The dissemination of divination in roman republican times

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History According to legend the king Tarquinius Superbus 180 entrusted two men to interpret the books (Dion.Hal.Ant.Rom.4.62.2; Gel.1.19). According to Livy, mentioning a law probably ultimately from the Annales Maximi, the number was raised to 10 in 369 BCE (Liv.6.37.12). The books were consulted 50 times between 496 and 100 BCE (Parke 1988: 137). According to Parke the contents of the books indicate that they were compiled in the 6 th century BCE. This is in agreement with a date in the regal period. Cultural model Roughly the same story of the acquisition of the Sibylline Books by Tarquinius Superbus is told in all sources (Lact.Div.1.6; Gel.1.19; Dion.Hal.Ant.Rom.4.62.2- 4): a foreign woman offered Tarquinius nine books, but he refused because the price was too high. The woman then burned three books, and returned demanding the same price for the last six. The king would still not pay, and she burned three more, returned, and demanded the same price. Now the king got suspicious and consulted with the augurs who advised him to buy the remaining three books, which he did. The Sibyl was considered to be able to see the future and give advice about the proper rituals in times of crisis through the prophecies contained in the book. Sibylline prophecy can be said to be a further specification of a bad sign in cases where its meaning is not clear. Miscellaneous divination The above are the most important and often mentioned types of divination found in our sources. There are however a number of practices that do not fit into either of the above types. We will here review those and the sparse evidence for them. Vates We sometimes hear of a group of diviners, called vates (Ov.Am.1.24; Luc.5.85; Verg.A.3.356). They are often, but not always, described as ecstatic and connected to divine inspiration according to the Greek model of the oracles (eg. Luc.6.770, 8.824; Serv.A.6.12). 180 Lactantius quoting Varro has Tarquinius Priscus (Lact.Div.1.6), but that is the only source attesting to the Tarquin as being Priscus (cf. Parke 1988: 33-35) 174
The word vates can probably be traced to Celtic (Walde & Hofman 1954: II, 737). It may therefore be that vates were Celtic diviners. Celtic diviners were, however, not specialized in ecstatic divination, but instead in the flight of birds and extispicy. 181 Livy may sometimes be alluding to such Celtic vates (Liv.2.42.10). Almost nothing is known of them and ecstatic divination in general is absent in Roman republican times (Bouché-Leclercq 1879: 119). In general the word is used in a very loose way and virtually all descriptions are poetic or mythological fictions. It is therefore difficult to see exactly what sort of diviner was the historical basis of the term vates. Astrology Whereas astrology as a form of divination can be traced back to the Mesopotamian cultures of the 3 rd millennium BCE, the form with the zodiac and the astrological chart, which gained great influence in the Roman Empire, was established through Greek influence in the 5 th century BCE (Von Stuckrad 2005). It would thus be very likely that we could find astrology in the Roman Republic already very early. Before the end of the republic, however, we have only two mentions of astrology. They concern the 2 nd century BCE. The first concerns an expulsion of astrologers from Rome (V.Max.1.3.3). The second concerns Cato’s order to his vilicus (estate manager) not to consult astrologers among others (Cato.Agr.1.5.4). Astrology was actively eliminated in the middle republican period, and was probably used by the lower classes to judge from the Cato reference. The next we hear of astrology is in 86 BCE where the consul Octavius was killed and an astrological diagram was found on him (Plut.Mar.42.4- 5). We also hear that astrologers were used by Sulla (Plut.Sull.37.1) and Caesar (Cic.Div.2.99), and that the Etruscan friend of Cicero’s, Nigidius Figulus, should have been an expert on the stars (Luc.1.639-672). 182 Thus, at the end of the republic it seems that astrology was rapidly gaining momentum and peaked during the principate (Barton 1994; Von Stuckrad 2005). It was used exclusively for private purposes. 181 Strabo speaks of ουατειζ among the Gauls. They are described as ι(εροποιοι και φυσιολογοι (Strabo.4.4.4). We would expect μαντειϕ if they were diviners, not ι(εροποιο. But that the Gauls had a special class of diviners is confirmed by Diodorus Siculus (Diod.5.31.3). They, however, used the flight of birds and slaughter of animals to predict the future. 182 Plutarch may very well project something common in his era into the past for dramatic purposes as Barton suggests (Barton 1994: 191, n.41). Lucan’s testimony is a dramatization that appears in a tour de force of divination forms that show all the bad signs that portend the demise of the republic. We are therefore left with the testimony of Cicero as the only solid one. It does seem probable, though, as Barton suggests, that at the time of Cicero Etruscan haruspices were inspired by astrology and tried to incorporate it into their art, which already operated with a division of the sky, although they had 16 regions and not 12 houses (Thulin 1906a: 15-22). For further evidence of this see (Barton 1994: 39). 175
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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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While many good and detailed models
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Unexpected event Figure 6.3. Web of
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Chapter 7 - Research history on Rom
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Page 131 and 132: & Scheid 1994; Linder & Scheid 1993
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Page 135 and 136: Based on the evidence available to
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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
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Page 155 and 156: according to Cicero, the point is t
Page 157 and 158: Utility and Credibility value The a
Page 159 and 160: History Since it is mentioned in th
Page 161 and 162: Technique Let us consider public so
Page 163 and 164: Private sortition Private sortition
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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: Sibylline books The Sibylline Books
Page 177 and 178: counterintuitive agent. In all the
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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
Page 205 and 206: e distinguished: nuntiatio, relatio
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Page 209 and 210: Year BCE 218-190 189-162 160-132 13
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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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