Sortes (Latin singular:sors) were a frequent method ofdivination among theancient Romans.[1] The method involved thedrawing of lots (sortes) to obtain knowledge of future events: in many of the ancient Italian temples, the will of the gods was consulted in this way, as atPraeneste andCaere.[2]
Thesesortes or lots were usually little tablets or counters made of wood or other materials and were commonly thrown into asitella or urn, filled with water. The lots were sometimes thrown like dice.[3] The name of "sortes" was in fact given to anything used to determine chances,[4] and was also applied to any verbal response of an oracle.[5]
Various things were written upon the lots according to circumstances, as for instance the names of the persons using them. It seems to have been a favorite practice in later times to write the verses of illustrious poets upon little tablets and to draw them out of the urn like other lots; the verses which a person thus obtained being supposed to be applicable to him (seeSortes Homericae andSortes Vergilianae, lots created from verses ofHomer andVirgil).[6]
In the Biblical account of the prophetJonah, he is thrown into the sea and swallowed by the fish after the sailors on the ship cast lots to determine the guilty one who had brought about the storm.[7] It was also the practice to consult the poets in the same way asMuslims do theQuran andHafiz, and manyChristians theBible, namely, by opening the book at random and applying the first passage that struck the eye to a person's own immediate circumstances.[8] This practice was common among theearly Christians, who substituted the Bible and thePsalter forHomer andVirgil. Many church councils repeatedly condemned theseSortes Sanctorum (sacred lots), as they were called.[9]
TheSibylline Books were probably also consulted in this way. Those who foretold future events by lots were calledSortilegi.[10]
Thesortes convivales were sealed tablets, which were sold at entertainments, and upon being opened or unsealed entitled the purchaser to things of very unequal value.[11] They were, therefore, a kind ofraffle.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Smith, William, ed. (1870). "Sortes".Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities. London: John Murray.