ORA 
_the accidental coincidence of 
of their mark, the 
two oras; ast io re were no aurel 
thefe two denominations of m 
and owe their appellation to the ora. 
P- 307, &c, 
' ORA Cabaca, in Geography, a bay on the N. coaft of Ja- 
maica, 
ABY, a town of Sweden, in the province of Scho- 
nen 3 32 miles . of yoeliaar adt. 
OR See ATRIP 
CH, or Ora n 
OracH, Orach - Suiting Goofe- ‘age : ia a the 
' Materia Medica e CHENOPODIU 
Oracu, Berr Bae aring. See Burr = 
Onace, pies ferably. See ATRAPHAXIS. 
Ora e CHENOPODIUM. 
Orac a nG Cosrapy a town of Bofnia, the capital of 
a Sangiacate ; 96 miles S.S.W. of Belgr 
>a ike of See in is principality of 
aren five miles N. t 
RACLE, an anfwer, ufbaly couched i in yl dark and 
Pcie terms, fuppofed to be give ons of 
old, either by the moni of ‘thei ir idols, or by. thofe of 
their priefts, to the people, who confulted them on things 
to come 
ORActE i is alfo ufed for the a _ te the anfwer, 
and the place where it was given. 
Clarke on Coins, 
Seneca defines oracles to be eaunesinds oy the mouths 
of men of the will of the gods: and Cicero fimply calls 
them the language of the gods, *¢ Deorum oratio.”” Among 
the Pagans they were held _in high eltimation ; 5. and | they 
were confulted on a v 
enterprifes and private elife. When they made peace or war. 
enacted laws, reformed ftates, or changed the conftitution, 
they had in all thefe cafes recourfe to the oracle by public au- 
thority. Alfo, in private life, if a man wifhed to marry, if he 
propofed to take a journey, or to engage in any bufinefs of 
importance, he repaired to the oracle for counfel. Mankind 
a ar | always a pai algun to explore futurity ; and con- 
ceiv re known to their gods, who pof- 
feffed the gift of sss they fought information and ad- 
vice from the oracles, which in their opinion were fupernatural 
and divine communications. The inftitution of oracles feemed 
to gratify the prevalent curtiofity ankind, and da 
fource of immenfe eed as well as uel and influence, 
to thofe the c nd o Ace y 
who had mma 
gt — in which (cles has fabfifted, had its oracles, 
by means of which impofture praétifed on ‘fuperttition and 
cre ey: 
‘The pri incipal oracles of antiquity are that of Abe, men- 
tioned by Herodotus; that of Amphiaraus at Oropus in 
Macedonia; that of the Branchide at Didymus ; that of 
ote 
OR A 
the camps at Lacedemon; that of Dodona; that of J upiter 
Ammon ; that of Nabarca, in the country of the 
near the Cafpian fea; that of Trophonius, mentioned by 
Herodotus ; that of Chryfopolis ; that of Claros, in lonia ; 
that of Amphilochus at Mallus; that of Patarea; that of 
Pello in Macedonia ; that of Phafelides in Ciltcia; that of 
Sinope in Paphlagonia: that of Orpheus’s head at Lefbos 
mentioned by Philoftratus, in the life of Apollonius, &c. 
ut of all oracles, a oracle of Apollo Pythius at Del- 
phi was the moft celebrated; this w 
dernier reffort, By a i; the princes of thofe ages. 
DeEtpui an 
We have already obferved that moft of the Pagan deities 
had their 3 gle oracles. pollo had the greateft 
thofe of Claros, of te Branchide, of the 
fuburbs oe Daphne at Antioch, of Delos, o rgos, of 
i aiz in Italy, and others in ae 
in Egypt, in the ria in Thrace, at Corinth, in Arcadia, . 
in Laconia, and in many other places sear by Van 
belies that of Dodona and fome others, 
he fhared with Rosie: had one in 
Beotia, under ne name of Jupiter the Thunderer, and an- 
other in Elis, one at Thebes and at Meroe, _ one near Anti- 
och, and feveral others. /Efculapius in Cilicta, 
at Apollonia, in the ifle of Cos, at Epidaurus, Pergamus, 
Rome, and elfew here: Mercury had oracles at Patras, upon 
laces: Mars in Thrace, Egypt, and 
: Hercules at Cadiz, Athens, in Egypt, at Ti- 
voli, in Pierce, where he iffued his oracles by dreams, 
whence he was called ** Somnialis :”? Ifis, Ofiris, and Serapis 
delivered in like manner their oracles by dreams, as we learn 
from Paufanias, Tacitus, Arrian, and other writers: that of 
Amphilochus was alfo delivered by dreams: the ox Apis had 
alfo his oracle in E sypt The gods, called Cabiri, had 
; Diana, the fifter of Apollo, had — 
See 
ral oracles in Toe Cilicia, Ephefus Thofe 
For at Prenefte an ts at Antium are well 
kn e Fountains alfo delivered oracles, for to each 
of them a divinity was afcribed: fuch was the fountain of 
a 
Caftalia at Delphi, another of the fame name in the fuburbs 
oO ntioch, and the prophetic fountain near the temple of 
chaia. Juno had feveral oracles; 
SyPts 
pain, upon mount /Etna, a 
Mycenz and Colchis, bry in other places. 
he Nymphs h cave of Corycia. 
Pan had feveral, the moft famous of which was that in Ar- 
That of the Palici was in Sicily. Pluto had one at 
Setien had oracles in feveral places, but the moft 
famous were thofe of Cumz in Italy and of Alexandria in 
Egypt. Thofe of Venus were difperfed in feveral places, 
at Gaza, upon mount Libanus, at Paphos, in Cyprus, &e. 
Serapis had one at Alexandria, confulted by Vefpafian. Ve- 
nus Aphacite had one at Aphaca between Heliopolis and 
Byblus. Geryon, the three-headed monfter, flain by Her- 
Italy, Arifteus in a, Autolycus at Sinope, Phryxus 
among the oe Zamolxi among the Getz, Epheftion 
the 
