Signs and Meanings Divination and the Production of Knowledge in Jewish Antiquity

Signs and Meanings explores the range of divinatory techniques that appear in Jewish texts of the Greco-Roman era, from lot oracles and death oracles to human physiognomy and use of the Scriptures. Pushing back against the view of divination as irrational and superstitious, Hanna Tervanotko looks beyond the Hebrew Bible to a broader range of ancient Jewish texts, including the Dead Sea Scrolls and the pseudepigrapha, and draws on anthropological frameworks that consider divination as a knowledge system in its own right. Considering Jewish divinatory practices in the broader context of ancient Eastern Mediterranean and Near Eastern cultures, this book demonstrates that ancient Jews did not live in isolation from neighboring cultures, but rather on a cultural continuum within the ancient Eastern Mediterranean world. This book focuses on individuals instead of institutions, highlighting marginalized people—including women—and lived traditions that show the efficacy of these ancient practices even in today's world. Tervanotko's lived religion approach provides a fuller and more equitable representation of divinatory practices in the ancient world.