PGM LXXV - Oracle Question to Soknopaios

This rectangular fragment of ancient papyrus features visible fiber patterns and several lines of Greek script written in black ink. The text is a formal petition used in a temple ritual to receive a divine 'yes' or 'no' answer from a deity regarding a financial matter. Such slips were often submitted to the temple in pairs—one positive and one negative—for the priest or god to select during the oracular process.

Part of the Papyri Graecae Magicae (PGM LXXV), this document provides direct evidence of divinatory practices in Greco-Roman Egypt. These ritual texts form the practical substrate of 'low magic' that existed alongside the 'high' philosophical Hermetica, together influencing the development of later Western esoteric traditions.