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[10]

On descending from Bura towards the sea you come to a river called Buraicus, and to a small Heracles in a cave. He too is surnamed Buraicus, and here one can divine by means of a tablet and dice. He who inquires of the god offers up a prayer in front of the image, and after the prayer he takes four dice, a plentiful supply of which are placed by Heracles, and throws them upon the table. For every figure made by the dice there is an explanation expressly written on the tablet.1

1 I am very uncertain about the meaning of this passage. Frazer's note shows that divination by dice usually took the form of interpreting the sequences of numbers obtained by throwing several dice on to a board. This cannot be the meaning here, as σχῆμα can hardly denote a number on the face of a die, and in any case ἐξήγησιν τοῦ σχήματος must mean “explanation of the shape.” I have accordingly adopted the emendation ἀστραγάλων, but ἐπίτηδες seems to have no point. Frazer, reading apparently ἐπὶ δὲ παντὶ ἀστραγάλῳ σχῆμά τι κ.τ.ἕ, translates: “Each die has a certain figure marked upon it, and the meaning of each figure is explained on the tablet.”

Pausanias. Pausanias Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918.

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    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), ACHA´IA
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