Many people came from all over to visit the oracles.
"Greek oracles reflect for a thousand years the spiritual
needs of a great people" (Abbott, p. 392)
Just like the people of today, the Greeks had many questions about the mysteries of
life. The source for these answers were the oracles. "The
clients of oracles were people who wished to know and argue, to
be reassured or guided through their many choices of thought and
action" (Lane Fox, p. 189). Many oracles answered the same questions over and over, giving
very similar answers. Many of the questions and answers, like
the ones above, showed a similarity to answers given by
the Christian faith. For this reason many oracles have been written
down by Christian authors and used to back up their theology,
or beliefs. In fact, most of the oracles that have survived this
long were records kept by Christians.
Lactantius tells us that someone once asked the oracle of Apollo
at Didyma this question: "Does the soul survive death?" The response
was: "Yes, it is born into the aether, there to exist forever" (MacMullen,
p. 56). Aether is Latin for ether which refers to the upper regions of space.
Another answer to a question about the soul is: "While the soul is still
in the body it tolerates the pains which cannot hurt it. When the body fades
and dies, the soul ranges free through the air" (Fox 193).
It is important to point out the similarities between
the two oracular answers to questions about the soul. Both refer
to the soul existing somewhere in space free of the body. Many people also
asked about God, such as who is God and what
is God. One answer to a question about God is: "Immortal
God, supreme, dwelling in Ether, Imperishable, Unshakable, Eternal,
always the same" (Lane Fox, p. 191). Again there is a reference to
ether, the upper regions of space where the soul lives on.