A person, object, or shrine through which humans can communicate with the gods to learn the future; also, the divinely inspired forecast itself. Many ancient cultures (and a few remaining ones today) revered male or female holy people who were considered oracles and were consulted before many important events. Usually the person consulting the oracle brought some kind of sacrifice, often an animal. The human oracle then communicated with the divine, sometimes by examining the sacrifice and “reading” it, sometimes by entering a trance state through meditation, self-hypnotism, drugs, or frenzied dancing. Some oracles also read ritualistic items rather than the sacrifice.
Among the best-known ancient oracles was that of Delphi, in Greece. According to legend, Jupiter sent two birds in opposite directions where they met would be the center, or navel, of the Earth; the place they met was Delphi. Here people erected a temple, which included a white marble “navel.” Female priests, or sibyls, dedicated themselves to the temple and to Apollo, and became the mediums between gods and humans. At first, the oracle was chosen from among virgins, but at some point this became impractical, and older, virtuous women, past their childbearing years, became the oracles. A petitioner would bring a question and a sacrifice to the oracle; she would burn the question, enter a trance, and speak the god’s answer. Many political and military leaders consulted the oracle. Although Delphi has remained the most famous, Greece had other well-known and oft-consulted oracles as well.