The Short Introduction
The recent release of the movie The Odyssey by Cristopher Nolan has created a renewed interest in the epic poem written by Homer 2700 years ago. Book sales are up and people are talking about one of the oldest stories in western culture with great zeal.
An Interesting fact about the Odyssey and the Iliad (the other extant great epic poem attributed to Homer) that is not well known is that they were both used by our ancient predecessors as tools of prophecy. Seen as divinely inspired writings they were regularly used for bibliomantic prediction. Bibliomancy is the ancient art of selecting random passages of a given book or text to answer all kinds of questions on may have regarding the past, present or future. This form of divination is still a very popular one – the difference being that nowadays some of the books that are commonly used are the Bible, Alice in Wonderland or even one of Philip K. Dick’s books.
As the use of the two poems as tools of divination grew in popularity some unknown ancient innovator came up with the idea to make the entire process of divination a little more user-friendly. Instead of having to unroll one of the large scrolls to identify a random passage in the text one could now conveniently consult with the Homer Oracle (aka. Homeromanteion) to get an answer to the question at hand.
The Homer Oracle is a dice-based divination system that consists of a list of 216 random lines of text quoted from the Odyssey and Iliad that is found in the PGM VII.1 – 148. The PGM VII is a Greek magical papyrus that belongs to a collection of extant ancient papyri found in Egypt that have been compiled by Hans Dieter Betz into a single volume entitled The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation.
The procedure of consulting the Homer Oracle is quite simple: a die is thrown three times. Each of the three derived numbers between 1 and 6 is noted down according to the following notation scheme: if the first throw is a four, the second a six and the third a three one would note 4 – 6 – 3. Next one would find the answer to one’s question by locating the Homeric quote associated with this number combination in the list. Simple and easy to use indeed.
The Practical Application
If you wish to consult the Homer Oracle you may follow a simple five-step protocol which is endowed with a slight theurgical flavor as outlined below.
STEP I: CALL UPON APOLLO
First invoke the presence of fair Apollo – the luminous god or oracular prophecy and healing – by reciting this hymn written by Jennifer Lawrence (as found on page 36/7 in With Lyre and Bow: A Devotional in Honor of Apollo published by the Bibliotheca Alexandrina):
Hail Apollo, Son of Zeus, Son of Leto!
Today let me sing of Your glories,
You whose brightness fills the world,
you who slew the monstrous Python and
made his cave of hidden knowledge
Your holy place of wisdom and foresight.
You whose golden arrows soar from far-off Delos,
striking down the impious, the blasphemous,
the wicked and the greedy, inhospitable,
and those consumed with arrogance.
Leader of those gifted and bounteous Muses,
You who all arts praise and celebrate,
we greet You with gladness and reverence,
with awe stealing the breath from our throats,
and with gratitude for all You have given us.
You, whose merest touch heals our injuries,
You whose kindness binds our wounds,
and chases the pestilent sicknesses from our frames,
stems the flow of blood when we are hurt,
and in whose name temples of healing were raised.
Let us bring wine and barley to celebrate Your name,
let us garland the doorways and burn frankincense,
crown Your statues with laurel boughs,
let us sing to You so long as there
is breath in our lungs, blood in our veins,
and let every gladsome and joyous thought we know
come back around to You at last.
O Apollo: Phoebus, Musagetes, Aegletes,
Lyceus, Helius, Cynthius, Acesius, Iatrus,
Apotropaeus and Genetor, Manticus, Hecaërgus:
For each name, a story, a song, and praise,
And all of them I offer to You.
STEP II: ASK THE QUESTION
Next ask your question: let it be clear, concise and to the point.
STEP III: FIND THE ANSWER
Then consult the Homer Oracle on the following website:
STEP IV: INTERPRET THE ORACLE
Having received the answer to your question continue with the interpretation of the oracular pronouncement. This step can be very tricky indeed. Take your time and proceed with care.
STEP V: SAY THANK YOU
Finally, in your own words, thank Apollo for his kind guidance and support.
The In-depth Exploration
If you want to do any further research on this topic, you may start by consulting these three books:
The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation
Edited by Hans Dieter Betz
Oracles of Homer and the Bones
By John Opsopaus
By Palamas
A further interesting fact about Homer’s epic poems: the other six!