The Homeric oracle, or Homeromanteion, is a divination method preserved at the head of a large magical papyrus from Roman Egypt. A question was put, a die was thrown three times, and the resulting combination pointed to one of 216 single lines taken from the Iliad and the Odyssey. The line was the answer. It is a simple, elegant and entirely benign oracle, and it belongs to a broader ancient habit of seeking guidance by lot from the poet whom the Greeks regarded as their teacher.

How to do it§

Prepare the question. Write one clear question on paper. Ancient lot oracles answered practical questions, such as whether to travel, marry or go ahead with a plan. Questions about your own course of action work best.
Prepare the space. Wash your hands, clear a table and lay down a cloth or tray. Many people take a moment of quiet first. If you wish, address a brief original prayer to Apollo, god of oracles, or Hermes, god of lots: "Let the lot fall truly, and let me understand what it says."
Throw the dice. Throw one die three times, or three dice in a fixed order (for example red, white, blue), and write down the three numbers in sequence, such as 4-2-6. There are 6 × 6 × 6 = 216 possible results, one for each verse in the papyrus.
Find the verse. In the Homeromanteion, every verse is prefixed by its three-number code, running from 1-1-1 to 6-6-6. Look up your combination in Betz's Greek Magical Papyri in Translation, where the list appears in full.
Without the list: the sortes Homericae. If you do not have the papyrus list, use the older method: hold your question in mind, open a copy of the Iliad or Odyssey at random with eyes closed, and place a finger on the page. Read the first complete line under it. You may use the first die to choose which poem (1–3 the Iliad, 4–6 the Odyssey).
Interpret. Read the line in its own setting: who speaks it, to whom and why. Then ask how it bears on your question. Ancient users seem to have read lines both literally ("Go, and do not delay") and figuratively.
Record and close. Note the question, the throw and the verse. Give thanks, put the dice away and do not ask the same question again the same day. The ancient sources assume the first answer stands.

Origins and history§

The Homeromanteion opens Papyrus Graecus Magicus VII (British Library P. Lond. 121), a magical handbook of the third or fourth century CE from Egypt. It occupies its first 148 lines. Fragments of other copies show that the method circulated independently. Each of its 216 lines is a self-contained verse from Homer, chosen because it can be read as advice, warning or promise, and each is preceded by a three-digit dice code. Hans Dieter Betz's team included it in their 1986 English translation, and scholars such as Sarah Iles Johnston and Fritz Graf have discussed it as an example of how ancient divination blended chance, text and interpretation.

Homer, Ilias 1, 54–64, 71–104, 114–123, 131–164, 412–433, 456–465, 494–534, 537–590, 602–609Unknown authorUnknown author · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

It belongs to a family of ancient lot oracles. In the cities of Roman Asia Minor, inscribed "astragal oracles" set up in public places gave verse answers for every combination of five knucklebones. The Sortes Astrampsychi, a numbered question-and-answer book, circulated in Egypt. Consulting a poet by opening his book at random, the sortes Homericae and later sortes Vergilianae, is mentioned in Roman sources; the Historia Augusta tells of emperors consulting Virgil in this way. Christians later did the same with the Gospels and the Psalms, and church councils repeatedly forbade the practice. The 2019 collection My Lots Are in Thy Hands, edited by AnneMarie Luijendijk and William Klingshirn, surveys this history of sortilege in late antiquity.

Homer's authority made him a natural oracle. For Greeks of every period the poems were a storehouse of wisdom on fate, courage, hospitality and the will of the gods. A line drawn by lot was believed to be guided rather than random.

Variations§

Modern users sometimes compile their own 216-line list from a favourite translation, or use a digital random-number generator in place of dice. Bibliomancy with other books, such as the Psalms, the Dao De Jing or the poems of Hafez (a custom known as fal-e Hafez in Iran), follows the same principle.

Safety and good sense§

The Homeric oracle is a tool for reflection. It should not decide medical, legal, financial or safety matters, for which proper advice is needed. If a line seems ominous, remember that ancient users also read answers figuratively, and that Homer's heroes, too, argued with omens.

Sources and further reading§

The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation — Hans Dieter Betz (ed.), 1986
Ancient Greek Divination — Sarah Iles Johnston, 2008
My Lots Are in Thy Hands: Sortilege and Its Practitioners in Late Antiquity — AnneMarie Luijendijk and William E. Klingshirn (eds.), 2019
Magic in the Ancient World — Fritz Graf, 1997
The Odyssey — Homer