Ancient Greek Divination Series #1: Astragaloi
Basically, they’re Ancient dice with only four sides!
Made of sheep, cow or goat knucklebones (also called the pastern bones of the hind legs) or ceramic replicas of them
They were cast onto a table or dice tray. This tray was set on a table in front of an image of a god/goddess, usually Apollon or Hermes.
Just as dice were used for games, so were astragaloi.
The sides of an astragalos
Narrow face; s-shaped depression
Somewhat flat, irregular surface
Rounder, slightly cylindrical, broad face
How to do an astragaloi reading
Questions asked are usually asking for advice. Both formats of the divination are more complex than yes/no.
There are at least two ways to do readings, based on two sources: Oracle Bones Divination: The Greek I Ching by Kostas Dervenis (questionable title, but useful book), and John Opsopaus’ book Oracle of Apollo and website. I personally prefer to use Dervenis’ system for astragaloi. I just read a source I’ll mention later so this is subject to change.
○ Roll 5 astragaloi or one astragalos 5x
○ Read numerical value of downward (Opsopaus) or topmost (implied in Dervenis) face
○ You can mark the faces with pips or alphabet too
○ Add #s of downward faces of all 5 “rolls”
○ Roll with hands, dice cup, or dice tower
○ You can blow into hand after u pick up lots to inspire divination
○ Add numbers of topmost faces of all 5 rolls
○ Look up the answer by the total number obtained in his book, and by the exact number of each side (i.e. 3 khios, 1 huptios, and 1 pranes)
Reconstructionist astragaloi
We don’t know a lot about how astragaloi were actually used, but we have the possible answers from engravings. Opsopaus references this but seems to take a lot of liberties.
iThis is a table I made from Fritz Graf’s chapter “Rolling the Dice for an Answer” in Mantikê edited by Sarah Iles Johnston and Peter T. Struck.
Tips for using astragaloi
If you use real bones, make sure to thank the animal for the bones! Perhaps also a deity (Artemis, maybe?).
You can also make them from wood/clay!
Sources and further reading
Fritz Graf’s chapter “Rolling the Dice for an Answer” in Mantikê edited by Sarah Iles Johnston and Peter T. Struck
Oracle of Apollo by John Opsopaus
Oracle Bones Divination: The Greek I Ching by Kostas Dervenis
Other images: dice and astragaloi, painted astragalos. Knucklebone sides from Dervenis’ book, and girl playing with astragaloi from Wikimedia Commons
