will, to the astonishment of after ages.[137\5] Thus, even unbelief still clung to _cult_ as to other old established customs, and in many an individual the cult still tended to awaken the _beliefs_ which alone could justify it. III TRACES OF THE CULT OF SOULS IN THE BLOOD-FEUD AND SATISFACTION FOR MURDER § 1 In the renewal and development of the cult offered to the dead, an important part was again played by that priestly association which exercised such a decisive influence on the public worship of invisible powers in the Greek states--the priesthood of the Delphic oracle. On the occurrence of disturbing portents in the sky recourse was had to the god, who gave orders that in addition to the gods and Heroes "sacrifice should be made to the dead also on the appointed days, in accordance with custom and tradition, by their relatives."[138\5] Individuals in doubt as to what the sacred law {175} required in the observance due to a departed soul applied at Athens to one of the "Exegetai"--probably one of that college of Exegetai that had been founded under the influence of Delphi.[139\5] The god protected the rights of the dead, too; the fact that his decisions confirmed the sanctity of the cult of the dead must have contributed a good deal to the consideration and awe in which that cult was held by the living.[140\5] The decrees of Delphi were even more influential where they concerned a cult to be offered not to one who had died in peace, but to a person who had been robbed of his life through an act of violence. The treatment of such cases shows with striking distinctness the change which had come over the beliefs about the dead since the Homeric period.