Divination & the Reading of Omens
The gods wrote the future into a sheep's liver and the night sky — and trained scholars learned to read it.
Mesopotamians believed the gods wrote their intentions into the world as signs, which a trained scholar could read. The diviner (baru) inspected the liver and entrails of a sacrificed sheep (extispicy); other experts watched the sky, monstrous births, the behavior of animals, oil on water, or smoke. The results were compiled into enormous reference series of conditional omens — 'if such-and-such appears, then such-and-such will happen.' This was a genuine intellectual discipline: systematic, cumulative, and empirical in its own way, applied above all to guide the king. Divination was Mesopotamia's chief science of the future, and the root of its astronomy.
Key passages(20)
[... ] of the evening watch [... ] [... ] its šurīnu Venus [... ] inside it: [... ] of the king [... ] to his father's throne; alternatively, to [... ]. You observe the eclipse in whose šurīnu Venus e
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(If) [ in ] Ṭebetu (X) on the 1st day [ the sun ] is eclipsed: the king - his slaves will kill him. (o i 2) (If) on the 9th [ day ]: no-one will occupy the king of Akkad's throne. (o i 3) (If) on the
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On the 20th day [... ]. On the 21st day [... ]. On the 22nd day [... ]. On the 23rd day, (at) midday... [... ]. On the 24th day... [... ]. On the 25th day... [... ]. On the 26th day, (at) midday [...
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(If) the [... ] star [... ] the mouth of the river [... ] river [... ]. (If) a planet [... ] to the [... ] star [... ]; alternatively, Sippar [... ] the Crab [... ] river of Ningirsu, Mars [... ]. (If
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[ If an ] anomaly [... ]... [... ]. [ If an ] anomaly [... ] a monkey's head... [... ]. [ If an ] anomaly [... ] a bear's head [... ]. [ If an ] anomaly [... ] an ostrich's head [... ]. [ If an ] anom
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By the word of Anu and Antu, may it go well. If a rikbu is detached from the neck of the gall bladder on the right and reaches the top of the gall bladder on the right: a king will conquer. If a rikbu
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At the command of Anu and Antu, may it go well. If the Well-being is fissured on the right: panic will befall the army. If the Well-being has a bifurcation on the gall-bladder side: success. If the We
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[... ]... stands (there): the kings of the lands, all of them, will bring about enmity. (If) the Arrow stands inside its (the Moon's) horns: ditto (the kings of the lands, all of them, will bring abou
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If you presented an offering and in the slaughtering of the sheep blood did not come out, [... ] you opened the innards of the sheep and if the vertebrae were sunken or the gall bladder was missing fr
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(If) Marduk, while dwelling in Esaggil, is twisted round: Enlil has evilly caused the lands to be abandoned. (If) ditto (Marduk, while dwelling in Esaggil,) is twisted round to his right: the gods of
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[ If a ] sow gives birth to 1 (piglet) [... ] that household will be scattered; the offspring of the livestock will not thrive. [ If a sow ] gives birth to 1 (piglet) and... [... ]... he will get rich
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[... ] reaches, a lunar eclipse... [... ]... a lunar eclipse [... ] (and) the Leopard stand at the culmination and [... ] the Leopard, the Swallow, and [... ] reaches [... ]: its interpretation (is th
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By the command of Anu and Antu, may (this tablet) go well. If [... ] to determine [... ] three Fissures (on the liver) for a fixed day [... ]. If the Finger (has) 1 each on its top, on its middle, and
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[ (If) in ] Tašritu (month VII), on day 1, a solar eclipse takes place: [... ]. [... ], on day 7, a solar eclipse takes place: [... ]. [... ], a solar eclipse takes place:... [... ]. [... ], a solar e
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[... ] (they) will enjoy good [... ]. [... ]. BU (means:) " to see ". [... ]. Her position is stable. [... ] there will be a king of the world in the land. [... ] and floods will come. [... ] she rise
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(If) a raven plaintively cries out on the right of a man, that man will experience sorrow. (If) ditto (a raven plaintively) cries out on the left of a man, his enemy will experience sorrow. (If) ditto
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If a woman is pregnant and her foetus keeps crying: the land will experience trouble. If a woman is pregnant and her foetus keeps sighing: the GUR - unit will be weighed; the man's household will be s
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... [... ] until the Sun [... ]. If the Twins [... ] at the culmination [... ] the Great Twins, Orion [... ] until the sun [... ] Orion: [... ]. If the Crab stands at the culmination and [... ] the Cr
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(If) the matušû - boat, Marduk's boat [... ] [... ] (in) the river, overturns [... ] [... ]... is broken: the gods will [... ] to that land. [... ] is broken: the gods will withdraw from the heart of
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By the command of Anu and Antu, may it go well. (If) in Nisannu (I) a planet appears: barley and sesame will thrive; business will expand. (If) a planet appears at the start of Nisannu (I): devouring
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