divination
divination A supposed method of obtaining information. Divination was widely practised in the ancient world. In 5th–4th cent.
BCE Greece the priestess, called Pythia, uttered
oracles at Delphi after inhaling the vapour believed to contain the revelations of the god Apollo. Other divinations were made by observing the flight of
birds or scrutinizing the liver of slaughtered animals. Paul and
Silas encountered a slave girl who had a
spirit of divination (‘soothsayer’, NJB) at
Philippi (Acts 16: 16 ff.). In
Greek, the girl is said to be possessed by ‘a spirit, a
python’; she may have even been a ventriloquist, or possibly she gave utterances while in a state of trance.
Forms of divination were certainly practised in Israel, as when the people ‘enquired of the
Lord’ after the death of
Joshua (Judg. 1: 1), and
Urim and
Thummim were the means of communication of oracles. The disclosure of the divine will by
dreams is common in both OT and NT, but divination is strongly condemned both in the OT (e.g. 1 Sam. 15: 23) and in the NT (Acts 19: 19). The reason is that believers have immediate
access to God and have no need of intermediaries or magical devices to discover what his will is. (Divination pretends to ascertain the future or the deity's will; magic to change it.)
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Let the people speak.
Magazine article from: Calliope; 11/1/2006; ; 700+ words
; ...reforms of the Athenian tyrant Pisistratus that led to democracy Athenian...to correct Athens' problems, Pisistratus seized power. In contrast to...policy of rule by the wealthiest, Pisistratus established himself as the champion...
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Analysis: Phenomenon of tyrannical leaders passing on their legacy to even more tyrannical children
Transcript from: NPR Weekend Edition - Saturday; 7/26/2003; ; 700+ words
; ...beautiful symmetry between the tyranny story of Rome that I've just mentioned and the sons of the tyrant Pisistratus in Athens. Pisistratus had two sons that I think of as Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee, Hippias and Hipparchus. And it was the lustful...
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On the Acropolis.(Poem)
Magazine article from: American Scholar; 9/22/2002; ; 700+ words
; ...subject of the Acropolis. I buy a few down below, on the city's streets, HELLAS KOMIKS and E PARTONIKI. The tyrant Pisistratus used it for a fortress To boss the life-loving Athenians until five hundred twenty-seven B.C. At which time there...
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 "Wisconsin State Journal (Madison, WI)")
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TO THE LETTER 26 WAYS TO INCREASE YOUR OVERTURE KNOWLEDGE BASE.(OVERTURE: A CONTEMPORARY MADISON FAIRY TALE)
Newspaper article from: Wisconsin State Journal (Madison, WI); 9/12/2004; 700+ words
; ...Best father-son jazz duo in town. T is for Thespis, the supposed founder of tragedy during the sixth century B.C. Pisistratus is the tyrant who founded the tragic festival during the same century. U is for Unction, not necessary upon entering Overture...
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Homer, 'The Iliad' and all that epic jazz
Newspaper article from: Chicago Sun-Times; 5/14/2004; ; 700+ words
; ...committed to paper (or papyrus or stone tablets or whatever they wrote on back then), supposedly by order of Athenian overlord Pisistratus, who established Athens' first library. Under his new edict, visiting bards and singers had to perform the epic, or...
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Fatted calif.(Princess Diana and celebrity worship)(Column)
Magazine article from: Harper's Magazine; 11/1/1997; ; 700+ words
; ...gold," and then, after pouring the lustral water and scattering the barley meal, the women shrill their cry, and noble Pisistratus slashes the heifer's throat, Dark blood gushed forth, life ebbed from her limbs -- they quartered her quickly, cut...
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Modern theorist of tyranny? Lessons from Rousseau's system of checks and balances *.(Jean-Jacques Rousseau)
Magazine article from: Polity; 10/1/2005; ; 700+ words
; ...interchangeably with "king," although as Rousseau himself notes, it was most commonly used to describe rulers such as Pisistratus who usurped political power illegitimately, regardless of whether they used that power for the common benefit of all or...
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Don't dismiss celebrity culture. It contains deeper truths
Newspaper article from: The Independent - London; 10/30/2009; ; 700+ words
; ...would hold parties at which he was once 'host and guest'.... You could even have sex with a goddess." The tyrant Pisistratus typically found a gorgeous woman, put her in a chariot, and announced she was the goddess Athene. The crowd howled and...
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Arts groups merit public as well as private support.
Magazine article from: Westchester County Business Journal; 12/5/2005; 700+ words
; ...supporting the arts isn't an American idea. Like many good ideas, it began with the ancient Greeks. The Athenian ruler Pisistratus (ca. 607-528 B.C.) used the public payroll to support sculptors, poets and artists like those who brought the words...
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A walk through Athens, then and now.(FEATURES)(TRAVEL)
Newspaper article from: The Christian Science Monitor; 2/25/2004; 700+ words
; ...lonely shafts stand over a fallen comrade whose marble drums are splayed like tipped dominoes. Construction began under Pisistratus the Younger in 515 BC, and continued for more than 600 years. In AD 132, the Roman emperor Hadrian arrived in Athens to...
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Pisistratus
Book article from: World Encyclopedia
Pisistratus ( c. 605–527 bc) Athenian ruler. He became leader of the popular party in Athens. He seized control by force in...
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Athens
Book article from: The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition
...Roman forum; the temple of Zeus or Olympieum (begun under Pisistratus in the 6th cent. BC and completed in the 2d cent. AD under...Athens came under (560-511 BC) the rule of the tyrant Pisistratus and his sons Hippias and Hipparchus . During this period...
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Peisistratus
Book article from: The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition
Peisistratus see Pisistratus .
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tyrant
Book article from: The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition
...and the 6th cent. BC was the time of the tyrants Cleisthenes of Sicyon in the Peloponnesus, Polycrates of Samos, and Pisistratus of Athens, followed by his sons Hipparchus and Hippias . The tyrants of Sicily were the products of more or less the same...
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ostracism
Book article from: The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition
...ostracism , ancient Athenian method of banishing a public figure. It was introduced after the fall of the family of Pisistratus . Each year the assembly took a preliminary vote to decide whether a vote of ostracism should be held. If a majority...
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