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oracle seems to have been consulted, for the Ro­mans, from reverence for it, allowed the inhabit­ants of Abae to govern themselves. Hadrian built a small temple by the side of the old one, some walls of which were still standing as ruins in the time of Pausanias (x. 35. § 2, 3).

3. Oracle en the hill a/Pioon^ in the territory of Thebes. The oracle was here given through the medium of a man called irp6jj.a.vTis^ and the first promantis was said to have been Teneros, a son of Apollo. (Strab. ix. p. 413 ; Pans. ix. 33. § 3.) The oracles were usually given in the Aeolian dialect, but when M}rs, the Carian, consulted the god, the answer was given in the Carian language (Pans. /. e'.), so that instead of the three Thebans who generally wrote down the oracles, the Carian was obliged to do it himself. (Herod, viii. 135.) When Alexander the Great destroyed Thebes, this oracle also perished. (Paus. ix. 33. § 3.) In the time of Plutarch the whole district was com­pletely desolate. (De Orac. Def. c. 8.)

4. Oracle of Apollo at Ismenion, in Boeotia, south of Thebes. The temple of Apollo Ismenios was the national sanctuary of the Thebans. The oracle was here not giv.n by inspiration, as in other places, but from the inspection of the victims. (Herod, viii. 134.) On one occasion it gave its prophecy from 'a huge cobweb in the temple of Demeter. (Diod. xvii. 10 ; compare Paus. ix. 10. § 2, &c.)

5. Oracle of Apollo at Ilysiae, on the frontiers of Attica. This place contained an oracle of Apollo with a sacred well, from which those drank who wished to become inspired. In the time of Pausa­nias the oracle had become extinct. (Paus. ix. 2. § 1.)

6. Oracle of Apollo at Tegyra, was an ancient and much frequented oracle in Boeotia, which was conducted by prophets. The Pythia herself on one occasion declared this to be the birth-place of Apollo. In the time of Plutarch the whole dis­trict was a wilderness. (Plut. de Orac. Def. c. 8, Pelop. \ 6 ; Steph. Byz. s. v. Te-yupa.)

7. Oracle of Apollo in the village of Eutresis, in the neighbourhood of Leuctra. (Steph. Byz. s. v. Eurprjcns ; Eustath. ad Iliad, ii. 50*2.) This oracle became extinct during the Macedonian period. (Plut. de Orac. Def. c. 5.)

8. Oracle of Apollo at Orobiae, in Euboea. Apollo here bore the surname of the Selinuntian. (Strab. x. p. 445.)

9. Oracle of Apollo in Hie Lyceum at Argos. The oracle was here given by a prophetess. (Plut. 7>-rA. 31.)

10. Oracle of Apollo Deiradiotes, on the acropo­lis of Argos. The oracle was given by a pro­phetess, who was obliged to abstain from matri­monial connections once in every month. She was

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believed to become inspired by tasting of the blood of a lamb which was sacrificed during the night. This oracle continued to be consulted in the days of Pausanias (ii. 24. § ]).

] 1. Oracle of Apollo at Didyma, usually called the oracle of the Branchidae, in the territory of Miletus. This was the oracle most generally con­sulted by the lonians and Aeolians. (Herod, i. 158 ) The temple, however, was said to have been founded previously to the arrival of the lonians on the coast of Asia (Paus. vii. 2. § 4), and the altar was said to have been built bv Heracles, and the

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temple by Branchus, a son of Apollo, who had come from Delphi as a purifying priest. (Paus. v.

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13. § 6; Strab. xiv. p. 634.) Hence this oracle, like that of Delphi, combined purifying or atoning rites with the practice of prophesying. (Miiller, Dor. ii. 2. § 6'.) The real antiquity of the oracle, however, cannot be traced further back than the latter half of the 7th century before our aera. (Soldan, p. 553, &c.) The priests called Branchidae, who had the whole administration of the oracle, were said to be the descendants of Branchus. The high priest bore the name Stephanephorus. Among them was one family which possessed the hereditary gift of prophecy, and was called the family of the Euangelidue, (Conon, 44.) The oracle was under the especial management of a prophet, whose office did not last for life. The oracles were probably inspired in a mamr.r similar to that at Delphi. (Pans. v. 7. § 3.) Croesus made to this oracle as munificent presents as to that of Delphi. (Herod, i. 46, &c.) The principles which it followed in its counsels and directions were also the same as those followed by the Delphians. The Persians burnt and plundered the temple as had been predicted by the Pythia of Delphi (Herod, vi. 19) ; but it was soon restored and adorned with a fine brazen statue of Apollo (Paus. ii. 10. § 4, ix. 10. § 2 ; compare Miiller, Ancient Art- and its Remains, § 86), which Xerxes on his retreat car­ried with him to Ecbatana. A part of the Bran­chidae had surrendered to Xerxes the treasures of the temple, and were at their own request trans­planted to Bactriana (Strabo, /. c.\ where their descendants are said to have been severely punished by Alexander for their treachery. (Curt. vii. 5.) Seleucus sent the statue of Apollo back to Didyma, because the oracle had saluted him as king. (Paus. i. 16. § 3 ; Diod. ix. 90.) The oracle continued to be consulted after the faithlessness of its minis­ters. Some ruins of the temple at Didyma are still extant. (Compare the Commentators on Herod, i. 92 ; Suid. s. v. Bpayxi'Scu ; Droysen, Gesch. Alex. des Grossen, p. 307 ; and an excellent essay by W. G. Soldan, Das Orakel der Branchiden, in Zimmermanii's Ze'dsclirift fur die Alterthumswissen~ schaft, 1841. No. 66, &c.)

12. Oracle of Apollo at Claros, in the territory of Colophon. It was said to have been founded by Cretans under Rhacius, previous to the settlement of the lonians in Asia Minor. The early legends put this oracle in connection with Delphi, from whence Manto, the daughter of Teiresias, came to Clares, married Rhacius and gave birth to Mopsus, from whom the prophets of Claros were probably believed to be descended. (Paus. vii. 3. §§ 1, 2.) This oracle was of great celebrity, and continued to be consulted even at the time of the Roman emperors. (Paus. vii. 5. § 1, &c. ; Strab. xiv. p. 642 ; Tacit. Annul, xii. 22.) The oracles were given through an inspired prophet, who was taken from certain Milesian families. He was generally a man without any refined education, had only the names and the number of the persons who consulted the oracle stated to him, and th-n descended into a cavern, drank of the water from a secret well, and afterwards pronounced the oracle in verse. (Tacit. Annal. ii. 54.)

13. Oracle of Apollo at Grynca, in the territory of the M3rrinacans. (Hocat. Fragm. 211.)

14. Oracle of Apollo Gonnapaeus^ in Lesbos. (Schol. A ristoph. Nub. 145.)

15. Oracle of Apollo at Abdera. (Pindar, op« Txeizes, Lycap!n\ 445.)

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