1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910462733003321

Autore

Raphals Lisa Ann <1951->

Titolo

Divination and prediction in early China and ancient Greece / / Lisa Raphals [[electronic resource]]

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Cambridge : , : Cambridge University Press, , 2013

ISBN

1-139-88839-0

1-107-28951-3

1-107-28905-X

1-107-29394-4

1-107-29115-1

1-107-29010-4

0-511-86323-3

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (xxviii, 470 pages) : digital, PDF file(s)

Disciplina

292.3/2

Soggetti

Divination - China

Divination - Greece

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

1. Introduction -- 2. Sources -- 3. Theorizing divination -- 4. Practitioners -- 5. Methods -- 6. The questions -- 7. Consultors -- 8. Mantic narratives -- 9. Divination and systematic thought -- 10. Conclusions.

Sommario/riassunto

Divination was an important and distinctive aspect of religion in both ancient China and ancient Greece, and this book will provide the first systematic account and analysis of the two side by side. Who practised divination in these cultures and who consulted it? What kind of questions did they ask, and what methods were used to answer those questions? As well as these practical aspects, Lisa Raphals also examines divination as a subject of rhetorical and political narratives, and its role in the development of systematic philosophical and scientific inquiry. She explores too the important similarities, differences and synergies between Greek and Chinese divinatory systems, providing important comparative evidence to reassess Greek oracular divination.