Haruspex

The Latin terms haruspex and haruspicina are from an archaic word, hīra = "entrails, intestines" (cognate with hernia = "protruding viscera" and hira = "empty gut"; PIE *ǵʰer-) and from the root spec- = "to watch, observe". The Greek ἡπατοσκοπία hēpatoskopia is from hēpato- = "liver" and skop- = "to examine". ==Ancient Near East==

clay sheep liver models written in a local dialect, recovered from the palace at Mari, dated to the 19th or 18th century BCE. The Babylonians were famous for hepatoscopy. This practice is mentioned in the Book of Ezekiel 21:21: One Babylonian clay model of a sheep's liver, dated between 1900 and 1600 BCE, is conserved in the British Museum. The Assyro-Babylonian tradition was also adopted in Hittite religion. At least thirty-six liver-models have been excavated at Hattusa. Of these, the majority are inscribed in Akkadian, but a few examples also have inscriptions in the native Hittite language, indicating the adoption of haruspicy as part of the native, vernacular cult. ==Ancient Italy==

Roman haruspicy was a form of communication with the gods. Rather than strictly predicting future events, this form of Roman divination allowed humans to discern the attitudes of the gods and react in a way that would maintain harmony between the human and divine worlds (pax deorum). Before taking important actions, especially in battle, Romans conducted animal sacrifices to discover the will of the gods according to the information gathered through reading the animals' entrails. The Etruscans looked for the caput iocineris, or "head of the liver". It was considered a bad omen if this part was missing from the animal's liver. The haruspex would then study the flat visceral side of the liver after examining the caput iocineris. Haruspicy in Ancient Italy originated with the Etruscans. Textual evidence for Etruscan divination comes from an Etruscan inscription: the priest Laris Pulenas' (250–200 BCE) epitaph mentions a book he wrote on haruspicy. A collection of sacred texts called the Etrusca disciplina, written in Etruscan, were essentially guides on different forms of divination, including haruspicy and augury. In addition, a number of archeological artifacts depict Etruscan haruspicy. These include a bronze mirror with an image of a haruspex dressed in Etruscan priest's clothing, holding a liver while a crowd gathers near him. Another significant artifact relating to haruspicy in Ancient Italy is the Piacenza Liver. This bronze model of a sheep's liver was found by chance by a farmer in 1877. Names of gods are etched into the surface and organized into different sections. These Etruscans were later appointed as Roman augurs. In later days when haruspicy became a neglected art, Emperor Claudius, who ruled from AD 41-54 attempted to revive it. He directed the Senate to pass a decree to examine what parts of it should be ‘maintained or strengthened’. ==Northeast Africa==

In southwest Ethiopia and adjacent area of South Sudan, a number of ethnic communities have had the practice of reading animal entrails to divine the future. Some of the groups that have been documented as having this practice include Suri, Mursi, Topsa, Nyangatom, Didinga, Murle, Me'en, Turkana, Konso, Dime, Karamojong, Dodoth, Kalenjin people Haruspicy has also been practiced in Kenya, such as the Kamba and the Kipsikis. ==See also==