# Guide to Ancient Greek Oracles Beyond Delphi

An episode of [Human History ASMR](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/6793196842), 3 Oct 2026, 1 h 01 min.

Audio: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/75551756/a_guide_to_ancient_greek_oracles_beyond_delphi_human_voiced_no_ads.mp3

Journey beyond the famous oracle of Delphi and discover the wider world of prophecy in ancient Greece. While Delphi became the most celebrated center of Greek divination, communities across the ancient Mediterranean consulted a remarkable variety of oracles, priests, sacred places, dreams, and supernatural signs when seeking guidance from the gods. Explore some of the most important oracular traditions beyond Delphi, including the ancient oracle of Zeus at Dodona, where sacred trees, sounds, and ritual objects were interpreted as divine messages. Discover the mysterious oracle of Trophonius at Lebadeia, where visitors underwent elaborate rituals before seeking visions in an underground sanctuary. The episode also explores the oracle of Amphiaraus at Oropos, where visitors sought divine guidance through dreams after completing religious rituals and offerings. Discover how healing, prophecy, incubation, and religious devotion could overlap, allowing worshippers to sleep within sacred spaces in the hope of receiving supernatural answers. Learn how ordinary Greeks approached these sacred institutions and what kinds of questions they asked. Explore inquiries concerning marriage, health, childbirth, travel, warfare, agriculture, political decisions, and personal problems. Discover the rituals involved, including sacrifices, purification, offerings, prayers, and carefully observed signs. But Greek divination was not limited to permanent oracle centers. Explore other methods of seeking divine knowledge, including dream interpretation, omens, sacrifices, astrology, birds, unusual natural events, and specialized diviners who accompanied armies and rulers. Discover why prophecy was deeply connected with religion, politics, warfare, and everyday decision-making. This episode also examines how reliable ancient Greeks believed these practices were and why some philosophers and intellectuals questioned or criticized divination. Drawing on ancient literature, inscriptions, archaeological discoveries, religious texts, temple remains, and modern classical scholarship, this journey separates historical evidence from later legends and exaggerated portrayals of ancient prophecy. Narrated with a calm, human voice, this immersive episode is perfect for history enthusiasts, ancient Greece lovers, mythology and religion fans, archaeology listeners, documentary audiences, relaxation, or listening before sleep. Step beyond Delphi and discover the fascinating network of oracles and divination practices that shaped the religious world of ancient Greece.

## Transcript

[0:01] Speaker 1: In the world of ancient Greece, kings and warriors often
[0:05] Speaker 1: stake the fate and fortune of entire nations on a
[0:10] Speaker 1: few cryptic words from an oracle. Legend tells us that Croesus,
[0:16] Speaker 1: the wealthy king of Lydia, once asked the oracle of
[0:19] Speaker 1: Delphi whether he should wage war on Persia. The priestess
[0:24] Speaker 1: of Apollo gave a tantalizing answer. If Croesus attacked, he would, quote,
[0:30] Speaker 1: Destroy a mighty empire. Interpreting this as a promise of
[0:36] Speaker 1: a Persian defeat, the king marched to war, only to
[0:40] Speaker 1: find out that the empire to be destroyed was his own.
[0:45] Speaker 1: Years later, Persian armies approached Greece. The Athenians sent envoys
[0:50] Speaker 1: to Delphi in desperation. The Oracle's first prophecy spoke of doom,
[0:55] Speaker 1: but its second message offered a puzzling ray of hope.
[1:00] Speaker 1: Salvation could be found behind wooden walls. The meaning of
[1:07] Speaker 1: these wooden walls sparked an anxious debate, until the statesman
[1:11] Speaker 1: Themistocles convinced his compatriots that the god meant their wooden ships.
[1:18] Speaker 1: Taking the oracle's counsel, the Athenians put their faith in
[1:21] Speaker 1: their navy, and lo and behold, a decisive victory was
[1:26] Speaker 1: won at Salamis. Vindicating the prophecy in hindsight, It's stories
[1:32] Speaker 1: like these that illustrate the immense authority that oracles wielded
[1:37] Speaker 1: in the ancient Greek world. From religious worship and lawmaking,
[1:42] Speaker 1: to grand strategy and war, the Greeks looked to these
[1:45] Speaker 1: secret messengers, the voices of the gods, for guidance. And
[1:51] Speaker 1: so today, we're going to talk all about it. Not
[1:55] Speaker 1: just the oracles of Delphi, Dodona and Didyma, but also
[1:59] Speaker 1: the lesser known shrines. to understand why the Greeks so
[2:04] Speaker 1: revered the cryptic pronouncements of the divine. Now, while we
[2:09] Speaker 1: touch on mythological traditions, such as the legends that shroud
[2:13] Speaker 1: each oracle's origin, the focus is mainly going to be
[2:17] Speaker 1: on the historical evidence, and that includes accounts from classical authors,
[2:22] Speaker 1: and even inscriptions of questions posed by normal people. But,
[2:28] Speaker 1: as with ancient Greek history, We often walk that blurry
[2:33] Speaker 1: line between history and mythology in this time period, so
[2:38] Speaker 1: we're going to give it a little bit of leeway.
[2:41] Speaker 1: But the goal is to paint a vivid picture of
[2:44] Speaker 1: how oracles functioned as a cornerstone of ancient Greek society,
[2:50] Speaker 1: commanding respect from commoners and kings alike. And I think
[2:55] Speaker 1: by the end of the video, if you're curious enough,
[2:59] Speaker 1: We'll definitely figure out the truth. But first, let me
[3:04] Speaker 1: welcome you to the channel. It's going to be a
[3:07] Speaker 1: really good one today. I've been excited to talk about
[3:10] Speaker 1: this for a while. It's fascinating, and I hope you're
[3:14] Speaker 1: as excited as I am. First of all, if you've
[3:18] Speaker 1: not yet subscribed, then click the button. It's up there,
[3:22] Speaker 1: right next to the like button. And thank you for
[3:26] Speaker 1: those supporting on the Patreon. and for those who checked
[3:28] Speaker 1: out the merch store. Well, without further ado, with the
[3:33] Speaker 1: customary welcomes and introductions out of the way, I suppose
[3:36] Speaker 1: we can get right into it. Please get yourself nice
[3:40] Speaker 1: and comfortable, and we can begin. Oracles. What were they? Well,
[3:49] Speaker 1: first of all, they were an integral part of Greek religion.
[3:53] Speaker 1: basically serving as a trusted intermediary between mortals and gods.
[3:59] Speaker 1: But in Greek belief, an oracle could mean both a
[4:03] Speaker 1: sacred place where divine advice was sought and the inspired
[4:07] Speaker 1: pronouncement given by a god's spokesperson. These oracular sanctuaries were
[4:13] Speaker 1: scattered across Greece and its wider world, each dedicated to
[4:17] Speaker 1: a specific deity. At Scythe's, such as these supplicants could
[4:22] Speaker 1: pose questions to the divine, about everything really, all up
[4:29] Speaker 1: to state policy down to personal affairs, and you would
[4:32] Speaker 1: receive an answer conveyed to an appointed human medium, often
[4:37] Speaker 1: a priest or priestess. This practice of consulting a deity
[4:41] Speaker 1: for guidance is a form of divination, and the Greeks
[4:45] Speaker 1: esteemed it as perhaps the most authoritative form. Above all others,
[4:50] Speaker 1: like interpreting bird signs or sacrificial entrails. In effect, an
[4:57] Speaker 1: oracle was perceived as the direct voice of a god,
[5:01] Speaker 1: and so its pronouncements carried extraordinary weight. Several gods in
[5:07] Speaker 1: the Greek pantheon were associated with famous oracles. Apollo, the
[5:12] Speaker 1: god of prophecy, presided over many oracular centres, most prominently
[5:17] Speaker 1: at Delphi in central Greece. but also at places like
[5:21] Speaker 1: Didyma in Ionia and Klauros in Asia Minor. And then
[5:26] Speaker 1: we have, of course, the king of the gods, Zeus.
[5:29] Speaker 1: He likewise had his own ancient oracles, notably at Dodona
[5:34] Speaker 1: in Epirus, and according to some traditions, at Olympia in
[5:39] Speaker 1: the Peloponnese. There were even oracular sites devoted to heroes
[5:45] Speaker 1: and underworld powers. For example, the subterranean oracle of Trophonius
[5:51] Speaker 1: at Labadea, where a heroic spirit delivered visions, or the
[5:56] Speaker 1: eerie Necromanteion on the river Asheron, where the dead were consulted.
[6:03] Speaker 1: In short, almost every Greek region of the ancient Greek world,
[6:08] Speaker 1: that is, had access to at least some kind of oracle.
[6:13] Speaker 1: Of course, some were more famous than others, but at
[6:16] Speaker 1: least you had something This ubiquity reflects how deeply the
[6:21] Speaker 1: quest for divine counsel was ingrained in the Greeks' culture.
[6:25] Speaker 1: Whether a city deliberated on war or a farmer wondered
[6:29] Speaker 1: about his harvest, turning to the gods for insight seemed
[6:33] Speaker 1: not only to be prudent but completely necessary. And so
[6:39] Speaker 1: the authority of oracles was reinforced by myth and antiquity.
[6:45] Speaker 1: Greece often ascribed the founding of an oracle to the
[6:48] Speaker 1: gods themselves in the distant past, lending these institutions an
[6:52] Speaker 1: aura of timeless legitimacy. Delphi, for instance, was said to
[6:57] Speaker 1: be established when Apollo slew the python and claimed the site,
[7:01] Speaker 1: which was considered the cosmic navel of the world. Dodona,
[7:10] Speaker 1: reputedly the oldest Hellenic oracle, had its own origin legend
[7:16] Speaker 1: Herodotus recounts a story from Dodona's priestesses that two black
[7:21] Speaker 1: doves flew from Egyptian Thebes, one lighting in Libya and
[7:26] Speaker 1: one in Dodona. And that dove at Dodona actually spoke
[7:31] Speaker 1: in a human voice, bidding the locals to found an
[7:34] Speaker 1: oracle of Zeus at that very spot. Herodotus himself rationalized
[7:39] Speaker 1: that these doves were actually Egyptian priestesses carried off as slaves.
[7:44] Speaker 1: Their foreign speech initially sounded like bird calls to the locals,
[7:48] Speaker 1: until the women taught them the act of divination. Such
[7:53] Speaker 1: tales illustrate how the Greeks linked their oracles to divine
[7:56] Speaker 1: will and primeval events. You see an oracle like Dodona,
[8:01] Speaker 1: rooted in the age of heroes and beyond, commanded respect
[8:05] Speaker 1: simply by virtue of its sacred pedigree and its continuity
[8:09] Speaker 1: through the centuries. Now crucially, Consulting oracles was not a
[8:16] Speaker 1: privilege reserved for only kings and mythic heroes. It was
[8:20] Speaker 1: a common practice accessible to ordinary people as well. Archaeological
[8:26] Speaker 1: evidence from Dodona dramatically shows this point. There, excavations have
[8:32] Speaker 1: uncovered thousands of small lead tablets, inscribed with questions that
[8:37] Speaker 1: pilgrims had posed to Zeus' oracle. About four thousand of
[8:42] Speaker 1: them survived. dating from the 6th to the 3rd centuries BC.
[8:48] Speaker 1: They reveal a fascinating range of concerns. Political question, though
[8:53] Speaker 1: fewer in number, might ask which gods to sacrifice for
[8:56] Speaker 1: a city's welfare. While private questions were the majority, they
[9:02] Speaker 1: deal with the everyday anxieties of life. On these tablets,
[9:07] Speaker 1: we find ordinary Greeks asking the Oracle whether they should
[9:10] Speaker 1: travel overseas, how they might have children, if a business
[9:14] Speaker 1: venture would succeed or whether a sick relative would recover.
[9:19] Speaker 1: One man asks if he will be happy if he
[9:21] Speaker 1: marries a certain girl. Another person inquires which deity he
[9:26] Speaker 1: should pray to in order to obtain children. There is
[9:29] Speaker 1: even a slave named Ketos who is found asking Zeus
[9:33] Speaker 1: if his master will grant him freedom as promised. The
[9:37] Speaker 1: very mundane nature of these questions is pretty telling. It
[9:41] Speaker 1: shows that the Greeks of all social strata earnestly sought
[9:45] Speaker 1: the counsel of gods on matters big and small. The
[9:49] Speaker 1: oracle at Dodona effectively served as a divine advice bureau
[9:53] Speaker 1: for the everyman, not just an instrument of statecraft for elites.
[9:58] Speaker 1: And so, in this religious context, context, the oracle was
[10:01] Speaker 1: both a spiritual guide and a source of comfort, a
[10:05] Speaker 1: way to gain clarity, or perhaps at least hope, when
[10:09] Speaker 1: faced with life's little uncertainties. To obtain an oracle's guidance,
[10:15] Speaker 1: petitioners had to follow certain rituals and protocols, which varied
[10:19] Speaker 1: from site to site. Generally, one would travel to the
[10:23] Speaker 1: sacred precinct, often a remote and storied location, purify oneself
[10:29] Speaker 1: and present an offering. Questions were sometimes asked aloud by
[10:34] Speaker 1: an intermediary priest, or inscribed on tablets, as they were
[10:38] Speaker 1: at Dodona. The gods' replies could be delivered in various forms.
[10:44] Speaker 1: At Delphi, Apollo's prophecy came through the words of the Pythia,
[10:49] Speaker 1: pretty famous, the priestess who entered an inspired trance and
[10:53] Speaker 1: uttered the riddling pronouncements. At Dodona, Zeus was believed to
[10:58] Speaker 1: speak through the rustling of leaves over the sacred oak
[11:02] Speaker 1: and the clanging of bronze cauldrons. Priests and priestesses, called
[11:08] Speaker 1: seloi or peliades, doves, interpreted these sounds as the gods' message.
[11:14] Speaker 1: Other oracles had more unique methods. For example, the oracle
[11:18] Speaker 1: of Trophonius required the seeker to descend into a dark
[11:21] Speaker 1: cave for an earth-shaking visionary experience, while the priests of
[11:27] Speaker 1: Amon at Siwa, in the Libyan desert that is, reportedly
[11:31] Speaker 1: heard the gods' voice on the desert wind or through
[11:34] Speaker 1: a revered spring. Despite the different mechanics, all these rituals
[11:40] Speaker 1: reinforced the solemn belief that the gods were truly communicating.
[11:44] Speaker 1: What the oracle pronounced was deemed the will of heaven
[11:48] Speaker 1: And for the devout Greek, knowing the will of the
[11:50] Speaker 1: gods was, well, paramount before making any major move in life.
[12:00] Speaker 1: But of course, the most renowned oracle of ancient Greece
[12:03] Speaker 1: was Delphi, the sanctuary of Apollo, situated on the slopes
[12:07] Speaker 1: of Mount Parnassus. In the Greek imagination, Delphi was quite
[12:12] Speaker 1: literally the omphalos, the navel or centre of the world.
[12:17] Speaker 1: One legend held that Zeus had released two eagles from
[12:20] Speaker 1: opposite ends of the Earth, and they met at, guess where, Delphi,
[12:25] Speaker 1: indicating it as the Earth's centre. Fittingly, a carved stone
[12:31] Speaker 1: omphalos stood at Delphi, symbolising this mythic centrality. Long before
[12:36] Speaker 1: Apollo claimed the site, Delphi was associated with Gaia, that
[12:39] Speaker 1: being Mother Earth, and held to be an ancient holy spot.
[12:44] Speaker 1: Apollo's arrival was mythologized in the tale of his battle
[12:48] Speaker 1: against the python dragon, after which the god established his
[12:51] Speaker 1: own oracle there. This myth conveyed that Delphi's prophetic power
[12:56] Speaker 1: was primeval, rooted in the earth's wisdom itself, yet renewed
[13:01] Speaker 1: and championed by Apollo, Apollo being the god of light
[13:05] Speaker 1: and reason. Now in historical terms, the rise of Delphi
[13:10] Speaker 1: as a pan-hellenic religious center began around the 8th century B.C.,
[13:15] Speaker 1: Its influence grew rapidly, such that by the archaic and
[13:19] Speaker 1: classical periods, that is, the 7th and 5th centuries BC,
[13:23] Speaker 1: Delphi was the preeminent oracle in Greece, consulted by city-states,
[13:28] Speaker 1: foreign monarchs, and even individuals from all over the Mediterranean.
[13:32] Speaker 1: The Delphic shrine was administered by a local priesthood, but
[13:38] Speaker 1: it had a Pan-Hellenic character. Greeks from various cities shared
[13:42] Speaker 1: the sanctuary's upkeep and competed at the Pythian Games. There
[13:46] Speaker 1: is a major festival of athletics and arts, too, held
[13:50] Speaker 1: every four years at Delphi in Apollo's honour. And this
[13:55] Speaker 1: gave Delphi a role somewhat akin to an international religious court.
[14:00] Speaker 1: It was considered neutral ground, and the God's Council could,
[14:03] Speaker 1: in theory, supersede local political interests. In fact, on several
[14:08] Speaker 1: occasions Delphi's authority was such that it arbitrated interstate disputes
[14:14] Speaker 1: or enforced sacred truces. The prestige of Delphi's oracle was
[14:19] Speaker 1: further enhanced by the treasuries and monuments that ringed Apollo's temple,
[14:25] Speaker 1: lavish offerings dedicated by city-states and kings in thanks for
[14:28] Speaker 1: oracular guidance. Walking the Delphic grounds, one would see statues
[14:35] Speaker 1: of Croesus, king of Lydia, and entire treasuries erected by
[14:39] Speaker 1: Athens or Syracuse, all testament to the widespread patronage of
[14:44] Speaker 1: Apollo's oracle. The core of the Delphic oracle's operation was
[14:48] Speaker 1: the Pythia, of course, Apollo's grand priestess. Little is known
[14:55] Speaker 1: of the individual women, we know they were typically middle-aged
[15:00] Speaker 1: women of good reputation from Delphi, because their personal identities
[15:05] Speaker 1: were subsumed by their sacred offers. Once ordained, the Pythia
[15:11] Speaker 1: would serve for life. By the classical era, she resided
[15:19] Speaker 1: at the sanctuary and was available on designated oracular days,
[15:24] Speaker 1: traditionally the seventh day of each month for nine months
[15:27] Speaker 1: of the year. Apollo's sacred period, with a winter hiatus
[15:32] Speaker 1: when Apollo was set to leave Delphi, Now, on those days,
[15:37] Speaker 1: the ritual unfolded in a very specific manner. The Pythia
[15:41] Speaker 1: would ritually bathe in the Castalian Spring and purify herself,
[15:45] Speaker 1: then descend into the inner sanctum of Apollo's temple. It
[15:50] Speaker 1: was there where she sat upon a high tripod seat
[15:53] Speaker 1: above a fissure in the earth. Ancient sources describe her
[15:57] Speaker 1: falling into a trance, filled by the spirit of Apollo.
[16:02] Speaker 1: According to later sources, this trance was actually induced by
[16:06] Speaker 1: the sweat-smelling vapours rising from the ground, and by chewing
[16:11] Speaker 1: laurel leaves, the secret plant of Apollo. Under Apollo's possession,
[16:18] Speaker 1: the Pythia would begin to utter sounds, cries, or enigmatic words.
[16:23] Speaker 1: In earlier periods, her speech may have been coherent but metaphorical.
[16:27] Speaker 1: By later accounts, her utterances were frenzied and required interpretations
[16:31] Speaker 1: by attending priests. But in either case, The raw oracle
[16:36] Speaker 1: was typically delivered in hexameter verse, at least in the
[16:41] Speaker 1: high days of Delphi. That is Apollo's own poetic language.
[16:46] Speaker 1: The petitioners waiting outside would then receive the God's answer,
[16:50] Speaker 1: often phrased as a riddle, like a layered prophecy, like
[16:55] Speaker 1: the ones that we mentioned in the introduction of the video.
[17:00] Speaker 1: And Delphi's oracles were famously ambiguous. you never really got
[17:05] Speaker 1: a clear answer. The Greeks admired Apollo's prophecies for their cleverness,
[17:11] Speaker 1: wording that could even be understood in more than one way. Yet,
[17:16] Speaker 1: regardless of the outcome, the god was never really proved wrong.
[17:20] Speaker 1: This feature is evident in numerous recorded oracles. The classic
[17:27] Speaker 1: example is, yes, the one of King Grosus mentioned earlier.
[17:31] Speaker 1: Herodotus relents that after the Delphic Oracle told Croesus he
[17:35] Speaker 1: would destroy the empire if he attacked Persia, that a
[17:37] Speaker 1: mighty empire would fall, and yes, that was his own
[17:40] Speaker 1: mighty empire. In fact, when Croesus was later captured and
[17:45] Speaker 1: his kingdom fell, he sent a bitter word to Delphi,
[17:49] Speaker 1: reproaching Apollo for deceiving him. The Pythia coolly replied that
[17:53] Speaker 1: her prophecy had been fulfilled, a great empire had indeed
[17:57] Speaker 1: been destroyed, and it was Croesus' misinterpretation that led him astray,
[18:02] Speaker 1: not the Pythia's information. This story, which is, well, it's
[18:09] Speaker 1: likely apocryphal in details, nevertheless illustrates how oracles maintained their authority.
[18:15] Speaker 1: The divine message was never in error. It was always
[18:20] Speaker 1: the human understanding at fault. The Delphic priests might even
[18:24] Speaker 1: remind petitioners that Apollo's truth was inviolate. If an outcome
[18:29] Speaker 1: seemed disastrous, one must have misunderstood the god. In Herodotus' account,
[18:36] Speaker 1: the Delphians note that even a god cannot escape destiny.
[18:39] Speaker 1: But Apollo did Croesus a favour by allowing the fall
[18:43] Speaker 1: of his empire to happen in Croesus' time, not his descendants.
[18:48] Speaker 1: Thus atoning for an ancestral sin, such theological reasoning helped
[18:53] Speaker 1: preserve the oracle's prestige, despite ambitious outcomes. So the influence
[19:00] Speaker 1: of Delphi in Greek affairs is pretty hard to overstate. Religiously,
[19:05] Speaker 1: it was the ultimate arbiter of such matters. If questions
[19:10] Speaker 1: arose about ritual purification, the founding of temples, or introduction
[19:15] Speaker 1: of new cults, Delphi's advice would be sought. For instance,
[19:20] Speaker 1: when plague struck or prodigies occurred, Greek cities often dispatched
[19:24] Speaker 1: messengers to Delphi to ask what sacrifices or rites might
[19:27] Speaker 1: appease the gods. Delphi was seen as Apollo's mouthpiece, guiding
[19:32] Speaker 1: the spiritual health of the community. Politically, Delphi held perhaps
[19:37] Speaker 1: an even more pivotal role. City-states commonly consulted the Oracle
[19:42] Speaker 1: before undertaking major ventures, be it colonization, legislation, or alliance
[19:48] Speaker 1: and war. The oracle's endorsement could legitimize political reforms or
[19:53] Speaker 1: new laws. A famous case is that of Lycurgus, the
[19:58] Speaker 1: legendary lawgiver of Sparta. Herodotus reports that Lycurgus visited Delphi
[20:05] Speaker 1: and was hailed by the Pythia. as, quote, a man
[20:09] Speaker 1: dear to Zeus and more a god than man. Some
[20:14] Speaker 1: traditions even claim the Delphic Oracle granted Lycurgus the very
[20:18] Speaker 1: constitution of Sparta. Whether or not that is true, the
[20:23] Speaker 1: Spartans believed their laws had divine sanction. Similarly, when Athens
[20:28] Speaker 1: was emerging from tyranny in the late 6th century BC,
[20:31] Speaker 1: it is said that the Delphic Oracle repeatedly urged the
[20:34] Speaker 1: Spartans to liberate Athens. the story suggesting that savvy Athenian nobles,
[20:40] Speaker 1: the Alcmaeonid family, might have bribed the oracle to spur
[20:45] Speaker 1: Sparta into action. Well, this incident shows that Greek contemporaries
[20:51] Speaker 1: understood the oracle's political clout. And, of course, they sometimes
[20:56] Speaker 1: sought to manipulate it. Of course, controlling the Delphic oracle
[21:00] Speaker 1: became a political objective itself during certain periods. For example,
[21:04] Speaker 1: these sacred wars of the 4th century BC were fought
[21:07] Speaker 1: over Delphi's autonomy and influence. But Delphi's council was particularly
[21:14] Speaker 1: sought in matters of war and peace. Before battles, armies
[21:18] Speaker 1: would often sacrifice and send a question to Apollo. Should
[21:22] Speaker 1: we fight? What strategy to adopt? You know, they're just
[21:26] Speaker 1: going to do the phalanx again. They always do the phalanx.
[21:30] Speaker 1: The oracle's responses could rally or restrain the Greek, Polius.
[21:36] Speaker 1: Prior to the Persian invasion of 480, the Athenians asked
[21:40] Speaker 1: Delphi how to defend themselves. Of course, the first response
[21:43] Speaker 1: was a foretelling doom, and then that old response of
[21:47] Speaker 1: trust the wooden walls, which leads us to, as we
[21:50] Speaker 1: said in the introduction, the victory at Salamis, who jumped
[21:54] Speaker 1: to Themistocles for that. But Herodotus even remarks that Themistocles
[22:00] Speaker 1: correctly understood the oracle. The cunning statesman discerned that Apollo's
[22:06] Speaker 1: phrase actually referred to Athens' ships and promised victory there.
[22:10] Speaker 1: And think about it, because Themistocles wasn't the only one
[22:16] Speaker 1: who was in that forum discussing the strategy. Somebody else
[22:20] Speaker 1: might have said, well, we have to build up a
[22:22] Speaker 1: big palisade, or we have to put a bunch of
[22:26] Speaker 1: wooden spikes in front of us. Perhaps the wall could
[22:30] Speaker 1: have been interpreted as a wall of shields and spears.
[22:34] Speaker 1: But lucky Themistocles was there to give the real interpretation. Rather,
[22:40] Speaker 1: it's quite convenient, I suppose. Well, in the same war,
[22:47] Speaker 1: the Delphic Oracle allegedly told the Spartans that either their
[22:51] Speaker 1: city would be destroyed, or a Spartan king must sacrifice
[22:55] Speaker 1: his life to save it. This prophecy steeled King Leonidas
[22:59] Speaker 1: to make his heroic last stand at Thermopylae, dying in battle,
[23:05] Speaker 1: as the oracle predicted, so that Sparta itself would survive.
[23:10] Speaker 1: Whether or not the Apollo truly dictated these events, the
[23:14] Speaker 1: record shows Greek leaders shaped their decisions around what they
[23:20] Speaker 1: believed the god had spoken. Obeying the oracle could become
[23:24] Speaker 1: a powerful motivation tool in defying the oracle, while that
[23:28] Speaker 1: was seen as quite reckless. Still over the centuries, the
[23:33] Speaker 1: oracle accumulated enormous moral authority. Even as rationalist philosophers arose
[23:39] Speaker 1: in the classical period, most Greeks, including Socrates, rather rational indeed,
[23:46] Speaker 1: continued to revere Delphi. In fact, Socrates' own philosophical mission
[23:51] Speaker 1: was inspired by an oracular pronouncement. The Delphic oracle declared
[23:55] Speaker 1: Socrates the wisest of men, a paradox that led him
[23:59] Speaker 1: to seek wisdom by questing others. While Socrates interpreted the
[24:05] Speaker 1: oracle in his own nuanced way, he never mocked its power.
[24:10] Speaker 1: He treated it as a genuine sign from the god.
[24:13] Speaker 1: As recounted in Plato's Apology, the Pythia said no man
[24:16] Speaker 1: was wiser than Socrates, spurring him to investigate what true
[24:20] Speaker 1: wisdom meant. Thus, even the gadfly of Athens anchored his
[24:26] Speaker 1: life's work in an oracular statement. The Oracle of Dodona
[24:39] Speaker 1: Long before Delphi rose to prominence, the Oracle of Dodona
[24:42] Speaker 1: in northwestern Greece was fabled as the most ancient Oracle
[24:46] Speaker 1: of Zeus. Tucked away in the remote region of Epirus,
[24:51] Speaker 1: Dodona lacked the opulent architecture of Delphi. but it possessed
[24:56] Speaker 1: an aura of great antiquity and earthy divine power. Homer
[25:02] Speaker 1: himself makes mention of Dodona in the Iliad. Achilles prays
[25:06] Speaker 1: to High Zeus, lord of Dodona, who dwells afar off,
[25:12] Speaker 1: amid the cloudy summit of that land. And in the Odyssey,
[25:16] Speaker 1: Odysseus claims that he travelled to Dodona to hear Zeus'
[25:21] Speaker 1: will from the high leafy oak of the god. These references,
[25:27] Speaker 1: dating to the 8th and 7th century BCE in composition,
[25:32] Speaker 1: show that the Dodona Oracle was known in Greek epic
[25:36] Speaker 1: tradition as a venerable source of divine counsel, especially associated
[25:41] Speaker 1: with Zeus and his aspect as a weather god, quote,
[25:45] Speaker 1: brooding over wintry Dodona. But what set Dodona apart? was
[25:52] Speaker 1: the unique manner in which Zeus' revelations were received. Unlike Delphi,
[25:58] Speaker 1: which relied on human trance, Dodona's oracle was intimately connected
[26:03] Speaker 1: with nature. The sanctuary centred on a sacred oak tree.
[26:08] Speaker 1: It was believed that Zeus, Naios, Zeus of the spring,
[26:12] Speaker 1: spoke through the rustling of the oak's leaves and the
[26:15] Speaker 1: cooing of doves that nestled in its branches. In addition,
[26:19] Speaker 1: bronze cauldrons or gongs were hung nearby, which, when struck
[26:25] Speaker 1: by hand or by the wind, produced ringing tones. The
[26:30] Speaker 1: priests and priestesses of Dodona by classical times, typically three-aged
[26:35] Speaker 1: priestesses known as the Peliades or Doves, would listen to
[26:38] Speaker 1: these sounds and interpret the patterns as the gods answer.
[26:42] Speaker 1: Herodotus provides the famous myth explaining this setup. It goes
[26:47] Speaker 1: like this. The Dodona priestesses told him that in ages
[26:52] Speaker 1: past a black dove flew from Egypt to Dodona and
[26:55] Speaker 1: settled on the oak. It then spoke the human language,
[26:58] Speaker 1: declaring that an oracle of Zeus be established there. The
[27:02] Speaker 1: term dove in their dialect, Balea, also became their own
[27:07] Speaker 1: title as prophetesses. Herodotus suspected the story was metaphorical. In
[27:15] Speaker 1: his theory, a priestess from Egypt, perhaps the Egyptian oracle
[27:18] Speaker 1: of Zeus Amon at Thebes, had been brought to Dodona.
[27:23] Speaker 1: Because she initially spoke a foreign tongue, the locals called
[27:26] Speaker 1: her Dove, and once she learned a bit of Greek,
[27:30] Speaker 1: they could understand her pronouncements. Hence the tale of a
[27:34] Speaker 1: talking bird. Whether or not one accepts Herodotus's rationalization, It
[27:40] Speaker 1: certainly underlines that Dodona was thought to have an almost
[27:43] Speaker 1: exotic and primeval origin, tied to the very dawn of
[27:47] Speaker 1: oracular worship. In its early history, Dodona may have been
[27:52] Speaker 1: associated with an earth goddess, perhaps Dione or the Mother Goddess,
[27:57] Speaker 1: alongside Zeus. But by classical times, Zeus was firmly the
[28:03] Speaker 1: chief deity. often honored as Zeus Dodonaios or Zeus Naios,
[28:09] Speaker 1: Zeus of the Spring. The priests at Dodona, called Seloi
[28:14] Speaker 1: in Homer's works, had unusual ascetic practices. Homer describes them
[28:20] Speaker 1: as sleeping on the ground and not washing their feet,
[28:24] Speaker 1: perhaps as a sign of humility and closeness with the earth.
[28:28] Speaker 1: This detail, though brief, gives a glimpse of the oracle's character. rustic, archaic,
[28:35] Speaker 1: and in touch with the soil and roots, literally the
[28:39] Speaker 1: oak's roots that channeled Zeus's voice. Dodona's religious significance was considerable,
[28:46] Speaker 1: especially for the northern Greek tribes, and for some southern
[28:49] Speaker 1: Greeks in the archaic period. By around the 6th century BC,
[28:54] Speaker 1: its fame spread, such that pilgrims as far from Athens, Thebes,
[28:59] Speaker 1: or even the Greek colonies in Italy came to Dodona.
[29:03] Speaker 1: The questions inscribed on the Dodona-led tablets demonstrate the Oracle's
[29:08] Speaker 1: wide patronage. Dialects from all over the Greek world appear,
[29:13] Speaker 1: and inquiries range from personal to civic. Unlike Delphi, Dodona
[29:19] Speaker 1: did not become a political meeting ground or a site
[29:22] Speaker 1: of lavish treasuries. It remained somewhat austere. Nevertheless, it was
[29:28] Speaker 1: highly respected. The Greek historian Herodotus in the 5th century
[29:32] Speaker 1: explicitly calls Dodona the oldest oracle in Greece, and that
[29:37] Speaker 1: means it's even older than Delphi. And Aristotle later suggested
[29:43] Speaker 1: that the region around Dodona was the primordial homeland of
[29:47] Speaker 1: the Greek people themselves. Of course, such claims as this
[29:52] Speaker 1: bolstered Dodona's status as an ancient wellspring of Hellenic religion.
[29:55] Speaker 1: Now in practice, How did the oracle function? Well, a
[30:03] Speaker 1: visitor would likely write their question on a small lead strip,
[30:07] Speaker 1: as we know many did, or relay it orally to
[30:10] Speaker 1: a priestess. Sacrifices would be offered. Inscriptions mention that clients
[30:16] Speaker 1: sometimes sacrificed animals, or at least offered dedications to Zeus
[30:20] Speaker 1: and Dione at Dodona. The priestesses would then interpret the
[30:25] Speaker 1: sounds of the oak and the bronze. Unfortunately, the exact
[30:29] Speaker 1: method of interpretation is lost to us, but later sources
[30:33] Speaker 1: say the rustling of leaves or the striking of a
[30:35] Speaker 1: gong produced a sort of code. It might have been
[30:38] Speaker 1: a matter of hearing patterns or simply entering a prayerful
[30:43] Speaker 1: state and letting the god guide their speech. The answer
[30:47] Speaker 1: was probably given in straightforward prose, unlike Delphi's often poetic riddles.
[30:53] Speaker 1: The lead tablet suggests that responses were concise, Some tablets
[30:57] Speaker 1: actually preserve the yes or no answers, or just some
[31:01] Speaker 1: of the brief advice given. For example, one tablet might
[31:05] Speaker 1: preserve the question and an indication of the answer, etc. Yes,
[31:09] Speaker 1: do this, or naming a deity to whom one should sacrifice.
[31:14] Speaker 1: The donor's advice could impact political decisions, too. On a
[31:18] Speaker 1: smaller scale than Delphi's, many Greek city-states preferred Delphi for
[31:23] Speaker 1: the big state questions. but Dodona was also consulted by
[31:28] Speaker 1: some rulers. Notably, the kings of Epirus, the Molassian dynasty
[31:34] Speaker 1: to which Alexander the Great's mother Olympias belonged, revealed Dodona
[31:39] Speaker 1: and enhanced the sanctuary in the 4th to 3rd centuries BC.
[31:44] Speaker 1: There is evidence that Epirus' legal kings would ask Dodona's
[31:48] Speaker 1: oracle about alliances and wars. For instance, one account says
[31:52] Speaker 1: that during the Peloponnesian War, Sparta sent envoys to Dodona,
[31:56] Speaker 1: as well as Delphi, to seek Zeus' blessing. And an
[32:00] Speaker 1: inscription suggests the Athenians, during a religious reform, received an
[32:05] Speaker 1: oracle from the donor about cult practices. Still, the donor
[32:09] Speaker 1: was generally second to Delphi in interstate politics. So where
[32:15] Speaker 1: the donor actually shone was in personal and local religious spheres.
[32:20] Speaker 1: In a farming village in Aetolia, who wondered about a drought,
[32:25] Speaker 1: or a merchant in Corsia was unsure about a voyage,
[32:30] Speaker 1: or childless couples sought hope after trying too many times
[32:33] Speaker 1: and having no success, they might turn to Dodona. The
[32:39] Speaker 1: oracle often instructed people on which gods to pray or
[32:42] Speaker 1: sacrifice to in order to solve their problems, effectively acting
[32:47] Speaker 1: as a divine referral service. For example, a certain Eremon,
[32:52] Speaker 1: by name, asked which god to pray for, for children
[32:55] Speaker 1: with his wife, and the oracle would name the appropriate deity.
[33:01] Speaker 1: In another case, people asked if a heavy winter was
[33:04] Speaker 1: due to some offence, implying that they sought to know
[33:07] Speaker 1: how to appease Zeus, to make the weather better again.
[33:11] Speaker 1: This kind of guidance strengthened traditional religion by directly tying
[33:17] Speaker 1: everyday troubles to divine favour or anger. and then of
[33:20] Speaker 1: course giving the people the cause of action needed that
[33:23] Speaker 1: was rooted in worship. And of course Dodona underwent trials
[33:30] Speaker 1: during historical times. It was destroyed or plundered more than
[33:34] Speaker 1: a few times, burnt by the Aetolians in 219 BC,
[33:39] Speaker 1: and later damaged by Romans in 167 BC when they
[33:43] Speaker 1: suppressed Epirus. Yet it was rebuilt. and continued to function
[33:48] Speaker 1: through the Roman era until at least the third century AD.
[33:53] Speaker 1: In the end, like other pagan oracles, Dodona fell silent
[33:57] Speaker 1: as Christianity took hold, but its legacy persisted in literature
[34:02] Speaker 1: and local memory. The simple image of the wind in
[34:06] Speaker 1: the oak leaves whispering Zeus' message remained a potent symbol
[34:10] Speaker 1: of the divine presence in nature. So while it played
[34:15] Speaker 1: a somewhat different role to that Delphi, it was still
[34:20] Speaker 1: a geopolitical influencer, more of a grassroots oracle. Its contributions
[34:26] Speaker 1: to religious life were certainly no less important. By providing
[34:30] Speaker 1: a channel for Zeus's counsel from the heroic age down
[34:34] Speaker 1: to late antiquity, Dodona upheld the idea that Zeus cared
[34:38] Speaker 1: about moral and practical affairs, from the founding of kingdoms
[34:43] Speaker 1: to the marriages. and fieldwork of his people. Now let's
[34:50] Speaker 1: talk about the Oracle of Didyma, Apollo's voice in Asia Minor.
[34:57] Speaker 1: So if we go beyond mainland Greece, one of the
[35:00] Speaker 1: most significant oracles was indeed Didyma, the sanctuary of Apollo
[35:05] Speaker 1: near Miletus in Asia Minor. Now Asia Minor, that is
[35:08] Speaker 1: modern-day Turkey, if you don't know. And I do say
[35:12] Speaker 1: Turkey here, Out of respect, that's what they call their
[35:15] Speaker 1: country now. They don't call it Turkey anymore, in case
[35:18] Speaker 1: you didn't know. Now, in the ancient world, Didyma's oracle
[35:22] Speaker 1: was often ranked just after Delphi in prestige. The sanctuary,
[35:27] Speaker 1: also known as the Didymaion, was famous for its monumental
[35:31] Speaker 1: Temple of Apollo, an enormous shrine that even in ruins
[35:35] Speaker 1: is one of the largest classical temples even built. Didyma
[35:40] Speaker 1: was technically not a standalone city but a satellite of Miletus,
[35:44] Speaker 1: one of the great Ionian Greek cities. The Oracle's history
[35:48] Speaker 1: is intimately tied to Miletus's fortune, flourishing when Miletus was
[35:53] Speaker 1: free and silenced when Miletus fell under enemies. According to legend,
[35:59] Speaker 1: the Oracle of Didyma was founded by Apollo himself through
[36:02] Speaker 1: the hero Brancus, a beloved youth to whom Apollo gave
[36:07] Speaker 1: prophetic powers. The priests of Apollo at Didyma were hence
[36:12] Speaker 1: called the Branchidae, claiming descent from Branchus. These priests operated
[36:18] Speaker 1: the oracle for generations as a hereditary cult. Ancient estimates
[36:23] Speaker 1: dated Didyma's oracle back to well before the Ionian Greek colonization,
[36:28] Speaker 1: perhaps indicating there was a local cult that the Greeks adopted.
[36:32] Speaker 1: But what made Didyma particularly removed, renowned rather, was the
[36:37] Speaker 1: presence of a sacred spring within the temple enclosure, and
[36:41] Speaker 1: a sacred laurel tree, both central to oracular ritual. The
[36:47] Speaker 1: prophet or priestess at Didyma would inhale the water's vapors,
[36:51] Speaker 1: or otherwise be inspired by the spring, similar to the
[36:56] Speaker 1: Delphi of Pythias, inhaling of the fumes, this kind of thing.
[37:01] Speaker 1: The mode of consultation at Didyma appears to have been
[37:04] Speaker 1: similar to Delphi's, Questions were answered in hexameter verse, delivered
[37:11] Speaker 1: by an entranced prophet. The sources mention a priestess at
[37:15] Speaker 1: Didyma in later periods, suggesting that like Delphi, a woman
[37:20] Speaker 1: might have served as a medium. Indeed, inscriptions from the
[37:26] Speaker 1: Roman era show Didyma on Apollo giving lengthy poetic oracles
[37:30] Speaker 1: to petitioners, indicating the tradition of verse oracles certainly endured there.
[37:38] Speaker 1: In its early centuries, Didymus' oracle gained fame through some
[37:41] Speaker 1: high-profile consultations. One notable episode occurred during the 6th century BC,
[37:48] Speaker 1: when Croesus of Lydia tested the oracles of the world.
[37:51] Speaker 1: As Herodotus recounts, Croesus sent envoys to multiple oracles, Delphi, Dodona,
[37:58] Speaker 1: Amon in Libya, and others also, including Blanchidae and Miletus.
[38:05] Speaker 1: And he gave them a challenge. On a set day
[38:07] Speaker 1: they must tell him what he was doing at that moment.
[38:12] Speaker 1: The Delphic Oracle famously passed the test, correctly saying that
[38:17] Speaker 1: Croesus was boiling a lamb and tortoise. Okay, I suppose
[38:24] Speaker 1: you would want to be doing something that wouldn't easily
[38:26] Speaker 1: be guessed, but that's quite random, isn't it? Well, Herodotus
[38:32] Speaker 1: notes that Delphi and the Oracle of Amphiarios, were judged
[38:37] Speaker 1: to be superior. Although Rhodotus doesn't explicitly say how Didyma fared,
[38:43] Speaker 1: the inclusion of Branchidae in the test shows that Didyma
[38:47] Speaker 1: was considered a major prophetic centre by Croesus' time. But
[38:52] Speaker 1: Croesus did later send rich gifts to Didyma too, suggesting
[38:56] Speaker 1: its oracle was consulted, perhaps in concert with Delphi, regarding
[39:01] Speaker 1: his war plans. We also hear that during the Ionian
[39:06] Speaker 1: revolt against Persia, that is, 499, the Brancidae priests at
[39:10] Speaker 1: Didyma prophesied, and the sanctuary held immense wealth from past dedications.
[39:16] Speaker 1: A turning point for Didyma came with the Persian invasion.
[39:21] Speaker 1: In 494, the Persians captured Miletus, and reportedly sacked the Didymaion,
[39:26] Speaker 1: carrying off its treasures. After that, the oracle fell silent.
[39:33] Speaker 1: For nearly two centuries, no oracles were given. The sacred
[39:37] Speaker 1: spring itself was said to have dried up completely. The
[39:40] Speaker 1: Brankidei priestly clan, tainted by accusations of betraying the temple
[39:45] Speaker 1: treasures to Persia, disappeared from the sight. This long interruption
[39:52] Speaker 1: only ended when Alexander the Great marched into the region.
[39:56] Speaker 1: After Alexander liberated Miletus in 334, the story goes that
[40:01] Speaker 1: on his way to conquer Egypt a few years later,
[40:03] Speaker 1: the dormant spring of Didyma suddenly began to flow again.
[40:09] Speaker 1: Of course, Alexander took this as a favourable omen. In
[40:13] Speaker 1: 331 BC, he oracularly reactivated Didyma. possibly even consulting it
[40:20] Speaker 1: to legitimize his campaigns, though he is more famously known
[40:25] Speaker 1: for visiting the Oracle of Ammon at Siwa. With Alexander's patronage,
[40:31] Speaker 1: Didyma's oracle was reborn, the old priestly lineage having vanished,
[40:37] Speaker 1: new priests were appointed, the Millicents took control of the sanctuary,
[40:40] Speaker 1: that is. In the early Hellenistic period, the Seleucid kings,
[40:46] Speaker 1: successors to Alexander in Asia, specially patronized Didyma. Seleucus I,
[40:54] Speaker 1: in about 300 BC, famously recovered the bronze gold statue
[40:58] Speaker 1: of Apollo that the Persians had stolen, and reinstated it
[41:02] Speaker 1: in a newly built temple cellar. The massive new temple
[41:07] Speaker 1: of Apollo was begun, intended to be larger than even
[41:11] Speaker 1: the Parthenon, a statement of renewed glory. Though the temple
[41:17] Speaker 1: was never fully completed, What was built remains quite awe-inspiring
[41:22] Speaker 1: with its forest of columns. During the Hellenistic and Roman eras,
[41:28] Speaker 1: Didyma regained a reputation for giving oracles to cities and rulers.
[41:32] Speaker 1: The sanctuary issued guidance on the founding of colonies, the
[41:36] Speaker 1: veneration of kings and religious duties. For example, the city
[41:41] Speaker 1: of Miletus itself consulted Apollo Didymaeus on civic matters. and
[41:46] Speaker 1: foreign delegations arrived seeking prophecies of their own. One intriguing
[41:51] Speaker 1: late oracle from Didyma, cited by Christian historians, was delivered
[41:56] Speaker 1: to the Emperor Diocletian around AD 300, in which Apollo
[42:01] Speaker 1: ostensibly endorsed the persecution of the Christians. This grim pronouncement,
[42:08] Speaker 1: essentially encouraging a purge of the empires, was later called
[42:12] Speaker 1: the Last Oracle of Didyma. Indeed, the rise of Christianity
[42:16] Speaker 1: soon eclipsed pagan oracles. By the 4th century AD, Emperor
[42:21] Speaker 1: Theodosius' edicts against pagan cults likely led to the closure
[42:25] Speaker 1: of Didyma. The site fell into ruin by the Middle Ages.
[42:30] Speaker 1: Locals had even thought the giant fallen columns were the
[42:32] Speaker 1: works of the gods or giants. In its classical heyday, however,
[42:38] Speaker 1: Didyma served much the same religious role for Asia Minor
[42:41] Speaker 1: Greeks as Delphi did for mainlanders. It was a place
[42:44] Speaker 1: to seek Apollo's insight on certain ventures. Politically, while Delphi
[42:49] Speaker 1: was more influential for European Greece, Didyma had clout among
[42:53] Speaker 1: the Ionians and in the eastern Mediterranean. But in terms
[42:59] Speaker 1: of military significance, Didyma's direct impact is less documented than Delphi's.
[43:06] Speaker 1: But we can infer some things. When Alexander conquered the
[43:09] Speaker 1: Persian Empire, he is said to have sent an inquiry
[43:12] Speaker 1: to Didyma, In response, Apollo, perhaps to re-establish his shrine,
[43:18] Speaker 1: purportedly assured Alexander of divine support. Later, Hellenistic generals consulted
[43:25] Speaker 1: Didyma for omens before battles. A notable example was the
[43:29] Speaker 1: Seleucid king Seleucus II in the 3rd century BC, reportedly
[43:34] Speaker 1: receiving oracles from Didyma, possibly regarding his conflicts in Anatolia.
[43:40] Speaker 1: And as mentioned, The Emperor Diocletian's trust in Apollo's oracle
[43:45] Speaker 1: had concrete military or political consequences, triggering the last and
[43:50] Speaker 1: most brutal persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire. So
[43:54] Speaker 1: while Ditimar might not have been the singular, famous battlefield
[43:58] Speaker 1: prophecy-giver like Delphi's, wooden wall, things like that, certainly played
[44:04] Speaker 1: its own role in shaping the confidence and decisions of
[44:07] Speaker 1: leaders engaged in power struggles. But like we said, they
[44:14] Speaker 1: weren't the only oracles. There were some lesser-known sanctuaries, too.
[44:20] Speaker 1: In addition to Delphi, Dodona, Didyma, the Greek world hosted
[44:24] Speaker 1: all sorts of oracles. Some were locally important. Some gained
[44:30] Speaker 1: wind of fame in certain periods. So let's talk about
[44:34] Speaker 1: a few of them beyond those big three. First, we
[44:38] Speaker 1: have the Oracle of Zeus Amon at Siwa. far to
[44:43] Speaker 1: the south, in the Libyan desert. It was well known
[44:47] Speaker 1: to the Greeks by the classical era. It was considered
[44:50] Speaker 1: one of the world's great oracles, on par with Delphi
[44:54] Speaker 1: in esteem for some. In 331, Alexander the Great made
[44:59] Speaker 1: a pilgrimage across the sands to Siwa. The priest of
[45:02] Speaker 1: Amon greeted Alexander as the son of the god, effectively
[45:07] Speaker 1: affirming Alexander's divine parentage and right to rule the world.
[45:12] Speaker 1: How convenient, that is. The Oracle of Amon has had
[45:17] Speaker 1: huge political significance for Alexander. It boasted his propaganda, that
[45:22] Speaker 1: he was the son of Zeus, not merely a mortal king.
[45:28] Speaker 1: Greek sources recount that Alexander received scant prophecies there, which
[45:33] Speaker 1: he shared only with his mother, and that he was
[45:36] Speaker 1: delighted by how the Libyan priest's greeting could be heard as,' Oh,
[45:40] Speaker 1: by Dios!' O son of Zeus! Earlier, Spartan king Lysander
[45:47] Speaker 1: was said to have consulted Amon, even as Croesus included
[45:50] Speaker 1: Amon's shrine in his oracle testing. His oracle continued into
[45:56] Speaker 1: the Hellenistic and Roman period, often courted by Libyan and
[45:59] Speaker 1: Egyptian Greeks. It blended Egyptian and Greek religious elements, showing
[46:05] Speaker 1: how oracular consultation crossed cultural lines. And then we have
[46:10] Speaker 1: the Oracle of Trophonius at Labadea, also called Boetia. This
[46:19] Speaker 1: was one of the most mysterious and fearsome oracles in Greece.
[46:24] Speaker 1: Trophonius was a legendary hero who dwelt in the underground chamber.
[46:30] Speaker 1: Those who sought his oracle had to undergo elaborate preparatory rites,
[46:34] Speaker 1: including days of purification, sacrifices to a series of gods.
[46:39] Speaker 1: that is, Apollo, Cronus, Zeus, Hera, Demeter, etc., and the
[46:43] Speaker 1: drinking of two special springs, the water of forgetfulness and
[46:48] Speaker 1: the water of memory, which seems to be a little
[46:51] Speaker 1: bit counterintuitive, but all right. The supplicant would then descend
[46:58] Speaker 1: into a narrow cave opening. Ancient descriptions say the person
[47:03] Speaker 1: was sucked into the earth and experienced terrifying visions in
[47:08] Speaker 1: the darkness. They would emerge pale and shaken, sometimes unable
[47:13] Speaker 1: to speak, until recovered. Despite, or perhaps because of, this
[47:20] Speaker 1: frightful process, Trofonius' oracle was regarded as highly truthful. People
[47:26] Speaker 1: came to ask for mostly individual questions, especially when other
[47:30] Speaker 1: oracles failed. One famous anecdote is the statesman Epaminondas, consulted
[47:37] Speaker 1: with the Oracle of Trophonius before the Battle of Leuctra
[47:40] Speaker 1: in 371 BC. He supposedly received a prophecy that the
[47:44] Speaker 1: Thebans would defeat the Spartans, which he used to buoy
[47:48] Speaker 1: his army's morale. The experience of going to Trophonius became
[47:54] Speaker 1: a byword for looking harrowed, I suppose. Those who went
[47:59] Speaker 1: there were said to lose their smile. from what they
[48:02] Speaker 1: saw below. Hope it was worth it. Really hope it
[48:07] Speaker 1: was worth it. Well, then we have the Oracle of Amphiaros.
[48:14] Speaker 1: Amphiaros was a hero of the War of Thebes, who,
[48:18] Speaker 1: according to myth, was swallowed alive by the earth and
[48:21] Speaker 1: made into an oracular spirit. His sanctuary at Oropos, that is,
[48:26] Speaker 1: the border of Attica and Boetia, functioned as both an
[48:29] Speaker 1: oracle and a healing centre. Supplicants would sacrifice a ram
[48:35] Speaker 1: and then sleep on its skin within the temple. Amphiaras
[48:39] Speaker 1: would send answers or cures through dreams. This practice, called incubation,
[48:47] Speaker 1: was common in healing oracles. The Amphiaras oracle was used
[48:53] Speaker 1: by individuals seeking healing or advice and by city delegations
[48:58] Speaker 1: in certain cases. herodotus noted that amphiarus oracle was one
[49:03] Speaker 1: of the two that correctly identified croesus test the other
[49:06] Speaker 1: being delphi which gave it a high reputation for honesty
[49:11] Speaker 1: in the classical period the athenians occasionally summoned it and
[49:16] Speaker 1: it grew in prominence under the patronage after they gained
[49:19] Speaker 1: control of Oropos. And then we have the Oracle of
[49:25] Speaker 1: Apollo at Klauros, located near Colophon in Asia Minor. Klauros
[49:30] Speaker 1: was another Apollonian Oracle, excuse me. Like Didyma, it experienced
[49:37] Speaker 1: a revival in Hellenistic and Roman periods. The Claros Oracle
[49:42] Speaker 1: was known for delivering prophecies in a deep trance-like state
[49:45] Speaker 1: via a male prophet who drank from a sacred spring
[49:48] Speaker 1: in a cave. In the Roman Imperial Era, Claros produced
[49:52] Speaker 1: oracles for various cities and emperors. One recorded oracle of
[49:57] Speaker 1: Claros cleverly welcomed the Roman Emperor Hadrian by referring to
[50:01] Speaker 1: him with the attributes of Zeus. suggesting the syncretism of
[50:05] Speaker 1: emperor worship. Claros also issued apocalyptic oracles, one of which,
[50:12] Speaker 1: according to legend, announced the coming of Christianity in coded language,
[50:17] Speaker 1: though this may be a later fabrication. Claros demonstrates that
[50:22] Speaker 1: even as Delphi's fame waned, other Apollonian oracles picked up
[50:26] Speaker 1: the slack in later times. And then we have Sibilis.
[50:33] Speaker 1: and wandering oracles. Apart from the fixed oracular temples, the
[50:39] Speaker 1: Greeks also believed in Sibyls, inspired prophetesses who roamed or
[50:43] Speaker 1: lived in caves, uttering prophecies intermittently. The most famous was
[50:49] Speaker 1: the Cumaean Sibyl, in Italy tied to Apollo, later immortalized
[50:54] Speaker 1: in Roman legend with the Sibylline books. In Greek legend,
[50:58] Speaker 1: there were Sibyls at Delphi, The Delphic Sibyl was said
[51:02] Speaker 1: to have prophesied before the temple was established, at Eurythrae
[51:06] Speaker 1: in Ionia, and elsewhere too. Sibylline oracles were often in verse,
[51:12] Speaker 1: and sometimes very cryptic. While not state-run like Delphi, they
[51:18] Speaker 1: contributed to the prophetic tradition. Notably, the oracles of the
[51:23] Speaker 1: Sibyl in Eurythrae were consulted during the Persian Wars, and
[51:27] Speaker 1: later by Romans. And the last one, we have the
[51:32] Speaker 1: Oracle of the Dead, Necromanteon. The Greeks even had oracular
[51:41] Speaker 1: shrines for consulting souls of the departed, the most famous
[51:45] Speaker 1: being on the river Asheron in Epirus. Here, through complex
[51:50] Speaker 1: rituals involving night-time ceremonies and offerings, petitioners sought to summon ghosts,
[51:57] Speaker 1: often the spirit of the deceased or loved one of
[52:00] Speaker 1: a famous hero, to ask them questions. Herodotus mentions that Periander,
[52:07] Speaker 1: the tyrant of Corinth, sent messengers to the necromanteion of
[52:11] Speaker 1: Asheron to contact his dead wife's spirit. While this form
[52:16] Speaker 1: of oracle, necromanteia, was on the fringe of mainstream religious practice,
[52:22] Speaker 1: its existence shows the Greek desire for knowledge of hidden things,
[52:27] Speaker 1: even if it meant calling up the dead. The Necromanteion
[52:32] Speaker 1: was associated with Hades and Persephone. Priests guided visitors through
[52:37] Speaker 1: preparatory stages that might include ingesting hallucinogenic herbs to encourage visions.
[52:44] Speaker 1: This oracle was less about policy and more about personal
[52:47] Speaker 1: closure and mystery, a dark counterpart to Apollo's enlightening prophecies. Well,
[52:57] Speaker 1: the examples could continue. There were probably many more of
[53:00] Speaker 1: them that existed, but they just lost time. I suppose
[53:07] Speaker 1: we'll never really know how deep it really ran. But collectively,
[53:12] Speaker 1: the network of oracles across the Greek world formed a
[53:16] Speaker 1: kind of spiritual communication web. If one oracle was unavailable
[53:20] Speaker 1: or gave an unsatisfying answer, petitioners might try another. In fact,
[53:26] Speaker 1: it was not unusual for important queries like the decision
[53:29] Speaker 1: to found a colony or begin a war to be
[53:31] Speaker 1: sent to multiple oracles at once. And as we saw,
[53:35] Speaker 1: Croesus did exactly that. And others sometimes did so to
[53:40] Speaker 1: double-check the important matters. It's pretty prudent to do so.
[53:45] Speaker 1: You have to get a second opinion. And this both
[53:48] Speaker 1: fostered a sense of healthy competition among the oracles and
[53:52] Speaker 1: ensured the practice of divination remained pervasive. No single oracle
[53:57] Speaker 1: could monopolize prophecy entirely. And that also helps to stop
[54:03] Speaker 1: the corruption, too. Of course, Delphi came the closest. But
[54:08] Speaker 1: even at the height of the Pythia, alternative voices existed.
[54:15] Speaker 1: And so, as the playwright Aeschylus once had the Delphic
[54:20] Speaker 1: Oracle say, no one can outrun the fate that Apollo
[54:24] Speaker 1: has spun. Yet Apollo might only reveal that fate in hints.
[54:29] Speaker 1: By around the fourth century the old oracles finally fell silent,
[54:33] Speaker 1: in the face of a changing world. But for the
[54:37] Speaker 1: entirety of what we call ancient Greece, from the age
[54:40] Speaker 1: of Homer through the classical Zenith, into the eras of
[54:44] Speaker 1: Alexander and the Caesars, the voice of the oracles was
[54:47] Speaker 1: a constant and divining presence. It echoed in the founding
[54:51] Speaker 1: charters of cities, in the strategies of generals, in the
[54:55] Speaker 1: verses of poets, and in the hopes and fears of
[54:58] Speaker 1: everyday men and women. The oracles gave the Greeks a
[55:02] Speaker 1: new way to confront the uncertainties of life, with a
[55:05] Speaker 1: sense of cosmic order. In consulting an oracle, they felt
[55:09] Speaker 1: they were consulting the gods themselves, integrating divine will into
[55:13] Speaker 1: human endeavour. And this partnership, between the mortal and the divine,
[55:18] Speaker 1: shaped history, enabling tiny Greek polities to dare to great deeds.
[55:25] Speaker 1: instilling unity at crucial moments, and imparting caution when hubris
[55:31] Speaker 1: grew too great. Standing before the ruins of Delphi's Temple
[55:36] Speaker 1: of Apollo, or the sacred oak of Dodona, one could
[55:41] Speaker 1: almost sense the weight of questions once asked there. Life, destiny,
[55:46] Speaker 1: and purpose. Though the priests and priestesses are long gone,
[55:51] Speaker 1: their historical record, enriched by Herodotus, Thucydides, Plutarch and others,
[55:56] Speaker 1: allows us to hear whispers of the oracle's voice. In
[56:00] Speaker 1: those whispers, we recognize a civilization wrestling with fate and
[56:05] Speaker 1: seeking meaning from the divine. The role of oracles in
[56:09] Speaker 1: ancient Greece ultimately shows a people's profound commitment to aligning
[56:13] Speaker 1: their world with a higher cosmic order. It was a
[56:17] Speaker 1: commitment that outlived generations and empires. leaving a mark on
[56:22] Speaker 1: the story of Greece itself. And as the Oracle of
[56:25] Speaker 1: Delphi famously advised, know thyself, and in their pursuit of
[56:31] Speaker 1: oracular wisdom, the Greeks did come to know themselves, their gods,
[56:38] Speaker 1: and the limits and possibilities of the very fragile human condition.
[56:46] Speaker 1: And that's the end of the video. Did you enjoy it?
[56:49] Speaker 1: Did you learn lots? You better have learned lots or else. No,
[56:55] Speaker 1: I'm just kidding. Learn as much or as little as
[56:59] Speaker 1: you want. Fine by me. As long as you're nice
[57:02] Speaker 1: and relaxed over there. I'm relaxed too, okay? So I'm
[57:06] Speaker 1: going to thank my top dear patrons and supporters. They're
[57:09] Speaker 1: all great people. Keeping the channel going, bankrolling the whole operation. Doug, Kimberly, Christine, Sally, Amber, Susan, Cameron, Legitmus. Carrie, Charlene, Lynn, Therese, Katiana, Nicholas, Ulf, Edneer, Alexander, Charles, Christine, Dr. Neuronerd, Erin, Jayden, Jim, Jeffrey, Jessica, Madeline, Melissa,
[57:31] Speaker 1: Orthodox Review, Scott, Stark Factory, Cheryl, Wendy, Josie, Sarah, Ryan, Thor, Cameron, Stefan, Kevin,
[57:44] Speaker 1: the HMSHH, Crystal, Thalvery, and Anthony. Thank you so much. Well,
[57:51] Speaker 1: guess what? I'm going to be right here tomorrow making
[57:54] Speaker 1: more videos. You know exactly where to find me. So
[57:58] Speaker 1: click that like and subscribe button. Tell all of your friends.
[58:03] Speaker 1: And we can all have a big party together. A
[58:07] Speaker 1: quiet riot of the sort. Time for me to make
[58:13] Speaker 1: a coffee. Good night, everyone. Lots of love to you all.
[58:17] Speaker 1: And I will see you next time.

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