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In the centre of this temple there was a small opening ( χάσμα) in the ground from which, from time to time, an intoxicating smoke arose, which was believed to come from the well of Cassotis, which vanished into the ground close by the sanctuary Eum. 39), and upon the altar laurel was burnt as incense. The inner roof of the temple was covered all over with laurel garlands (Aesch. P837 an altar an eternal fire, which was fed only with fir-wood (Aesch. In the innermost sanctuary (the μύχος ἄδυτον or μέγαρον), there was the statue of Apollo, which was, at least, in later times, of gold and before it there burnt upon Respecting the topography of the temple of Apollo see PausaniasĪnd Müller ( in Dissen's Pindar, II. p628). Its ancient name was Pytho, which is either of the same root as πυθέσθαι, to consult, or, according to the Homeric hymn on Apollo (185, &c.) derived from πύθεσθαι, to putrefy, with reference to the nature of the locality. The oracle of Delphi was the most celebrated of all the oracles of Apollo. We subjoin a list of the Greek oracles, classed according to the deities to whom they belonged.ġ. The fact that the ancients consulted the will of the gods on all important occasions of public and private life, arose partly from the universal desire of men to know the issue of what they are going to undertake, and partly from the great reverence for the gods, so peculiar to the ancients, by which they were led not to undertake anything of importance without their sanction for it should be borne in mind that an oracle was not merely a revelation to satisfy the curiosity of man, but at the same time a sanction or authorisation by the deity of what man was intending to do or not to do. But although, according to the belief of the ancients, Zeus himself was the first source of all oracular revelations, yet he was too far above men to enter with them into any close relation other gods therefore, especially Apollo, and even heroes, acted as mediators between Zeus and men, and formed as it were the organs through which he communicated his will (Soph. It may, on first sight, seem strange that there were, comparatively speaking, so few oracles of Zeus, the father and ruler of gods and men. The deity was in none of these places believed to appear in person to man, and to communicate to him his will or knowledge of the future but all oracular revelations were made through some kind of medium, which, as we shall see hereafter, was different in the different places where oracles existed. ( μαντεῖον, χρηστήριον) was used by the ancients to designate the revelations made by the deity to man, as well as the place in which such revelations were made. Article by Leonhard Schmitz, Ph.D., F.R.S.E., Rector of the High School of EdinburghĪ Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, John Murray, London, 1875.