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The Spartans learned from Delphian prophetess that they would either see their city in ruins or a dead king.
the oracle at Delphi orders the Greeks to 'pray to the winds, which will be staunch allies of Greece'
Were these written after the fact (to make them seem true), or were they accurate prophesies?Herodotus says Leonidas's motivation came from the first oracle (or is that just embellished?)
I have always thought the Greek oracles were more like todays astrologers. They were apparently very good at telling people what they wanted to hear while convincing you that they knew or saw some deeper truth.
I think they could be true, although some were vague and could be interpreted in a few ways, but I'm just curious about the written records. The praying to the wind thing is quite accurate, but again, was the oracle something written down after the Persian navy was destroyed in a storm are did anyone record the oracle before the event actually happened?
I would highly imagine that that oracle prophecies were written after the fact to conform to the bias or agenda of the authors. Also, I heard a while back that some type of mind-altering gases were naturally released in or around the Oracle at Delphi which may explain how prophets and/or visitors gained “wisdom” or “knowledge”. I haven't looked into this issue concretely at all, but if someone has please let me know more about it.
