THEME: Looking into the future DIVINATION AND ORACLES IN ANTIQUITY
Divination is attested to just about everywhere, there are records going back to the earliest forms of human civilization. At different times, its use has waxed and waned, as has the degree to which its use has been publicly acknowledged, the safest assumption we can make is that it has always been controversial. There have always been enthusiasts as well as sceptics. In the classical period one of the key texts is Cicero's , a debate between Cicero and his brother Quintus. One argues for the practice, the other is uncertain, if not necessarily against it. It seems clear from the lines of debate that uncertainty about the status of divination was already widespread in Rome in the first century BC. As they debate, they consider various forms of divination that were used in Rome – astrology; augury (divination from the behaviour of birds); haruspicy (the interpretation of entrails); oneiromancy (divination from dreams); oracles (possession by the gods); and sortilege
