Oracle

Oracle, advice or prophecy delivered by a deity or supernatural being to a worshipper or enquirer; also, the place at which people consulted their deities. There were many such places in the ancient Greek world, most notably at Delphi, Didyma on the coast of Asia Minor (in modern Turkey), Dodona in Epirus, and Olympia. The god's reply could be elicited through a person as in an entranced priestess at Delphi, through the interpretation of signs as in the tinkling of a cauldron hit by a chain blown in the wind at Dodona, or through the behaviour of sacred animals. The most famous non-Greek oracle was that of the Egyptian Amon at Siwa oasis (ancient name Ammonium) in the Sahara.

Oracles were used by the Hebrews, as in the consultation of the Urim and Thummin by the high priest. In Phoenicia the oracles were associated with the deities Baalzebub and other Baalim. Oracles were also common throughout Babylonia and Chaldea.