Author:
Maul, Stefan M. author.
ImprintWaco, Texas : Baylor University Press, [2018]
Imprint2018
Descriptionxiii, 345 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
Note:First published as : Die Wahrsagekunst im Alten Orient: Zeichen des Himmels und der Erde (Munich: Verlag C. H. Beck, 2013).
Note:Epochs of Mesopotamian history -- Transcription of ancient Near Eastern words and concepts -- Signs of heaven and earth -- Sacrifice and the art of divination -- Messages in livers and entrails: extispicy's essentials -- The fine art of asking questions -- An option going cheap: the inspection of sacrificial birds -- Divination "to go" and prognostication "on a shoestring" -- From meat inspection to "science": the flourishing of the Babylonian art of extispicy -- New constellations: the inexorable rise of Babylonian astral divination -- New teachings on the cosmos: the interdisciplinarity of the diviners -- At the center of power: divination and political counseling -- On prognostication as sense and nonsense.
Bibliography Note:Includes bibliographical references (pages 303-330) and indexes.
Note:Discovering divine will was a part of everyday life for the people of the ancient Near East. Every state action and every military campaign was preceded by a king's meticulous ritual that petitioned the gods for a sure answer about the outcome of their endeavors. But royals were not alone in their quest. Wealthy merchants, simple craftsmen, poor widows--everyone wanted and needed certainty for future undertakings. Those who could afford it sacrificed a flawless sheep, whose liver was used by the diviner to determine the answer. Others sought guidance in oil and flour. The desire for certainty in the face of an unknown future unified all classes in the ancient world. Stefan M. Maul, a noted expert on ancient Near Eastern divination, offers an overview of this fascinating subject. Maul surveys the "art" of divination as it expanded from Sumerian roots to Babylonian mastery, cataloging its evolving methodology--from entrails to astrology--and the class of experts who performed it. He argues that the discernment of the will of the gods, though vital for political counsel, was far from a cynical ploy of the elite: at root this was a genuine attempt to unite Mesopotamian cultures under a common purpose. What seems to the post-Enlightenment world a mere superstition was, in its own way and to its own ends, a robust scholarly enterprise that lent these ancient peoples a sense of control over a world populated by fickle forces. These practices remind us that the desire to know the future is a part of what it means to be human, regardless of time or place.
