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

ORACULUML ORACULUM. 84 1
3. Oracle of Zeus Ammon, in an oasis in Libya, days in quiet and without taking any food, and
in the north-west of Egypt. According to the were sometimes allowed to fall into the prophetic
traditions current at Dodona and Thebes in Egypt, sleep, but were prepared for it, and received the
it was founded by the latter city (Herod. ii. 42, advice of the priests; for to all other persons the
-54, &c.), and the form in which the god was re. place was inaccessible and fatal. There was an
presented at Thebes and in the Ammonium was annual panegyris in this place, probably of sick
the same; he had in both places the head of a persons who sought relief from their sufferings.
ram. (Herod. iv. 181.) The Greeks became ac- On the middle of the festive day the young men
quainted with this oracle through the Cyreneans, of the gymnasium, naked and anointed, used to
and Sparta was the first city of Greece which drive a bull into the cave, which, as soon as it had
formed connections with it. (Paus. iii. 18. ~ 2.) entered, fell down dead. (Strab. xiv. p. 649
Its example was followed by the Thebans, Olym- compare xii. p. 579.)
pians, Dodonaeans, Eleans, and others, and the At Epidaurus Limera oracles were given at the
Athenians sent frequent theories to the Ammo- festival of Ino. [INOA]. The same goddess had
nium even before 01. 91 (B1ckh, Publ. Econ. p. an oracle at Oetylon, in which she made revela240, 2d edit.), and called one of their sacred vessels tions in dreams to persons who slept a night in her
Ammonis. (Hesych. and Suid. s. v.'Ag/uwyv; sanctuary. (Paus. iii. 26. ~ 1.) Hera Acraea had
Harpocrat. s. v.'Alulovis.) Temples of Zeus Am- an oracle between Lechaeon and Pagae. (Strab.
mon were now erected in several parts of Greece. viii. p. 380.)
His oracle in Libya was conducted by men who
also gave the answers. (Diod. xvii. 51.) Their IV. ORACLES OF HEROES.
number appears to have been very great, for on 1. Oracle of Amphiaraucs, between Potniae and
some occasions when they carried the statue about Thebes, where the hero was said to have been
in a procession, their number is said to have been swallowed up by the earth. His sanctuary was
eighty. (Died. iii. 50.) In the time of Strabo surrounded by a wall and adorned with columns,
(xvii. p. 813) the oracle was very much neglected, upon which birds never settled, and birds or cattle
and in a state of decay. The Greek writers, who never took any food in the neighbourhood. (Paus.
are accustomed to call the greatest god of a bar- ix. 3. ~ 2.) The oracles were given to persons in
barous nation Zeils, mention several oracles of this their dreams, for they had to sleep in the temple
divinity in foreign countries. (Herod. ii. 29; (Herod. viii. 134) after they had prepared themDiod. iii. 6.) selves for this inczbcatio by fasting one days and by
abstaining from wine for three days. (Philostrat.IIl. ORACLES OF OTIHER GODe, Vit. Apoll. ii. 37.) The Thebans were not allowed
The other gods who possessed oracles were con- to consult this oracle, having chosen to take the
sulted only concerning those particular departments hero as their ally rather than as their prophet.
of the world and human life over which they (Herod. 1. c.) Another oracle of Amphiaraus was
presided. Demneter thus gave oracles at Patrae in at Oropus, between Boeotia and Attica, which was
Achaia, but only concerning sick persons, whether most frequently consulted by the sick about the
their sufferings would end in death or recovery. means of their recovery. Those who consulted it
Before the sanctuary of the goddess there was a had to undergo lustrations, and to sacrifice a rain,
well surrounded by a wall. Into this well a mir- on the skin of which they slept a night in the
ror was let down by means of a rope, so as to swim temple, where in their dreams they expected the
upon the surface. Prayers were then performed means of their recovery to be revealed to them.
and incense offered, whereupon the image of the (Paus. i. 34. ~ 2, &c.) If they recovered, they
sick person was seen in the mirror either as a had to throw some pieces of money into the well
corpse or in a state of recovery. (Paus. vii. 21. of Amphiaraus in his sanctuary. The oracle was
~ 5.) At Pharae in Achaia, there was an oracle said to have been founded by the Thebans. (Strab.
of I-ersnes. HIis altar stood in the middle of the ix. p. 399.)
market-place. Incense was offered there, oil-lamps 2. Oracle of Anmplilochus. He was the son of
were lighted before it, a copper coin was placed Amphiaraus, and had an oracle at Mallos in Cilicia,
upon the altar, and after this the question was put which Pausanias calls the most trustworthy of his
to the god by a whisper in his ear. The person time. (Paus. i. 34. ~ 2; Dion Cass. lxxii. 7.)
who consulted him shut his own ears, and iime- 3. Os-acle of Trophonins at Lebadeia in Boeotia.
diatl]y left the market-place. The first remark (Paus. ix. 37. ~ 3.) Those who wished to conthat he heard made by any one after leaving the sult this oracle had first to purify themselves by
market place was believed to imply the answer of spending some days in the sanctuary of the good
Hermes. (Paus. vii. 22. ~ 2.) spirit and good luclk (a&yaOov Aaleyoos Kal &yaers
There was an Oracle of Plato acnd Cora at TbXSJs), to live sober and pure, to abstain from
Charax, or Acharaca, not far from Nysa, in Caria. warm baths, but to bathe in the river Hercyna, to
The two deities had here a temple and a grove, offer sacrifices to Trophonius and his children, to
and near the latter there was a subterraneous Apollo, Cronos, king Zeus, Hera Heniocha, and to
cave of a miraculous nature, called the cave of Demeter Europe, who was said to have nursed
Charon; for persons suffering front illness, and Trophonius; and during these sacrifices a soothplacing confidence in the power of the gods, tra- sayer explained from the intestines of the victimls
velled to this place, and stayed for some time with whether Trophonius would be pleased to admit the
experienced priests who lived in a place near thie consultor. In the night in which the consultor
cave. These priests then slept a night in the was to be allowed to descend into the cave of Trocavern, and afterwards prescribed to their patients phonius, he had to sacrifice a ram to Agamedes,
the remedies revealed to them in their dreams. and only in case the signs of the sacrifice were
Often, however, they took their patients with them favourable, the hero uwas thosght to be pleased to
into the cave, where they had to stay for several admit the person into hIis cave. W'hat took place