Greek divination

The ancient Greek oracles are known through references to them in ancient Greek literature, supplemented in many cases by archaeological information. The references were collected in the 19th century by the editorial staff of the classical encyclopedist, William Smith.[7] A tabular summary follows. It has been necessary to supplement some of Smith's scanty descriptions with information from his sources, especially Plutarch Lives, Moralia and De Defectu Oraculorum.

Summary of ancient Greek oracles

Location	Deity	Epithets	Lifespan	Method
Abae at Kalapodi in Phocis	Apollo	Unknown	Prehistoric through classical. First mention 6th cent. BC, burned and abandoned in Third Sacred War, 346 BC, sympathetic partial restoration by Trajan.	Unknown, resulting in Delphi-like oracular statements
Claros near Colophon in Anatolia	Apollo	Clarius from the name of the temple	Legendary founding (Bronze Age). The epigoni having sent Tiresius and Manto as a gift to Delphi. Manto was told to build an oracle at Colophon, which she did jointly with Cretans. Originally a pool from a spring in a grotto. Earliest structure 9th century BC. Last use 4th century.	After a sacrifice a priest would drink the water and begin to reply in verse to a question known to the applicant but not to him.
Delphi, formerly Pytho in Phocis	Apollo, Poseidon, Gaia	Phoebus	Prehistoric times through early Christian times, when it was abandoned.	The divinity was believed to speak in the ravings of a chosen priestess seated on a tripod over a natural chasm from which toxic gas exuded. The time was chosen and sacrifice and payment must have already happened. The ravings were interpreted and versified by other chosen priestesses.
Dodona	Zeus, Dione (feminine of Zeus)	Pelasgian, Naios	Prehistoric through classical. Burned by Romans 167 BC.	Originally interpretation of the rustling of oak leaves, later, of the sound of wind chimes made of bronze pans, or pans and bones.
Eutresis, Boeotia	Apollo	Eutresites	There is one mention of it. Stephanus of Byzantium (the encyclopedist) says that a noted temple and oracle existed there, but not how far back it went. The settlement precedes the Bronze Age and is known in the Linear B tablets as Eutresis. It was burned and abandoned, to be reoccupied in the Archaic Period, and not abandoned until the mid-1st-millennium. When it lost the oracle remains unknown.	Nothing is known of its practices.
Hysiae, Boeotia	Apollo	Unknown	Mentioned once in Pausanias 9.2.1. At that time (2nd century) Hysiae was in ruins but a half-finished temple to Apollo was probably built after the Boeotians took the village from Athens in 507 BC. It was short-lived, being destroyed at the Battle of Plataea in 479 BC.	Those "drinking" from the concomitant sacred well "prophesied," but Pausanias does not say who or how. As the drinking occurred "anciently" (palai} the well may have preceded the temple.
Miletus, Anatolia	Apollo and a "twin" (didymus), either Zeus or Artemis	Didymaeus, the god of the Didymaion or Didyma, both grammatical neuters referring to the building	Before the Persian Wars the oracle was the hereditary property of the Branchidae family, descendants of the legendary Branchus. Their absence from Homer suggests an Archaic Period foundation, archaeologically in the 8th century BC. The Persian King burned the temple and transported the Branchidae. Miletus chose by lot a board of yearly priests. The oracle was finally abandoned after the death of Julian the Apostate	The sources suggest a foundation from Delphi, as in the later phase a priestess, a sacred spring, and a tripod are mentioned. Nothing else known.
Olympia	Zeus, Gaia, Themis	Kataibates ("thunderer")	Classical period	Examination of entrails, observation of the flames of burnt sacrifice before the altar of Zeus
Ptoon, Mount in Boeotia	Apollo	Ptoian	7th through 4th centuries BC by archaeology. Destroyed by Alexander, abandoned.	Inspired priest speaking from a grotto in which was a spring. A mountainside temple was nearby.
Siwa Oasis, Egypt	Zeus	Ammon (Amun)	Classical, abandoned under the Romans	Interpretation of the changing sheen of an emerald-encrusted statue of Zeus-Ammon being carried in procession. Oasis water was believed to confer the power of divination when drunk. There were priestesses, as Alexander interpreted an offhand statement by one that he was irresistible as a prophecy of military prowess.
Smyrna, Anatolia	Apollo	Unknown	One mention of it in Pausanias 9.11.7 as contemporary with the oracle of Apollo Spodios at Thebes.	Pausanias says that it was the greatest center of cledonomancy, which was conducted in the "Temple of the Utterances" outside the walls above or beyond (hyper) the city.
Tegyra, Boeotia[9]	Apollo	Tegraios	Prehistoric to 5th century BC; abandoned after the Persian Wars	Apollo spoke through the mouth of an oracle located in a temple between two springs, the sources of rivers. Sacrifice was first required. The agent or supposed agent of inspiration is unknown.
Thebes, Boeotia	Apollo	Ismenian, from Ismenaion, the temple	Mentioned in the literature describing the legendary wars of Thebes; that is, in the Bronze Age before the Trojan War. The site had been sacred to the pre-Greek, Pelasgian population, who now shared it as a sacred site. 15th-century BC Mycenaean artifacts found there suggests it had been Hellenized by that time. Three temples to Apollo were constructed, 8th through 4th century BC. The last, being incomplete, probably marks the abandonment after a destruction by Alexander the Great	The site was on a hill called Ismene to the south just outside the gates. A spring on it fed the Ismene River, but the name has mythical significance. In front of the temple of cedar on a stone called Manto's chair (Manto was Tiresias' daughter) sat a lad chosen yearly examining sacrificial fires and the entrails of sacrificial victims and rendering prophetic conclusions.
Thebes, Boeotia	Apollo	Spodios ("of the ashes" meaning of the charred bones of sacrificial animals from which the altar was constructed)	Exact location unknown. The prophecies were given during or after the sacrifice. The origin is lost, but the type, cledonomancy (Greek kledon, plural kledones, "utterance," is known from the earliest literature. The oracle must have come to an end with the others when Alexander destroyed them all in Boeotia.	The type is identified by Pausanias: "prophecy of utterance." In it the inspired person speaks with an unsuspected double meaning, one being oracular. For example, in the Odyssey, one of the suitors prophecies his own murder by wishing Odysseus in the guise of a beggar the success of all his plans.[10]

Zeus was the major god of the ancient Greek divine panoply. He commanded men and gods alike. Ideologically he was the guardian of justice (themis), the patron of the state, and the final arbiter of destiny. Etymologically he descends from the Proto-Indo-European sky god, root *dyeu-, "shine," applied to the daylight sky, who, judging from his appearance in different descendant cultures, such as the Indic and the Roman, had the same status.[11] Thunderstorms were the mark of his immediate presence, and lightning bolts, made of sacred fire, were his weapons.

The literary fragments suggest that Aristotle's view was generally believed, that the first Hellenes were of the tribe of the Selloi, or Helloi, in Epirus and that they called the country Hellopia. If these fragments are to be believed, Epirus must have been an early settlement location of Indo-Europeans who were to become Greek speakers by evolution of the culture, especially language. They took over a center of worship of the former culture, called by them "Pelasgians," introducing Zeus, and from then on had responsibility for the shrine and oracle of "Pelasgian Zeus," becoming "Dodonaian Zeus."[7]

As to when these settlement events may have occurred, the decipherment of Linear B, writing of about 5000 baked clay tablets found at known Greek prehistoric centers, opened a whole new chapter in Greek history, termed by most "the Greek Bronze Age." Zeus is represented in those tablets in both masculine and feminine form. The masculine does not have a nominative case, but does have a genitive, Diwos, and a dative, Diwei. The feminine, Diwia, is distinct from Hera, who appears on her own. These deities are mentioned in tablets recording offerings to them.[12]

Zeus was known as Zeus Moiragetes, which is to refer to the power of Zeus to know the fate of mortals.[13] The newly born Zeus himself learnt his fate by the night and, accordingly, by Phanes, while within a dark cave.[14][15]

Herodotus stated the earliest oracle was the oracle of Zeus located at Dodona,[16] although archaeological remains at Delphi date to earlier. There was an oracle at Dodona from the 5th century BCE, although the oracle of Zeus might have still have had a practice at the same locus earlier, prior to construction of the temple, a possibility which seems probable since the temple remains show an oak tree at the location.[17]

Apollo, the most important oracular deity, is most closely associated with the supreme knowledge of future events which is the possession of Zeus.[18] Apollo was known as Apollo Moiragetes,[13] referring to Apollo as the god of fate.[19] The oracle at Delphi gave oracles from Apollo.[16]

Apollo in an oracular function is associated with both plague, purification[20] and truth. Even though the prophecies given by him were ambiguous, he is said to have never uttered a lie.[21]

Apollo's oracle at Delphi is the most famous and was the most important oracular site of ancient Greece.

According to Homer and Callimachus, Apollo was born with prophetic abilities and the power of reading the will of Zeus. However, a less popular belief is that he was instructed by Pan in divination as found within myth.[14]

Apollo transfers to Hermes a skill in cleromancy,[22] upon the request of Hermes. Speaking within the hymn, Apollo expounds on the difficulty he experiences with his own divination, and then proceeds to provide the gift of divination to his brother Hermes, though a lesser skill, because the mantic dice are not under the control and influence of the will of Zeus.[23] Hermes' skill at divination, though inferior to the skill of Apollo, is still of a divine nature.[18]

The gift of Apollo is bee maidens with oracular abilities.[24]

Hermes is associated with divination by lottery,[18] otherwise known as cleromancy.[25]

The triad of bee maidens are prophetic via Hermes.[26]

In Arcadia Pan was the principal oracular deity, instead of Apollo.[14] Prophecy is associated with caves and grottoes within Greek divination, and the Nymphs and Pan were associated variously with caves.[14] Panolepsy is a cause of inspirational states of mind, including abilities of a mantic nature.[14]

The god Prometheus gave the gift of divination to humanity.[27]

Aeschylus wrote Prometheus Bound during the 5th century BCE in which Prometheus founded all the art of civilization including divination. This he did by stealing fire from the gods and gifting this fire to humankind. The 5th century BCE telling is a re-telling of a story told by Hesiod within the 8th century BCE[28]

Calchas was the first known mantis of Greek literature, appearing at the beginning of Book I of the Iliad. He was employed by the Greek army. His divination required the sacrifice of the commander's daughter to obtain the winds to bring the Greek fleet to Troy.

Of all oracles of ancient Hellenic culture and society, a man named Tiresias was thought as the most vital and important.[29]

Belief in divination was widespread in ancient Greece. In De Divinatione, Cicero argues with his brother, Quintus, against divination, which Quintus has espoused. The latter argues that if the gods exist, they must communicate with man, and if divination is proved to be true, then the gods must exist. He offers Marcus a classification of divinations, which he says is ancient: “There are two classes of divination, one of which is of art, the other, of nature.”[30] Cicero's reply is that there may or may not be gods, but even if there are, there is no logical necessity that they communicate through divination.

In essence, the artificial divination is staged. The divinator uses reason and conjecture to set up an experiment, so to speak, testing the god's will, such as determining to look at certain quarters of the sky at certain times for the presence of certain kinds of birds. Cicero's reply is that the set-up is already a predisposition. Events that happen according to natural law are given surcharges of prejudicial meaning, when the outcomes are really attributable to chance. In the natural type, such as dreams, spontaneous occurrences are given subjective interpretations based on expectations.

These same types appear in modern sources under different names; for example, E.A. Gardner in the Oxford Companion to Greek Studies refers to “direct” or “spontaneous” and “indirect” or “artificial” divination, which turn out to be Quintus Cicero's “of nature” and “of art” respectively.[31] In direct divination, a divinator might experience dreams, temporary madness, or phrensy (frenzy); all these states of mind being considered inspiration of truth. The divinator typically must take steps to produce such a state. Attested techniques include, sleeping in conditions whereby dreams might be more likely to occur, inhaling mephitic vapour, chewing bay leaf, and drinking of blood. In indirect divination the divinator does not experience any inspiration himself but observes natural conditions and phenomena.

Under the influence of this scientific view, recounted by Marcus Cicero, that the phenomenal world is driven by natural law, whether or not there is any divinity, the pre-Christian emperors suppressed artificial, or indirect, divination, attacking its social centers, the oracles, as political rivals. Christianity at first was treated as a superstitious cult. The need for the population to feel that they were in direct communication with divinity, however, was overwhelming. The state, unable to make any headway against it, gave in to it finally when Constantine became the first Christian emperor. Constantine had a direct divinatory experience himself on the night before the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, in which he dreamed he saw a cross and the words “in this sign you shall conquer.” Going forward under the sign of the cross he won, and converted to Christianity.

From then on believers had a new word for the results of divination, the sign. The old, indirect divination was gone, classified as an abomination by the Christians. Christian writers, such as St. Augustine, began to write extensively of signs from God and the uses of signs by humans to mean religious matters or outcomes. Under this guise Quintus’ classification appeared again as “evoked” for “of art” and “spontaneous” for “of nature.”[32] The contest between the scientific view, which rejects all divination as superstition, and the religious view, which promulgates signs, continues in the present times, along with generally discredited remnants of indirect divination, such as reading the tea leaves, or Chinese fortune cookies.

The following table lists types of divination known to have been practiced by the ancient Greeks.

Augury, or divination by omens, is a practice which still survives to the modern era (circa 2013).[43]

This is divination by throwing of lots,[25][44] stones, or dice.

Astragalomancy is a type of cleromancy performed by throwing the knuckle-bones of sheep or other ruminants (astragaloi[45]) to be able to tell the future.[43] As each face of the astragalos is assigned a numerical value, astragaloi can be rolled like dice and the resultant roll matched to a table of possible outcomes. A number of these tables were engraved on public monuments in southern Anatolia.[46]

Hydromancy, or divination by water, is a Hellenic practice which still survives in the modern era (circa 2013).[43]

Necromancy is a divinatory practice of consulting the dead.[47]

Pyromancy, divination by fire is a practice that has survived to the modern era (circa 2013).[43]

Divination of this type utilizes writings, either by scraps of paper with writing upon them chosen from within a vessel, or by opening a book at random. The first of these two type was practiced by the Sibylline oracles.[25]

This is divination by using pebbles. The Thriai were personification of this type of divination.[24][26]