The Oracle at Delphi
When you hear the word "Oracle", you think of a place that people would go. That is incorrect, the oracle at delphi was actually a priestess named Pythia. She inhaled gasses and mumbled incoprehensible words that told of the future. The people in Delphi beleived this so much that they built a sanctuary for her. Over a few years, the sanctuary grew larger and more popular. So popular that no major decsision was made without first consulting the oracle. She would sit on a tripod in the temple and inhale the gasses from the chasm in the ground. She would then fall into a trance and mutter incomprehensible words not to be understood by mortals. The priests would then interpret the words she spoke. True or not, the oracle of delphi changed the way greece was shaped. She spoke of whao to go to war with and what to do in political terms. She defined what greece became.