618 



ORACLE 



ORANG 



mankind, a* in the orgasms of the l'ytlii:i .-unl tli<> 

 dreams of the wonliipper in tin 1 temples ; or liy 

 it- cll'ecl mi certain ohji-ets, as tin- tinkling of the 

 caldron-- at Dodona, the rustling of tlic 8arre<l 

 laurel, ih" nun inuring of the streams ; or by the 

 action^ of sacred animals, an exemplified in the A pi- 

 or sacred hull of Memphis, and the feeding of holy 

 chickens amount IK- Kunians. Sin-li responses were, 

 however, closely allied to aiiirury, which dillered in 

 jthi" respect, that an Ainu's con hi Ite taken anvwherc, 

 while the oracular s|wts were deline<l an<l limited. 

 Oracle d lies from tin- highest antiquity, ami gradu- 

 ally deellvs with the decline of Animism i|.v.) 

 ami with the increasing knowledge of mankind. 

 Among the Egyptians all the temples were probably 

 oracular. In the hieroglyphic texts the gods speak 

 constantly iii an oracular manner, and their con- 

 sultation W the Pharaohs is occasionally inentione<l. 

 In later day the most renowned of these oracles 

 wa that of A Minion in the OasU, where oracular 

 responses were rendered either hy the shaking 

 of the statue of the god or hy his appear- 

 ance in a certain manner. Oracles were also used 

 hy the Hebrews, a* in the consultation of the Urim 

 and Thummim hy the high-priest, and the unlawful 

 use of Teraphims, and consultations of the gods of 

 Phoenicia ami Samaria. The Hebrew oracles were 

 hy word of month, as the speech of God to Moses, 

 dreams, visions, and prophetical denunciations ; 

 liesides which there were oracles in Phoenicia, as 

 that <>f Beelzebub and others of the Baalim. They 

 were also in use throughout Bahvlonia and Chaldiea, 

 where the responses were delivered hy dreams 

 given to the priestesses, who slept alone in the 

 temples as concuhines of the gods. The most 

 renowned of all (ireek oracles was the Delphic 

 oracle (see DELPHI), which was I'anhellenic or 

 open to all Greece. Sacrifices were offered hy 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 Alma 

 in Phoeis ; at Ptoon, which was destroyed in the 

 days of Alexander the Great: and at Ismcnns, 

 south of Thebes. In Asia Minor the most cele- 

 brated was that of Branchiihe, close to Miletus, 

 celebrated in K.'.vpt. Gmieiim, and Delos. Besides 

 that of I >oi Inn a. Zeus had another at Olympia; 

 and those of various other deities existed else- 

 where. A secondary class of oracles of heroic or 

 prophet ie persons e\is|ei| in Greece, the two most 

 celebrated of which were those of Amphiaraiis and 

 Trophonins. The first mentioned was one of the 

 live great oracles in the days of Criesus, and was 

 situate at (liopus in Attica. Those who consulted 

 it fasted a whole day, abstained from wine, 

 sacrificed a ram to Amphiaraiis, mid slept on the 

 skin in the temple, where their destiny was 

 revi-.iled liy dreams. That of Trophoniiis was at 

 Lehndea in Iteotia, and owed its origin to a 

 icilied seer. It was given in a cave, into which 

 the votary descended, -bathed and anointed, hold 

 ing a honeyed cake. There were some other oracles 

 of minor importance. Besides these oracles, written 

 one- e\itpxl of the proplieeie* of celebrated seers, 

 a- Ili.-is and Mns.-eiis, which were collected h\ the 

 I'i-istratid.c, and kept in the Acropolis of Athens. 

 Others of the Sibyls or prophetic women were 

 jHipular, and at a later period (nee SlBYL) Athenais 

 and others mophc~i"d in the days of the Sclenciihe. 

 Among-t the oriental nations, a* the Aralm and 

 other*, divination was and is extensively practised, 

 but there are no set oracles. The Celtic Druids 

 are <uvid to have delivered rc-pon-e-., anil the oracle 

 of the Celtic god Beleiius or Alielio was celebrated. 

 SM ilenxlotiu, Hut. r. 89, viii. 82; Curtiiu, iv. 7; 



Hare, Ancirnt Qrtrk* (1836); Rot. Antii/itHiis 



I 1 vi'!, ii. :!1 ) : V. \V. II. Myert, Oretk Orarlo i // 



pp. 425-492. 1880); Stengel, (Irurhurlitu Kakralaltrr- 



tumrr ( 44-60, 1890); SchOniann't work on ' 



Aiiii<juitir$ (llrliyiota Anlt'juttui, French trung. by 



Galuiki, 1887). 



Oran (Arab. Waran), a seaport of Algeria, 

 stands on the Gulf of Oran, 261 miles by rail \V. 

 by S. of Algiers and 130 by sea S. of Cartagena in 

 Spain. It climbs up the lout of a hill, is defended 

 by detached forts, has a thoroughly Kreneh ap|>ar- 

 ance, having lieen mainly built since 1790, when 

 the older Spanish town was destroyed by an earth- 

 quake, and possesses a Koman Catholic cathedral 

 (1839), a grand mosque, a large military hospital, 

 a college, a seminary, and two citadels or castles. 

 The harliour is protecti-d on the north and east by 

 moles constructed in I8S7 at a cost of 280,000 ; 

 alfa, iron ore, and cereals are the chief of the 

 exports. Pop. (1891) 73,610. Oran was bnilt hv 

 the Moors. During the second half of the l">t)i 

 century it was a highly-prosperous commercial 

 town, and was celebrated for its cloth and nuns 

 and fine public buildings. But it was taken by 

 the Spaniards in 150!) and made a penal settlement. 

 It wa-s captured by the Turks in 1708, but retaken 

 by the Spaniards in 1732. In 1790 it was destroyed 

 bv an earthquake, and shortly after was altogether 

 abandoned by the Spaniards, the Turks occupying 



it again in 1792. The French took ]x)sse8Sion of 

 the town in 1831. The /</'/, -//nr of (Iran has an 

 area of 33,236 sq. m. . and a pop. ( 1891 ) of 942,066, 

 of whom 74,810 were French, 91,494 Spaniards, and 

 lf>,771 Jews ; ( 1891 ) 942,066. 



Orang. or ORANG-OI'TANO (Simia tatyrus), an 

 anthropoid ape, found only in the forests of Sumatra 

 and Borneo. There is only one species, though it 

 has leen said that another smaller variety occurs 

 in Borneo. The orang is distinguished from other 

 anthropoid apes l>\ its reddish-Drawn colour : and 

 it has been noticed that the colour eorresiionds to 

 that of its human neighbours, just as the block 

 colour of the chimpanzee and gorilla answers to 



Orang-outang (Simia tatyrui). 



that of the African trilies inhabiting the same 

 country. Miklucho-Maklay asserts that (he Malays 

 never use their words I'lr/iiiij iitiin ('man of the 

 woods') for any ape. but for an uncultured trilie 

 of Malays living in the woods. 

 Like other anthropoids the orang is arboreal in 



