Divination at Archaic Branchidai-Didyma: A Critical Review

by Alan M. Greaves

Hesperia, Volume 81, Issue 2
Page(s): 177-206
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2972/hesperia.81.2.0177
Year: 2012
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ABSTRACT:

The oracle at Branchidai-Didyma was a major cult center in western Anatolia during the Archaic period. This article assesses the evidence for different aspects of the divinatory process used there, including divination by mantic trance and cleromancy (using astragali), and the means by which responses were delivered. The author argues that the assumption that mantic trance was used is a retrojection of the Classical Delphic model of divination, and that more direct evidence points to the use of astragali. The randomizing function of astragali could be enhanced by modification, as supported here by experimental data. Parallels are drawn to sites in Anatolia and elsewhere across the Greek world.