---
title: "Research examines ancient methods of predicting the future"
url: "https://usubjects.com/article/research-examines-ancient-methods-of-predicting-the-future-4152"
updated: "2026-10-14T16:09:32.074Z"
description: "The post reports on research into ancient methods of predicting the future, said to have been uncovered after roughly 1,800 years. The provided material does not include details about the discovery, methods, researchers, or any connection to UFO or paranormal phenomena."
sources: ["https://www.abovethenormnews.com/2026/10/13/ancient-instructions-for-predicting-the-future/"]
licence: "All rights reserved"
---

# Research examines ancient methods of predicting the future

Published: 2026-10-13  
Source: [r/abovethenormnews](https://www.abovethenormnews.com/2026/10/13/ancient-instructions-for-predicting-the-future/)

### Discovery at Kibyra

An inscription discovered beneath the ruins of the ancient city of Kibyra in southwestern Türkiye is offering researchers an unusually detailed look at how people in the Roman imperial period sought guidance about the future. According to research published on **October 7, 2026**, the limestone monument preserves 56 separate oracles—short prophetic messages linked to numerical combinations, deities and prescribed rituals.

The monument was found in 2024, but its full significance has only recently been identified. Archaeologists **Şenkal Kileci, Nihal Tüner Önen and Şükrü Özüdoğru** examined inscriptions carved across all four sides of the stone. Together, the texts describe a structured system in which people could pose questions about illness, finances, travel, personal decisions and the return of absent loved ones.

### How the Oracle Worked

The system relied on five small ankle bones from animals, generally sheep or goats. Known as **astragaloi**, or knucklebones, the bones had four usable faces. Each face was assigned one of four numerical values—one, three, four or six—and the combined result of a throw corresponded to one of the 56 messages on the monument.

The process appears to have transformed a random throw into an answer believed to reflect divine guidance. Rather than offering a single universal prediction, the monument provided different instructions depending on the numerical combination. Some responses promised recovery, happiness or success, while others warned against travel, commercial transactions or major undertakings.

### Gods, Warnings and Promises

Several of the messages were associated with prominent figures from the ancient Greek religious tradition, including **Zeus and Hermes**. One oracle attributed to Olympian Zeus described a throw producing five ones as favourable, promising good judgment and happiness. It also instructed the recipient to honour Aphrodite and Hermes.

Other combinations were considerably less encouraging. Some told the questioner to abandon a proposed journey or avoid buying and selling. A person seeking reassurance about an important decision could therefore receive an instruction to delay or withdraw rather than proceed. The inscriptions show that ancient divination was not necessarily designed to confirm a desired course of action; it could also serve as a formal warning.

### A Window Into Ancient Beliefs

The texts also connect the Kibyra system with a wider Anatolian tradition of knucklebone divination. Researchers have compared the newly identified inscriptions with other surviving prophetic verses, including messages associated with the **Moirai**, the divine powers traditionally understood to govern human destiny.

One such oracle describes the arrival of darkness and advises abandoning an undertaking rather than continuing with a commercial transaction. Another tradition linked to Hermes warns a traveller not to proceed toward a destination and recommends remaining where they are until danger has passed. These examples reflect a worldview in which the future was not entirely unknowable, but could be approached through ritual, chance and appeals to divine authority.

### Historical Significance

The Kibyra monument is important because it preserves not only evidence that divination took place, but also the **actual wording of the answers** that participants may have encountered. It therefore provides a rare view of the practical and emotional dimensions of ancient prophecy: hope for recovery, anxiety about travel, concern over money and the desire to understand forces beyond human control.

The available source material does not identify the journal or publication in which the research appeared, nor does it provide additional details about the excavation or conservation of the monument. It does, however, indicate that the inscriptions represent a substantial surviving record of a structured prophetic practice dating to the Roman imperial period—more than 1,800 years after people first cast the bones and consulted the gods.

## Provenance

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