![]() ![]() Interpreting the behavior of birds is one of the oldest forms of divination, and was a common part of Greek religious life. The Etruscans were famed practitioners of hieromancy, and at least one life-size bronze model of a sheep liver (likely made for educational purposes) has been unearthed, marked with names of various gods in each quadrant-a little like the entrails version of old phrenology heads. Defects in the heart of the animal were also seen as a very bad portent, as was extra bloodiness. ![]() Though details on how exactly the interpretations worked can be scarce, a healthy liver was generally a positive sign, but if the organ lacked a lobe, doom was all but certain. Aside from oracles, it was the most important divination method of the classical world: In his De Divinatione ("On Divination"), the Roman orator, statesman, and writer Cicero wrote "nearly everybody employs entrails in divining." The gory practice went by a few different names, including extispicy (from the Latin exta, or "entrails") and haruspicy, and was practiced by specialists, sometimes called extispices or haruspices. Hieromancy (Divination Using Entrails)īeginning in Mesopotamia and then in classical Greece and beyond, animals were sacrificed in divinatory rituals and their internal organs (notably the liver) were inspected for omens. Here are some of the more intriguing forms of historical divination-some may even still be practiced today, depending on who you ask-from the widespread and better known to the more delightfully obscure. Since then, it's seemed like just about any handy object lying around-books, chickens, even cheese-has been used to attempt a glimpse at upcoming events, leading to a host of compound words formed with the suffix - mancy (which can be traced back to the Ancient Greek for "seer" or "prophet"). Divination, often using bones and entrails, was a common practice in the ancient world, and perhaps even earlier. ![]() Humans have been trying to predict the future since long before the Magic 8 Ball was invented. ![]()
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