Sortes

Sortes is a civil parish in the municipality of Bragança, Portugal. The population in 2011 was 296, in an area of 21.30 km².

References

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 to be applicable to him (see Sortes Homerica and Sortes Virgilianae, lots created from verses of Homer and Virgil).