The ''Sortes Homericae'' (Latin for "Homeric lots"), a type of

divination Divination () is the attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way of an occultic ritual or practice. Using various methods throughout history, diviners ascertain their interpretations of how a should proceed by reading signs, ...

bibliomancy Bibliomancy is the use of books in divination. The use of sacred books (especially specific words and verses) for "magical medicine", for removing negative entities, or for divination is widespread in many religions of the world. Terminology Acco ...

, involved drawing a random sentence or line from the works of

Homer Homer (; , ; possibly born ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Despite doubts about his autho ...

(usually the ''

Iliad The ''Iliad'' (; , ; ) is one of two major Ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the ''Odyssey'', the poem is divided into 24 books and ...

'') 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 ''Sortes Sanctorum'' (incipit ''Post solem surgunt stellae'') is a late antique text that was used for divination by means of dice. The oldest version of the text may have been pagan, but the earliest surviving example—a 4th- or 5th-century Gree ...

''. There are numerous examples of lines from the ''Iliad'' being premonitions of things to come. Socrates reportedly dreamed of a certain verse from the ''Iliad'', and interpreted it as foretelling the day of his execution. Before the

Battle of Pharsalus The Battle of Pharsalus was the decisive battle of Caesar's Civil War fought on 9 August 48 BC near Pharsalus in Central Greece. Julius Caesar and his allies formed up opposite the army of the Roman Republic under the command of Pompey. ...

, a verse of Homer occurred to Brutus which suggested that

Pompey Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (; 29 September 106 BC – 28 September 48 BC), known in English as Pompey ( ) or Pompey the Great, was a Roman general and statesman who was prominent in the last decades of the Roman Republic. ...

would be defeated. The emperor Marcus Opellius Macrinus () is known to have used ''sortes Homericae'' properly speaking, where a verse was chosen by lot that supposedly foretold his fate that he would not last long on the imperial throne. The "Homer Oracle", or ''Homeromanteion'', was a method of divination preserved in Greek Magical Papyrus VII, Oxyrhynchus Papyrus 56.3831, and Papyrus Bononienses 3. The oracle consisted of excerpts from Homer's poetry sorted by triple digits. After a series of ritual preparations, the user rolls a die three times, consulting a verse according to the resultant number for a total of 216 possible results.

References

Sources

*''

Gargantua and Pantagruel ''The Five Books of the Lives and Deeds of Gargantua and Pantagruel'' (), often shortened to ''Gargantua and Pantagruel'' or the (''Five Books''), is a pentalogy of novels written in the 16th century by François Rabelais. It tells the advent ...

'', Book 3, fro
"The Complete Works of Francois Rabelais", p285
Bibliomancy Homer {{Lit-stub