| Abstrakt: |
Abstract: This article is devoted to the origins and the main stages of development of Greek and Latine palmistry from Classical Antiquity until the early Renaissance. Chiromantic treatises have been preserved only in some medieval manuscripts (Greek as well as Latine), but the analysis of their terminology and basic principles of interpretation indicates that they were made acccording to ancient patterns. This is almost certainly true of Greek chiromantic treatise called Prognostikon, and it is also likely for a group of more sophisticated Latin writings which do not follow closely the older folk literature of the same type and which - in addition to possible Jewish and Arabic influences - probably integrate something of the ancient tradition. A passage in Aristotle, which proves the existence of chiromancy already in the 4th century BCE, also strongly influenced the form of later chiromantic literature (especially in the Middle Ages). Whether the ancient Greek palmistry was somehow marked by older civilizations, where the technique of divination is documented (China, India, Mesopotamia), could not be demonstrated. |
