Divination in Antiquity

Divination seeks to know the future in a supernatural way. There were many forms of this ancient science. Most of us know of astrology, but there were dozens of others. The author reveals a complex subject which has parts, in equal portion, of philosophy, history, and archaeology. This volume begins the elucidation of the men and women who formed the active and human corps of divination, the priesthoods, oracles, and Sibyls of ancient Greece. Volume I was theory, and Volume II is the history of practice. Hence, the soothsayers, exegetes, Titantic oracles, those of Zeus, and those of Olympian dieties not Zeus or Apollo (Poseidon, Pluto, Dionysos, Pan, Aphrodite, Hera, Hermes, Athena).

Auguste Bouché-Leclercq (1842-1923) was chair of ancient history at the Sorbonne from 1878 to 1918. Bouché-Leclercq became a member of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres 1898, and Légion d'honneur 1903.

This is the first and only complete translation into English.

Previous Frank H. Wallis translations include: Blanche of Castile, Queen and Regent of France, 1188-1252 (2015); from Élie Berger, Histoire de Blanche de Castille, Reine de France (Paris, 1895). Charles VII. 6 vols. (2020-21); from Gaston Du Fresne de Beaucourt (Paris, 1881-1891). Institutions of Ancient Rome (2023); from Auguste Bouché-Leclercq (1842-1923) Manuel des Institutions Romaines (Paris, 1886).