Bodson 1978). Many cities and sanctuaries, it was said, were founded in a place
indicated by an animal-guide (cf. Euripides,Phoenissae638–44). Even in sacrificial
ritual the animal had to display its acceptance of being sacrificed, whether this was by
trembling or by curving its spine (Aristophanes,Peace960). Snakes, with a venom
that was sometimes lethal, lived in the crevices of the earth, and they were held to be
immortal because of their slough: they were natural emissaries of the chthonic world,
present in chthonic oracles and sanctuaries and also in the decorations of tombs
(Bodson 1978:68–71).
Omens drawn from birds – ornithomancy – already occupied a fundamental place
on some archaic vases and in Homer (Odyssey15.154–81) and Hesiod (fr. 355
Merkelbach-West; cf. West 1978 on line 82). Birds move between the earth and
the purest level of the sky, the ether, the home of the gods and the Muses, not to
mention souls: accordingly they are wholly suited to the role of intermediaries
(Aeschylus,Agamemnon104–59). Plutarch admirably sums this belief up, even if
the practice was more complicated than the theory: ‘‘The god presses various move-
ments upon them and draws twitterings and cries from them. Sometimes he holds
them suspended, sometimes he sends them flying at high speed, either to interrupt
men’s actions or projects abruptly, or to help in their accomplishment’’ (Intelligence
of Animals22, 975ab). An inscription from Ephesus (IEphesos5.1678), from the
sixth of fifth century BC, already indicates the fundamental principles of the method
based upon the opposition left/unfavorable–right/favorable. This principle was also
fundamental more widely, in inductive divination (Collins 2002; Dillon 1996;
Pollard 1977:116–29).
The spasms of the human body are similarly significant, and caution against or
forbid an action or a project in the course of realization. These arekle ̄dones, whence
cledonomancy(Peradotto 1969). Sneezing is the best known, from Homer (Odyssey
17.541–8) to Plutarch (Themistocles13.2–5). Thekle ̄do ̄ncan also be an involuntary
utterance or action (such as a fart:Homeric Hymn to Hermes 294–6), a double
entendre, or a proper name which acts as an omen, a coincidence, in fact any sign
that confers a different meaning in the normal course of things (cf. Callimachus,
Epigrams1). Although an excessive belief inkle ̄doneswas considered absurdly super-
stitious, a reasoned approach to them was held to be appropriate: for Theophrastus,
the Squalid Man ‘‘blasphemes when his mother has gone to the specialist in ornitho-
mancy. And, amongst worshipers praying and offering a libation, he drops the cup
and laughs as if the thing were a joke in good taste’’ (Characters19.8–9). One could
also provokekle ̄donesin some established oracles, such as at Pharae in Achaea, where
the consultant whispered his question into the ear of the statue of Hermes and left the
agora plugging his ears. Then, removing his hands, he received the response in the
first voice heard (Pausanias 7.22.2–3).
Cleromancyis divination by drawing a lot. An easy method, of course, it could be
used anywhere, even at Delphi (Cordano and Grottanelli 2001; S.I. Johnston 2003).
It resolves a question posed in the form of an alternative and it is ideal, accordingly,
for the choice between solutions in a pre-established list. Already found in Homer,
cleromancy in a broad sense extended to the level of the city itself, in the case of
Athens, which chose its magistrates in this way, with the exception ofstrate ̄goiand
treasurers, a practice that scandalized Socrates. Some oracles, such as that of Heracles
at Boura in Achaea, delivered their responses through the medium of knuckle-bones,
Divination 151