Of these three classes, the least important during the historic period is ecstasy; the seers in the real sense of the word, whom we so often meet with in legends, had no importance later on. The second kind, the dream oracle, is of far greater importance. The idea that dreams were communications from the gods, no less than other oracles and signs, was so universally adopted that it not only took firm root in the popular belief, but was shared by educated men, even by those who had more or less discarded the old belief in the gods. The ancient writers give us numerous accounts of portentous dreams; unlucky dreams were averted by religious ceremonies, sacrifices to the gods who could turn away ill fortune, sprinkling with holy water, etc. It was usual to pray for prophetic dreams, and, as we have already seen, these were specially produced by sleeping in the temple of Aesculapius, though they often required interpretation afterwards at the hands of the priests. It is a very old belief that dreams reveal the will of the gods, not directly and immediately, but in the form of parables or images, which require special comprehension and secret knowledge, and thus the interpretation of dreams became an especial art, which led to a whole literature of dream-books (remains of which have been preserved to us; in particular the dream-book of Artemidorus, dating from the second century A.D.), and to the profession of interpreters, who, although not held in especial honour, were yet greatly sought after by all classes of the community.
The influence of the oracles was even more important. In Greece and Asia Minor there were several hundred places where oracles were given; this much is common to all of them, that it was not a divinely-inspired human being, but the god himself who announced his will by special tokens, while the priests were only the interpreters of the god’s will; the signs and methods of interpretation differed considerably. The oracles of Apollo were far the most celebrated, since he was specially the god of prophecy; among these, the oracle of Delphi surpassed all others in importance. Here the medium through which the god revealed his will to mankind was the holy priestess called Pythia; a vapour which rose from a cleft in the earth produced ecstasy in the Pythia, who had previously purified herself by chewing laurel leaves and drinking from the sacred spring, and clad in rich garments with a golden head-dress, long flowing robes, and buskins, and had taken her place on a tripod over the cleft. In this condition she uttered the oracles, which were, as a rule, incomprehensible to ordinary people. It was then the duty of the priests who were present during the ecstasy with the questioners, to discover the real meaning and sense of the senseless sounds, and arrange the answer in poetic form, usually in hexameters, which were, as a rule, cunningly arranged so as to have a two-fold meaning. At first this took place only once a year, but when the reputation of the oracle increased, and thousands of people came every year to Delphi, or sent messengers with questions to the temple, it became the custom to supply answers all the year round, and, in consequence of the great numbers, two Pythiae had to mount the tripod alternately, while a third was at hand to take their place occasionally. Only a few days in the year were regarded as unlucky, and then no oracles were given. At the time of the Empire, when the influence of the Delphic oracle had considerably diminished, it was only accessible once a year. The order in which the suppliants were to enter was generally decided by lot; in some few cases it may have been determined by rank. Prayer and sacrifice of course preceded the sacred ceremony; goats were chiefly offered, because, according to the legends, the discovery of this miraculous vapour was due to a goat.
At the other oracles of Apollo the proceedings were different: at Hysiae, in Boeotia, the prophet sought his inspiration in a well; at Argos, in the blood of a victim; at the Clarian temple of Apollo, at Colophon, a priest descended into the sacred cave and drank holy water, whereupon the gift of prophecy was granted to him; at the sanctuary of the Branchidae, at Didymae, near Miletus, the oracles were given by a priestess, who moistened the hem of her garment and her feet at a well, and then let the rising vapour act upon her. At other oracles the god revealed his will or the events of the future by signs instead of words, which the priest then had to interpret. This was the case with the oldest and most sacred of all the Greek oracles—that of Zeus, at Dodona in Epirus. These signs were of various kinds: sometimes it was the rustling of the branches in the sacred oak, sometimes the murmuring of the spring at its foot, sometimes the sound given by a brass bowl. The excavations lately undertaken at Dodona have supplied some information about the nature and variety of the questions, though not about the mode in which the oracle was given. Those who desired an oracular answer had to hand in their question in writing, usually on a tablet of lead, on which it was scratched. This was laid in a vessel and placed in the sanctuary, so that the priestess might learn what the question was; the answer was then given on a similar tablet, sometimes the same on which the question had been written. The examples found of these tablets show that these questions were not always of political import, and sent by whole communities or princes, but that even private affairs were sometimes made the subject of a question. Thus, on the tablet represented in Fig. [148], a certain Lysanias inquires whether the child which his wife is about to bear him is really his own; another inquires whether
Fig. 148.
it would be profitable for him to rear sheep; a third asks who has stolen the cushions he has lost. These questions on leaden tablets were also in use at other places. At the oracle of Apollo-Coropaeus, in the Peninsula Magnesia, in Thessaly, the questioners had to give their names to the temple scribe to be written on the tablet; they were then called in turn and conducted to the sanctuary, where the leaden tablets were handed them. On these they wrote their questions; the tablets were then collected and placed in a vessel, which was sealed with the official seal of the temporal and spiritual officials, and left for the night in the sanctuary. Next morning the seals were broken, the names of the questioners called according to the list, and the tablets given back with the answers. Among oracles we must mention that of Zeus Ammon, in the Libyan Desert, which enjoyed a great reputation in Greece even in early times; that of Zeus Trophonius, at Lebadia, in Boeotia; that of Amphiaraus, at Oropus, which last was included among the dream oracles, since the mediation of the priests was not required here, and the questioners received their revelation direct from the god. It would be impossible to enumerate all the oracles and the customs observed there; throughout the whole of Greek antiquity they played a very important part in the life of the nation and the individual, and were often decisive in political matters, as well as in trivial details of daily life.
Of no less importance than the modes of prophecy already mentioned are those which may be called professional, and which did not depend on a direct revelation of the will of the god, so much as on the observation and interpretation of certain apparently fortuitous signs, which were, however, supposed to proceed from the divinity. Of course, many oracles were very closely connected with these professional prophecies. Here, too, we may distinguish several different kinds. In the first place, there is interpretation of signs which appear though unsought for. The number of these is, of course, countless, since the whole realm of nature and life affords scope for them. Signs of the sky, atmospheric phenomena, change in the course of rivers, earthquakes, clefts in the ground, abnormal births, all which are frequently mentioned in ancient history, may be included in this class, as also the flight of birds, to which particular attention was given, though the proceedings of other animals were also watched, or the mere fact of their appearance was supposed to announce good or evil fortune. Then there were phenomena relating to human beings, such as sneezing, singing in the ears, words spoken by chance, etc., and the place where these things occur is of great importance, as, for instance, whether on the right or the left hand. The second class of professional prophecy is that in which man seeks for the signs and calls upon the god to grant him a token of his presence and will. In this class we may include prophecy from sacrifice and also some of the oracles, but in particular the private oracles—if we may use this expression—by means of which individuals procured signs by any means whatever, and either interpreted them themselves or got some skilled prophet to do it for them. This closely resembles our modern fashion of telling fortunes from cards, and in these cases it was not usually a priest, but some cheat or conjurer who interpreted the prophecy; thus dice and sieves were used for prophesying, and fortunes were told from physiognomy, or the lines of the hand, as they still are at the present day.
The interpreters of prophecy and signs, whether belonging to the class of priests or laymen, naturally represented their art as coming direct from the gods, and loved to envelop it in the veil of mystery, though in other respects Greek religion aimed at publicity and universal comprehension. There were, however, some ceremonies which were closely concealed from the world without; and those who took part in them were required to observe absolute secrecy, and were subject to a gradual initiation, passing through several stages before they attained the final one. We refer to the mysteries which were universally known throughout Greece, and, owing to the great number of those who sought initiation, played an important part in the life of the ancient Greeks. Our knowledge of these secret doctrines is very small, as is natural under the circumstances, and, consequently, the most recent investigations have led to very different hypotheses. Still, the latest discoveries enable us to feel sure that these mysteries were not, as was formerly supposed, remains of ancient revealed wisdom containing purer and better doctrines than were known to the popular religion; nor were they, as Voss supposes, merely priestly trickery. They represented the religious myths, and their form corresponded to the ordinary religious worship; the mystery was due simply to the fact that in the myth the symbolic and allegorical elements prevailed, and in the worship the purifications and expiations had a specially important place; while the other ceremonies connected therewith, such as sacrifices, signs, dances, etc., bore a strongly orgiastic and ecstatic character. There were also dramatic or pantomimic representations of the mythical actions, and a great number of artistic and decorative means were used to dispose the mind of the initiated to a condition suited for solemn and mysterious doctrines. There were no really deep secrets hidden behind these mysteries, which were so numerous that almost each god had his own; and indeed, the initiation was not a difficult one, and was open to every free and blameless Greek.