Although it was actually the Greeks who brought us the scientific arts, philosophy and mathematics, the story of Croesus simply cannot go without merit. Croesus was the King of Lydia from about 560-546 B.C.E. During those days, any King worth his crown wanted to conquer and rule the world-Croesus was one with such an ambition. Ok, so Croesus was a warrior king, not a scientist-or was he? Croesus had it in his head to declare war on the Persian empire, but realizing how insanely wrong this plan could backfire (Persia was indeed a formidable foe), Croesus wanted to make sure that he would actually win before he did something that he would end up regretting. Well now, everyone knows that the best way to do this is to consult the oracles-so indeed, that’s what Croesus did.
Croesus also knew that the oracles could also be wrong sometimes, and there were a lot of oracles around. So, Croesus wanted to make sure that the oracle he consulted actually knew what they were talking about. Well now, you can’t simply ask the oracle if she knows what she’s talking about-that would simply be bad form (and could perhaps have some undesirable consequences as well)-not to mention, what would you expect her to say? So, the only way to ensure that the oracle knew what she was talking about would be to make her prove it through a scientific experiment-though Croesus had no idea that science had anything to do with his plan.
In order to establish which oracle was the best, Croesus consulted all of the oracles-but not about the war on Persia. Croesus, having figured the time of travel to each of the seven oracles, sent messengers who would arrive at precisely the same time and inquire of the oracles what he, Croesus, was doing at exactly that moment. This was indeed a cleverly designed scientific experiment: he controlled the conditions of the experiment by asking each of the oracles at precisely the same time what he was doing-a variable known only to him and not to the oracles. His asked all of the oracles, and only one of them was correct. His control in the experiment was that he was doing something other than what a king would be expected to be doing-he was cooking a tortoise and a lamb in a brazen pot.
The Oracle of Delphi was the only oracle who got it right. Reassured by this unlikely, but correct answer given in his scientific experiment, he then asked the Oracle of Delphi whether he should attack Persia or not. The oracle told him that if he did, a mighty empire would fall. Unfortunately, the oracle turned out to be right again-the only problem was that the mighty empire which fell was his own.
Resources:
The Great Psychologists 3d, Robert I. Watson, 1971, pp. 2.
Method and Theory in Experimental Psychology, Charles E. Osgood, Oxford University Press, © 1968.
A Comprehensive Dictionary of Psychological and Psychoanalytical Terms, Horace B. and Ava C. English, David McKay Company Inc., © 1958.
Original story reported by Herodotus.
