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The dissemination of divination in roman republican times

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1,2<br />

1<br />

0,4<br />

0,2<br />

0<br />

Omen words <strong>in</strong> Greek and Roman Rhetoric<br />

Instances per 10000<br />

0,8<br />

words<br />

0,6<br />

M<strong>in</strong>im um<br />

Maxim um<br />

Omen<br />

Prodigium<br />

Portentum<br />

Monstrum<br />

Figure 10.7. Omen words <strong>in</strong> Greek and Roman Rhetoric<br />

Auspicium<br />

Augurium<br />

Dirus<br />

Obscenus<br />

Ostentum<br />

Teras<br />

Sumbolon<br />

Sema<br />

Words<br />

Here it can be seen that the Romans used omens significantly more <strong>of</strong>ten <strong>in</strong> rhetoric than the<br />

Greeks.<br />

It therefore seems safe to say that the ancient Romans <strong>of</strong>ten communicated about omens <strong>in</strong><br />

comparison with the Greeks. It is also worth notic<strong>in</strong>g that this result goes aga<strong>in</strong>st the general<br />

assumption that the Roman culture was just a bad copy <strong>of</strong> the Greek.<br />

<strong>The</strong> results mentioned above cover a large time span, so it would be obvious to ask whether<br />

there were any differences <strong>in</strong> frequency <strong>of</strong> omen words <strong>in</strong> a temporal perspective. <strong>The</strong>re does<br />

seem to be a difference <strong>in</strong> the frequency <strong>of</strong> omen words (see appendix 4). <strong>The</strong> Augustan poets<br />

Ovid and Virgil have very high frequencies, several <strong>times</strong> the total average, while Plautus and<br />

Terrence have an average below the total average. Cicero is <strong>in</strong> general also a bit below the total<br />

average. But he is as well for the control word cena, but not gladiator. This could <strong>in</strong>dicate that<br />

the Romans came to talk <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>gly about omens, towards the end <strong>of</strong> the 1 st century BCE.<br />

Summary about omens<br />

<strong>The</strong>re are three ways a physical occurrence can come to be <strong>in</strong>terpreted as an omen. An<br />

occurrence can become salient either because the occurrence <strong>in</strong> some ways relates to a current<br />

203

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