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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 According to the ''Oxford English Dictionary'', the word ''bibliomancy'' (etymologically from and ) "divination by books, or by verses of the Bible" was first recorded in 1753 (''Chambers' Cyclopædia''). Sometimes this term is used synonymously with ''stichomancy'' (from ) "divination by lines of verse in books taken at hazard", which was first recorded (Thomas Urquhart, Urquhart's ''François Rabelais, Rabelais''). ''Bibliomancy'' compares with ''rhapsodomancy'' (from ) "divination by reading a random passage from a poem". A historical precedent was the ancient Roman practice of Sortes (ancient Rome), sortes ('cleromancy, sortilege, divination by drawing lots') which specialized into ''sortes Homericae'', ''sortes Virgilianae'', and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rhapsodomancy
Rhapsodomancy is an ancient form of divination performed by choosing through some method a specific passage or poem from which to ascertain information. There were various methods for practicing rhapsodomancy. Sometimes, individuals would write several verses or sentences from a poet on multiple pieces of wood, paper, or similar material, shake them together in an urn, and pick one at random. Sometimes, they cast dice on a table that was covered with verses; the one on which the die landed was said to contain the prediction. In ancient Rome, the method of sortes (ancient Rome), sortes involved opening a book and choosing some verse at first sight. This method was particularly called the ''sortes Praeneste, Praenestinae''; and afterwards, according to the poet who was used, such as ''sortes Homerica'' or ''sortes Virgilianae''. Commonly used texts I Ching One of the most commonly used texts used to perform rhapsodomancy was the I Ching. In the 11th century, before the text was use ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sortes Biblicae
() is a method of divination where by the Bible is opened randomly and the first words which one sees or points to are interpreted as predictive. The practice was common in late antiquity and had pagan precedents in the ''Sortes Homericae'' and '' Sortes Vergilianae''. It was nevertheless condemned by numerous church councils, including in Gaul alone by those of Vannes (465), Agde (506) and Orléans (511).Bruce M. Metzger"Sortes Biblicae" in Bruce M. Metzger and Michael D. Coogan (eds.), ''The Oxford Companion to the Bible'' (Oxford University Press, 1993 nline 2004. Sometimes Bibles were specially prepared for fortune-telling with fortunes being written in the lower margins. These were marked by the Ancient Greek word ('interpretation'). The Bible could be opened at random or dice could be rolled to determine a page number. The 5th‐century Codex Bezae contains 69 such 'interpretations' added to the Gospel of Mark in the 9th or 10th century. The fortunes include "Expect a gr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sortes Virgilianae
The Sortes Vergilianae (''Virgilian Lots'') is a form of divination by bibliomancy in which advice or predictions of the future are sought by interpreting passages from the works of the Roman poet Virgil. The use of Virgil for divination may date to as early as the second century AD, and is part of a wider tradition that associated the poet with magic. The system seems to have been modeled on the ancient Roman '' sortes'' as seen in the ''Sortes Homericae'', and later the ''Sortes Sanctorum''. History Classical instances Sir Philip Sidney's '' Defence of Poesie'' describes Roman beliefs about poetry and recounts a famous Sors Vergiliana by Decimus Clodius Albinus, a Roman who ruled Britain and laid claim to the Roman Empire, but was defeated in battle by Septimius Severus: :Among the Romans a poet was called vates', which is as much as a diviner, foreseer, or prophet, as by his conjoined words, vaticinium' and vaticinari', is manifest; so heavenly a title did that excellent p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 Greek fragment on papyrus—is Christian. The original version had 216 answers available depending on three ordered throws of a single die. It was later revised down to 56 answers for a single throw of three dice. This version was translated into Latin by the time of the council of Vannes (465), which condemned its use. The Latin version was subsequently revised to render it more acceptable to ecclesiastical authorities. This Latin version survives in numerous manuscripts from the early 9th century through the 16th, as well as in Old Occitan and Old French translations.AnneMarie Luijendijk and William E. Klingshirn, "The Literature of Lot Divination", in AnneMarie Luijendijk and William E. Klingshirn (eds.), ''Sortilege and Its Practitioners i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 authorship, Homer is considered one of the most revered and influential authors in history. The ''Iliad'' centers on a quarrel between King Agamemnon and the warrior Achilles during the last year of the Trojan War. The ''Odyssey'' chronicles the ten-year journey of Odysseus, king of Homer's Ithaca, Ithaca, back to his home after the fall of Troy. The epics depict man's struggle, the ''Odyssey'' especially so, as Odysseus perseveres through the punishment of the gods. The poems are in Homeric Greek, also known as Epic Greek, a literary language that shows a mixture of features of the Ionic Greek, Ionic and Aeolic Greek, Aeolic dialects from different centuries; the predominant influence is Eastern Ionic. Most researchers believe that the poems w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sortes (ancient Rome)
Sortes (Latin singular: ''sors'') were a frequent method of divination among the ancient Romans. The method involved the drawing of lots (''sortes'') to obtain knowledge of future events: in many of the ancient Italian temples, the will of the gods was consulted in this way, as at Praeneste and Caere. These ''sortes'' or lots were usually little tablets or counters made of wood or other materials and were commonly thrown into a sitella or urn, filled with water. The lots were sometimes thrown like dice. The name of "sortes" was in fact given to anything used to determine chances, and was also applied to any verbal response of an oracle. Various things were written upon the lots according to circumstances, as for instance the names of the persons using them. It seems to have been a favorite practice in later times to write the verses of illustrious poets upon little tablets and to draw them out of the urn like other lots; the verses which a person thus obtained being supposed t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 Greek fragment on papyrus—is Christian. The original version had 216 answers available depending on three ordered throws of a single die. It was later revised down to 56 answers for a single throw of three dice. This version was translated into Latin by the time of the council of Vannes (465), which condemned its use. The Latin version was subsequently revised to render it more acceptable to ecclesiastical authorities. This Latin version survives in numerous manuscripts from the early 9th century through the 16th, as well as in Old Occitan and Old French translations.AnneMarie Luijendijk and William E. Klingshirn, "The Literature of Lot Divination", in AnneMarie Luijendijk and William E. Klingshirn (eds.), ''Sortilege and Its Practitioners i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sortes Homericae
The ''Sortes Homericae'' (Latin for "Homeric lots"), a type of divination 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 (ancient Rome), ''sortes'', such as the ''Sortes Virgilianae'' and their Christian successor the ''Sortes Sanctorum''. 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, a verse of Homer occurred to Marcus Junius Brutus, Brutus which suggested that Pompey would be defeated. The emperor Macrinus , 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 imper ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Odyssey
The ''Odyssey'' (; ) is one of two major epics of ancient Greek literature attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest surviving works of literature and remains popular with modern audiences. Like the ''Iliad'', the ''Odyssey'' is divided into 24 books. It follows the heroic king of Ithaca, Odysseus, also known by the Latin variant Ulysses, and his homecoming journey after the ten-year long Trojan War. His journey from Troy to Ithaca lasts an additional ten years, during which time he encounters many perils and all of his crewmates are killed. In Odysseus's long absence, he is presumed dead, leaving his wife Penelope and son Telemachus to contend with a group of unruly suitors competing for Penelope's hand in marriage. The ''Odyssey'' was first written down in Homeric Greek around the 8th or 7th century BC; by the mid-6th century BC, it had become part of the Greek literary canon. In antiquity, Homer's authorship was taken as true, but contemporary sch ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Divān Of Hafez
''The Divān'' of Hafez () is a collection of poems written by the Iranian poet Hafez. Most of these poems are in Persian, but there are some macaronic language poems (in Persian and Arabic) and a completely Arabic ghazal. The most important part of this ''Divān'' is the ghazals. Poems in other forms such as qetʿe, qasida, mathnawi and rubaʿi are as well included in the ''Divān''. There is no evidence that Hafez's lost poems might have constituted the majority of his poetic output, and in addition, Hafez was very famous during his lifetime. Therefore he cannot have been a prolific poet. The number of ghazals that are generally accepted is less than 500: 495 ghazals in Ghazvini and Ghani edition, 486 ghazals in Natel-Khanlari's second edition and 484 ghazals in the Sayeh edition. Overview ''The Divān'' of Hafez was probably compiled for the first time after his death by Mohammad Golandam. However, some unconfirmed reports indicate that Hafez published his ''Divān'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mathnawi (poetic Form)
Mathnawi ( ), also spelled masnavi, mesnevi or masnawi, is a kind of poem written in rhyming couplets, or more specifically "a poem based on independent, internally rhyming lines". Most mathnawi poems follow a meter of eleven, or occasionally ten, syllables, but had no limit in their length. Typical mathnawi poems consist of an indefinite number of couplets, with the rhyme scheme aa/bb/cc. Mathnawi poems have been written in Persian, Arabic, Turkish, Kurdish and Urdu cultures. Certain Persian mathnawi poems, such as Rumi's '' Masnavi-e Ma’navi'', have had a special religious significance in Sufism. Other influential writings include the poems of Ghazali and ibn Arabi. Mathnawi's are closely tied to Islamic theology, philosophy, and legends, and cannot be understood properly without knowledge about it. Arabic mathnawi Arabic mathnawi poetry, also known as ''muzdawij'' ( – , referring to the internal rhyme scheme of the lines), was popularized during the Abbasid era. Unlike ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rumi
Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī (), or simply Rumi (30 September 1207 – 17 December 1273), was a 13th-century poet, Hanafi '' faqih'' (jurist), Maturidi theologian (''mutakallim''), and Sufi mystic born during the Khwarazmian Empire. Rumi's works were written mostly in Persian, but occasionally he also used Turkish, Arabic and Greek in his verse. His ''Masnavi'' (''Mathnawi''), composed in Konya, is considered one of the greatest poems of the Persian language.C.E. Bosworth, "Turkmen Expansion towards the west" in UNESCO History of Humanity, Volume IV, titled "From the Seventh to the Sixteenth Century", UNESCO Publishing / Routledge, p. 391: "While the Arabic language retained its primacy in such spheres as law, theology and science, the culture of the Seljuk court and secular literature within the sultanate became largely Persianized; this is seen in the early adoption of Persian epic names by the Seljuk rulers (Qubād, Kay Khusraw and so on) and in the use of Pers ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
