It probably represented the chest in which Osiris was
placed.]
Isis was represinted in statuary with the head veiled, a symbol of
mystery. It is this which Tennyson alludes to in "Maud," IV., 8:
"For the drift of the Maker is dark, an Isis hid by the veil,"
etc.
ORACLES Oracle was the name used to denote the place where answers
were supposed to be given by any of the divinities to those who
consulted them respecting the future. The word was also used to
signify the response which was given.
The most ancient Grecian oracle was that of Jupiter at Dodona.
According to one account, it was established in the following
manner: Two black doves took their flight from Thebes in Egypt.
One flew to Dodona in Epirus, and alighting in a grove of oaks, it
proclaimed in human language to the inhabitants of the district
that they must establish there an oracle of Jupiter. The other
dove flew to the temple of Jupiter Ammon in the Libyan Oasis, and
delivered a similar command there. Another account is, that they
were not doves, but priestesses, who were carried off from Thebes
in Egypt by the Phoenicians, and set up oracles at the Oasis and
Dodona. The responses of the oracle were given from the trees, by
the branches rustling in the wind, the sounds being interpreted by
the priests.
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