[1] The method involved the drawing of lots (sortes) to obtain knowledge of future events: in many of the ancient Italian temples, the will of the gods was consulted in this way, as at Praeneste and Caere.
[2] These sortes or lots were usually little tablets or counters made of wood or other materials and were commonly thrown into a sitella or urn, filled with water.
[6] In the Biblical account of the prophet Jonah, he is thrown into the sea and swallowed by the fish after the sailors on the ship cast lots to determine the guilty one who had brought about the storm.
[7] It was also the practice to consult the poets in the same way as Muslims do the Quran and Hafiz, and many Christians the Bible, namely, by opening the book at random and applying the first passage that struck the eye to a person's own immediate circumstances.
[10] The sortes convivales were sealed tablets, which were sold at entertainments, and upon being opened or unsealed entitled the purchaser to things of very unequal value.