Divination seeks to know the future in a supernatural way. There were many forms of this ancient science. Most of us know of astrology, or perhaps necromancy, i.e., revelation by the souls of the dead. 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, Volume II is the history of practice, and Volume III continues a survey of practice. Hence, oracles, of Apollo (Delos, Delphi, European Greece, and Asia Minor), Asklepios, Herakles, Death (Ephyra, Periander, Phigalia, Heraklea), Heroes (Trophonios, Aristomenes, Amphiaraos, Hemithea, Mopsos, Amphilochos, Calchas, Podalirios, Protesilaos, Sarpedon, Autolykos, Menestheus, Neryllinos, Glykon), those of Egypt (Isis, Serapis, Besa, Antinous), and Syria (Zeus Kasios, Heliopolis, Hierapolis, Marna, Zeus Panemerios, Jaribolos, Lunus, Aphrodite).
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.