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Ornithomancy is a method of divination that uses the behaviour of birds to predict the future, once widely practised by the people of the Ancient Mediterranean, among them the Greeks and Romans. It is rooted in the divine omniscience of the gods, who know everything including the outcome of future events, and are minded to communicate with mortals through signs such as the behaviour of animals.[1]
Prophesying by bird behaviour is first documented among the Hittites in Anatolia, modern-day Turkey, where texts on bird oracles have been found dating from the 13th or 14th century BCE. The interpreter of the birds’ behaviour is known as an augur. Among the factors considered significant are the direction of the bird’s flight, from where it appeared and where it is seen.[2]
In his comedy The Birds, the Ancient Greek playwright Aristophanes (c. 446 – c. 386 BCE) has the birds boasting that people rely on them to “foretell the future in every matter of business or love”.[1] The magpie counting song – “One for sorrow, two for joy …” – is a folklore remnant of ornithomancy.[3]
See also
- ScryingForm of divination in which the diviner gazes into a reflective surface, in which visions appear.
- Sortes BiblicaeMethod of divination used by some Christians to foretell the future by interpreting randomly chosen texts from the Bible.