Oracle

Oracle, in ancient times, the answer by a god or goddess to a human questioner, or the shrine at which the answer was given, usually through a priest or priestess (also called oracles). There were oracles in Egypt and Rome, but the greatest were in Greece: at Dodona, with Zeus's oracle, and at Delphi, where Apollo spoke through a priestess, the Pythia. Answers, often to important political questions, were obtained directly or derived from dreams, from signs (such as the rustling of leaves in a sacred tree), and from divination by lot.

See also: Mythology.