CSS 2022 Solved Precis

• Soothsayer (Noun)
  • Meaning: A person believed to possess the ability to interpret divine signs and foretell future events
  • Contextual Explanation: The passage describes soothsayers as those with "the gift of understanding the signs or signals sent by the gods," meaning they served as human interpreters who decoded divine intentions through natural and sacrificial signs in ancient Greece.
• Entrails (Noun)
  • Meaning: The internal organs of an animal, particularly the intestines, examined after sacrifice
  • Contextual Explanation: The passage states that soothsayers would "examine the entrails of animals which had just been sacrificed," meaning the internal organs of slaughtered animals were read as a method of understanding the gods' wishes.
• Palmistry (Noun)
  • Meaning: The practice of reading the lines and features of the palm to foretell a person's future or character
  • Contextual Explanation: The passage lists palmistry alongside dream interpretation as additional popular techniques through which soothsayers sought to access divine will beyond the reading of natural and sacrificial signs.
• Suppliants (Noun)
  • Meaning: People who approach humbly, especially worshippers seeking divine guidance or assistance
  • Contextual Explanation: The passage describes the prophet delivering "the message from the gods to the suppliants," meaning the worshippers who had come to the oracle seeking divine knowledge about their lives or circumstances.

• Ecstasy (Noun)

  • Meaning: A state of altered consciousness in religious contexts, understood as divine possession through which a person becomes a channel for supernatural communication

  • Contextual Explanation: The passage describes the prophet entering "a state of ecstasy" in which she delivered the gods' messages, meaning a trance-like condition of divine possession that allowed the human intermediary to transcend ordinary consciousness.

• Archetypal (Adjective)
  • Meaning: Representing the most complete or original example of a particular kind; the definitive model from which all others are understood
  • Contextual Explanation: The passage calls Apollo "the archetypal soothsayer for the Greeks," meaning he was the ultimate divine model of prophecy: the god who most completely embodied the role of conveying divine will to human beings.

This passage is about the origins and methods of divine communication in ancient Greece, tracing how human fear and weakness before nature gave rise to the institution of oracle-giving. The writer's purpose is to explain this development, from the psychological need to know the gods' will, through the two methods of accessing it (soothsaying through signs and direct ecstatic prophecy), to its organised expression in the great sanctuaries of Delphi and Dodona.

Main Idea of the Passage

• The origins and methods of divine communication in ancient Greek religious practice
  • Driven by fear of life's mysteries and a sense of weakness before nature, the ancient Greeks developed an elaborate system of oracles through which divine will was communicated and institutionalised these practices in sanctuaries associated with specific gods.

Supporting Ideas Helping the Main Idea

• Human fear of life's mysteries and weakness before nature as the psychological origin of the need for divine communication
  • Human fear of life's mysteries and a sense of weakness before the vastness of nature created the need to communicate with divine powers believed to control the universe and determine human fate.
• Soothsayers decoding divine will through natural signs, sacrificial observations, dreams, and palmistry
  • In ancient Greece, soothsayers decoded the gods' wishes through oracles, interpreting natural signs, sacrificial observations, dreams, and palmistry to understand divine will.
• The alternative method of direct divine communication through a prophet in ecstatic trance
  • Alternatively, the gods sometimes communicated not through signs but directly through a prophet who, overcome by divine ecstasy, transcended ordinary human nature to deliver messages to those seeking guidance.
• The institutionalisation of divination practices in organised oracular sanctuaries associated with specific deities
  • These practices of foreseeing the future formed the basis of the ancient Greek oracles, each organised within a sacred sanctuary and associated with a specific deity.
• Apollo and Delphi as the most important oracles, and Zeus and Dodona as the oldest
  • Apollo, the chief soothsaying god who conveyed Zeus's decisions to mortals, was associated with the most important oracle at Delphi, while the oldest oracle, at Dodona, operated through Zeus.

Confused About Main and Supporting Ideas?

If you are still struggling to identify the main idea and supporting ideas of a precis passage, please make sure to revise all Precis Writing lectures that I have already delivered. These lectures were designed to build your understanding from the very basics to the advanced techniques required in CSS and PMS examinations.

• What a precis is and why examiners ask it.
• How to read and analyse a precis passage effectively.
• How to identify the main idea of a passage.
• How to distinguish supporting ideas from examples, illustrations, and minor details.
• What a Precis Map is and how to build it before writing.
• How to coordinate the main idea and supporting ideas logically.
• Etc. 

Moreover, please revise the 20 to 30 solved examples shared in the WhatsApp groups during your English Essay and Precis Course. These examples clearly demonstrate the Dos and Don’ts of Precis Writing and show how the concepts discussed in the lectures are applied in actual passages.

Precis 1

Human fear of life's mysteries and weakness before the vastness of nature created a need to communicate with divine powers, believed to govern the universe and determine human fate. In ancient Greece, soothsayers decoded the gods' wishes by interpreting natural signs, sacrificial observations, dreams, and palmistry. Alternatively, the gods communicated directly through a prophet who, overcome by divine ecstasy, transcended ordinary human nature to deliver messages to those seeking guidance. These practices formed the basis of organised Greek oracles, each housed in a sanctuary linked to a specific deity. Apollo, the chief divine intermediary, presided over Delphi, the most important oracle, conveying Zeus's decisions to mortals, while Zeus himself operated through Dodona, the oldest.

• Precis Passage Word Count: 339
• Precis Word Count: 116
• Title: Greek Oracles and the Art of Divine Communication

Precis 2

Confronted by life's mysteries and their weakness before nature, the ancient Greeks sought communication with divine powers believed to govern the universe and determine human fate. Soothsayers decoded divine will by interpreting natural phenomena, sacrificial observations, dreams, and palmistry. Moreover, the gods communicated directly through a prophet who, seized by ecstatic trance, transcended human consciousness to convey divine messages to suppliants. These practices underlay the institution of Greek oracles, each situated within an organised sanctuary associated with a specific deity. Apollo, the archetypal soothsaying god, presided over Delphi, the foremost oracle, channelling Zeus's decisions to mortals, while Zeus himself underpinned Dodona, the oldest.

• Precis Passage Word Count: 339
• Precis Word Count: 105
• Title: Fear, Prophecy, and the Greek Oracles 

Precis 3

The ancient Greeks, fearful of life's mysteries and conscious of their weakness before nature's vastness, sought communion with divine powers believed to govern the universe and determine their fate. Soothsayers decoded divine will through natural signs, sacrificial observations, dreams, and palmistry. When these signs were absent, the gods spoke directly through a prophet who, overcome by ecstasy, transcended ordinary human nature to deliver messages to suppliants. Such practices underlay the institution of the Greek oracles, each organised within a sanctuary linked to a specific deity. Apollo presided over Delphi, the most important oracle, conveying Zeus's decisions to mortals, while Zeus himself guided Dodona, the oldest.

• Precis Passage Word Count: 339
• Precis Word Count: 107
• Title: Origins of Greek Oracle Practice

Precis 4

Fearful of life's mysteries and conscious of their weakness before nature, the ancient Greeks sought communion with divine powers believed to govern their universe and fate. Soothsayers decoded this divine will through natural signs, sacrifice, dreams, and palmistry; alternatively, the gods communicated directly an ecstatic intermediary, who transcended human consciousness to convey messages to suppliants. Such practices institutionalised the Greek oracles, each in a sanctuary linked to a deity: Apollo presiding over Delphi, the most important, and Zeus over Dodona, the oldest.

• Precis Passage Word Count: 339
• Precis Word Count: 86
• Title: Human Fear and the Rise of Greek Prophecy