Tuesday, June 2, 2026

The budget alternative

 The ancient Greeks consulted oracles. The famous ones, such as those at Delphi and Dodona, were expensive. In addition to the cost of the trip, the seeker had to provide gifts for the staff and sacrificial animals for the gods.

The budget oracle — if you could get there — was at Mallus in Cilicia, now in southeastern Turkey.

Its founders were said to be two legendary friends, Mopsus and Amphilochus, Greeks who fought in the Trojan War. They founded the city together and ruled it together. When they had a falling out, they killed each other in a duel. As the smoke rose from the funeral pyres, their ghosts reconciled, and to celebrate they agreed to found an oracle together.

If you were an ancient seeker, you came to the temple and wrote your question on a wax tablet. You spent the night in the temple and told your dream to one of the seers on staff. Cost: two coppers.

• Source and note: Robert Graves, The Greek Myths: 2; Penguin Books, 1968, p. 346.

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The budget alternative

 The ancient Greeks consulted oracles. The famous ones, such as those at Delphi and Dodona, were expensive. In addition to the cost of the t...