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No. 3, Solved Precis CSS 2022

The ancient Greeks sought to understand the wishes of their gods through signs and soothsayers who predicted the future using various omens. Prophets, often women, would enter trances to relay divine messages, with oracles serving as sacred sites for guidance. The most notable oracle was at Delphi, associated with Apollo, while the oldest was at Dodona, linked to Zeus, reflecting the significance of these practices in Greek life and religion.

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143 views1 page

No. 3, Solved Precis CSS 2022

The ancient Greeks sought to understand the wishes of their gods through signs and soothsayers who predicted the future using various omens. Prophets, often women, would enter trances to relay divine messages, with oracles serving as sacred sites for guidance. The most notable oracle was at Delphi, associated with Apollo, while the oldest was at Dodona, linked to Zeus, reflecting the significance of these practices in Greek life and religion.

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hasnain kazmee
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Precis (CSS) 2022

Original Passage

The fear of human beings when faced with the mysteries of life and their weakness by comparison with
the vastness of nature created in them a need to communicate with the divine, with the superior powers
which they believed regulated the universe and determined their own fates. Knowledge of wishes of the
gods was always a sure guide for human behavior. In ancient Greece, the precise nature of these wishes
was ‘decoded’ by the art of giving oracles, practiced by soothsayers who had the gift of understanding
the signs or signals sent by the gods.

The soothsayers uttered their oracles by interpreting flashes of lightening, rolls of thunder or the flights
of certain birds of prey (omens); alternatively, they might observe the direction in which the fire burned
when a sacrifice was made, examine the entrails of animals which had just been sacrificed, or base
judgments on the sacrificial beast’s willingness to approach the altar. The interpretation of dreams was
popular too, and so was palmistry. The most notable soothsayers of ancient Greece were Tiresias,
Calchas, Helenus, Amphiaraus and Cassandra.

However, there were abundant instances in which the gods did not manifest themselves to the faithful in
the forms of signs but spoke directly to an intermediate who for a short time was overcome by a ‘divine
mania’ and transcended his own human essence. Here the prophet- or more usually the prophetess-
entered a state of ecstasy in which he or she delivered the message from the gods to the suppliants.

These practices for foreseeing the future were the basis on which the ancient Greek oracles operated.
Each oracle was located within a properly-organized sanctuary and was directly associated with one or
other of the gods. Apollo was the archetypal soothsayer for the Greeks, the god who was responsible for
conveying to mortals the decisions pronounced by Zeus. The most important of all the oracles, that at
the Delphi, delivered the messages with the intervention of Apollo, while the oldest that of Dodona,
functioned with the assistance of Zeus.

Precis

Title: Oracles and Fortune-Telling in Ancient Greece

The ancient Greeks believed that gods controlled their lives and looked for signs to understand their
wishes. Soothsayers predicted the future by watching lightning, bird movements, and animal sacrifices.
Some prophets, often women, went into a deep trance to deliver messages from the gods. Oracles were
special temples where people went for advice, with Apollo being the main god of prophecy. The most
famous oracle was at Delphi, while the oldest was at Dodona, linked to Zeus. These beliefs and practices
were an important part of Greek life and religion.

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