CHAPTER NINE
Divination
Pierre Bonnechere
Man has always tried to interrogate the gods. Only they in their omniscience can
tell him things hidden and inaccessible to his finite intellect. All forms of such
interrogation, in the broad sense, fall under the category of divination,mantike ̄in
Greek anddivinatioin Latin. The relevant sources from all parts of the Mediterranean
occupied by the Greeks are so many and varied that no there has been no up-to-date
synthesis on this complex subject, which is bound up with all spheres of Greek
thought, from philosophy to politics and from poetry to medicine (Bouche ́-Leclercq
1879–82).
Divination in the Greek Mind
Contrary to general belief, the purpose of divination was not simply to ‘‘know the
future.’’ Extant oracular responses almost all bear upon the clarification of a specific
point, present, future, or past (Iliad1.69–70), of concern to the consultant. In a
world in which the smallest error could prove fatal, man depended upon divination to
act in the most effective way when confronted with an immediate choice entailing
unknown and thus potentially harrowing repercussions (Jouan 1991).
The Greeks made no distinction in their lives between the sacred and the profane,
be it in the sphere of the family, the community, or the city, and accordingly favored
frequent contact with the gods. The general goodwill of the gods was solicited
through festivals, purifications, thanksgivings, prayers, sacrifices and offerings, dances
and hymns, and prescriptions of all sorts in sanctuaries and competitions. But other
rites were more focused and called for action from the gods in direct response: magic,
mystery cults, and divination, through which one could encounter the god in a
personal fashion and even fuse with him.
Divination is one form of access to divine revelation amongst many others.
In Greece, knowledge, feelings, and in fact every natural or cultural efflorescence