A mantis was an independent, itinerant Greek diviner and interpreter of omens, sacrificial entrails and dreams, distinct from the fixed institutional priesthoods attached to a temple or oracular sanctuary. Manteis such as the legendary Calchas and Teiresias and the historical Iamidae and Klytiadai dynasties of seers accompanied armies and advised individuals and states, reading signs on the spot rather than transmitting a god's answer through the fixed apparatus of a shrine such as Delphi.
Facts
Status
Status TodayHistorical; not practised continuously 1 Current StatusThe role has no institutional continuity in the modern era and is known today only through classical literary and epigraphic sources. 1 Origins
Origin of the NameThe Greek word mantis, seer, is the root of English words such as necromancy, and gives its name, through a later folk association with its raised forelimbs, to the praying mantis insect. 1 Significance
Sacred RolePracticed independent divination, reading sacrificial entrails, bird omens and dreams, in contrast to the fixed sanctuary oracles such as Delphi. 1 Cross-Tradition Connections
Belongs to Tradition
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