Oracles were very important to the Greek antiquity. They allowed people the ability to see what was going to happen to them in the future. Oracles, seers, and soothsayers were considered magical, wise, intuitive, and inspired by the gods. Prophecies given to the mortals were usually the response to questions, yet in some cases a priest or priestess would act as the mediator between god and mortal. Every oracle had a different way of divination some used the motion of objects in a spring, or interpreted dreams, and so on. Dream oracles were used as another method of divination; if the dream was unclear to the dreamer a professional would interpret the meaning of the dream. Oracles’ powers were highly sought after and they were never doubted. Oracles were also known to give vague answers to questions. If there were any inconsistencies between prophecies and events they were dismissed as failure to correctly interpret the responses, but not as failure on the oracle’s behalf. Oracles were consulted before any major decisions were to be made; for example wars or findings or colonies.
In order to become an oracle, the location needed to have a variable and periodic characteristic that could be interpreted by the priests. The priests would then ascribe both the event and the interpretation of the event to their patron god and goddess. Apollo was discovered as a fissure in Mt. Parnassus that emitted gas that caused the goats and goat herders nearby to convulse. The locals witnessed a goat herder’s convulsions and claimed it to be “divine inspiration”. The priesthood took advantage of the strange situation. Not too long after, Pythia was crowned in laurel and seated on a tripod perched over the cleft that produced the convulsion inducing vapors.
Apollo was one of the more famous oracles. Pythia was Apollo’s priestess and they were located at Delphi. Apollo and Pythia only gave prophecies the seventh day of each month and only during the nine warmer months of the year; these months were directly associated with Apollo. When Apollo was not there, Dionysus would take the spot. Delphi was the major source of divination for the ancient Greeks. If a mortal was not able to make it, or a question was not answered, seers were used for everyday divination. Pythia was praised since she was such a well known and high ranked woman in such a male dominated society.
Anyone seeking an answer from Pythia had to go through purification. When consulted, Pythia burned bay leaves and barley meal on the altar and then she sat upon her tripod. She then waited upon the tripod for the divine inspiration to fill her. The tripod sat over cracks in the temple floor and the room was filled with a fragrance and breeze. Coming from the cracks under Pythia’s seat was a vapor which mixed with the fragrances and breeze. After all was ready the enquirers submitted their questions one at a time and they presented them orally or in writing.
In O Brother Where Art Thou, as the three fugitives broke free, they ran upon an old man on a push cart on the railroad tracks. When the guys asked the man who he was, he did not reply with a name. The man was blind, black, and only had a few choice words to tell the fugitives. He never replied with a direct answer to any of the questions, as would an oracle in ancient Greek society. As the end of the movie approaches George Clooney’s character Ulysses passes the railroad tracks with his family back on his side, and the same old man passes pushing the same push cart.
Some would say that this man represents something else but it seems as if the man is Ulysses’s oracle. He tells him that he will receive a treasure, which ends up being Ulysses’s wife. Ulysses’s fellow fugitives believe that this treasure is the one that Ulysses told them about, which is a complete fabrication. He told them about this great treasure, money that he stole from this great bank heist, to convince them of a reason to break free. That old man on the push cart never fully explained what was going to happen and what the real treasure was.
In The Odyssey oracles are mentioned a couple times. An oracle told Achilles that he would either live a long but uneventful life or die young and during that time achieve an everlasting story. The oracles spoke about Odysseus’s return from his long journey and also spoke about the revenge that he would act onto the suitors at his palace. With the oracles help and Athena’s Odysseus and his fate came true. He seized control of his kingdom and his wife, as did Ulysses in O Brother Where Art Thou. Oracles helped shaped ancient Greek culture and religion and in both the movie and in the poem. The oracles gave their premonitions, but what Odysseus, Ulysses, and the people of Greece
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