DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.13851#0282
OF THE RELIGION OF GREECE.
Such deeds if glory waits, in vain
I lead this choral train.
No more at Delphi's central cell,
At Aba?, or Olympia's hallow'd shrine
Attendant pay I rites divine,
Till the god deigns this darkness to dispel. potter.
The scholiasts on this place are of opinion, that Aba? was a city in Lyciaf
but are sufficiently refuted by the testimonies already cited. We are told
by Pausanias (1), that the temple of this oracle was built by Xerxes.
At Claros, a city of Ionia, not far from Colophon, there was another
oracle sacred to Apollo, first instituted by Manto, the daughter of Tire-
sias, who fled thither in the second Theban war, when the Epigoni, i. e.
the sons of those that were slain in the former war, invaded Thebes, un-
der the conduct of Alcmajon, in revenge of their father's death. The
person that delivered answers, was a man generally chosen out of some
certain families, and for the most part out of Miletus (2) ; he was usually
•unlearned, and very ignorant, yet returned the oracles in verses wonder-
fully satisfactory, and adapted to the intention of the enquirers ; and this
by the virtue of a little, well, feigned to have sprung out of the tears of
Manto when she bewailed the desolation of her country. Into this he
descended when any man came to consult him ; but paid dear for his
knowledge, water being very prejudicial to his health ; and as Pliny (3)
hath told us, a means to shorten his life. By this oracle, the untimely
death of Germanicus was foretold, as w e are informed by Tacitus (4), by
whom also the fore-mentioned account of Pliny is confirmed.
At Larissa, a fort of the Argives, there was an oracle of Apollo, sur-
named i'stfaSiekvis, from Diras, a region belonging to Argos. The answers
in this place were returned by a woman, who was forbidden the company
of men. Every month she sacrificed a lamb in the night, and then, having
tasted the blood of the victim, was immediately seized with a divine
fury (5).
Apollo had another famous oracle at Eutresis, a village in Boeotia (6),
seated in the way between the Thespians and the Plataeans.
Oropaean Apollo delivered oracles at Orope, a city ofEubcea, as we
are informed by Stephanus.
At Orobas in Eubosa, there was a.-^SvS'is'otrov (iainrSioV) a most infallible
oracle of Apollo Selinuntius, as we find in the beginning of Strabo's tenth
book.
Another oracle of Corypsean Apollo, at Corypaa in Thessaly, is men-
tioned in Nicander's Theriaca :
MstVTs/ctC K!>[>U7rct7oC i%XCt.T0, Si/JllV dvfpa'Y.
It is reported by Athenaeus (7), that the Carians, on a certain time,
consulted Apollo's oracle at Hybla, which Casaubon would have to be
read Abae, but for no better reason than that he finds no mention of the
Hyblaean oracle in any other author.
There was an oracle of Apollo lchnaeus at Ichnaea in Macedonia (8).
At Tegyras, a city in Boeotia, there was an oracle sacred to Tegyraean
Apollo, which was frequented till the Persian war ; but after that remain-
ed for ever silent (9).
(1) Phoc. (2) Ccel. Rhod. Ant. Lect. lib. xxvii. cap. 5. (3) Nat-Hist. lib. ii. cap. 103.
(4) Annal. lib. ii. cap. 54. (5) Pausan. Corinth. (6) Stephan. in voce Eurjwis.
17) Lib. xv. cap. 4. (8) Hesych. v. Jxvamv, (9) Plut. Pelop.
Such deeds if glory waits, in vain
I lead this choral train.
No more at Delphi's central cell,
At Aba?, or Olympia's hallow'd shrine
Attendant pay I rites divine,
Till the god deigns this darkness to dispel. potter.
The scholiasts on this place are of opinion, that Aba? was a city in Lyciaf
but are sufficiently refuted by the testimonies already cited. We are told
by Pausanias (1), that the temple of this oracle was built by Xerxes.
At Claros, a city of Ionia, not far from Colophon, there was another
oracle sacred to Apollo, first instituted by Manto, the daughter of Tire-
sias, who fled thither in the second Theban war, when the Epigoni, i. e.
the sons of those that were slain in the former war, invaded Thebes, un-
der the conduct of Alcmajon, in revenge of their father's death. The
person that delivered answers, was a man generally chosen out of some
certain families, and for the most part out of Miletus (2) ; he was usually
•unlearned, and very ignorant, yet returned the oracles in verses wonder-
fully satisfactory, and adapted to the intention of the enquirers ; and this
by the virtue of a little, well, feigned to have sprung out of the tears of
Manto when she bewailed the desolation of her country. Into this he
descended when any man came to consult him ; but paid dear for his
knowledge, water being very prejudicial to his health ; and as Pliny (3)
hath told us, a means to shorten his life. By this oracle, the untimely
death of Germanicus was foretold, as w e are informed by Tacitus (4), by
whom also the fore-mentioned account of Pliny is confirmed.
At Larissa, a fort of the Argives, there was an oracle of Apollo, sur-
named i'stfaSiekvis, from Diras, a region belonging to Argos. The answers
in this place were returned by a woman, who was forbidden the company
of men. Every month she sacrificed a lamb in the night, and then, having
tasted the blood of the victim, was immediately seized with a divine
fury (5).
Apollo had another famous oracle at Eutresis, a village in Boeotia (6),
seated in the way between the Thespians and the Plataeans.
Oropaean Apollo delivered oracles at Orope, a city ofEubcea, as we
are informed by Stephanus.
At Orobas in Eubosa, there was a.-^SvS'is'otrov (iainrSioV) a most infallible
oracle of Apollo Selinuntius, as we find in the beginning of Strabo's tenth
book.
Another oracle of Corypsean Apollo, at Corypaa in Thessaly, is men-
tioned in Nicander's Theriaca :
MstVTs/ctC K!>[>U7rct7oC i%XCt.T0, Si/JllV dvfpa'Y.
It is reported by Athenaeus (7), that the Carians, on a certain time,
consulted Apollo's oracle at Hybla, which Casaubon would have to be
read Abae, but for no better reason than that he finds no mention of the
Hyblaean oracle in any other author.
There was an oracle of Apollo lchnaeus at Ichnaea in Macedonia (8).
At Tegyras, a city in Boeotia, there was an oracle sacred to Tegyraean
Apollo, which was frequented till the Persian war ; but after that remain-
ed for ever silent (9).
(1) Phoc. (2) Ccel. Rhod. Ant. Lect. lib. xxvii. cap. 5. (3) Nat-Hist. lib. ii. cap. 103.
(4) Annal. lib. ii. cap. 54. (5) Pausan. Corinth. (6) Stephan. in voce Eurjwis.
17) Lib. xv. cap. 4. (8) Hesych. v. Jxvamv, (9) Plut. Pelop.