"Kiderül belőle, hogy Hattušašban például 36 májmodellt találtak..."
Morris Weiss, M.D.
Clinical Professor of Medicine Department of Medicine
University of Louisville School of Medicine
Fellow – American College of Physicians
Fellow – American College of Cardiology
Fellow – American Heart Association
This brings us to making a few observations on the art of observing the viscera, especially the liver called extispicium. In divination this is of great importance. The term haruspex of divination of the liver comes from the Chaldean word for liver, har. The Hittites who controlled Syria and Mesopotamia in the 2nd half of the 2nd millennium B.C transmitted this concept. Clay models of livers with cuneiform inscription are from Chaldea and the Hittite capital of Bogaz-Kevi. These are considered the inspiration or the famous bronze liver of Piacenza of the 3rd century B.C. (22,40,31,65,78) This is a templum or temple in the form of a sheep’s liver divided into sectors each with the name of the divinity. This artifact was used as a teaching tool for the art of haruspex. Each sector corresponds to a region in heaven inhabited by the divinity named. The liver is also divided into parts similar to the celestial temple. A pars familiares and pars hostilis corresponds to the right and left of the observer. The fissum is an incision limiting the parts. There is a captus jecinoris or protuberance as seen in sheep and cattle livers. The fibrae are the borders of the liver. Each part apparently had its own special function, but little is known of this. The historical relationship between the Etruscan liver and those found in Asia Minor has been the subject of much debate. Giuseppe Furlani discussed this subject in depth at the First International Etruscan Congress (1929) in Florence. Furlani concludes we cannot with those founding Asia Minor, but some relationship surely seems to be present especially if the Oriental origin of the Etruscans is believed. (25,28)
The liver is used for divination because the ancients considered this organ the seat of the soul. The liver, not the heart, was considered the central vital organ even among the Greeks, Romans and Hebrews in early period of these cultures. The Babylonian priests studied in detail the anatomy of the liver. Several writers have discussed these anatomic details including Jastrow, Korte and Thulin. The Etruscans as noted in Greek and Roman writings used a similar system of studying the liver for divination. The bronze liver of Piacenza is direct evidence of Etruscan involvement but no historical documents survived. The markings on the liver are similar to the Babylonian livers and it is difficult not to definitely link the two but, as discussed above, this cannot be said with certainty. The Romans took their system from the Etruscans as Cicero mentions (De Divinatione, I, ii, 3.). (74) In fact, until late in the Roman Empire augers were imported from Etruria. Greek hepatoscopy is assumed to be a direct connection with Babylonian and not as a result of cross-fertilization with the Etruscans. (27)
When it became important what the gods had in mind for an individual or for a city or country, divination to the liver of a sacrificial animal was employed. Invariably the animal used was a sheep. Why this animal was chosen is not explained. When the invoked god accepts the animal offered to him, the two are assimilated. The soul of the god and the soul of the animal are as one and thus, if you know one, you know the other. Thus, if you can read the liver you can enter the mind of the god. Since the gods control the future the divination can thus predict the future. I dwell on this point because in liver divination, which dates to the earliest human historical records of 3000 B.C., we see the beginning of anatomic study. The Etruscans system of divination was highly developed leading Bouche-Leclercq to say “the study of the liver is the highest art.” The Piacenza liver like the clay model of a liver in the British Museum from the Hammurabi period of about 2000 B.C. seemed to by training models, perhaps for novices studying for the priesthood. (29,30) Further proof of the importance of the Etruscan augury is seen in the augur portrayed on the mirror as originally presented in Korte’s publication. Tabanelli has extensively surveyed ancient Roman writings for references to Etruscan divination practices. An outline of these citations is included if the reader is desirous of further analysis of this subject.
Cicero: De Divinatione I, 13,16,32,42,53,58,118
II, 12,13,15,16,26,28 (88)
Tacitus: History II, (89)
Pliny the Elder: Natural History XI, 190 (90)
Celsus: De Medicina Lib. IV, Chp. 1
Tibullus: Elegie I, 8,3
II, 25
III, Ch. 4, V. 5
Pausanias: IV, 2, 5
Ovid: Fasti IV, 907, 935
Metamorphosis XV, 790,794
Fronto, Marcus Cornelius: Ad Vsrum II, 8
Seurvio: Georgiche I, 120
Properzio: Carmi IV, I 104
Pliny The Younger: Epistle II, 20
Lucian: Phantalla I, 622
De Bello Civili I, 584
Pharsalia I, 626, 622
Plutarch: Alexander, 73
Cimone, 18, 15
Sulla XXVII, 6
Arato, 43
Arian: Anabasis VII, 18,2
Livy: Story of Rome VII-X, 1
XXII-XXIII, 13
XXIV-XXVII, 13
Valeria Massimo: Factorum A-C
Dictorum Mirabilium I-VI, 9
Seneca Oedipus, 357, 359, 360, 362
Euripides, Le Feni Cie, V. 1255
(A templum eredetileg az etruszk papok által a földre és a levegőbe rajzolt kör volt, illetőleg az általa határolt "szent" területnek a neve, amelyen belül a megfigyeléseiket végezték.) |
