Soothsayers and Diviniatin in Caesar's Time

[LadyCelt]

I was wondering, what is a soothsayer? And, how are they different from a psychic?


Also, what were techniques of diviniation, psychics, and fortune telling used if anyone knows with Ancient Rome in the times of Julius Caesar?


any good links, books, or sources?


thanks

[Autumn Clair]

:wave: Calchas, in Greek mythology, the most famous soothsayer among the Greeks at the time of the Trojan War. When the Greek fleet was stranded at Aulis because of a lack of favorable wind, Calchas revealed that the goddess Artemis (http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761562129/Artemis.html) was offended and that King Agamemnon (http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761569870/Agamemnon.html) must sacrifice his virgin daughter Iphigenia (http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761573421/Iphigenia.html) before the winds would rise. Calchas predicted the 10-year siege of Troy, and shortly before the conclusion of the war, when the Greeks were stricken with a plague, explained that the god Apollo (http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761566575/Apollo_(mythology).html) was angry because Agamemnon had taken as his mistress the daughter of one of Apollo's priests. Calchas was highly respected because of the accuracy of his prophecies, and at his suggestion the Greek commanders built the Trojan horse (http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761556457/Trojan_Horse_(legend).html) by which the Greek forces gained access to the city.

One who claims to be able to foretell events or predict the future; a seer.Word History: The truth is not always soothing, but our verb soothe is related to soothsayer, the word for one who tells the truth, especially beforehand. The archaic adjective and noun sooth, “true, truth,” comes from the Old English adjective and noun shttp://cache.lexico.com/dictionary/graphics/AHD4/GIF/omacr.gifth with the same meanings. The Old English form derives from Germanic *santh-az, “true,” which comes from Indo-European *sont-, one of the participles from the Indo-European root -es-, “to be”: the truth is that which is. Old English also formed a verb from shttp://cache.lexico.com/dictionary/graphics/AHD4/GIF/omacr.gifth, namely shttp://cache.lexico.com/dictionary/graphics/AHD4/GIF/omacr.gifthian, “to confirm to be true.” This is the ancestor of soothe; its meaning changed from “to assent to be true, say ‘yes’ to” to “humor by assenting, placate.” Doing the latter on occasion requires something less than the truth.

[Simply Puzzled]

Also, what were techniques of diviniation, psychics, and fortune telling used if anyone knows with Ancient Rome in the times of Julius Caesar?

The primary form of divination in ancient Rome was haurispicy, divination by entrails. One would make a sacrifice to the gods, and then pull out the liver. A highly trained seer would examine the liver for clues as to how the gods received the sacrifice as well as more mundane details such as who would win the battle the sacrifice was being performed for.

Not for everyone's tastes.

[Meadhbh]

In Roman times, an augur was someone who foretold the future by observing the flight of birds or by examining their entrails. A Latin derivative was the verb inaugurare "to foretell the future from the flight of birds", which was applied to the installation of someone in office after the appropriate omens had been determined; by the time it reached English as inaugurate, the association with the divination with birds had been forgotten. An ancient Roman priest, or auspex, was appointed to foretell or divine the future outcome of an important event by observing the flights of birds, listening to their songs, observing the food they ate, and by examining their internal organs.