12. Lithomancy was the commonplace practice of predicting the future from the way tossed stones landed on the ground, and legend has it, the method predicted the Battle of Troy
For thousands of years, people have been trying to get a picture of what the future holds by looking at stones. In some cases, it was thought that the way stones tossed onto the ground came to rest could be interpreted as signs of what was to come; for instance, the pattern of stones could be seen to predict the outcome of future wars, love affairs or even more trivial matters. Alternatively, sometimes self-proclaimed seers look at how the light reflects off stones and then makes a premonition. Quite when the practice began is the source of debate. However, there are several clues that suggest that lithomancy was used in the ancient world.
In some ancient sources, it’s claimed that Helen of Troy foresaw the destruction of the legendary city of Troy after reading some stones. Meanwhile, Photius, the head of the Christian Church in Constantinople in the 9th century also wrote of the practice. The Orthodox saint reported that one of the leading physicians of his age, a man called Eusebius, would use lithomancy to predict the future, though we don’t know how accurate these predictions turned out to be. Over time, using stones for divination became increasingly less popular, usually replaced by tarot card readings.