hepatoscopy
Quick Summary
Hepatoscopy is a form of divination that involves inspecting the liver of animals to predict the future. This practice was particularly prominent among ancient Etruscan diviners, known as haruspices, who deduced the will of the gods from the appearance of sacrificial animal entrails, especially the liver and gallbladder.12
This method falls under the broader category of augury, which is the prophetic divining of the future through the observation of natural phenomena. Haruspicy, the study of the liver, was a complex pseudoscience that mapped the liver as a microcosm to be read. While it was important in Rome, it was never officially part of the state religion.324
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Mesopotamian religionThe magical arts…would send an enlightening dream—and hepatoscopy—examining the entrails, particularly the liver, of a lamb or kid sacrificed for a divinatory purpose, to read what the god had “written” there by interpreting variations in form and shape. In the 2nd and 1st millennia bce large and detailed handbooks in hepatoscopy were…
Read More…would send an enlightening dream—and hepatoscopy—examining the entrails, particularly the liver, of a lamb or kid sacrificed for a divinatory purpose, to read what the god had “written” there by interpreting variations in form and shape. In the 2nd and 1st millennia bce large and detailed handbooks in hepatoscopy were…
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Syrian and Palestinian religionInstitutions and practices…technique of liver divination (hepatoscopy) is evidenced by the discovery of clay liver models (sometimes inscribed with omens) at such sites as Ugarit and Hazor, as well as by abundant written testimony at sites closer to Mesopotamia, such as Mari. Ugarit also had a list of omens based on…
Read More…technique of liver divination (hepatoscopy) is evidenced by the discovery of clay liver models (sometimes inscribed with omens) at such sites as Ugarit and Hazor, as well as by abundant written testimony at sites closer to Mesopotamia, such as Mari. Ugarit also had a list of omens based on…
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