Editing Divination (section)

====Oracles and Greek divination====
{{See also|Oracle|Greek divination}}
Both oracles and seers in ancient Greece practiced divination. [[Oracle#Greece|Oracles]] were the conduits for the gods on earth; their prophecies were understood to be the will of the gods verbatim. Because of the high demand for oracle consultations and the oracles’ limited work schedule, they were not the main source of divination for the ancient Greeks. That role fell to the seers ({{Langx|el|μάντεις}}).<ref name="Princeton Classics">{{cite web | title=The Seer in Ancient Greece | website=Princeton Classics | url=https://classics.princeton.edu/research/bookshelf/seer-ancient-greece | access-date=28 November 2022}}</ref>

Seers were not in direct contact with the gods; instead, they were interpreters of signs provided by the gods. Seers used many methods to explicate the will of the gods including [[extispicy]], [[ornithomancy]], etc. They were more numerous than the oracles and did not keep a limited schedule; thus, they were highly valued by all Greeks, not just those with the capacity to travel to [[Delphi]] or other such distant sites.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Flower|first=Michael A.|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/290580029|title=The seer in ancient Greece|date=2008|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-93400-9|location=Berkeley|oclc=290580029}}</ref>

The disadvantage of seers was that only direct yes-or-no questions could be answered. Oracles could answer more generalized questions, and seers often had to perform several sacrifices in order to get the most consistent answer. For example, if a general wanted to know if the omens were proper for him to advance on the enemy, he would ask his seer both that question and if it were better for him to remain on the defensive. If the seer gave consistent answers, the advice was considered valid.{{citation needed|date=November 2019}}

During battle, generals would frequently ask seers at both the [[campground]] (a process called the ''hiera'') and at the [[battle]]field (called the ''sphagia''). The hiera entailed the seer slaughtering a sheep and examining its liver for answers regarding a more generic question; the sphagia involved killing a young female goat by slitting its throat and noting the animal's last movements and blood flow. The battlefield sacrifice only occurred when two armies prepared for battle against each other. Neither force would advance until the seer revealed appropriate [[omen]]s.{{citation needed|date=November 2019}}

Because the seers had such power over influential individuals in ancient Greece, many were skeptical of the accuracy and honesty of the seers. The degree to which seers were honest depends entirely on the individual seers. Despite the doubt surrounding individual seers, the craft as a whole was well regarded and trusted by the Greeks,<ref>Flower, Michael Attyah. ''The Seer in Ancient Greece.'' Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008.</ref> and the [[Stoicism|Stoics]] accounted for the validity of divination in their [[Stoic physics#Divination|physics]].