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Ammianus Marcellinus
[Na]One of the last great Roman historians. Originally from Antioch, born c.ad 330, he served in the army and settled in Rome c.ad 378. His History, written in Latin for a Roman audience, spanned the ...
amulet
An ornament or small piece of jewellery thought to give protection against evil, danger, or disease. The word is recorded from the late 16th century; it comes from Latin, but is of unknown origin.
animals in cult
Numerous features of Greek religion attest links between animals and gods, usually between one animal or group of animals and one divinity. Thus Athena is associated with various birds (in Athens ...
ash
A tree, from whose wood spear-shafts were traditionally made, which has given its name to an Old English runic letter, , so named from the word of which it was the first letter.
astrology
The study of movements and relative positions of celestial bodies interpreted as having an influence on human affairs and the natural world. Ancient observers of the heavens developed elaborate ...
auspicium
Literally ‘bird‐watching’, but the term was applied to various types of divination. There were five types of auspical sign: from the sky (thunder and lightning), from birds (their number, position, ...
Beóthach
[Ir., living].The Nemedian ancestor of the Tuatha Dé Danann. In the pseudo-history Lebor Gabála [Book of Invasions], Beóthach was grandson of Nemed and son of Iarbanél, who survived the rout at Tory ...
bird
A class (Aves) of endothermic (see endotherm) vertebrates that are adapted for flight, bipedal walking or running, and, in some species, swimming on or below the surface of water; flightless species ...
blade-bone
General divination using the shoulder-bone (blade-bone) of a sheep has a very long history in Scotland and Wales, with regular references back to 1188 (see Opie and Tatem, 1989: 30), but is ...
Brontologion
(βροντολόγιον), a manual on divination by thunder. The Byz. attributed their brontologia to famous figures of the past, such as King David or Hermes Trismegistos, or to obscure Roman writers ...
Carneades
(c.214–129 bc)The most prominent member of the later Academy after Arcesilaus. Carneades was a distinguished sceptic, famous (especially through the report by Cicero) for impressive speeches at Rome ...
Christmas superstitions
Most regional collections report a belief that at midnight on Christmas Eve cattle kneel to welcome the Holy Child, and bees buzz, or hum the Hundredth Psalm (e.g. Harland and Wilkinson, 1882: 253). ...
culture-bringers
Mythical figures who are credited with the invention of important cultural achievements. Around the 6th cent. bc the Greeks started to ascribe a number of inventions to gods and heroes. So Athena ...
Curing and Healing
From the beginning of the written record and probably even before then, Mesoamericans have been accustomed to choosing from among many means of preventing, diagnosing, and healing diseases. ...
deformity
In antiquity far fewer congenitally deformed persons would have survived infancy than do so today, because Greeks and Romans would have had little compunction about withholding the necessities of ...
deisidaimonia
Although originally the term had a laudatory sense (‘scrupulousness in religious matters’), it is mainly pejorative and denotes an excessive pietism and preoccupation with religion, first and most ...
Delphic oracle
Oracle of Apollo. Its origins are dated to the very end of the 9th cent. bc, and eventually it developed into the most important Greek oracle. It was consulted by poleis (see polis) as well as ...
díchetal do chennaib
[OIr., extempore incantation (?)].A kind of incantation or spell composed by poets (fili) and druids of early Ireland. Various early sources describe it as being composed extemporaneously, often ...
divination Reference library
Robert Christopher Towneley Parker and Jerzy Linderski
The Oxford Classical Dictionary (4 ed.)
Divination is at the heart of Greek religion: *Sophocles in a famous ode can represent a challenge to *...
All divination stems from the belief that gods send meaningful ...
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divination Quick reference
World Encyclopedia
Foretelling the future by interpreting various signs. Omens are often thought to be found in cards, palms, or the entrails
