The ''Sortes Homericae'' (Latin for "Homeric lots"), a type of
divination
Divination (from Latin ''divinare'', 'to foresee, to foretell, to predict, to prophesy') is the attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way of an occultic, standardized process or ritual. Used in various forms throughout histor ...
by
bibliomancy, involved drawing a random sentence or line from the works of
Homer (usually the ''
Iliad'') to answer a question or to predict the future. In the Roman world it co-existed with the various forms of the
''sortes'', such as the ''
Sortes Virgilianae'' and their Christian successor the ''
Sortes Sanctorum''.
Socrates reportedly used this practice to determine the day of his execution.
Brutus also is reported to have used this practice, which informed him
Pompey would lose the
battle of Pharsalus (48 BCE). The emperor
Marcus Opellius Macrinus
Marcus Opellius Macrinus (; – June 218) was Roman emperor from April 217 to June 218, reigning jointly with his young son Diadumenianus. As a member of the equestrian class, he became the first emperor who did not hail from the senatorial ...
() is also known to have used ''sortes Homericae'', learning that he would not last long on the imperial throne. However, unlike the ''Sortes Virgilianae'', ''sortes Homericae'' did not have an established status as a concept and practice. There are only three known uses of this, separated by centuries and of doubtful authenticity, and of those, two don't involve opening the Iliad at random and randomly choosing a passage, as is established in bibliomancy, and in ''Sortes Virgilianae'' specifically. Rather, they involve the person dreaming or thinking about the passage, as occurred with Socrates and Brutus respectively.
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References
Sources
*''
Gargantua and Pantagruel'', Book 3, fro
"The Complete Works of Francois Rabelais", p285
Bibliomancy
Homer
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