14. Alectyomancy was weirdly popular – people really believed that roosters could predict the future by pecking away at a circle of corn
Roosters have been used to predict the future in a number of different cultures over the millennia. But arguably nobody put so much faith in the birds’ ability as the Romans. They inherited the Etruscan practice of alectryomancy and then made it their own. Before a major decision was made, including matters of public policy, the different letters of the alphabet would be drawn in the sand in a circle, with a grain of rice on top of each one. Then, a rooster would be tied up in the middle of the circle. A seer would then write down the letters in the order the bird pecked at the corn above them.
According to the ancient historians, this method was used to identify criminals, with the birds trusted to name thieves, for example. Roosters would also be taken on campaigns by the Roman Army. They would be fed on the eve of a battle. If the birds pecked away with such vigor that the grain was falling out of their mouths as they ate, this was taken as a sign that the Romans would be victorious. At the same time, expert seers would also claim that they could divine the future by reading tell-tale signs in roosters’ feathers, as well as in the organs and bones of butchered birds.