[lordnacho]

Cynical me thinks the simplest explanation is it was all just a big show they put on. Similar to when my aunt went to a fortune teller who guessed she had six kids. The fortune teller was probably just well informed about the local environment.

If you're running an Oracle business, your customers are already locked in. It's a long pilgrimage to get there, so you've probably got something important to ask about. The sales people will know roughly what kind of relational data is precious to you, and your branding makes Oracle a natural choice, despite what the techies of the time might say (it's expensive! There's a free and open source that we can get high at!). Once they're there, you keep the magic going by offering associated services. Maybe a bit if consulting on what the old lady said. Of course the consulting will always include coming back for more prophesies.

Most of the business is knowing what kinds of things people want to hear, and feeding back a few things you found. After all it's only once a month there's a seance, the rest of the time can be spent hanging around finding out what the customers want.

[krapp]

If you look into the examples of oracular statements from Delphi[0], and assume them to be an accurate representation, many of them are vague enough that a "true" interpretation can be found in hindsight from various outcomes.

And it is likely that a lot of those prophecies were informed by having a unique amount of access to political and social dealings throughout the Greek world. It helps when all the kings and all the priests come to you and tell you their secrets.

[0]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_oracular_statements_fr...