At the other oracles of Apollo the proceedings were different: at Hysiae, in Boeotia, the prophet sought his inspiration in a well; at Argos, in the blood of a victim; at the Clarian temple of Apollo, at Colophon, a priest descended into the sacred cave and drank holy water, whereupon the gift of prophecy was granted to him; at the sanctuary of the Branchidae, at Didymae, near Miletus, the oracles were given by a priestess, who moistened the hem of her garment and her feet at a well, and then let the rising vapour act upon her. At other oracles the god revealed his will or the events of the future by signs instead of words, which the priest then had to interpret. This was the case with the oldest and most sacred of all the Greek oracles--that of Zeus, at Dodona in Epirus. These signs were of various kinds: sometimes it was the rustling of the branches in the sacred oak, sometimes the murmuring of the spring at its foot, sometimes the sound given by a brass bowl. The excavations lately undertaken at Dodona have supplied some information about the nature and variety of the questions, though not about the mode in which the oracle was given. Those who desired an oracular answer had to hand in their question in writing, usually on a tablet of lead, on which it was scratched. This was laid in a vessel and placed in the sanctuary, so that the priestess might learn what the question was; the answer was then given on a similar tablet, sometimes the same on which the question had been written. The examples found of these tablets show that these questions were not always of political import, and sent by whole communities or princes, but that even private affairs were sometimes made the subject of a question. Thus, on the tablet represented in Fig. 148, a certain Lysanias inquires whether the child which his wife is about to bear him is really his own; another inquires whether
it would be profitable for him to rear sheep; a third asks who has stolen the cushions he has lost. These questions on leaden tablets were also in use at other places. At the oracle of Apollo-Coropaeus, in the Peninsula Magnesia, in Thessaly, the questioners had to give their names to the temple scribe to be written on the tablet; they were then called in turn and conducted to the sanctuary, where the leaden tablets were handed them. On these they wrote their questions; the tablets were then collected and placed in a vessel, which was sealed with the official seal of the temporal and spiritual officials, and left for the night in the sanctuary. Next morning the seals were broken, the names of the questioners called according to the list, and the tablets given back with the answers. Among oracles we must mention that of Zeus Ammon, in the Libyan Desert, which enjoyed a great reputation in Greece even in early times; that of Zeus Trophonius, at Lebadia, in Boeotia; that of Amphiaraus, at Oropus, which last was included among the dream oracles, since the mediation of the priests was not required here, and the questioners received their revelation direct from the god. It would be impossible to enumerate all the oracles and the customs observed there; throughout the whole of Greek antiquity they played a very important part in the life of the nation and the individual, and were often decisive in political matters, as well as in trivial details of daily life.