Your Name

Oracles and Prophets

How did Calchas and Cassandra affect the Trojan War?

Calchas helped the Greek army defeat the Trojans in the war.

Agamemnon brought him into the war through persuasion. Calchas

made important predictions of what to come and how the Greeks

would take over Troy. He foretold that the Greeks would need Achilles

and Philoctetes for Troy to be overtaken and that the war would last

for over nine years. To have the winds in favor for their voyage to

Aulis, Calchas declared that Agamemnons daughter, Iphigenia, must

be sacrificed to Artemis. It is to be believed that he is also the one

who told the Greeks to build the Wooden Horse so they can invade

Troy.

The Trojans, however, did not believe Cassandra. Apollo had

given Cassandra the arts of prophecy but when she refused Apollo, he

added that no one would believe her prophecies. Cassandra made

many predictions about how the Trojan War would end and was always

right. The most famous prediction she made during the war was about

the Wooden Horse. She proclaimed what their fate would be but no

one believed her and thus, the Greeks came out at night and attacked

Troy.

Who and what is the Delphic Oracle?

Your Name

The Delphic Oracle was one of the most important and famous

oracles mainly because of Apollo. It is located on Mt. Parnassus in

Southern Greece. Before the temple was dedicated to Apollo, the site

was devoted to Gaea. The temple of Apollo was the heart of the

shrine and where the seat of the Oracle was. Zeus calls Delphi the

center of Earth. The navel of the Earth is a cone-shaped, decorated

stone called an omphalos in front of the temple.

Delphis is the Greek word for dolphin and womb. Apollo took

the shape of a dolphin and swam to a Cretan ship. Then he brought

the sailors to land, changed into a handsome man, and appointed

them priests of his temple. Soon, many people found out about it and

made pilgrimages over to the Delphic Temple. Some came from Asia

Minor, Italy, other parts of Greece, and even Egypt. There was also

the Pythean Festival celebrating when Apollo went to the temple of

Tempe to purify himself from the blood of the Python.

What techniques did Oracles and Prophets use?

There are different methods and techniques that prophets and

oracles use. When Calchas makes his predictions, he turns to the

observation of birds to help him. It was Calchas who foretold when the

Trojan War would end by watching a snake eat a sparrow and eight

fledglings before turning to stone. Before Cassandra made her

Your Name

prophecies, she would go through an ecstatic trance, which made

many people believe that she was mad. Some Gods such as Apollo

would utter oracles through prophets.

The Delphic Oracle would go in a trance while making her

prophecies. Using the vapors coming from the opening in the Earth,

she would get in an ecstatic trance-like state. Her predictions were

usually vague and then interpreted by a priest. On the days the oracle

would perform her prophecies, she would go through a series of

prescribed rituals. First they would sacrifice a goat on an alter outside

of the Temple of Apollo, and then have the entrails examined to see if

that day was a good day. Afterwards, shed purify herself in the

Castalian waters, dress up in full ceremonial robes, eat some laurel

leaves until finally she sits on the tripod and inhale some of the

vapors.
Your Name

Works Cited

Gill, N.S. Oracles Prophecies Divination. Ancient/Classical History.

N.p. 2005. Web. 3 March 2005.

Grant, Michael and John Hazel. Gods and Mortals in Classical

Mythology. Massachusetts: Merriam, 1973. Print.

Howell, Tom. The Oracle at Delphi. Delphic Oracle. University Press,

Inc. 1998. Web. 27 Feb. 2005.

Littleton, Scott. Mythology. London: Baird, 2002. Print.

Morgana. The Oracle at Delphi. Morganas Observatory. 2004. Web.

27 Feb. 2005.

"The Oracle of Delphi." Interactive Ancient Mediterranean. 1998. Web.

27 Feb 2005.