Notes to Chapter 9. Divination

Giorgio Buccellati, “When on High…”

August 2023

9.1 Nature of Mesopotamian Divination
9.2 Abnormal Fetuses: Subversion of the Natural Order in the Animate World
9.3 Astrology: Harmonic Convergences in the Celestial World
9.4 Animal Livers: Mapping the Emotional Center
9.5 Refractory Liquids: Lack of Integration of Homogeneous Elements
9.6 The Biblical Attitude

ERRORS in databases:

"Boson1918Assiriologia.d": duplicate bibliography "Boson1918Assiriologia" for site "Akk-lg".
"Bottero1992Reasoning.d": duplicate bibliography "Bottero1992Reasoning" for site "Mes-rel".
"Buccellati1972Teodicea.d": duplicate bibliography "Buccellati1972Teodicea" for site "Mes-lit".
"Cauvin2000Birth.d": duplicate bibliography "Cauvin2000Birth" for site "Mes-rel".
"DMB.d": duplicate bibliography "DMB" for site "Mes-rel".
"Edzard2003Sumerian.d": duplicate bibliography "Edzard2003Sumerian" for site "Mes-rel".
"Oshima2014Sufferers.d": duplicate bibliography "Oshima2014Sufferers" for site "Mes-rel".
"Trinkaus1983Shanidar.d": duplicate bibliography "Trinkaus1983Shanidar" for site "Mes-rel".

9.1 Nature of Mesopotamian Divination

As for the relationship between protases and apodoses, De Zorzi 2011 Omina identifies a “binary logic”, expressed through pairs of extreme regularity such as right/left whose corresponding apodoses fall into the opposing categories of favourable/unfavourable predictions. Then, she analyzes symbolic associations connected to the symbolism of the body (i.e. head = the king, neck = royal power, eyes = water management and prosperity, etc.). Interestingly, De Zorzi also describes particular combination of signs which were hermeneutically linked to other associations of ideas: thus, in investigating the omina contained in the series Šumma izbu one should not forget that the scribes who composed this collection were clearly aware of the possibilities offered by their writing system in terms of polysemy and polyphony and made ample use of them in their attempt to discover layers of meaning in their material.
– [ Stefania Ermidoro, August 2012]
[on the scientific nature see Machinist in Voegelin volume Maul 1994 Zukunftsbew?ltigung Mainz 1994
http://www.istitutograf.org/mostre_castello_fortuna.htm (mostra al castello di Abbiategrasso)]
– [ Giorgio Buccellati, March 2020]
For ‘divination’ in Mesopotamian religion, see Buccellati 1981 Wisdom.
– [ Marco De Pietri, June 2020]
A discussion about Mesopotamian divination is offered in Oppenheim 1964 Mesopotamia, where the author analyses Mesopotamian cultic practices within an interesting psychological perspective.
– [ Marco De Pietri, June 2020]
The origins of the technical skills practiced by seers, diviners, omen-readers, etc can be traced to the antediluvian knowledge deliberately preserved for the sake of humanity by the apkallus. Buccellati notes this reality is a “manifestation of the great plan…of fate”. See Reiner 1961 Etio Sages.
– [ Iman Nagy, August 2020]
In general, on divination in ancient Mesopotamia, see RlA, sub voce ‘Omina und Orakle’.

A discussion on divination as interpretation of natural phenomena, described as G. Buccellati as a “self-declaration of the absolute” (G. Buccellati, Chapter 9, Section 1), can be found in Rochberg 2014 Divination; cf. Meijer 1992 Natural; see also Jacobsen 1963 Ancient, stressing how Mesopotamian religion and the ritual practices derived from the need to respond to natural phenomena, such as disasters, famine, etc.

Again, on divination (analysed as a glimpse on Mesopotamian ‘scientific mind’), see Bottero 1992 Reasoning, specifically chapter 3.

Specifically, on Mesopotamian divination and interpretation of signs, see Annus 2010 Divination.

For ‘divination literature’, see Winitzer 2017 Divination.

Finally, a useful bibliography on Mesopotamian divination in the Neo-Assyrian period has been compiled by Verderame 2004 Divination.
– [ Marco De Pietri, August 2020]
For a discussion on Mesopotamian interpretation of nature, based on mythology and divination, and a comparison with the later philosophical approach in the Greek culture, see Katz 1995 Emergence, specifically p. 638, where the authors quote Cornford 1957 Philosophy, Preface, p. v. Cf. also the definition of the role of nature in Mesopotamian religion as it is described in Jacobsen 1976 Treasures, p. 73 (see Jacobsen 1976/Excerpt).
– [ Marco De Pietri, August 2020]
In general, on magic in ancient Mesopotamia, see RlA, sub voce ‘Magie’.
– [ Marco De Pietri, August 2020]
«The entire divinatory system can be seen, rightly, as an exceptional cultural achievement: the rational appropriation of relationships between phenomena that are not apparent at first sight. The configurations and movements of the celestial constellations, or the figures drawn following the spasms of a liver just extracted from an animal, are not in themselves individual outbursts of meaning. The outburst comes only from the observation of repeated regularity over time» (G. Buccellati, Chapter 9, Section 1).

This observation of ‘repeated regularity’ resulted in the compilation of lists of phenomena, mentioned by G. Buccellati in Chapter 9; this specific trait of Mesopotamian “listing-mindset”, a peculiar Weltanschauung, is also exemplified by the ‘lexical lists’ for which see e.g. RlA, sub voce ‘Lexikalische Listen’. On the same topic, cf. Frahm 2018 Hermeneutics; in this paper the author also deals with divination and lists recording mantic observations.
– [ Marco De Pietri, August 2020]
For an English translation of the Enūma elīš (mentioned in Section 5.2, point (5)), see Foster 2005 Before, pp. 436-486.
– [ Marco De Pietri, August 2020]
For the Akkadian transcription (and a French translation) of the text of Appendix 4, see Dossin 1935 Prieres. Cf. also Appendix 4.
– [ Marco De Pietri, August 2020]
For the Akkadian term šumma, ‘when, if’, see CAD 17 = Š3, pp. 274-278. It is noteworthy to remark that the same protasis-apodosis structure can be found in the Code of Hammurapi, RlA 3, p. 255-269, § 3.6, today in the Louvre Museum. For an Akkadian transcription and English translation of the text, see e.g. Harper 1904 Code.
– [ Marco De Pietri, August 2020]
For the text of the Šumma izbu (cf. Chapter 9, Section 2, Appendix 5), see Leichty 1970 Izbu; cf. De Zorzi 2011 Omina. Cf. also Appendix 5.
– [ Marco De Pietri, August 2020]
For the Akkadian term bārû, ‘diviner’, see CAD 2 = B, pp. 121-125. Cf. infra 10.1.
– [ Marco De Pietri, August 2020]
For a thorough discussion on Mesopotamian divination, see Maul 2018 Divination and Maul 2007 Divination Culture. On the opposition between divination and magic in ancient Mesopotamia see Jeffers 2007 Interpreting Magic.
– [ Stefania Ermidoro, October 2020]
See Rochberg 1999 Empiricism.
– [ Stefania Ermidoro, October 2020]
For a Roman accounting of divination, which bears similarities with what is found in Mesopotamia, see Cicero 0045 Divination.
– [ Jonah Lynch, January 2021]
See Deluty 2020 Prophecy on divination, especially in Mari.
– [ Jonah Lynch, January 2021]
See Nissinen 2017 Ancient Prophecy for an extended treatment of divination.
– [ Jonah Lynch, January 2021]
See Rochberg 2004 Writing for a detailed study of divination and horoscopy.
– [ Jonah Lynch, January 2021]
See Ulanowski 2014 Mesopotamian Divination on divination in Mesopotamia.
– [ Jonah Lynch, January 2021]

9.2 Abnormal Fetuses: Subversion of the Natural Order in the Animate World

See “Hermeneutic Strategies”: (De Zorzi 2011 Omina).
– [ Giorgio Buccellati, July 2012]
Cf. supra 9.1.
– [ Marco De Pietri, August 2020]
For the Greek term τέρας, téras, see LSJ.
– [ Marco De Pietri, August 2020]
For the Akkadian transcription and English translation of the text of [Appendix 5] (http://4banks.net/Mes-rel/Sources/appendix 5_mDP.htm), see Leichty 1970 Izbu, pp. 11 Appendix 5.1; 36-39, 47, 52, 59, 62 = Appendix 5.2; 84, 103-105, 117-118, 131 = Appendix 5.3, 191, 193 = Appendix 5.4. See mostly Leichty 1970 Izbu; cf. Leichty 1986 Catalogue, Leichty 1987 Catalogue, and Rawlinson 1861- 1884 C I W A; for Appendix 5.4, cf. also Boissier 1894 Documents (autographs).
– [ Marco De Pietri, August 2020]
On the namburbi ritual, see RlA, sub voce ‘Namburbi’; for the Akkadian term namburbû, ‘ritual for awarding off a portended evil, apotropaion, apotropaic ritual’, see CAD 11 = N1, pp. 224-225. Cf. also Appendix 4.
– [ Marco De Pietri, August 2020]
For the English translation of the text of Appendix 13, see Caplice 1974 Namburbi, pp. 16 = Appendix 13.1, 16-17 = Appendix 13.2, 23-24 = Appendix 13.3. Cf. (on namburbi) Caplice 1965 Namburbi and Caplice 1967 Namburbi.
– [ Marco De Pietri, August 2020]
On the mythical entity Huwawa/Humbaba, see RlA, sub voce ‘Ḫuwawa/Ḫumbaba’.
– [ Marco De Pietri, August 2020]
For the most recent edition of Šumma izbu see De Zorzi 2014 Summa Izbu. A useful synthesis is also available: De Zorzi 2011 Omina.
– [ Stefania Ermidoro, October 2020]

9.3 Astrology: Harmonic Convergences in the Celestial World

[Voegelin about zodiac ? with remarks by Machinist
calendario
Marschak
Jacobsen, Georgica ? see Soil and Salinity BM14
Venus tablet]
– [ Giorgio Buccellati, March 2020]
Meaning seeking as pattern seeking. See Yalom 2012 Love.
– [ Jonah Lynch, April 2020]
It is noteworthy that already Diodorus Siculus has stressed the specific ability of the Chaldean astrologists of Babylon: see Diod. 2, 29 (Greek text and English translation). Diodorus also remarks how Babylonian astrologists learnt this ‘science’ from the Egyptian priests: see Diod. 1, 28 (Greek text and English translation).
– [ Marco De Pietri, August 2020]
On ‘astrology’ in ancient Mesopotamian, see e.g. Pettinato, Giovanni 1998, La scrittura celeste, Milano: Mondadori; cf. Hunger 1999 Astral. On ‘divination’ and ‘astrology’, see e.g. Rochberg 2014 Divination.
– [ Marco De Pietri, August 2020]
«In part, this can be explained by remembering how crucial the definition of the calendar was to understand the agricultural cycle, and in fact we have the indication that notations referring to the rising and setting of the moon date back to the Paleolithic (in the Near East, but also in Africa and Europe)» (G. Buccellati, Chapter 9, Section 3).

An example of these very ancient calendars recording the rising and setting of the moon can be found in Buccellati 2014 Dalprofondo = Buccellati, Giorgio (with preface by Marilyn Kelly-Buccellati) 2014, Dal profondo del tempo. All’origine della comunicazione e della comunità nell’antica Siria, Firenze: Società Editrice Fiorentina, pp. 28-29, describing a bone artefact from Abri Blanchard (ca. 30.000 BP) with a registration of the moon phases; cf. Bourrillon 2018 Aurignacian, fig. 15.10.

On cultic calendars, see also Cohen 1993 Cultic.
– [ Marco De Pietri, August 2020]
On king Ammisaduqa of Babylon, see RlA, sub voce ‘Ammiṣaduga’; for the Venus Tablet of Ammisaduqa, see e.g.: Rawlinson 1870 Venus; Langdon 1928 Venus; Weir 1972 Venus; Reiner 1975 Venus; Huber 1982 Venus; Weir 1982 Venus; Walker 1984 Venus; Mitchell 1990 Astronomical; Gasche 1998 Chronology; Weir 1998 Venus; Gurzadyan 2000 Astronomical; Gurzadyan 2000 Chronology; Gurzadyan 2003 Venus; Gurzadyan 2005 Chronology; Rendu 2012 Venus; cf. de Jong 2010 Venus.
– [ Marco De Pietri, August 2020]
Links to RlA for information about the following cities mentioned in Chapter 9, Section 3: Uruk, Sippar, and Borsippa.
– [ Marco De Pietri, August 2020]
For the Akkadian transcription and English translation of the text of Appendix 6, see Reiner 1981 Enuma, pp. 36-37, 40-41, 44-48, 74-79.
– [ Marco De Pietri, August 2020]

9.4 Animal Livers: Mapping the Emotional Center

For ‘extispicy’ and ‘hepatoscopy’, see RlA, sub voce ‘Extispizin’, ‘Hepatoskopie’, p. 69-82, § 7; for ‘lecanomancy’, see RlA, sub voce ‘Becherwahrsagung’; cf. RlA, sub voce ‘Ölomina’, pp. 83-84, § 9.
– [ Marco De Pietri, August 2020]
For the liver and its interpretation in ancient Near East see also Matthieu F O R T H Body, under lemma “Foie/Liver”.
– [ Marco De Pietri, August 2020]
For examples of liver’s clay models, see e.g. British Museum 92668 and Louvre AO 19829. See also Rutz 2014 Liver.
– [ Marco De Pietri, August 2020]
For the Akkadian transcription and English translation of the text of Appendix 7, see Starr 1983 Diviner, pp. 30-36 (Akkadian) and pp. 37-44 = Appendix 7. Cf. Van Dijk 1985 Y O S 11 (autographs).
– [ Marco De Pietri, August 2020]
For the god Shamash, see here.
– [ Marco De Pietri, August 2020]
For Appendix 4, see supra 9.1.
– [ Marco De Pietri, August 2020]
For the goddess Nis/daba, see here.
– [ Marco De Pietri, August 2020]

9.5 Refractory Liquids: Lack of Integration of Homogeneous Elements

[for a possible lecanomancy vase with four markers see the Urkesh vase with snakes A13.3, cf. UMS 4, p. 57; check also other reference where I suggest a Hurrian word for it.]
– [March 2020]
For Appendix 8, see Pettinato 1966 Lecanomancy (Akkadian text and German translation); cf. Goetze 1974 Y O S 10 and Sigristetal 1996 Catalogue (autographs). Cf. also Appendix 8.
– [ Marco De Pietri, August 2020]
On lecanomancy see Winitzer 2010 Divine Presence
– [ Stefania Ermidoro, October 2020]

9.6 The Biblical Attitude

[Urim e tummim v. Paximadi 2004 pp. 167-175.]
– [March 2020]
For Dt. 18, 10-12, see here. Cf. supra 8.6 and infra 11.7.
– [ Marco De Pietri, August 2020]
«In the Bible, there is the most negative attitude possible towards divination … This possible limitation of the concrete use of such practices can be traced not so much to a greater effectiveness of this prohibition, but rather to the fact that the maintenance of divination in general required a much more complex logistical apparatus, so to speak, and a real culture that was based not on folklore traditions, but rather on multiple reference texts that were not easy to read without a real education. All this was practically impossible to maintain in a “private” way, without adequate public support, and was therefore destined not to have an effective presence in the Palestinian world (while it would have been revealed in all its complexity to the exiles, first in Assyria and then in Babylon.) In fact, even in the rest of the Syro-Palestinian world, outside the biblical sphere, a divinatory system as complex as in Mesopotamia, where intellectual and logistic support was much more deeply rooted, never developed» (G. Buccellati, Chapter 9, Section 6).

It is true that it is very difficult to find divinatory or astrological texts in Palestine: at least, and with any critical premise (considering the different chronology and the peculiar milieu), we could mention the so-called “Astrological Physiognomies” or “Horoscopes” found at Qumran (4Q186: the number of text is composed by the prefix number of the cave where it was discovered [4Q = Cave 4 at Qumran] + the number of the scroll [186]). On this topic, see mostly the edition princeps in Allegro 1968 D J D 5, pp. 88-91; cf. Albani 2000 Horoscopes; cf. Vermer 2011 D S S. Further bibliography on Orion Center.
– [ Marco De Pietri, August 2020]
The entry presents evidence of horoscope texts also in the Palestinian religion, specifically at Qumran. See Albani 2000 Horoscopes.
– [ Marco De Pietri, September 2020]
See Deluty 2020 Prophecy for a comparison between divination in Mesopotamia and in the biblical world.
– [ Jonah Lynch, January 2021]