Derek
Collins Mapping the Entrails: The Art of Greek Hepatomancy
This
paper outlines the evidence for Greek extispicy
in the classical and later periods, with special focus on
hepatomancy, or as it was technically
known, hepatoscopy (hêpatoskopia). Among Mesopotamian
cultures, such as the Babylonians, the liver (e.g. of
sheep) could indicate the presence or absence of divinity
(Gladigow 1995:351 and Meyer
1985). For the Greeks, who inherited the Mesopotamian
tradition, the liver had long been recognized as the seat
of the emotions (e.g. Archil.
234 West, Plato, Tim. 71b-c). Before and during
military campaigns especially, hepatoscopy involving sacrificial oxen or goats
was used to determine the divine will because the liver
was thought to be the organ in closest contact with
divinity. The two most significant emotions that were
considered to govern the liver in divination were anger
and fear, which signaled distress in the animal and boded
ill for human action. When there was distress, it
manifested in irregular or dull coloring, lack of
smoothness (Aes. Prom. 493-95),
or the shrinkage or even absence of the liverês
lobe, i.e. the caput iecoris
(e.g. Eur. Elec. 827-29,
Xen. Hell. 3.4.15
and 4.7.7). Entrails, including the liver,
that appeared favorable in shape and color (kala,
khrêsta) signified that there was
no divine objection to the action under consideration
(e.g. Herod. 6.112, with Vernant
1974:17).
I
will argue that, like many systems of divination, Greek hepatoscopy
and entrail reading generally
were binary systems. In addition, hepatoscopy
indicated only whether there was divine objection to a
proposed action, which was different from ratifying that
proposed action. In a departure from previous approaches
to hepatoscopy (esp. Pritchett 1979 III and
Lawrence 1979), my approach incorporates recent
anthropological research that stresses the semiotics of entrail-reading
(Abbink 1993). This approach
has shown that entrail-reading
involves both fixed points of reference, with "objective"
meaning, and tacit, contextual, and social clues that
help to establish the overall meaning of a given message
in the entrails, as it emerges in the dialogue or
communicative event of the reading itself. I argue that
parallels for such fixed points of reference are also
found in Greek hepatoscopy.
They involve the absence of the liver's head as
inauspicious, as well as the favorable value given to
smoothness (leiotês)
over roughness, and sweetness (glukus)
over bitterness (pikrotês) as reflected in the
coloring and texture of the liver's surface. On the other hand, even though our evidence for how
details of the liver were interpreted in practice is
limited (e.g. Plato, Timaeus
71b-c; Cicero, De Divinatione
2.14-15; Philostratus, Vit.
Apoll.
8.7.15), we can, with the use of comparative material,
suggest how a balance was struck between the "objective"
and contingent meanings derived from the liverês
features. The most important difference between the
ancient and contemporary anthropological evidence,
however, is that ancient manteis
and haruspices alone,
through their tekhnê,
arrived at given prophecies. Greek hepatoscopy
in this respect was not collaborative, and it gave
ancient seers a greater freedom to offer interpretations
that were at odds with the wishes of their military
commanders.