nature of the locaThe Athenians were in the habit of going to lity. Respecting the topography of the temple of
mnarkets (Els Tou'/ov) themselves in order to put- Apollo see Pausanias (x. 14. ~ 7) and MUiller (in
chase their opsonia (/m'coven, Theophrast. C/har. Dissen's Pindar, ii. p. 628). Ini the innermost
28; olpsonare). [MACELIU1..] But the opulent sanctuary (the Iu'Xos iVUroY or tIeyapov), there
Romans had a slave, called opsonator (4cmsls), was the statue of Apollo, which was, at least, in
whose office it was to purchase for his master. It later times, of gold; and before it there burnt upon