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

838 ORACULUM. ORAC ULUM.
(Plut. de Pvytis. Or. 28.) When the oracle of Julian, until at last it was entirely done away
Delphi lost its importance in the eyes of the an- with by Theodosius.
cients, the number of persons who consulted it Notwithstanding the general obscurity and aminaturally decreased, and in the days of Plutarch biguity of most of the oracles given at Delphi,
one Pythia was, as of old, sufficient to do all the there are many also which convey so clear and
work, and oracles were only given on one day in distinct a meaning, that they could not possibly be
every month. misunderstood, so that a wise agency at the bottom
The divine agency in Pytho is said to have first of the oracles cannot be denied. The manner in
been discovered by shepherds who tended their which this agency has been explained at different
flocks in the neighbourhood of the chasln, and times, varies greatly according to the spirit of the
whose sheep, when approaching the place, were age. During the best period of their history the
seized with convulsions. (Diod. xvi. 26; Plut. Greeks, generally speaking, had undoubtedly a
de Defect. Or. c. 42.) Persons who came near sincere faith in the oracle, its counsels and directhe place showed the same symptoms, and re- tions. lWhen the sphere in which it had most
ceived the power of prophecy. This at last in- benefitted Greece became narrowed and confined to
duced the people to build a temple over the sacred matters of a private nature, the oracle could no
spot. According to the Homeric hymn on Apollo, longer command the veneration with which it had
this god was himself the founder of the Delphic been looked upon before. The pious and believing
oracle, but the local legends of Delphi stated that heathens, however, thought that the god no longer
originallv it wa.s in the possession of other deities, bestowed his former care upon the oracle, and that
sUli as Gaea, Tlhemis, Phoebe, Poseidon, Night, he was beginning to withdraw from it; while freeCronos, and that it was given to Apollo as a pre- thinkers and unbelievers looked upon the oracle as
sent. (Aeschyl. Ezmss. 3, &c.; compare Paus. x. 5; a skilful contrivance of priestcraft which had then
Ovid. ilIetlca. i. 321; Argum. ad Pined. Pylsh.; outgrown itself. This latter opinion has also been
Tzetz. ad Lycoplhr. 202.) Other traditions again, adopted by many modern writers. The early
and these perhaps the mosntancient and genuine, Christians, seeing that some extraordinary power
represented Alollo as having gained possession of must in several cases have been at work, reprethe oracle by a struggle, which is generally de- senlted it as an institution of the evil spirit. In
scribed as a fight, with Python, a dragon, who modern times opinions are very much divided.
guarded the oracle of Gaea or Themis. liillmann, for example, has endeavoured to show
The oracle of D.lphi, during its best period, was that the oracle of Delphi was entirely managed and
believed to give its answers and advice to every conducted by the aristocratic falnilies of Delphi,
one who came with a pure heart, and had no evil which are thus described as forming a sort of hierdesigns; if he hald committed a crime, the answer archical senate for all Greece. If so, the Delphic
was refused until he had atoned for it (Herod. i. senate surely was the wisest of all in the history
19, 22), and he who consulted the god for bad pur- of the ancient world. Klansen, on the other hand,
poses was sure to accelerate his own ruin. (ierod. seems to be inclined to allow some truly divine iniv. 86; Pans. ii. 18. ~ 2.) No religious institu- fluence, and at all events thinks that even in so far
tion in all antiquity obtained such a paramount in- as it was merely managed by men, it acted in most
fluence, not only in Greece, but in all countries cases saccording to lofty and pure moral principles.
around the Mediterraneasn, in all matters of ili- The modern literature on the Delphic oracle is
portance, whether relating to religion or to politics very rich; the most important works are:- C. F.
to private or to public life, as the oracle of Delphi. Wilster, De Relisione et Oszac2dco Apollio2is DelpMici,'When consulted on a subject of a religious nature, Ilafilae, 1827; H. Piotrowski, I)e Gravitate Orecthe answer was invariably of a kind calculated culi Delphici, Lipsiae, 1829; R. II. Klansen, in
not only to protect and preserve religious institu. Ersch us2d Gruber's Esclopdcdie, s. v. Osl'el; K.
tions, bat to conmmand new ones to be established D. Hilllmann, Wisd-ligzung des Delphlise en Orekels,
(Demosth. o. Ml:id. 15; Herod. v, 82, i. 165, &c.), Bonn, 1837; AV. Gdtte, Das Deliphische Oreakel,
so that it was the preserver anid promoter of reli- iz seinein poitischlen, relsiji;seo noed sitlicen E Eisgion throughout the ancient world. Colonies were fluss au/'die te 1'elt, Leipzig 1839.
seldom or never founded without having obtained 2. Oracle at Abae in Phocis. An oracle was bethe advice and the directions of the Delphic god. lieved to have existed there from very early times
(Cic, (e Div. i. 1.) Hence the oracle was consulted (Paus. x. 35. ~ 2), and was held in high esteem by the
in all disputes between a colony and its metropolis, Phocians. (Soph. Oed. Tysr 899; Herod. viii. 33.)
as well as in eases where several states claimed Some years before the Persian invasion, the Photo be the metropolis of a colony. (Thsucyd. i. 25, cians gained a victory over the Thessalians, in which'28; Died. xv. 13.) they obtained, among other spoils, four thousand
The Delphic oracle had at all times a leaning shields, half of which they dedicated in the temple
in favotur of the Greeks of the Doric race; but of Apollo at Abae, and half in that of Delphi.
the time when it began to lose its influence must (Herod. viii. 27.) The oracle twas like many others
be dated from the period when Athens and Sparta consulted by Croesus; but he does not seem to have
entered upon their struggle for the supremacy in found it agreeing With his wishes. (Herod. i. 46.)
Greece; for at this timlle the partiality for Sparta In the Persian invasion of Xerxes, the temple of
became so manifest, that the Athenians and their Abae was burnt down, and, like all other temples
party beoan to lose all reverence and esteem for destroyed in this invasioIn, it was snver rebuilt.
it (Plut. Ds720ostlh, 20), tand the oracle became a The oracle itself, however, remained, and before
oere instrulment in the hanlds of a political party. the battle of Leuctra it promised victory to the
In the times of Cicero and Plutarch many be- Thebans; but in the Phocian or sacred war, when
lieved that the oracle lhad lost the powvers which it somue Phocian fugitives had taken refiuge in tile
hlad possessed in formrle datys; but it still continued ruins, they were enitirely destroyed by the Thebans.
to be consulted down to the timles of the emperors (Paus. 1. c.) But even after this calamity the