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Lecanomancy in Greece (1)

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Topics (move over topic to see place in topic list) Lecanomancy 05 Scientific knowledge and scholarly lore 05.03 Mantic 05.03.02 Lecanomancy Mesopotamian loanwords in Greek 11 Language, communication, libraries and education 11.01 Imperial languages 11.01.05 Shared linguistic items and features 11.01.05.05 Mesopotamian loanwords 11.01.05.05.02 Mesopotamian loanwords in Greek	Keywords omens
Period Neo-Assyrian Empire	Channel No channel specified

Text
The divination by ‘lecanomancy’ constituted a special art, whether in the pouring of oil onto water or the sprinkling of flour onto liquid. The liquids were poured out on a dish, Greek lekane, a word which is cognate with Akkadian lahannu and Aramaic laqnu. “To pour vinegar and flour into same glass” and to watch their movements is mentioned by Aeschylus in Agamemnon 322. Such practices did not become as prominent as liver augury in Greece.

Source (list of abbreviations) (source links will open in a new browser window)
Aeschylus, Agamemnon 322

Bibliography

Burkert 1992, 53	Burkert, Walter. The Orientalizing Revolution. Near Eastern Influence on Greek Culture in the Early Archaic Period. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press 1992.
Dalley and Reyes 1998, 100	Dalley, S. and A. T. Reyes. “Mesopotamian Contact and Influence in the Greek World.” In: S. Dalley (ed.). The Legacy of Mesopotamia. Oxford: Oxford University Press 1998, 85-124.

Amar Annus

URL for this entry: http://www.aakkl.helsinki.fi/melammu/database/gen_html/a0000766.php

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