The dissemination of divination in roman republican times

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Technique If, after having taken the auspices, a magistrate came to a stream, he had to lean out over the water and take some up with his hands, and then, while reciting prayers, let the water pour out through his hands (Serv.A.9.24, Fest.p.245). It is maybe from the number of drops that the sign was taken (Valeton 1890: 211). The technique seems focused on water as the medium conveying the sign. Ritualization This kind of auspices is known because it is central in a case from 163 BCE where the newly elected consuls had to abdicate, because the auspicia peremne were not taken. The consul Tiberius Gracchus, who was presiding over the elections, had taken the auspices in Scipio's gardens, which were located in the Campus Martius outside the pomerium of Rome (Platner & Ashby 1929: 273). He then returned to Rome to be at the electoral assembly (Cic.Div.1.33). After the crier had announced the result he died. Tiberius suspected that there might be some religious fault in the proceedings and made an investigation. Tiberius was also an augur. He therefore consulted the ancient books of the augurs himself and remembered that after he had taken the auspices, he had crossed the small stream Petronia which flowed across the Campus Martius into the Tiber (Fest.296 L) (cf. Platner & Ashby 1929: 389). He had forgotten to take the auspicium peremne, which should be taken when crossing a river. 136 The matter was referred to the senate and the consuls were asked to abdicate (Cic.N.D.2.10-11). This was however because of vitium, that is a ritual fault, not because of a pronunciation of the divination technique. In principle, everybody who crossed a river after having taken the auspices had to take the auspicium peremne. Since it was used both in private and public (Valeton 1890: 210), the social status varied. It is not possible to say anything about the associated counterintuitive agent. And the evidence for assessing the credibility value is inconclusive since we don’t have anything about the decisions made on the basis of it. Probably it worked like extispicy, where the purpose was to achieve litatio. In that case a bad result would merely necessitate an extra try. This could point to the credibility value being very low. 136 Cicero writes that it is because he crossed the pomerium (Cic.N.D.2.10-11). This is not accurate. The pomerium was, however, situated at the same place as the Petronia stream at the side of the Campus Martius (cf. Valeton 1890: 209). 158
History Since it is mentioned in the books of the augurs (Fest.146 L) it is possible that it has a long prehistory. 137 It can also be seen from the example that already at the time of Tiberius it was almost forgotten. He had to study the books of the augurs in order to find it. At the time of Cicero it is extinct, since he mentions it as one of the auspices that are no longer used (Cic.N.D.2.9; Div.2.77). Auspicium nuptiarum According to Varro, the wedding auspices were taken by the bride and groom (Serv.4.45). It is also possible that they were taken before the girl went to the house of her future husband, that is, before the wedding. 138 Also the bridesmaid seems to have been selected by auspices (Fest. 282 L; Serv.4.166). Tellus is invoked in the wedding auspices, but it is Juno, who gives the sign (Serv. 4.166). Pliny the elder informs us that the most favorable sign for the wedding auspices, according to the augurs, was a bird called an aegithus (Plin.Nat.10.21). This indicates that the technique focused on birds as signs. At the time of Cicero it had fallen into disuse. Auspicia pedestria The auspicia pedestria were taken from the tracks animals: fox, wolf, snake, horse and several four legged animals (Fest.286 L). Virtually nothing is known about these. They were probably oblative (Valeton 1890: 208). Auspicium ex acuminibus The auspicium ex acuminibus was some sort of military auspices that were observed before the beginning of a battle (Valeton 1890: 209). It means “auspices from the points of spears”. Virtually nothing is known. It has been speculated that it was some sort of electrical spark 137 Mommsen suggests that it comes from the time when the Tiber was the border between Latin and Etruscan land, and a crossing therefore meant war (Mommsen 1952: I, 97, n.1). Another suggestion comes from Bouché-Leclercq (1882: IV, 231), who thinks it was because water courses broke the continuity of the templum. These suggestions however do not account well for the explicit mention of the Perennia stream. It is impossible to trace precisely the age, but it seems safe to conclude that it is old. 138 Maybe this is the kind of auspices found in a story in Cicero and Valerius Maximus (Cic.Div.1.104; V.Max.1.5.4), where Caecilia Metella’s daughter is taking the auspices in a sanctuary (sacellum), concerning her sister’s daughter’s future marriage. The proceedings here resemble those of the official auspices where silence (silentio) has to be established. Here however it is not possible to see what the purported sign is (cf. Valeton 1889, 444) 159
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The Dissemination of Divination in
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Chapter 8 - Sources to Roman Divina
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List of Figures Figure 3.1. Types o
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Acknowledgements Certain parts of t
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people. It is almost unanimously ag
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that precludes the investigation fr
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asic cognitive functions could acco
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Lienard & Feeney 2006), prayer (Bar
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“the making clear of something”
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In chapter 5 it is argued that obla
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Chapter 1 - History of divination a
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with *-eu appears in two forms. One
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involving the Korinthian Polyidos.
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The 15 th edition of the Encyclopae
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Chapter 2 - A History of Modern Div
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and games of chance a secondary dev
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causes. This is also the case conce
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Evans-Pritchard also uses a lot of
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through casting the decision “upo
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transformed and new relations are g
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Somewhat between the great currents
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efutations. With this article Zeitl
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the function of divination. Special
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Chapter 3 - Definition and typology
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means signs obtained from the gods
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producer. In this case we see that
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Chapter 4 - Impetrative Divination
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ontogenetic histories. Some feeling
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direct people in their life. It can
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or potential misfortune or lack of
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Before making blood-brotherhood Bef
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It was argued that emotion was cent
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Figure 4.2. Intentional action It i
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Figure 4.4. Ritualized action in di
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was the counterintuitive agent who
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education. 43 These problems requir
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Credibility 4,5 4 3,5 3 2,5 2 1,5 1
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Clairvoyant, and Astrologist. There
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Materials A booklet similar to the
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Summary The thesis of this chapter
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present existence, as the slogan go
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Let us presently consider how hyper
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1963). Michotte had subjects watch
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another that they were playing agai
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monkeys. There is evidence that in
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Sperber and Wilson programmatically
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humans communicate by producing sig
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Let us consider some examples of th
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Henrich and Gil-White supply precis
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communicator (T.S. Elliot) or a mil
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professors are not routinely attrib
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thought it most likely the main cha
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Chapter 5 - Oblative divination 82
Page 107 and 108: her life”. 85 In the example the
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Page 111 and 112: answer. In oblative divination the
Page 113 and 114: Figure 6.1. brings together the obs
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Page 117 and 118: While many good and detailed models
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Page 121 and 122: Chapter 7 - Research history on Rom
Page 123 and 124: assumption is that divination, espe
Page 125 and 126: It can be seen that Latte's as well
Page 127 and 128: oth shared the same attitude toward
Page 129 and 130: vastly different views on what legi
Page 131 and 132: & Scheid 1994; Linder & Scheid 1993
Page 133 and 134: the observation. If the fear thesis
Page 135 and 136: Based on the evidence available to
Page 137 and 138: linear regression analysis was made
Page 139 and 140: criticism of it. His antiquarian cu
Page 141 and 142: Post-republican writers Verrius Fla
Page 143 and 144: M. Servius Honoratus Marius Servius
Page 145 and 146: The only full description we have o
Page 147 and 148: called interpretes Iovi, interprete
Page 149 and 150: All places where auspices should be
Page 151 and 152: anyhow. There is therefore no reaso
Page 153 and 154: The credibility value of the greate
Page 155 and 156: according to Cicero, the point is t
Page 157: Utility and Credibility value The a
Page 161 and 162: Technique Let us consider public so
Page 163 and 164: Private sortition Private sortition
Page 165 and 166: shuffled the lots and drew one 149
Page 167 and 168: Extispicy is a form of divination w
Page 169 and 170: public use of extispicy are perform
Page 171 and 172: (North 1990). In Etruria these indi
Page 173 and 174: Sibylline books The Sibylline Books
Page 175 and 176: The word vates can probably be trac
Page 177 and 178: counterintuitive agent. In all the
Page 179 and 180: Howevere, there are practices in wh
Page 181 and 182: Technique Descriptives Credibility
Page 183 and 184: History Let us see how these observ
Page 185 and 186: Summary To summarize the conclusion
Page 187 and 188: as specified in equation 3, but it
Page 189 and 190: Dissemination Private sortition Pub
Page 191 and 192: “may the gods avert (bad) omens
Page 193 and 194: excelled every race and every natio
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Page 203 and 204: 1,2 1 0,4 0,2 0 Omen words in Greek
Page 205 and 206: e distinguished: nuntiatio, relatio
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Year BCE 218-190 189-162 160-132 13
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distinction between public and priv
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140,00 120,00 100,00 80,00 60,00 40
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two seem to have been used in the c
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8) Sacrificia vetusta occultaque mi
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The actual interpretations we hear
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this type among the prodigia, where
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consideration here the cultural mod
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encounter of people using it to a g
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action. It was argued that these re
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investigate the dissemination of di
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practices that did not survive were
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divination. At the same time the op
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Appendix 1 The Kurabi among the Mwa
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Appendix 2 The Guzul In Central Aus
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Appendix 4 Roman Words Omen Prodigi
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Theocritus 21261 1.88 1.88 0 0 0.32
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Moon fell down Capua Goats got wool
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Note: *this is possibly not a separ
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Temple of Ceres struck by lightning
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Sheep with two heads born Suessa Pi
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12 year old hermaphrodite discovere
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Cows were talking Campania Bronze c
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*This prodigy may be the same as th
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156 Storm destroys sacred places on
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* Since the Graecostasis was right
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An owl was seen on the Capitol Roma
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* Rasmussen counts as two (Rasmusse
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Sun formed a disc like a shield at
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Two calfs were found in the entrail
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Fire in the sky Note: While this pr
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Tornado ripped of roofs Bridge coll
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Doors to the temple of Fortuna open
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Appendix 6 Examples of counterintui
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Bibliography Primary Sources 220 La
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Secondary sources Abbink, J. 1993:
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Bering, J. M. and Johnson, D. P. 20
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Callaway, H. 1970: The Religious Sy
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Dumezil, G. 1970: Archaic Roman Rel
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Guillaumont, F. 1984: Philosophe et
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Koenig, M. A., Clement, F., and Har
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Luterbacher, F. 1967: Der Prodigien
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Patton, L. L. 2000: "The Magic in M
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Schilling, R. 1979: "A propos des "
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Taylor, L. R. 1949: Party Politics
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Woodward, J. 2000: "Explanation and
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Oprindeligt blev divination forklar
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menneskelig perception eller ræson
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I kapitel 6 sammenlignes observatio
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Den sidste ligning udtrykker, at sa
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The dissemination of divination in roman republican times

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