divination

Examples of divination in the following topics:

• Etruscan Religion

  • The Etruscan belief system was heavily influenced by other religions in the region and placed heavy emphasis on the divination of the gods’ wills to guide human affairs.
  • The Etruscans did not attempt to rationalize or explain divine actions or intentions, but to simply divine what the gods’ wills were through an elaborate system of divination.
  • Therefore, the Etrusca Disciplina is mainly a set of rules for the conduct of all sorts of divination.
  • Divinations were conducted by priests, who the Romans called haruspices or sacerdotes.
  • In this way, the Etruscans placed special emphasis upon intimate contact with divinity, consulting with the gods and seeking signs from them before embarking upon a task.

• Shang Religion

  • Shang religion was characterized by a combination of animism, shamanism, spiritual control of the world, divination, and respect and worship of dead ancestors, including through sacrifices.
  • Shang religion was characterized by a combination of animism, shamanism, spiritual control of the world, divination, and respect and worship of dead ancestors, including through sacrifice.
  • In particular, the Shang kings, who considered themselves divine rulers, consulted the great god Shangdi (the "Supreme Being" who ruled over humanity and nature) for advice and wisdom.
  • The oldest surviving form of Chinese writing is inscriptions of divination records on the bones or shells of animals—so-called oracle bones.

• The Three Sovereigns

  • They used clay to create human figures, and with their divine power made the clay figures come alive.
  • Shennong, literally "divine farmer," taught agriculture to the settled peoples.

• Society Under the Zhou Dynasty

  • A number of important innovations took place during this period: the Zhou moved away from worship of Shangdi, the supreme god under the Shang, in favor of Tian ("heaven"); they legitimized rulers, through the Mandate of Heaven (divine right to rule);  they moved to a feudal system; developed Chinese philosophy; and made new advances in irrigation that allowed more intensive farming and made it possible for the lands of China to sustain larger populations.
  • These include The Book of History and The Book of Diviners, which was used by fortune tellers.

• Iconoclasm in Byzantium

  • The seventh century had been a period of major crisis for the Byzantine Empire, and believers had begun to lean more heavily on divine support.
  • The use of images of the holy increased in Orthodox worship, and these images increasingly came to be regarded as points of access to the divine.
  • Emperor Leo V the Armenian instituted a second period of Iconoclasm in 814 CE, again possibly motivated by military failures seen as indicators of divine displeasure.

• The Quran

  • He was concerned with the "ignorance of divine guidance" (Jahiliyyah), social unrest, injustice, widespread discrimination (particularly against women), fighting among tribes, and abuse of tribal authorities prevalent in pre-Islamic Arabia.
  • During this period Muhammad began to have dreams replete with spiritual significance that were fulfilled according to their true import; this was the commencement of his divine revelation.
  • Sahih al-Bukhari narrates Muhammad describing the revelations as, "Sometimes it is (revealed) like the ringing of a bell," and Aisha reported, "I saw the Prophet being inspired Divinely on a very cold day and noticed the sweat dropping from his forehead (as the Inspiration was over)."
  • Muhammad did not only warn those who rejected God's revelation, but also dispensed good news for those who abandoned evil, listening to the divine words and serving God.
  • Muslims regard the Quran as the most important miracle of Muhammad, the proof of his prophethood, and the culmination of a series of divine messages revealed by the angel Gabriel from 609–632 CE.

• Religion in the Inca Empire

  • Golden disks were commonly displayed at temples across the Inca Empire and were also associated with the ruling emperor, who was supposed to be a direct descendent of Inti, and divinely powerful.
  • Inti ordered these children, named Manco Cápac, and Mama Ocllo, to descend from the sky and onto earth with a divine golden wedge.
  • She was incorporated as a lower divine entity.

• Ancient Egyptian Culture

  • Previously, literature served the purposes of maintaining divine cults, preserving souls in the afterlife, and documenting practical activities.

• Enlightened Despotism

  • Enlightened despots, inspired by the ideals of the Age of Enlightenment, held that royal power emanated not from divine right but from a social contract whereby a despot was entrusted with the power to govern in lieu of any other governments.
  • Enlightened despots held that royal power emanated not from divine right but from a social contract whereby a despot was entrusted with the power to govern in lieu of any other governments.

• Renaissance Writers

  • Love is a divine gift that redeems man in the eyes of God, and the poet's mistress is the angel sent from heaven to show the way to salvation.
  • His Divine Comedy, originally called Comedìa, and later christened Divina by Boccaccio, is widely considered the greatest literary work composed in the Italian language and a masterpiece of world literature.
  • He himself would even write in the Tuscan dialect for works such as The New Life (1295) and the aforementioned Divine Comedy; this choice, although highly unorthodox, set a hugely important precedent that later Italian writers such as Petrarch and Boccaccio would follow.