A Reconsideration of the Pythia’s Use of Lots

Abstract

This chapter interrogates the visual, material, and literary evidence used to support the argument that the Pythia used lots (stones, pebbles, beans, or other) at Delphi. In particular, it considers recent ethnographic descriptions of divinatory practices to challenge two scholarly assumptions that drive interpretation of this material. The first is that aleatory forms of divination at Delphi affirmed or denied a client’s question, and thus constrained or limited oracular responses. The second assumption is that ancient written records of Delphic divination are adequate guides to divinatory exchanges at Delphi. Recent ethnographic studies demonstrate that divinatory sessions, including those that incorporate the use of aleatory devices, are lengthy and even combative, and that most written descriptions of such sessions in earlier ethnographic literature omit details and are best understood as brief summaries. This review of the ancient evidence for the use of lots at Delphi, alongside such recent ethnographic studies, suggest the need for a renewed scrutiny of the relationship between ancient written accounts and divinatory sessions at Delphi and the notion that the goal of divinatory dialogues is to obtain as quickly as possible a simple, brief answer (such as an aleatory device is imagined to provide) to the complex and troubling problems that motivate divination.