We explain what an oracle is, in which cultures it existed and what its function was. Also, the origin of the term.
What is an oracle?
An oracle is the answer given by a god or some deity to a consultation made by his faithful. This answer is not given in a direct and simple way, but through the interpretation of priests, fortune-tellers or shamans of some type of omen or signal present in nature (lightning, eclipses, etc.) or in some type of artifact (bells, ossicles, etc.). By extension, the place where these types of queries are made is also called an oracle.
The word oracle comes from the Latin oraculum, derived from I will pray (“speak”) and the instrumental suffix –butt, in the sense that it was an instrument to speak with the gods, or in any case a brief oral response on their part. By extension, the place where these types of consultations are made is also called an oracle.
However, the concept of the oracle was not exclusive to the Romans, but was common in the religious thought of the Antiquity. Kings and leaders consulted their war strategies, their economic decisions and even public health issues (such as plagues) to the appropriate oracles, in order to receive guidance from a divinity and know what to do.
For example, the ancient Greeks visited the oracle of Delphi, at the foot of Mount Parnassus, where a fortune-teller of the god Apollo revealed the divine mandate through the visions she had in a trance state. And this was just one of the many oracles of ancient Greek culture.
Similar examples can be found in almost every ancient cultures: the Egyptian, the Chinese, the Indian, the mesoamerican, etc. Many prophecies and announcements had an oracular origin, that is, they were pronounced by an oracle.
Oracles functioned in a similar way to divination, and used very different mechanisms and methods to request and interpret the divine word. In general, the answers of all oracles were enigmatic, that is, they were due in the form of riddle or in the form of an ambiguous sentence, with multiple meanings, that the applicant had to understand on his own, or with the help of a guide or priest.
In the same way, the oracular consultation had a cost for the requester, and this often led to situations of corruption and bribery, which used to lead the oracle to discredit and be replaced by another.
There was also a long tradition of oracular books, that is, mystical or poetic books whose content could be consulted at random, or through some kind of system, to obtain answers to the dilemmas of everyday life. The I Ching ("Book of mutations"), written in China around 1200 BC. C., is one of the most famous examples of this type of text, which could be consulted using a couple of Chinese coins.
However, other religious books such as the Bible are used with this same oracular meaning by their faithful, reading a random verse or a specific verse depending on the situations to be faced.