The practice of drawing lots has a long history, dating back to ancient times. As far back as the Iliad and other epics, because it was based on chance and the intervention of the gods, it was opposed, philosophically and practically, to human choice, whether that choice was based on reason and deliberation, voting or personal goodwill. This volume focuses on this procedure, which was both frequent and common in the ancient Mediterranean basin. Through eighteen contributions, it sketches out a collective reflection on the political, religious, administrative and playful uses to which the sors was put. The study begins with the Greek and Italian worlds of the Archaic and Classical periods and takes the reader all the way to Republican and Imperial Rome, an area and period for which sortitio has not yet received the attention it deserves. Taking a diachronic and comparative approach, the book seeks to highlight the different meanings and virtues attached to the drawing of lots, depending on the regimes that used it and their political culture. Why did the Romans, like so many other ancient peoples, choose to leave so much to chance in the running of the city’s affairs? In addition to the issues specific to ancient history, this book is part of a contemporary debate. In particular, it seeks to give historical and anthropological depth to the current debate on the reintroduction of the drawing of lots in the context of the crisis of “representativeness” that Western democracies are currently experiencing.