THEME: Looking into the future INDEPENDENT GREEK DIVINERS
Divination is the interpretation of signs which are thought to be sent by the supernatural. Humans have, during their evolution, developed in such a way that they are primed to expect, and to look for, signs – this has been called ‘omen-mindedness’. These signs are then connected to an agent: are the bushes rustling on account of the wind, an animal, another human, or perhaps the supernatural? Occurrences that cannot be explained in another way (there was no wind, and after close inspection no animal or other person can be found) are seen as signs from the supernatural. This implies that the supernatural is believed to exist in some way and is willing to communicate with humans. An accepted idea that follows from this is that people can also entice the supernatural to send signs, for instance at an oracle, instead of just waiting for the supernatural to instigate communication. When a sign had been detected, it needed to be interpreted and gain meaning: each cause of the sign changes its meaning and requires a different action. Your life may even depend on making the right choice, if it turns out that there is indeed an animal in the bushes, and it happens to be a lion.
The essentials of this divinatory process worked in the same way for people living in Classical Greece, although the exact occurrences that were considered signs from the supernaturaland interpreting of signs were many and varied, from hepatoscopy (looking at the intestines of sacrificed animals) to watching the birds and inviting the gods to provide signs to a bowl of liquids, but also attempting to gain information from ghosts, throwing knucklebones, visiting oracles, and looking for lighting, thunder, and other meteorological phenomena. And this list of divinatory methods could go on and on! We know that people from all socio-economic backgrounds, of all genders, both young and old used divination on a more-or-less daily basis, or at least regularly. Divination was part of daily life in Classical Greece.
