The Ancient Oracles of Egyptian, Roman & Greek Mythology
The oracles are very numerous at this time. In Rome, two categories of men exercise divinatory talents and make known the will of the gods: augurs and haruspices.
The multiplicity of Greek oracles
The oldest of the known Greek oracles is that of Dodona, in Epirus. Homer evokes it in the Iliad: Achilles questions Zeus, father of all the gods. The answer comes from the rustling of sacred trees and the murmuring of a spring, and it is interpreted by the Selloi, local priests. In Olympia, the lamides draw their prophecies from the fire and from the entrails of the sacrificed animals. In Thebes and Livadeia, it is in the dreams of the consultant asleep in the holy place that the gods come to give their answers. The Oracle of Delos is also known: it was, according to legend, created to celebrate the island which had seen the birth of Apollo.
Egyptian oracles
Contemporary with the Greek oracles, they also had great success. The best known is that of Amun-Ra, which dates back to the era of famous Queen Hatshepsut, around 1500 BC. According to tradition, the oracle materializes in an image of the god who speaks and moves. The questions are put to him in writing, on papyrus rolls, and he answers them verbally. The Oracle of Amun-Ra received in 332 BC the visit of Alexander the Great.
Augurs
These are the official experts. They are grouped together in a college which has, depending on the period, between six and fifteen members. The augur is equipped with a curved stick with which it defines, in the sky or on the earth, the space (called templum) in which it will observe the celestial signs: meteorological phenomena such as lightning and thunder, indications provided by the flight of birds. He also takes auspices (an expression which means examining birds) by observing the appetite of sacred chickens. It draws omens from the movement of quadrupeds or snakes as well as from incidents that occurred during divination. In Rome, any public act must be preceded by the consultation of the augurs: thus the convocation and the coming of the assemblies, the entry into office of the magistrates, the departure of the armies for war... But the real power of the augurs, considerable under royalty, diminishes under the Republic.
Haruspices
They are priests of lower rank. Often seen as charlatans, they give moralist Cato the opportunity to say something good: "Two haruspices cannot look at each other without laughing.” They observe, according to a custom of Etruscan origin, the entrails of animal victims, especially horned animals. They examine the lungs, spleen, kidneys, stomach, heart and more particularly the liver.
Roman sibyls
Sibyls, generally Etruscans, are the intermediaries between the gods and men. People come from afar to hear the oracles of the Tiburtine Sibyl or the Cumaean Sibyl. Their prophecies about the future of Rome are gathered in nine volumes that King Tarquin the Proud orders to keep, but which are unfortunately destroyed in a fire shortly before the Christian era. However, Christianity itself quickly reappropriates the myth of sibyls: it assimilates them to the prophetesses of the Old Testament. One of them, moreover, announced the birth of the Messiah to Augustus.
