what was the oracle in delphi?

Answer 1

Delphi (dĕl'fī) , locality in Phocis, Greece, near the foot of the south slope of Mt. Parnassós, c.6 mi (10 km) northeast of the port of Cirrha. It was the seat of the Delphic oracle, the most famous and most powerful of ancient Greece. The oracle originated in the worship of an earth-goddess, and later legend ascribed it to Gaea. It passed to Apollo; some stories say he won it by killing the Python, others that it descended to him peacefully through Themis and Phoebe. The Delphic oracle was the preeminent shrine of Apollo, but in winter, when Apollo was absent among the Hyperboreans, it was sacred to Dionysus, who was said to be buried there.
The oracle was housed in the great temple to Apollo, first built in the 6th cent. B.C. (it was destroyed and rebuilt at least twice). The oracular messages were spoken by a priestess seated on a golden tripod, who uttered sounds in a frenzied trance. The inspired trance was said by the ancient Greeks to be induced by vapors from beneath the temple's floor; these may have been ethylene or other petrochemical fumes rising through faults that ran beneath the temple. The priestess's utterances were interpreted to the questioner by a priest, who usually spoke in verse.

Delphi was unique in its universal position in the otherwise fragmented political and social life of Greece. It was the meeting place of the Amphictyonic league (see amphictyony), the most important league of Greek city-states, and also the site of the Pythian games. Persons seeking the help of the oracle brought rich gifts, and the shrine grew very wealthy. The prestige and influence of the Delphic oracle prevailed for centuries through all of Greece. During Hellenistic times, however, the importance of the oracle declined. Delphi was frequently pillaged from early Roman times, and the sanctuary fell into decay. One of the art works excavated there is the beautiful 5th-century bronze statue called the Delphic Charioteer (now at the Archaeological Mus., Delphi, Greece)-.

Answer 2

The oracle was a woman who people traveled to so they could be told their future.

The oracles were all woman and the job was passed down the family or thru different women who worked with the oracle.

There was always only one oracle at delphi.

I think delphi was a temple.

The oracle would see visions about the person whom she was talking to. She would inhale fumes coming from a vent (crack) in the ground to be put into this vision state. It was probably a volcanic vent.

Recent studies show that she was hallucinating off of methane and carbon gases which were the main gases that flowed from the vent.
She was basically depriving her brain of oxygen and thus hallucinating.

In other words, some chick was hallucinating and thought she could tell the future... lol, I've been there.

Answer 3

Delphi is a city in Greece and the oracle one of the original 7 wonders of the world was a place where the ancients would go and have their fotunes told about winning battles or love or pretty much anything.The Oracle was built on a specific spot that emitted purplish gases and the ancients thought it was magic but the gases came from magma beneath the ground

Answer 4

The Oracle at Delphi was a temple.
It was one of the original Seven Wonders of The World.
The Priestess who gave the predictions was called the Pythia (Pythoness).
She would sit atop a tripod (or according to some, have a bowl of herbs upon a tripod) over a fissure on the ground. She would inhale the fumes from the fissure and from a bowl of boiling or smoldering herbs.
She would give prophecy.
The temple at Delphi was built there because Delphi was believed to be the Navel of the World. There was specific rock believed to be the actual navel.
The Temple place originally was dedicated to the Goddess Gaia, then to Themis and/or Phoebe, and later taken over to be rededicated to Apollo... after he killed the Goddess' protector Snake (for which he had to make atonement).
Check http://www.pantheon.org/articles/d/delphi.html for more info. and do some general Internet searches, there really is a lot of info. out there on the subject.
Blessings,
Lady Ament

Answer 5

The Oracle was a female priestess who would apparently commune with the god Apollo to receive answers to questions. Her answers were usually vague and hard to interpret.

Certain helpful herbs may have, ahem, aided her mediations, as well as certain fumes from the fissure on which the temple of the Oracle was built.

Answer 6

The oracle is a old woman who is half awake and there is a pit of smoke. You ask a question and she sticks her head in and takes a whiff. After she will tells you the future.

Answer 7

Hmmmm... Duh..... What....