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

8342 0RACULUM. ORACU LUM.
after this was as follows:- Two boys, 13 yeasrs old, where answers were given in dreams while persons
led him again to the river ILercylna, and bathed spent the night in the temple. (Plunt. Cleom. 7,
and anointed him. The priests then made him Aglis, 9; Cic. de Div. i. 43.)
driiink from the well of oblivion (A/0rO) that he 8. Oracle of' Phl/rixs, in Iberia near Mount
might forget all his former thouglits, and from the Caucasus, where no rams were allowed to be sacriwell of recollection (Mv-s7osdvvsr) that he might re- ficed. (Strab. xi. p. 498; Tacit. Aonal. vi. 34.)
member the visions which he was going to have.
They then showed him a mysterious representation
of Trophonius, made him worship it, and led him Another class of oracles are the oracles of th e
into the sanctuary, dressed in linen garments with dead (vetcvouav revo or 4vXoro2urrEsov), in which
girdles around his body, and wearing a peculiar those who consulted called up the spirits of the
kind of shoes (Kcparlies) which were customary at dead, and offered sacrifices to the gods of the lower
Lebadeia. Within the sanctuary which stood on world. One of the most ancient and most celcan eminence, there was a cave, into which the per- brated places of this kind was in the country of
son was now allowed to descend by means of a the'lhesprotians near lake Aornos. (Diod. iv.
ladder. Close to the bottom, in the side of the 2-2; Herod. v. 92. ~ 7; Pans. ix. 30. ~ 3.) Ancave, there was an opening into which he put his other oracle of this kind was at Heraclea on the
feet, whereupon the other parts of the body were Propointis. (Plut. Cisn. 6.)
likewise drawn into the opening by some invisible Respecting the Greek oracles in general see
power. What the persons here saw was different WVachsmuth, Mellen. Al lte-lh. ii. p. 585, &c.; Klanat differenit times. They returned through the sen, in Essch a usd Grauber's Ecyclolp. s.v. O rakel.
same opening by which they had entered, and the
priests now placed them on the throne of Mnemosyne, asked them what they had seen, and led Oracles, in which a god revealed his will through
them back to the sanctuary of the good spirit and the month of an inspired individual, did not exist
good luck. As soon as they had recovered from in Italy. The oracles of Csalchas and Aesculapius
their fear, they were obliged to write down their mentioned above were of Greek origin, anld the
vision on a little tablet which was dedicated in the former was in a Greek herourn on mount Garganus.
temple. This is the account given by Pausanias, The Romans, in the ordinary course of thiigos, did
who had himself descended into the cave, and not feel the want of such oracles as those of Greece,
writes as an eye-witness. (Pans. ix. 39. ~ 3, &c.; for they lhad numerous other mreans to discover
compare Philostr. Vit. Apoll. viii. 19.) The an- the will of the gods, such as the Sibylline books,
swers were probably given by the priests according augury, hartuspices, signs in the heavens, and the
to the report of what persons had seen in the cave. like, which are partly described in-separate articles
This oracle was held in very great esteem, and and partly in DIVINATIO. The only Italian oracles
did not become extinct until a very late period: known to us are the followinlg:and though the army of Sulla had plundered the 1. Oracle of''cFaunzts. His oracles are said to
temple, the oracle was much consulted by the Ro- have been given in the Saturnian verse, and collecmans (Orig. c. Cels. vii. p. 355), and in the time of tions of his vaticini-a seem to have existed at an
Plutarch it was the only one among the numerous early period. (Aurel.Vict. De Orisj.genlt. Rose. c. 4.)
Boeotian oracles, that had not becomne silent. (Plut. The places where his oracles were given were two
de Orac. Des: c. 5.) groves, the one in the neighlbourhood of Tibur,
4. Oac-ole of GCalclas, in Daunia in southern rounld the well of Albunea, and the other on the
Italy. Here answers were given in dreams, for Aventine. (Virg. Aez. vii. 81, &c.; Ovid, Fast. iv.
those who consulted the oracle had to sacrifice a 650, &c.) Those who consulted the god in the
black rainm, and slept a night in the temple, lying grove of Albunea, which is said to have been reon the skin of the victim. (Strab. vi. p. 84t.) sorted to by all the Italians, had to observe the
5. Oracles of Asclepius (Aesculapius). The following points: —The priest first offered a sheep
oracles of Asclepius were very numerous. But the and other sacrifices to the god. The skin of the
most important and most celebrated was that of victim was spread on the ground, and the consulEpidaurus. His temple there was literally covered tor was obliged to sleep upon it during the niglht,
with votive tablets, on which persons had recorded after his head had been thrice sprinkled with pure
their recovery by spending a night in the temple. water from the well, and touched with the branch
In the temples of Aesculapius and Serapis at Rome, of a sacred beech tree. He was, moreover, oblioed
recovery was likewise sought by incubatio in his several days before this night to abstain from anitemple. (Suet. Claud. 25.) F. A. Wolf has written mal food fand from matrimonial connections, to be
an essay, BeitrL-aq zzrm Gesch. des Somza1dn77mbmlismmss clothed in simple garments, and not to wear a riing
aus demnt /lterthlmn ( Vermlischte Scrifiezt, p. 382, on his fingers. After he fell asleep on the sheep.
&c.), in which he endeavours to show that what is skin he was believed to receive his answver in
now called Mesmerism, or animal mnagnetisln, was wonderful visions and in converse with the god
known to the priests of those temples where sick himself. (Virg. I. c.; Isidor. viii. 11. 87.) Ovid
persons spent one or more nights for the purpose of (I. c.) transfers some of the points to be observed
recovering their health. Other oracles of the same in order to obtain the oracle on the Albunea, to
kind are mentioned in that essay, together with the orLacle on the Aventine. Both may have hiad
soime of tile votive tablets still extant. much in common, but from the story which he re6. Orsle of IHerctcles at Bura in Achaia. Those lates of Nulma it seems to be clear that on the
who consulted it, prayed and put their questions to Aventine certain different ceremonies also were
the god, and then cast four dice painted with observed.
figures, and the answer was given according to the 2. Orstcles of' Fortusna existed in several Italian
position of these figures. (Panus. vii. 25. ~ 6.) towns, especially in Latium, as at Antium and.
7. Os-cle of'Pasir, hct, at Thalamiae in Laconia, Praesneste. Inm the former of these towns two