Greek divination

Woman with crown, probably a votive gift. Arms are crossed on the body as a sign of reverence and humility in front of the divinity.

Greek divination is divination, which is a type of magic, as performed historically in ancient Greek culture.

Oracles

Main article: Oracle

Oracles were individuals committed to and capable of vatic practice.[1]

Amongst a number of others, there were Oracles at Delphi and Dodona,[2] although Greek divination had less of an institutional facet.[3]

Tiresias

Main article: Tiresias

Of all oracles of ancient Grecian culture and society, a man named Tiresias was thought as the most vital and important.[4][5]

Methodologies

Greek practice made use of various techniques for divination. When considering making classification of divinatory practice it is possible to discern four types, these being, either direct or indirect, and, either spontaneous, or, artificial.[6]

Classifications

Direct

Direct divination is where and when a divinater might experience an experience of divination by way of dreaming and dreams, by way of a temporary experience of madness, or phrensy (frenzy), all of these things being a state into which an inspired recognition of truth is attained. A necessary condition is of the divinator having made his or her own effort to produce a state of being and mind which creates a precondition for an experience of divination. These efforts include, attested to historically, sleeping in conditions where-by dreams might be more likely to occur, inhaling mephitic vapour, the chewing of leaves from the bay plant, drinking of blood.[6]

Indirect

This is divination where-by a divinator observes natural conditions and phenomenon[6]

Augury

Main article: Augury

Was used by Grecians and is divination by omens. Practice still survives to the modern era (circa 2013).[7]

Cleromancy

Main article: Cleromancy

This is divination by throwing of lots.[8][9]

Astragalomancy

Main article: Astragalomancy

Astragalomancy made utility of throws of the bones of sheep ( astragaloi[10]) to be able to tell the future.[7]

Extispicy

Main article: Extispicy

Divination by way of the making of a sacrifice took the form of examination of entrails,[11] by which is meant the bowels, and also, or, viscera.[12][13]

Enthusiastic

Enthusiastic prophecy is when a god speaks through the mouth of a divinater.[2]

Hydromancy

Main article: Hydromancy

Was used by Grecians and is divination by water. Practice still survives to the modern era (circa 2013).[7]

Necromancy

Main article: Necromancy

This type of divination is a divination where the dead are utilized and consulted.[14]

Pyromancy

Main article: Pyromancy

Was used by Grecians and is divination by fire. Practice still survives to the modern era (circa 2013).[7]

Stikhomanteia

Divination of this type is achieved by utilizing writings, either by scraps of paper with writing upon them chosen from within a vessel, or by opening a book at random. The former (first) of these two type was practiced by the Sibylline oracles.[8]

Thriai

This is divination by using pebbles. The Thriai were personification of this type of divination.[15][16]

Prometheus

The god Prometheus gave the gift of divination to humanity.[17]

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[18]

Oracular deities

Zeus

Zeus was known as Zeus Moiragetes which is to refer to the power of Zeus to know the fate of mortals.[19] The newly-born Zeus himself learnt his fate by the Night and, accordingly, by Phanes, while within a dark cave.[1][20]

Herodotus stated[2] the earliest oracle was the oracle of Zeus located at Dodona,[21] 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.[2]

Apollo and Hermes

Apollo transfers to Hermes a skill in divination, which is divination by mantic dice.[22] which Hermes didn't request but still was given. 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.[24]

The gift of Apollo is bee maidens with oracular abilities.[15]

Apollo

Apollo is next to and most closely associated with the supreme knowledge of future events which is the possession of Zeus.[24] Apollo was known as Apollo Moiragetes[19] which is to refer to Apollo as the God of Fate.[25] The oracle at Delphi gave oracles from Apollo.[21]

Apollo in an oracular function is sometimes associated to both plague, and purification.[26]

Evidence of the instruction of Apollo by Pan in divination is found within myth.[1]

Hermes

Hermes is associated with lottery,[24] otherwise known as cleromancy.[8]

The triad of bee maidens are prophetic via Hermes.[16]

Pan

In Arcadia Pan was the principal oracular deity instead of Apollo.[1]

Caves

Prophecy is associated with caves and grottoes within Greek divination, and the Nymphs and Pan were associated variously with caves.[1]

The Nymphs and Pan as precursors for divination

Pan was able to dwell within people, which is known as panolepsy. A degree of possession of an individual by a nymph is known as nympholepsy.[1][4]

Pan

Panolepsy is a cause of inspirational states of mind, ergo, abilities of a mantic nature.[1]

Epilepsy

Greek thinkers thought epileptic fitting ergo epilepsy had an origin with a divinity, and the means of making this association is thought through divination. This conclusion on the consciousnesses of ancient Greek thinkers is drawn by the fact of the sheer number of divine signs observed within society of the time, and the propensity of people to know a variety things as all having divine causes.[27]

Ancient sources

Pythagoras was said to have practiced divination, and Democritus advocated divination, Dicaearchus dismissed any notion of the trueness of divination by any means other than dreams (rêve[28]) and frenzy.[29] Aristophanes mentions an oracle in his comedy Knights.[30] Socrates practiced and advocated divination.[29] Xenophon was thought skilled at foretelling from sacrifices, and attributed many of his knowledges to Socrates within his writing "The Cavalry Commander".[29] Aristotle wrote On Divination in Sleep, written 350 BCE[31] Posidonius attempted to explicate truth, by creating theory of divination; he envisioned the sight of the future, as a cable might unwind, so insight into the future unfolds within the mind.[32] Chrysippus made claim for empirical evidence for truth of divination.[32] Plutarch advocated the Greek divination which was the Oracle of Delphi.[32] Plutarch considered enthusiastic prophecy to be possible when the soul of the Pythia becomes incorporated with Appolo in an inner vortex internal to the Pythia.[2] Cicero wrote On Divination.[29]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Y. Ustinova. Caves and the Ancient Greek Mind : Descending Underground in the Search for Ultimate Truth: Descending Underground in the Search for Ultimate Truth. OUP Oxford February 2009, 0191563420. Retrieved 2015-12-21.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 S. Iles Johnston (April 2009). Ancient Greek Divination. John Wiley & Sons. p. 3. ISBN 1444303007. Retrieved 2015-12-16.
  3. ↑ K. Beerden (August 2013). Worlds Full of Signs: Ancient Greek Divination in Context. Brill. p. 5. ISBN 900425630X. Retrieved 2015-12-16.
  4. 1 2 Y. Bonnefoy, W. Doniger (Divinity School, University of Chicago) (November 1992). Greek and Egyptian Mythologies. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0226064549. Retrieved 2015-12-21.
  5. ↑ M. Iampolski (New York University). The Memory of Tiresias: Intertextuality and Film. University of California Press, October 26, 1998,p.2 of 285 pages, ISBN 0520914724, ACLS Humanities E-Book. Retrieved 2015-12-22.
  6. 1 2 3 E.A. Gardner (1931). Whibley, Leonard, ed. A Companion to Greek Studies (4th ed.). Cambridge University Press. Retrieved 2015-12-21.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Kostas Dervenis (December 2013). Oracle Bones Divination: The Greek I Ching. Inner Traditions / Bear & Co. ISBN 1620551640. Retrieved 2015-12-16.
  8. 1 2 3 J. Robinson (1807). Archæologia Græca: Or, The Antiquities of Greece; Being an Account of the Manners and Customs of the Greeks ... Chiefly Designed to Illustrate the Greek Classics, by Explaining Words and Phrases According to the Rites and Customs to which They Refer. To which are Prefixed a Brief History of the Grecian States, and Biographical Sketches of the Principal Greek Writers. published by R. Phillips. Retrieved 2015-12-21.
  9. ↑ The London Journal (1847). The London Journal, and Weekly Record of Literature, Science, and Art, Volumes 5-6. G. Vickers. Retrieved 2015-12-21.
  10. ↑ J. Larson. Greek Nymphs : Myth, Cult, Lore. Oxford University Press USA,May 31, 2001,392 pages,ISBN 0198028687. Retrieved 2015-12-22.
  11. ↑ M.A. Flower (2008). The Seer in Ancient Greece. University of California Press. p. xiv. ISBN 0520252292. Retrieved 2015-12-16.
  12. ↑ Definition - entrails Merriam-Webster [Retrieved 2015-12-16]
  13. ↑ A. Annus. Divination and Interpretation of Signs in the Ancient World (PDF). University of Chicago 2010. Retrieved 2015-12-17.
  14. ↑ D. Ogden. Greek and Roman Necromancy. Princeton University Press. Retrieved 2015-12-21.
  15. 1 2 J.L. Larson (2001). Greek Nymphs: Myth, Cult, Lore. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195122941. Retrieved 2015-12-21.
  16. 1 2 Scheinberg, S.; Heinrichs, A. (April 1980). Harvard Studies in Classical Philology. Harvard University Press. p. 11. ISBN 0674379306. Retrieved 2015-12-21.
  17. ↑ P.M. Peek (Drew University) (1991). African Divination Systems: Ways of Knowing. Indiana University Press. p. 1. ISBN 0253343097. Retrieved 2015-12-25.African systems of thought
  18. ↑ B. Grant (New York University) (2009). The Captive and the Gift: Cultural Histories of Sovereignty in Russia and the Caucasus. Cornell University Press. p. 4. ISBN 0801475414. Retrieved 2015-12-25.Culture and society after socialism
  19. 1 2 Sophocles, D.H. Roberts (1984). Apollo and His Oracle in the Oresteia. published by Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. p. 86. ISBN 3525251769. Retrieved 2015-12-21.
  20. ↑ References used to add "Phanes" - Iamblichus:Commentary on the Timaeus & Oxford Dictionaries & ISBN 3039102877. - [Retrieved 2015-12-22]
  21. 1 2 M. Gagarin (December 2009). The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and Rome, Volume 7. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195170725. Retrieved 2015-12-21.
  22. ↑ N.O. Brown (1990). Hermes the Thief: The Evolution of a Myth. published by SteinerBooks. ISBN 0940262266. Retrieved 2015-12-21.
  23. ↑ D.L. Merritt (November 2012). Hermes, Ecopsychology, and Complexity Theory, Volume 3. Fisher King Press. p. 78. ISBN 1926715446. Retrieved 2015-12-21.
  24. 1 2 3 P. Laude (October 2005). Divine Play, Sacred Laughter, and Spiritual Understanding. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 75. ISBN 1403980586. Retrieved 2015-12-21.
  25. ↑ J.G.R. Forlong (December 2008). Encyclopedia of Religions. 1. published by Cosimo, Inc. Retrieved 2015-12-21.
  26. ↑ Hornblower,, S.; Spawforth, A.; Eidinow, E. (2014). The Oxford Companion to Classical Civilization. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0198706774. Retrieved 2015-12-21.
  27. ↑ Derek Collins (April 2008). Magic in the Ancient Greek World. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 0470695722. Retrieved 2015-12-16.
  28. ↑ Collins Dictionary
  29. 1 2 3 4 J. Mikalson (June 2010). Greek Popular Religion in Greek Philosophy. OUP Oxford. p. 123. ISBN 019161467X. Retrieved 2015-12-16.
  30. ↑ Aristophanes (translated by Leonard-Hampson Rudd) - Knights published by Longmans, Green and Co. 1867, 453 pages, Original from the University of California [Retrieved 2015-12-22]
  31. ↑ Aristotle - On Prophesying by Dreams published by Massachusetts Institute of Technology [Retrieved 2015-12-21]
  32. 1 2 3 L. Raphals (October 2013). Divination and Prediction in Early China and Ancient Greece. Cambridge University Press. p. 358. ISBN 1107010756. Retrieved 2015-12-16.
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