The Oracle Research Paper

An oracle is “ Human spokespersons for divine entities.” The Oracle of or at Delphi, depending on what you prefer, was a very important part of Ancient Greece. She was a woman who sat in front of a canyon and told prophecies. Other important points about the oracle are: who the oracle was, how the oracle was believed to have worked, the history of the oracle, and how to ask the oracle a question. The history of the oracle is an amusing and interesting story; it starts with a man herding his goats close to a canyon. The man noticed that when his goats peered into the canyon they appeared to become dizzy. He went to investigate what was in the canyon, when he leaned over the side and breathed in he went into a trance. He walked back into the village saying prophecies. This is how the gasses of the canyon were discovered. There was one person chosen to sit over the canyon and tell the prophesies this person was called the oracle or Pythia. The oracle first belonged to Gaia, the mother of the earth, until Apollo killed Python who was guarding the oracle. Once Apollo made Gaia leave the oracle he kept her for himself. People believed the gasses were divine and that they allowed Apollo to talk through whoever had breathed them in.

As long as they were willing to give up their family, if they were married, they could choose to. At first people wanted the oracle to be a young virgin girl until one ran away. After that it was decided that the oracle had to be 50 years or older. Whoever the oracle was became rich and famous because it was such a high position. There was only one person allowed to breath in the gasses from the canyon because when it was first discovered that breathing in the gasses gave you the power of prophesy lots of people fell in trying to discover their futures. At times there were three oracles because there were so many people seeking advice from the