Oracle, the response delivered by a deity or supernatural being to a worshipper or inquirer; also the place where the response was delivered. These responses were supposed to be given by a certain divine afflatus, either through means of mankind, as in the orgasms of the Pythia and the dreams of the worshipper in the temples; or by its effect on certain objects, as the tinkling of the caldrons at Dodona, the rustling of the sacred laurel, the murmuring of the streams; or by the actions of sacred animals, as exemplified in the Apis or sacred bull of Memphis, and the feeding of holy chickens among the Romans. Such responses were, however, closely allied to augury, which differed in this respect, that auguries could be taken anywhere, while the oracular spots were defined and limited. Oracle dates from the highest antiquity, and gradually declines with the decline of Animism (q.v.) and with the increasing knowledge of mankind. Among the Egyptians all the temples were probably oracular. In the hieroglyphic texts the gods speak constantly in an oracular manner, and their consultation by the Pharaohs is occasionally mentioned. In later days the most renowned of these oracles was that of Ammon in the Oasis, where oracular responses were rendered either by the shaking of the statue of the god or by his appearance in a certain manner. Oracles were also used by the Hebrews, as in the consultation of the Urim and Thummim by the high-priest, and the unlawful use of Teraphims, and consultations of the gods of Phœnicia and Samaria. The Hebrew oracles were by word of mouth, as the speech of God to Moses, dreams, visions, and prophetic denunciations; besides which there were oracles in Phœnicia, as that of Beelzebub and others of the Baalim. They were also in use throughout Babylonia and Chaldæa, where the responses were delivered by dreams given to the priestesses, who slept alone in the temples as concubines of the gods. The most renowned of all Greek oracles was the Delphic oracle (see DELPHI), which was Panhellenic or open to all Greece. Sacrifices were offered by the inquirers, who walked with laurel crowns on their heads, and delivered in questions inscribed on leaden tablets (of which many have been recently discovered); the response was deemed infallible, and was usually dictated by justice, sound sense, and reason. Other oracles of Apollo were at Abæ in Phœcis; at Ptoon, which was destroyed in the days of Alexander the Great; and at Ismenus, south of Thebes. In Asia Minor the most celebrated was that of Branchidæ, close to Miletus, celebrated in Egypt, Gryneum, and Delos. Besides that of Dodona, Zeus had another at Olympia; and those of various other deities existed elsewhere. A secondary class of oracles of heroic or prophetic persons existed in Greece, the two most celebrated of which were those of Amphiarus and Trophonius. The first mentioned was one of the five great oracles in the days of Cræsus, and was situate at Oropus in Attica. Those who consulted it fasted a whole day, abstained from wine, sacrificed a ram to Amphiarus, and slept on the skin in the temple, where their destiny was revealed by dreams. That of Trophonius was at Lebadea in Bœotia, and owed its origin to a deified seer. It was given in a cave, into which the votary descended, bathed and anointed, holding a honeyed cake. There were some other oracles of minor importance. Besides these oracles, written ones existed of the prophecies of celebrated seers, as Bacis and Musæus, which were collected by the Pisistratidæ, and kept in the Acropolis of Athens. Others of the Sibyls or prophetic women were popular, and at a later period (see SIBYLS) Athenais and others prophesied in the days of the Seleucidæ. Amongst the oriental nations, as the Arabs and others, divination was and is extensively practised, but there are no set oracles. The Celtic Druids are said to have delivered responses, and the oracle of the Celtic god Belenus or Abelio was celebrated.
See Herodotus, Hist. v. 89, viii. 82; Curtius, iv. 7;
Hare, Ancient Greeks (1836); Bos, Antiquities of Greece (1823, p. 31); F. W. H. Myers, Greek Oracles (Hellenica, pp. 425-492, 1880); Stengel, Griechischen Sakralaltertümer (§§ 44-50, 1890); Schömann's work on Greek Antiquities (Religious Antiquities, French trans. by Galuski, 1887).