The dissemination of divination in roman republican times

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Indirect prestige The counterintuitive agent is the god to whom the sacrifice is made and can therefore vary (Cic.Div.2.38, Liv.41.15.4). The status was therefore variable for each sacrifice, but it would often be high since public sacrifice was given only to state gods. Utility and Credibility value The purpose of public extispicy was simply to ascertain whether the sacrifice was accepted or not. 165 If it was not accepted it could indicate that the action to which the sacrifice pertained was wrong, but usually it would just lead to the repetition of the sacrifice. The situations in which we hear of the use of extispicy are primarily in the consular sacrifice when the consuls take up office (Liv.41.14.7), or before a new war (Liv.31.5.3) (Thulin 1912: 2454). We can see in the case of the consular sacrifice how the entrails were interpreted. In Liv.31.5.7 we hear that the entrails were favorable (laeta), which was taken to mean that victory would be achieved 166 . It could be argued that this was an interpretation that exceeded the right positive/negative answer postulated to operate in public extispicy (Pfiffig 1975: 120; Rasmussen 2003; Schilling 1979). But this interpretation is merely a reiteration of the contents of the prayer. 167 The victims sacrificed were great (hostiae maiorae), which indicates a sacrifice to Jupiter. The meaning of the sacrifice could then be interpreted as a question to Jupiter about whether the consuls would succeed in winning the war in which they were to engage. The entrails gave affirmative signs, why they portended victory. We have some knowledge of the different meanings. Especially the so-called head of the liver (caput iocineris) (cf. Rasmussen 2003: 126) was especially significant. If it was double or big it was good (Liv. 27.26.13; Plin.Nat.11.189; V.Max.1.6.9). If it was missing it was the worst sign (Cic.Div.2.32) and would surely lead to death (Plin.Nat.11.189; Liv.41.14.7, 27.26.13-14; Obs.17, 35, 47, 52, 55). If a small fissure was observed in the liver it was also a dire sign (Plin.Nat.11.190); Cic.N.D.3.14; Cic.Div.1.16). Attention was also paid to the heart. If it was missing it was a bad sign (Plin.Nat.11.186; Cic.Div.1.119). These examples of 165 While this is the classical view going back to Wissowa, put most precisely by (Thulin 1906b: 5), some scholars do not accept a rigid distinction. This is based on the fact that the sources mix terminology (Rasmussen 2003: 118; Schilling 1979: 118). I think the following examples of public use demonstrate that there is a rigid distinction between public and private use. The public is like the other forms of public divination a yes/no form, whereas the private can give richer information regarding the future. 166 (..)haruspices respondere laetaque exta fuisse et prolationem finium victoriamque et triumphum portendi (Liv.31.5.7) 167 Quod senatus populusque Romanus de republica deque ineundo novo bello in animo haberet, ea res uti populo Romano sociisque ac nomini Latino bene ac feliciter eveniret (Liv.31.5.4). 168
public use of extispicy are performed in connection with public sacrifices such as the sacrifice on entering office. The necessity to merely repeat the sacrifice, if a bad sign was obtained, indicates a low credibility value. If we compare with the auspicium, it can be seen to be less important in practice. No consuls abdicated because of a bad sign from extispicy and no armies were lost. 168 If one type of divination approaches a formality, this would be the one. History Livy tells us that haruspices were employed according to legend already in the time of the Etruscan kings in Rome (Liv.5.21.8). This is not surprising since the haruspices were central in Etruscan culture. The first time we hear of them in the Roman republic is when they were employed by Decius in 340 BCE (Liv.8.9.1), and we hear of them later in 275 (Plin Nat.11.186), 215 (Liv.23.36.10), 212 (Liv.25.16.3), 209 (Liv.27.26.14) and 208 (Plin.11.186). It is difficult to trace the historical origin beyond this. Some have tried to trace it through Etruscan extispicy to the Babylonians, but extispicy is so common that all peoples in the Mediterranean seem to have had one form or another (Blecher 1905; Thulin 1906b). This is a point also noticed by Cicero (Cic.Div.1.16). There were naturally differences and there does seem to exist some differences between the Etruscan and the Roman (Pfiffig 1975: 120; Thulin 1912: 2449). These divergences may reflect either adaptation to the Roman context, a separate history or a common source. Either way the differences suggest a long period of divergence from the Etruscan form, which is the closest. I think it is possible that the Romans adopted extispicy in the time of Etruscan domination, and then adapted it to their own purposes. That would explain why public extispicy conforms to the same rules as auspices, that is, a yes or no answer. Cultural model In 176 the consuls Cn. Cornelius Scipio Hispalus and Q. Petilius Spurinus were elected consuls. On the day of entering office they were both sacrificing an ox, but in Petilius’ ox the liver did not have a head (Liv.41.14.7) and subsequently Scipios’ liver disappeared from the boiling pot (Liv.41.15.2). They were ordered to keep sacrificing until litatio was obtained. In the end they obtained litatio, but Petilius did not obtain litatio from Salus (health) (Liv.41.15.4). Eventually Petilius died in war against the Ligurians (Liv. 168 At least not based on this alone. There are, though, reports of consuls dying on duty after not obtaining litatio (e.g. Liv.41.15-18), but loss of entire armies are not attributed to bad prognostications from extispicy. In practice the inforrmations was merely used to determine whether extra sacrifices had to be made. 169
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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
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her life”. 85 In the example the
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in the city. To most modern people
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answer. In oblative divination the
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Figure 6.1. brings together the obs
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questions on how much disease there
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Page 135 and 136: Based on the evidence available to
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Page 141 and 142: Post-republican writers Verrius Fla
Page 143 and 144: M. Servius Honoratus Marius Servius
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Page 157 and 158: Utility and Credibility value The a
Page 159 and 160: History Since it is mentioned in th
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Page 163 and 164: Private sortition Private sortition
Page 165 and 166: shuffled the lots and drew one 149
Page 167: Extispicy is a form of divination w
Page 171 and 172: (North 1990). In Etruria these indi
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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
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Page 203 and 204: 1,2 1 0,4 0,2 0 Omen words in Greek
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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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