f>78 ' O R A 
Oicleus, a man (killed in magic, the interpretation of 
dreams, Sec. and who after his death was deified, and de¬ 
livered oracles in a temple ereiiled to his divinity. See 
Amphiaraus, vol. i. 
Other famous oracles of antiquity are—‘that of A has, 
mentioned by Herodotus; that of the Branchidae at Di- 
dymus; that of the Camps at Lacedaemon ; that of Jupiter 
Ammon ; that of Nabarca, in the country of the Ana- 
riaci, near the Cafpian Sea; that of Chryfopolis; that of 
Ciaros in Ionia; of Amphilochus, at Mafias ; of Patarea ; 
of Pello, in Macedonia; of Phafelides, in Cilicia; of Si¬ 
nope, in Paphlagonia; that of Orpheus’s head at Lefbos, 
mentioned by Philoftratus in the life of Apollonius, &c. 
But moft of the Pagan deities had their appropriate 
oracles. Apollo had the greateft number: fuch as thofe 
of Ciaros, of the B ranch id se, of the fuburbs of Daphne 
at Antioch, of Delos, of Argos, of Troas, ASclis, &c. of 
Baiae in Italy, and others in Cilicia, in Egypt, in the 
Alps, in Thrace, at Corinth, in Arcadia, in Laconia, and 
in many other places enumerated by Van Dale. Jupiter, 
befides that of Dodona and fome others, the honour of 
which he (hared with Apollo, had one in Bceotia, under 
the name of Jupiter the Thunderer, and another in Elis, 
one at Thebes and at Meroe, one near Antioch, and fe¬ 
deral others. FEfculapius was confulted in Cilicia, at 
Apollonia, in thedfle of Cos, at Epidaurus, Pergamus, 
Rome, and elfewhere: Mercury had oracles at Patras, 
upon Haemon, and in other places: Mars in Thrace, 
Egypt, and elfewhere: Hercules at Cadiz, Athens, in 
Egypt, at Tivoli, in Mefopotamia, where he iffued his 
oracles by dreams, whence he was called Somnialis: Ills, 
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 deli¬ 
vered by dreams: the ox Apis had alfo his oracle in 
Egypt. The gods called Cabiri had their oracle in Bceo¬ 
tia : Diana, the filter of Apollo, had feveral oracles in 
Egypt, Cilicia, Ephefus, &c. Thole of Fortune at Prae- 
nefte, and of the Lots at Antium, are well known. The 
Fountains allb delivered oracles, for to each of them a 
divinity w'as afcribed : fuch was the fountain of Caltalia 
at Delphi, another of the fame name in the fuburbs of 
Antioch, and the prophetic fountain near the temple of 
Ceres in Achaia. Juno had feveral oracles; one near 
Corinth, one at Nyfa, and others at other places. Latona 
had one at Butis in Egypt : Leucothea had one in Col¬ 
chis : Memnon in Egypt; Machaon at Gerania in Laco¬ 
nia; Minerva had one in Egypt, in Spain, upon Mount 
./Etna, at Mycenae and Colchis, and in other places. 
Thofe of Neptune were at Delphos, at Calauria, near 
Neocfearea, and elfewhere. The Nymphs had theirs in 
the cave of Corycia. Pan had feveral, the moft famous 
of which was that in Arcadia. That of the Palici was in 
Sicily. Pluto had one at Nyfa. Saturn had oracles in 
various places; but the molt famous were thofe of Cumae 
in Italy and of Alexandria in Egypt. Thofe of Venus 
were difperfed in feveral places; at Gaza, upon Mount 
Libanus, at Paphos, in Cyprus, &c. Serapis had one at 
Alexandria, confulted by Vefpafian. Venus Aphacite 
had one at Aphaca, between Heliopolis and Byblus. Ge- 
ryon, the three-headed monfter, (lain by Hercules, had an 
oracle in Italy near Padua, confulted by Tiberius; that 
of Hercules was at Tivoli, and was given by lots, like 
thofe at Prasnefte and Antium. 
The demi-gods and heroes had likewife their oracles: 
fuch were thofe of Caftor and Pollux at Lacedaemon, of 
Mopfus in Cilicia, of Ulyfles, Amphilochus, Sarpedon in 
Troas, Hermione in Macedonia, Pafiphae in Laconia, 
Chalcas in Italy, Ariftaeus in Bceotia, Autolycus at Si¬ 
nope, Phryxu-s among the Colchi, Zamolxis among the 
Getae, Hepheftion the minion of Alexander and Anti- 
nous, Sec. Sec. for which w'e refer to Van Dale. 
The refponfes of oracles were delivered in a variety of 
ways. At the oracle of Ammon, the priefts pronounced 
the refponfe of their god; at Dodona, the refponfe was 
4 
C L E. 
iflued from the hollow of an oak; at Memphis, they drew 
a good or bad omen, according as the ox Apis received 
or rejedfed what was prefen ted to him, which was alfo 
the cafe with the fifties of the fountain of Limyra. The 
fuppliants who confulted the oracles, were not allowed 
to enter the fandluaries where they w'ere given ; and ac¬ 
cordingly care was taken, that neither the Epicureans 
nor Chriftians ftiould come near them. In feveral places, 
the oracles were given by letters fealed up, as in that of 
Mopfus, and at Mallus in Cilicia. Oracles were fre¬ 
quently given by lot, the mode of doing which was as 
follows : The lots were a kind of dice, on which were en¬ 
graven certain charafters or words, whofe explanations 
they were to feek on tables made for the purpofe. The 
way of ufing thefe dice for knowing futurity, was dif¬ 
ferent, according to the places where they were ufed. In 
fome temples, the perfon threw them himfelf; in others, 
they were dropped from a box ; whence came the pro¬ 
verbial expreftion, “ the lot is fallen.” This playing with 
dice was always preceded by facrifices and other cufto- 
mary ceremonies. 
Though the Romans' confulted the Grecian oracles 
upon many occafions, and had but few oracles in their 
own country; yet we mull not omit mentioning the 
oracles which were delivered by the Sibyls. 
As to the number of the Sibyls, authors are not agreed. 
Plato fpeaks of but one, others of two, Pliny of three, 
EElian of four, and Varro of ten; an opinion which is 
moftly adopted by the learned. Thefe ten Sibyls gene¬ 
rally refided in the following places; Perfia, Libya, Delphi, 
Cumae in Italy, Erythrasa, Samos, Cumae in ZEolia, Mar- 
pefta on the Hellefpont, Ancyrain Phrygia, and Tiburtis. 
The moft: celebrated of the Sibyls is that of Cumae in 
Italy, whom fome have called by the different names of 
Amalthaea, Demiphile, Herophile, Daphne, Manto, Phe- 
monoe, and Deiphobe. It is faid, that Apollo became 
enamoured of her; and that, to make her lenfible of his 
pallion, he offered to give her whatever lhe would alk. 
The Sibyl demanded to live as many years as (he had 
grains of fand in her hand ; but unfortunately forgot to 
alk for the enjoyment of the health, vigour, and bloom, of 
which flie was then in poffefllon. Some time after lhe be¬ 
came decrepit, her form decayed, melancholy palenefs and 
haggard looks fucceeded to bloom and cheerfulnefs. She 
had already lived about 700 years when ^Eneas came to 
Italy, and, as lbme have imagined, line had three cen¬ 
turies more to live before her years were as numerous as 
the grains of land which lhe had in her hand. Site gave 
Aineas inftrudlions how to find his father in the infernal 
regions, and even conducted him to the entrance of bell. 
It was ufual for the Sibyl to write her prophecies on 
leaves, which lhe placed at the entrance of her cave; and 
it required particular care in fuch as confulted her to 
take up thefe leaves before they were difperfed by the 
wind, as their meaning then became incompreheniible. 
According to the moft: authentic hiftorians of the Ro¬ 
man republic, one of the Sibyls came to the palace of 
Tarquin the Proud, with nine volumes, which lhe offered 
to fell for a very high price. The monarch difpegarding 
her, ftie immediately difappeared ; but foon after return¬ 
ed, having burned three of the volumes, and allied the 
fame price for the remaining fix books ; and, when 
Tarquin refilled to buy them, lhe burned three more, and 
Hill peril [led in demanding the fame fum of money for 
the three that were left. This extraordinary behaviour 
aftoniftied Tarquin ; he bought the books, and the Sibyl 
inftantly vanilhed, and never after appeared to the 
world. Thefe books were preferved with great care by 
the monarch, and called the Sibylline Verfes. A college 
of priefts was appointed to have the care of them ; and 
fuch reverence did the Romans entertain for thefe pro¬ 
phetic books, that they were confulted with the greateft 
folemnify, and only when the ftate feemed to be in dan¬ 
ger. When the capitol was burnt in the troubles of 
Sylla, the Sibylline verfes which were depolited there pe- 
riftied 
