Mesopotamian divination

Last updated

Mesopotamian divination was divination within the Mesopotamian period.

Contents

Perceptual elements utilized in the practice of a divinatory technique included the astronomical (stars and meteorites), weather and the calendar, the configuration of the earth and waterways and inhabited areas, the outward appearance of inanimate objects and also vegetation, elements stemming from the behavior and the birth of animals, especially humans. [1]

Magic was used to counter a negative fate foretold by divination. [2]

Dating and development

The earliest evidence for practice is (dating is true to this article) from the fourth millennia B.C. (Sumeria), 2100 to 2000 BC (Neo-Sumeria) and 7th century BC (Babylonia), except for circa 2100 via the Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh.

Sumer

The area of land known as Sumer, within Mesopotamia, had a settled population within the 5th millennia BCE. [3]

A seal from Sumer, (of Mudgala, [4] Lord of Edin,Minister to Uruas [5] ) shows the word Azu, which meant water-divinator (lit. water knower), and additionally, physician. [4] Lord Mudgala was the son of Uruas the Khad, [6] who was the first dynasty of Sumeria (via Phoenicia) of the fourth millennium BCE. [7]

Another artifact from Sumerian culture, [3] [4] a death amulet seal, shows the name Uzu-as' and is a resurrection amulet for the slave and seer of the Temple of the Sun, Uzu-as'. The part of the name, the word Uzu, meant in Sumerian, diviner, magician, or seer. [4]

Neo-Sumerian

There is some suggestion people of this era knew of, and were experiencing, dreams as portents and sources for divination. [8] The Neo-Sumerian period was from circa the years 2100 to 2000 BC. [9]

Babylonia

Most of the extant material showing evidence of divination practice are from the 7th century BCE [10] and accordingly from Babylonian culture, which dates from 1850 BCE and later. [3]

The Sumerian version of the Epic of Gilgamesh (circa 2100 [11] ) has the mother of Gilgamesh interpreting a dream of Gilgamesh (a portent of the advent of Enkidu). [8]

Development

Divination practice evolved through time from abductive positions to reckonings by virtue of an a priori , and a tendency to make generalizations about causes. [12] [13]

Classification

Two types of divination existed in Mesopotamia, divine and human. [1] Mesopotamian diviners most often used a liver for divination, or else by observing the sky. [14]

Another difference delineated by Bottéro, is of two types of divination, both divine, but one artificial and the other natural; the artificial being divinations where through a process of "computation and constant observation" a future truth is gleaned; and natural, being a kind of gift from a god whereby direct inspired communication occurs from god to human. [15]

Bottéro and Bahrani assert Mesopotamian divination was not just divination, and not limited in development to a type of superstition, but was developed to the extent to which it was in fact a science. [1]

Divine

Study of portents from gods was vital within Mesopotamia throughout the entire time of its existence. [16] The gods Šamaš and Adad were associated most closely with divination, Šamaš related to divination in decisions, and Adad for oracles and omens. [17]

Celestial

Celestial divination was conducted for the purposes of the king and the state. [10] Diviners observed the sun by day and the stars of the night sky, which they knew as šıṭır samé , or, šıṭır šamāmī , or, šıṭır burūmē (writing of the firmament [18] ). These three things refer to their thought of the stars of the sky interpreted as heavenly writing. [14] [19] By way of the celestial, this type of divination was one of Babylon's three related celestial sciences, along with astronomy and horoscopy. [18]

The descriptions šıṭır šamê and šıṭırti šamāmī are found sometimes within Neo-Babylonian royal inscriptions in special reference to those temples thought of a beautiful in a way of those temples being (lit.) like the heavenly writing. [18]

Impetration

Impetration is a type of divination which involved a diviner asking a deity to control a medium for the diviner to foretell the future. Media might include smoke, lots, or drops of oil in, or on, water. [10]

Human

Divination by way of deductive thought whereby people understood the significance of forms and/ or, changes in a medium as showing and revealing a truth, is attested to within Old Babylonia, at a date of 1950 BCE [1] [2]

Hepatoscopy

Divination of this type involved using the liver, and possibly additionally the gall-bladder. [20]

Examinining internal organs to make predictions is known as extispicy. [16] [17] [21]

Extant sources reveal individuals were restricted from using extispicic means by a prohibitive cost for the performance of this divination so that royal members and nobles were mostly the only ones able to afford to know the future by this means. [17]

Existing sources for knowledge of hepatoscopy are clay models of divined livers. [22] [23]

Hepatoscopic practice and belief began during the third millennium BCE. [23] The practice is referred to in the Hebrew Bible in Ezekiel 21:21.

Practice

To make predictions, diviners had two things to aid their making of a divinatory statement – lists of previous predictions and clay models made of previously interpreted livers. [23]

Hepatoscopic predictions were made on the entrails of slaughtered animals (Oppenheim) by observing any kind of abnormality within the organ, such as atrophy, hypertrophy, displacement, or any type of unusual marking. [17]

Belief

In Mesopotamian culture, the liver was thought of as being the centre of thought and feeling. [23]

Physiognomics

Study of the human body and foretelling of an individual's fate from this study is known as physiognomics. Diviners (or perhaps associated others) made and circulated these texts to successive generations, handing down knowledge for nearly two millennia. [24]

Physiognomic divination omens, in the first extant recorded, date from a period 2000 - 1600 BCE [24]

Dream interpretation

The Mesopotamian dream interpreter was known as ša'il(t)u. [8]

Necromancy

Necromantic practice is shown by historical document to have begun from at least 900 BCE, and was relied upon for insight to a much greater extent within urban culture by the time of King Esarhaddon in the early 7th century BCE. [25]

Literature

In literature, Babylonian divination material very often does not appear in the contents within written introductories, making it difficult for any reader who might want to know the contents of the text. [24]

Enūma Anu Enlil is a text of conclusions of divination. [14]

Šumma alammdimmǔ is a series of omens made by physiognomics dating to the close of the second millennium BCE. They are inscribed upon 27 clay tablets. [24]

History of study

The study of divination [26] within Babylonian culture [27] belongs to the discipline of Assyriology and began in earnest sometime during the decade of the 1870s. [26]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mesopotamia</span> Historical region within the Tigris–Euphrates river system

Mesopotamia is a historical region of West Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent. Today, Mesopotamia is known as present-day Iraq. In the broader sense, the historical region of Mesopotamia also includes parts of present-day Iran, Turkey, Syria and Kuwait.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ancient Mesopotamian religion</span> Western Asian body of religious beliefs

Mesopotamian religion was the original religious beliefs and practices of the civilizations of ancient Mesopotamia, particularly Sumer, Akkad, Assyria and Babylonia between circa 6000 BC and 400 AD. The religious development of Mesopotamia and Mesopotamian culture in general, especially in the south, were not particularly influenced by the movements of the various peoples into and throughout the area. Rather, Mesopotamian religion was a consistent and coherent tradition, which adapted to the internal needs of its adherents over millennia of development.

Akkadian literature is the ancient literature written in the Akkadian language in Mesopotamia during the period spanning the Middle Bronze Age to the Iron Age.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shamash</span> Mesopotamian sun god

Shamash was the ancient Mesopotamian sun god, earlier known as Utu. He was believed to see everything that happened in the world every day, and was therefore responsible for justice and protection of travelers. As a divine judge, he could be associated with the underworld. Additionally, he could serve as the god of divination, typically alongside the weather god Adad. While he was universally regarded as one of the primary gods, he was particularly venerated in Sippar and Larsa.The moon god Nanna (Sin) and his wife Ningal were regarded as his parents, while his twin sister was Inanna (Ishtar). Occasionally other goddesses, such as Manzat and Pinikir, could be regarded as his sisters too. The dawn goddess Aya (Sherida) was his wife, and multiple texts describe their daily reunions taking place on a mountain where the sun was believed to set. Among their children were Kittum, the personification of truth, dream deities such as Mamu, as well as the god Ishum. Utu's name could be used to write the names of many foreign solar deities logographically. The connection between him and the Hurrian solar god Shimige is particularly well attested, and the latter could be associated with Aya as well.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Humbaba</span> Character in Gilgamesh myths

Humbaba, originally known as Ḫuwawa in Sumerian, was a figure in Mesopotamian mythology. The origin and meaning of his name are unknown. He was portrayed as an anthropomorphic figure comparable to an ogre or giant. He is best known from Sumerian and Akkadian narratives focused on the hero Gilgamesh, including short compositions belonging to the curriculum of scribal schools, various versions of the Epic of Gilgamesh, and several Hurrian and Hittite adaptations. He is invariably portrayed as the inhabitant or guardian of the cedar forest, to which Gilgamesh ventures with his companion Enkidu. The subsequent encounter leads to the death of Humbaba, which provokes the anger of the gods. Humbaba is also attested in other works of Mesopotamian literature. Multiple depictions of him have also been identified, including combat scenes and apotropaic clay heads.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clay tablet</span> Writing medium, especially for writing in cuneiform

In the Ancient Near East, clay tablets were used as a writing medium, especially for writing in cuneiform, throughout the Bronze Age and well into the Iron Age.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anzû</span> Ancient Mesopotamian deity

Anzû, also known as dZû and Imdugud, is a monster in several Mesopotamian religions. He was conceived by the pure waters of the Abzu and the wide Earth, or as son of Siris. Anzû was depicted as a massive bird who can breathe fire and water, although Anzû is alternately depicted as a lion-headed eagle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Music of Mesopotamia</span>

Music was ubiquitous throughout Mesopotamian history, playing important roles in both religious and secular contexts. Mesopotamia is of particular interest to scholars because evidence from the region—which includes artifacts, artistic depictions, and written records—places it among the earliest well-documented cultures in the history of music. The discovery of a bone wind instrument dating to the 5th millennium BCE provides the earliest evidence of music culture in Mesopotamia; depictions of music and musicians appear in the 4th millennium BCE; and later, in the city of Uruk, the pictograms for ‘harp’ and ‘musician’ are present among the earliest known examples of writing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Enmebaragesi</span> Ancient Mesopotamian king

Enmebaragesi (Sumerian: 𒂗𒈨𒁈𒄄𒋛Enmebárgisi [EN-ME-BARA2-GI4-SE]) originally Mebarasi (𒈨𒁈𒋛) was the penultimate king of the first dynasty of Kish and is recorded as having reigned 900 years in the Sumerian King List. Like his son and successor Aga he reigned during a period when Kish had hegemony over Sumer. Enmebaragesi signals a momentous documentary leap from mytho-history to history, since he is the earliest ruler on the king list whose name is attested directly from archaeology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Babylonian astronomy</span> Study of celestial objects during the early history of Mesopotamia

Babylonian astronomy was the study or recording of celestial objects during the early history of Mesopotamia. The numbering system used, sexagesimal, was based on sixty, as opposed to ten in the modern decimal system. This system simplified the calculating and recording of unusually great and small numbers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Babylonian astrology</span> First known system of astrology

Babylonian astrology was the first known organized system of astrology, arising in the second millennium BC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aga of Kish</span> Ancient Mesopotamian king

Aga commonly known as Aga of Kish, was the twenty-third and last king in the first dynasty of Kish during the Early Dynastic I period. He is listed in the Sumerian King List and many sources as the son of Enmebaragesi. The Kishite king ruled the city at its peak, probably reaching beyond the territory of Kish, including Umma and Zabala.

In philology, a commentary is a line-by-line or even word-by-word explication usually attached to an edition of a text in the same or an accompanying volume. It may draw on methodologies of close reading and literary criticism, but its primary purpose is to elucidate the language of the text and the specific culture that produced it, both of which may be foreign to the reader. Such a commentary usually takes the form of footnotes, endnotes, or separate text cross-referenced by line, paragraph or page.

There are many references to ghosts in ancient Mesopotamian religion – the religions of Sumer, Babylon, Assyria and other early states in Mesopotamia. Traces of these beliefs survive in the later Abrahamic religions that came to dominate the region.

Esagil-kin-apli was the ummânū, or chief scholar, of Babylonian king Adad-apla-iddina, 1067–1046 BCE, as he appears on the Uruk List of Sages and Scholars listed beside him and is best known for his Diagnostic Handbook, Sakikkū (SA.GIG), a medical treatise which uses symptoms to ascertain etiology, frequently supernatural, and prognosis, which became the received text during the first millennium.

The Bārûtu, the “art of the diviner,” is a monumental ancient Mesopotamian compendium of the science of extispicy or sacrificial omens stretching over around a hundred cuneiform tablets which was assembled in the Neo-Assyrian/Babylonian period based upon earlier recensions. At the Assyrian court, the term extended to encompass sacrificial prayers and rituals, commentaries and organ models. The ikribu was the name of collections of incantations to accompany the extispicy. The bārûtu's extant predecessors date back to Old Babylonian times with the liver models from Mari and where the order of the exta were largely fixed.

Iqqur Ipuš is an ancient Mesopotamian menology, first described as "An Almanac from ancient Babylonia", a work recording favorable and inauspicious months in which one might choose to carry out a wide variety of enterprises, such as building works, ritual activities, etc. It exists in two forms, ordered by activity and by month, providing lists and tables for easy reckoning and was probably composed during the last third of the second millennium. Together with the astrological work, Astrolabe B, it is the most distinctly menological work within Mesopotamian literature.

Mesopotamian prayer are the prayers of ancient Mesopotamia. There are nine classifications of poem used within Mesopotamia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mesopotamian myths</span> Myths and religious texts originating in Mesopotamia

Mesopotamian mythology refers to the myths, religious texts, and other literature that comes from the region of ancient Mesopotamia which is a historical region of Western Asia, situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system that occupies the area of present-day Iraq. In particular the societies of Sumer, Akkad, and Assyria, all of which existed shortly after 3000 BCE and were mostly gone by 400 CE. These works were primarily preserved on stone or clay tablets and were written in cuneiform by scribes. Several lengthy pieces have survived erosion and time, some of which are considered the oldest stories in the world, and have given historians insight into Mesopotamian ideology and cosmology.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 J. Bottéro; Z. Bahrani (June 1995). Mesopotamia: Writing, Reasoning, and the Gods . University of Chicago Press. p.  125. ISBN   0226067270 . Retrieved 16 December 2015.
  2. 1 2 D.R. Brown. Astral Divination in the Context of Mesopotamian Divination, Medicine, Religion, Magic, Society, and Scholarship. published by the International Society for the History of East Asian Science, Technology, and Medicine (EASTM 25 (2006): 69-126. Retrieved 21 December 2015.(p.70 & 71)
  3. 1 2 3 The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica . Sumer - Ancient region, Iraq. Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 26 December 2015.
  4. 1 2 3 4 L.A. Waddell CB, CIE, F.L.S., L.L.D, M.Ch., I.M.S. RAI, F.R.A.S (2013). The Indo-Sumerian Seals Deciphered - Discovering Sumerians of Indus Valley as Phoenicians, Barats, Goths & Famous Vedic Aryans 3100-2300 B.C. Read Books Ltd. p. 107. ISBN   978-1473391284 . Retrieved 27 December 2015.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  5. ↑ C. Preston (University of Swansea) (2009). The Rise of Man in the Gardens of Sumeria: A Biography of L.A. Waddell. Sussex Academic Press. ISBN   978-1845193157 . Retrieved 27 December 2015.
  6. ↑ L. A. Waddell (16 April 2013). The Indo-Sumerian Seals Deciphered - Discovering Sumerians of Indus Valley as Phoenicians, Barats, Goths & Famous Vedic Aryans 3100-2300 B.C. Read Books Ltd. ISBN   978-1473391284 . Retrieved 27 December 2015.
  7. ↑ L. Waddell (2013). The Aryan Origin of the Alphabet - Disclosing the Sumero-Phoenician Parentage of our Letters Ancient and Modern. Read Books Ltd. ISBN   978-1447481737.
  8. 1 2 3 F.H. Cryer (University of Copenhagen) (1994). Divination in Ancient Israel and Its Near Eastern Environment: A Socio-historical Investigation. A&C Black. p. 157. ISBN   1850753539 . Retrieved 27 December 2015.Issue 142 of Journal for the study of the Old Testament: Supplement series
  9. ↑ J. Heise (6 January 1995). Akkadian language. Netherlands Institute for Space Research. Archived from the original on 29 September 2015. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
  10. 1 2 3 F. Rochberg (November 2010). Prayer, Magic, and the Stars in the Ancient and Late Antique World. Magic in History. Penn State Press. p. 169. ISBN   978-0271046006 . Retrieved 20 December 2015.
  11. ↑ R.C. Thompson - The Epic of Gilgamesh - Old Babylonian and Standard versions Delphi Classics, 24 July 2017 ISBN   1786562154 Retrieved 14 October 2017
  12. ↑ G. Manetti (March 1993). Theories of the Sign in Classical Antiquity. Indiana University Press. ISBN   0253112575 . Retrieved 16 December 2015.
  13. ↑ Oxford Dictionary [Retrieved 2015-12-17]
  14. 1 2 3 A. Winitzer (University of Notre Dame) (2011). "Writing and Mesopotamian divination: The case of alternative interpretation". Journal of Cuneiform Studies. 63. Journal of Cuneiform Studies Vol. 63 (2011), pp. 77-94, Published by American Schools of Oriental Research DOI: 10.5615/jcunestud.63.0077: 77–94. doi:10.5615/jcunestud.63.0077. JSTOR   10.5615/jcunestud.63.0077. S2CID   163943773.
  15. ↑ U.S. Koch (1995). Mesopotamian Astrology: An Introduction to Babylonian and Assyrian Celestial Divination. Carsten Nieburh Institute Publications. Vol. 19. Museum Tusculanum Press. ISBN   8772892870 . Retrieved 20 December 2015.
  16. 1 2 A. Annus. Divination and Interpretation of Signs in the Ancient World (PDF). University of Chicago 2010. Retrieved 17 December 2015.
  17. 1 2 3 4 A.A. Orlov (2005). The Enoch-Metatron Tradition. Texts and studies in ancient Judaism. Vol. 107. Mohr Siebeck. p. 31. ISBN   3161485440 . Retrieved 20 December 2015.(A.A. Orlov references L. Oppenheim - Ancient Mesopotamia portrait of a dead civilization)
  18. 1 2 3 Rochberg, F. (2010). In the Path of the Moon: Babylonian Celestial Divination and Its Legacy. Volume 6 of Ancient Magic and Divination. BRILL. p. 304. ISBN   978-9004183896 . Retrieved 20 December 2015.(Rochberg references A. Livingstone & Wayne Horowitz, p.304, p.1 - "...three related..." )
  19. ↑ Arnold, W.T. (July 2012). Let us Go up to Zion: Essays in Honour of H. G. M. Williamson on the Occasion of his Sixty-Fifth Birthday. Brill. p. 340. ISBN   978-9004226586 . Retrieved 20 December 2015.(source: "sun of the sky")
  20. ↑ Nemet-Nejat, K.R. (2002). Daily Life in Ancient Mesopotamia. The Greenwood Press "Daily life through history". Hendrickson Publishers. ISBN   1565637127 . Retrieved 21 December 2015.
  21. ↑ definition published by The Free Dictionary [Retrieved 2015-12-20]
  22. ↑ Burkert, W.; Pinder, M.E. (1995). The Orientalizing Revolution: Near Eastern Influence on Greek Culture in the Early Archaic Age. Issue 5 of Revealing antiquity. Harvard University Press. p. 48. ISBN   067464364X . Retrieved 20 December 2015.
  23. 1 2 3 4 B. Nicolas. Department of Near Eastern Antiquities. published by the Louvre . Retrieved 20 December 2015.
  24. 1 2 3 4 Popović, Mladen (2007). Reading the Human Body: Physiognomics and Astrology in the Dead Sea Scrolls and Hellenistic-Early Roman Period Judaism. Studies of the Texts of the Desert of Judah. Vol. 67. published by Brill. p. 72. ISBN   978-9004157170 . Retrieved 20 December 2015.(Popović references F. Kraus & B. Böch > "texts of nearly two millennia")
  25. ↑ S.I. Johnston (2 August 2013). Restless Dead: Encounters between the Living and the Dead in Ancient Greece. University of California Press. p. 88. ISBN   978-0520922310 . Retrieved 1 January 2017.
  26. 1 2 U.S. Koch (2000). Babylonian Liver Omens: The Chapters Manzāzu, Padānu and Pān Tākalti of the Babylonian Extispicy Series Mainly from Aššurbanipal's Library. Publications Series. Museum Tusculanum Press. p. 14. ISBN   8772896205 . Retrieved 26 December 2015.
  27. ↑ The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica . Babylonia - Ancient region, Mesopotamia. Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 26 December 2015.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.