Hittites and their oracles: they believed in them, although they did not trust them

The aim of this article is to discuss the uncertainty and doubt in relationships between humans and gods in Hittite oracular practice, caused by the inaccuracy of the divination systems themselves. To achieve a more reliable system, the procedure demanded that different oracles were alternated in order to verify the outcome of previous investigations. Indeed, the Hittite diviners were well aware of the errorprone nature of their predictions given the features of their oracular systems and tried to avoid unforgivable misunderstandings. Their goal was to obtain previously unknown information, prevent incurring divine anger and avoid religious negligence.