Topic
Pyromancy
About: Pyromancy is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 3 publications have been published within this topic receiving 9 citations.
Papers
1 Jan 1990
TL;DR: The author argues that the question-and-answer format of many ancient oracles provides far more direct and more ‘democratic’ access to the will of deity or the way of things than do styles of consultation dependent on interpretative schemes which, because of their indirect nature, are accessible only to a small and privileged group.
Abstract: We all secretly venerate the ideal of a language which in the last analysis would deliver us from language by delivering us to things. M. Merleau-Ponty, The Prose of the World In a study published some years ago, J.-P. Vernant drew attention to the fundamental distinction Greek thought makes between spoken and all other modes of divination. It is a difference that reflects certain givens of ancient social and political structure, and that has its roots in the marked orientation of Greek society towards open discourse. What he has in mind as a paradigm of oral divination is the question-and-answer format of many ancient oracles. He argues that this provides far more direct and more ‘democratic’ access to the will of deity or the way of things than do styles of consultation dependent on interpretative schemes which, because of their indirect nature, are accessible only to a small and privileged group. The fine art of pyromancy, for instance, deploys a framework of transformational rules and techniques whose complexity removes the interpretation of ‘fire signs’ ( empura sēmata ) from the realm of ordinary skills and makes it instead the special province of a priestly caste, such as that of the Iamidai at Olympia.
8 citations
1 Jan 2013
1 citations
1 Jan 2011
TL;DR: A treatise on scapulimancy is found in the Bosna-Hersek Gazi HusrevBegova Library (Sarayevo), the Catalogue of Turkish Manuscripts, number 1250, (55b-59a) as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Throught history, human beings have always been interested in trying to predict their future. Many methods for predicting the future were developed such as fortunetelling or divination. Fortune-telling is the forecasting of future events or the explaining of a person’s character by methods. The scope of fortune-telling is in principle identical with the practice of divination. The art of foretelling is also practiced by many different cultures and civilizations over time. Each culture has made its own contributions to the art of forecasting the future. There are different divination or fortune-telling methods: hydromancy (divination using water), cartomancy (telling fortunes using playing cards), pyromancy (divination using fire), haruspication (divination by inspecting animal entrails), chiromancy (divination by means of palmistry), scapulimancy (divination by examining burnt shoulder blade bone) etc. Scapulimancy or Scapulomancy is an ancient form of divination that is done to interpret various future affairs by examining the cracks, marks, and colours found on an animal’s shoulder blade bone. This form of divination is a fortune-telling which was practised internationally was common in Turkish culture as well. This study focuses on the treatise on scapulimancy titled as “Risāle-i ˘Ilm-i Ketf”. This treatise is in the Bosna-Hersek Gazi HusrevBegova Library (Sarayevo), the Catalogue of Turkish Manuscripts, the number 1250, (55b-59a).
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Performance Metrics
| Year | Papers |
|---|---|
| 2013 | 1 |
| 2011 | 1 |
| 1990 | 1 |