The Identification of Fortuitous Markings

Some of the factors considered by the Assyrian diviner in identifying and distinguishing one fortuitous mark from another are described in the following passage:

"If the 'weapon'-marks of the right, as many as there are, whether of the pān takālti or of the lungs face upward, it is unfavorable; if they face downward, it is favorable; if they face to the right, it is unfavorable; if they face to the left, it is favorable.

If the 'weapon'-marks on the left, as many as there are, whether of the pān takālti or of the lungs face upward, it is favorable; if they face downwards, it is unfavorable.

If there is a 'foot'-mark in the place of a favorable 'weapon'-mark of the right, you count it as a 'weapon'-mark. A 'foot'-mark on the left (you count) as a 'weapon'-mark on the left.

An atrophied part, a 'foot'-mark, a bifurcation (larû), a design (uṣurtu), an elevation (tību), and an indentation (dikšu), you also count as a 'weapon'-mark." (Boissier DA 45:2-8)

Considerations like these helped the diviner to ascertain, for purposes of prediction, the ominous worth of the numerous configurations and markings which abounded on the surface of the exta.

Of the last four markings mentioned in the passage cited, at least two, larû and uṣurtu, merit some discussion, because they are well-attested in the omen literature and in the reports and queries.

Ivan Starr

Ivan Starr, 'The Identification of Fortuitous Markings', Queries to the Sungod: Divination and Politics in Sargonid Assyria, SAA 4. Original publication: Helsinki, Helsinki University Press, 1990; online contents: SAAo/SAA04 Project, a sub-project of MOCCI, 2020 [http://oracc.org/saao/saa04/OtherPartsandFeaturesoftheExta/TheIdentificationofFortuitousMarkings/]

SAAo/SAA04, 2014-. Since 2015, SAAo is based at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Historisches Seminar (LMU Munich, History Department) - Alexander von Humboldt Chair for Ancient History of the Near and Middle East. Content released under a CC BY-SA 3.0 [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/] license, 2007-20.
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