Conceptions of Mesopotamian Divination

ARCHIV FÜR ORIENTFORSCHUNG Internationale Zeitschrift für die Wissenschaft vom Vorderen Orient Begründet von Ernst Weidner, fortgeführt von H. Hirsch Herausgegeben von Hermann Hunger, Michael Jursa, Gebhard J. Selz und Michaela Weszeli Redaktion: Michaela Weszeli BAND LIV ‒ 1. Teil 2021 Selbstverlag des Instituts für Orientalistik der Universität Wien Druck: F. Berger & Söhne G.m.b.H., Horn  Inhaltsverzeichnis I Inhaltsverzeichnis Erster Teil Abhandlungen Diplomatics of Late Babylonian Archival Texts R ein h ar d P ir n g r u b er and M ich ael J u r s a, Diplomatics of Late Babylonian Archival Texts: Proceed- ings of a Meeting Held at Vienna University, 6-7 October 2016 ..................................................... 1 J o h an n es H ack l, The Artaxerxes Conundrum – Diplomatics and Its Contribution to Dating Late Achae- menid Legal Documents from Babylonia ......................................................................................... 2-45 M ich ael J u rs a, Diplomatics, Prosopography, and Possibly Politics: the Transition from the ‛Early’ Ebab- bar Archive to the Main Archive ....................................................................................................... 46-52 K ar lh ein z K es s ler, Zu den spätachämenidischen Urkunden in Uruk zwischen Xerxes und Alexander .... 53-61 K r is tin K leb er, Tablet Format and Bookkeeping in Eanna: a Dossier on Long-Distance Trade from the Reign of Nabonidus .......................................................................................................................... 62-71 Yu v al Lev av i and Mar tin a S ch mid l, Diplomatics of Neo-Babylonian and Early Achaemenid Letters ............................................................................................................................................... 72-87 R ein h ar d P ir n g r u b er, A Diplomatics Approach to the Eanna Archive: the Livestock Dossier ................. 88-108 Lo u is e Q u illien, Diachronic Change of the Tablet Format, Layout and Contents in the Textile Dossier of the Ebabbar Temple of Sippar (End of the 7th to Beginning of the 5th Century BC) ........................ 109-118 M ałg o r zata S an d o w icz, Transcripts of Interrogations (mašˀaltus) from Sippar ....................................... 119-125 R ien ek e S o n n ev elt, Rībat’s Dossier from Nippur – a Diplomatic Study of Aramaic Epigraphs on Cunei- form Tablets ...................................................................................................................................... 126-138 R ad o s ław Tar as ew icz, Non-Tabulated and Tabulated Inventory Tablets from Sippar Concerning Sheep and Goats: Their Chronology, Content, and Format ......................................................................... 139-153 C h r is to p h er Walk er, Seals on Late Babylonian Archival Documents ....................................................... 154-158 C o r n elia Wu n s ch , Fingernail Marks on Neo-Babylonian Tablets. Their Placement, Shape, and Captions as Means to Classify and Date Tablets ............................................................................................. 159-188 Abbreviations and Bibliography ....................................................................................................................... 189-196 Hittite Priests between the Sacred and the Profane S h ai G o r d in , Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 197-198 M ich ele Cammar o s an o , Local Priests in Hittite Anatolia.......................................................................... 199-207 A mir G ilan , “As a priest I myself offered to the goddess”: Ḫattušili’s Early Dedication to Šawoška of Šamuḫa Reconsidered ....................................................................................................................... 208-215 S t e f a n o d e M a r t i n o , The purapši-Priest and the tabri-Attendant .............................................................. 216-224 P io tr Tar ach a, Priestly Colleges in North-Central Anatolia: Some Remarks on the Tradition and Organization of Local Cults in the Second Millennium BCE .......................................................... 225-232 Mesopotamian Belief Systems [J ean - J acq u es G las s n er, Système de pensée en Mésopotamie ................................................................. AfO 53, 1-8] J . C ale J o h n s o n , Statuary Peers: Speaking to the Statues of Famous Kings in the Early Mesopotamian Literature ........................................................................................................................................... 233-254 P io tr S tein k eller, Early Mesopotamian Divine System: Some Fundamental Concerns ............................ 255-266 II Inhaltsverzeichnis Hauptteil A n d r ás B ács k ay, Prescriptions against “Hand-of-Ghost” and Fever. An Edition of BM 41300 ................ 283-292 J eanette C. F in ck e, The Best Day for Laying the Foundation Stone: Two Compilations Based on iqqur īpuš, on the “Lucky Days” from the Babylonian Almanac and on a Commentary as a Guideline for Selecting the Right Time ............................................................................................................. 293-320 M ar k h am J . G eller, Babylonian Gynaecology in Greek (or vice versa) .................................................... 343-347 M ich ael M äd er, Ein baktrisches Siegel mit elamischer Strichschrift und die Suche nach dem Land Šimaški .............................................................................................................................................. 416-425 B iek e M ah ieu , The Composition of the Dynasty of E and the Reconstruction of the Babylonian King List A (CT 36, pls. 24-25) ........................................................................................................................ 372-378 S ar a M ils tein , Sleeping In(serted): Humor and Revision in the Adapa Tradition ....................................... 348-357 Zo ltán N ied er r eiter, Ištar at Nippur and Her Cult Place (Ebaradurĝarra, the Temple of Ungal-Nibru) in the Kassite and Later Periods ............................................................................................................ 358-371 Tak ay o s h i O s h ima and N ath an Was s er man , Forgotten Dais, Scattered Temple: Old Babylonian Akkadian Lament to Mamma and Its Historical Context ................................................................. 267-282 Yo k o Watai, An Administrative Text from the Neo-Babylonian Period in the Collection of the Hirayama Ikuo Silk Road Museum ................................................................................................................... 406-412 M . L. Wes t (†), Gilgamesh ............................................................................................................................ 426-450 A b r ah am Win itzer, Conceptions of Mesopotamian Divination ................................................................. 321-342 S tef an Zaw ad zk i, The Ḫindanaeans in the Neo-Babylonian Empire ......................................................... 379-405 P eter Zilb erg , Lands and Estates around Āl-Yāḫūdu and the Geographical Connection with the Murašû Archive ........................................................................................................................... 413-415 Kleine Mitteilungen S tef an B o jo w ald , Zur Erklärung des ägyptischen Wortes ἰꝪŚ in pAshmolean Museum 1984.55 rt., x + 3 .................................................................................................................................................. 451-452 Zweiter Teil Rezensionen Tzvi Abusch, The Anti-Witchcraft Series Maqlû: A Student Edition and Selected Commentary (= State Ar- chives of Assyria Cuneiform Texts 11) (J o A n n S c u r l o c k ) ........................................................... 465-477 Tzvi Abusch, The Magical Ceremony Maqlû: A Critical Edition (= Ancient Magic and Divination 10) (J o A n n S c u r l oc k) ......................................................................................................................... 465-477 Tzvi Abusch, The Witchcraft Series Maqlû (= Writings from the Ancient World 37 (J o A n n S c u r l o c k ) ..... 465-477 Peter Altmann and Janling Fu (eds.), Feasting in the Archaeology and Texts of the Bible and the Ancient Near East (S u s an P o llock ) ........................................................................................ 604-606 Amar Annus, The Overturned Boat: Intertextuality of the Adapa Myth and Exorcist Literature (= State Ar- chives of Assyria Studies XXIV) (B e n j a m i n R . F o s t e r ) ............................................................ 479-481 Noemi Borrelli, The Umma Messenger Texts from the Harvard Semitic Museum and the Yale Babylonian Collection (= Nisaba 27) (C ha ng y u L i u ) ..................................................................................... 457-459 Manuel Ceccarelli, Enki und Ninmaḫ. Eine mythische Erzählung in sumerischer Sprache (= Orientalische Religionen in der Antike 16) (G i o v a n n a M a t i n i ) ........................................................................ 456-457 Karine Chemla and Jacques Virbel (eds.), Texts, Textual Acts and the History of Science (= Archi- medes. New Studies in the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology, vol. 42) (M a r k ha m J . G e l l e r ) ................................................................................................................... 562-564 Eckart Frahm, Historische und historisch-li­te­rarische Texte (= Keilschrifttexte aus Assur li­te­ra­rischen In- halts Bd. 3; Wissenschaftliche Ver­öf­fent­lichun­gen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft Bd. 121) (J a m i e N ov o t n y) .......................................................................................................................... 484-487 Uri Gabbay, Pacifying the Hearts of the Gods. Sumerian Emesal Prayers of the First Millennium BC (Hei- delberger Emesal-Studien 1) (J a n K e e t m a n ) ................................................................................ 460-462 Andrew R. George, Mesopotamian Incantations and Related Texts in the Schøyen Collection (= Cornell University Studies in Assyriology and Sumerology 32) (N a t h a n Wa s s e r m a n ) ........................... 481-482  Inhaltsverzeichnis III Johannes Haubold, Giovanni B. Lanfranchi, Robert Rollinger and John M. Steele (eds.), The World of Berossos. Proceedings of the 4th International Colloquium on »The Ancient Near East between Classical and Ancient Oriental Traditions« (= Classica et Orientalia 5) (R e i nh a r d P i r n g r ub e r ) ............................................................................................................... 595-596 Manfred Hutter, Iranische Personennamen in der hebräischen Bibel (= Iranisches Personennamenbuch VII/2) (J a n Ta ve r n i e r ) ............................................................................................................................. 600-601 Kristin Kleber, Spätbabylonische Texte zum lokalen und regionalen Handel sowie zum Fernhandel aus dem Eanna-Archiv (= Babylonische Archive 7) (R a d o s ł a w Ta r a s e w i c z ) ......................................... 487-495 Ulla Koch, Mesopotamian Divination Texts: Conversing with the Gods, Sources from the First Millennium BCE (= Guides to the Mesopotamian Textual Record 7) (M a r k h a m J . Ge l l e r ) ......................... 482-484 Paul J. Kosmin, The Land of the Elephant Kings. Space, Territory, and Ideology in the Seleucid Empire (R e i nh a r d P i r n g r ub e r ) ............................................................................................................... 597-599 Michael Kozuh, The Sacrificial Economy. Assessors, Contractors, and Thieves in the Management of Sac- rificial Sheep at the Eanna Temple of Uruk (ca. 625-520 B.C.) (= Explorations in Ancient Near Eastern Civilizations 2) (Yuv a l L e v a v i ) ....................................................................................... 495-500 Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones, King and Court in Ancient Persia, 559 to 331 BCE (= Debates and Documents in Ancient History) (R e i nh a r d P i r n g r u b e r ) .................................................................................... 599-600 John P. Nielsen, Personal Names in Early Neo-Babylonian Legal and Administrative Tablets, 747-626 B.C.E. (= Nisaba 29) (R a n Z a do k ) ............................................................................................... 500-551 Baruch Ottervanger, The Tale of the Poor Man of Nippur (= State Archives of Assyria Cuneiform Texts 12) (Sc o t t N o e ge l ) .............................................................................................................................. 477-479 David I. Owen, The Nesbit Tablets (= Nisaba 30) (C h a n g y u L i u ) ............................................................... 459-460 Simo Parpola, Etymological Dictionary of the Sumerian Language. Part 1: Lexical Evidence. Part 2: Seman- tic Analysis and Indices (J an K eetman) ........................................................................................ 463-465 Emanuel Pfoh, Syria-Palestine in the Late Bronze Age: an Anthropology of Politics and Power (J a c ob L a ui n g e r ) .......................................................................................................................... 602-604 Robert Rebitsch, Friedrich Pöhl und Sebastian Fink (Hrsg.), Die Konstruktion des Kannibalen zwischen Fiktion und Realität (= Philippika 111) (S t e f a n i a E r m i d o r o ) .................................................... 606-608 Thomas Richter, Vorarbeiten zu einem hurritischen Namenbuch. Erster Teil: Personennamen altba- bylonischer Überlieferung vom Mittleren Euphrat und aus dem nördlichen Mesopotamien (R a n Z a do k ) ................................................................................................................................... 584-586 Christophe Rico and Claudia Attucci (eds.), Origins of the Alphabet. Proceedings of the First Polis Institute Interdisciplinary Conference (J ean - J acq u es G las s n er ) ............................................................. 559 Mirjo Salvini, Les textes hourrites de Meskéné/Emar. Vol. I-II (Tho mas R ichter ) .................................... 586-591 Nili Samet, The Lamentation over the Destruction of Ur (= Mesopotamian Civilizations 18) (M a rg a r e t J a qu e s )......................................................................................................................... 453-456 Seth L. Sanders, From Adapa to Enoch. Scribal Cultures and Religious Vision in Judea and Babylon (= Texts and Studies in Ancient Judaism 167) (M a r k h a m J . G e l l e r ) ....................................................... 559-562 Małgorzata Sandowicz, Oaths and Curses. A Study in Neo- and Late Babylonian Legal Formulary (= Alter Orient und Altes Testament 398) (J o h a n n e s Ha c k l ) ....................................................... 552-559 Daniel Schwemer, The Anti-Witchcraft Ritual Maqlû: The Cuneiform Sources of a Magic Ceremony from Ancient Mesopotamia (J o A n n S cu r lock ) .................................................................................... 465-477 Luis R. Siddall, The Reign of Adad-nīrārī III: An Historical and Ideological Analysis of an Assyrian King and His Times (= Cuneiform Monographs 45) (S h a n a Z a i a ) ....................................................... 591-595 Marten Stol, Women in the Ancient Near East (J o s u é J . J u s tel) ................................................................. 567-573 Saana Svärd and Agnès Garcia-Ventura (eds.), Studying Gender in the Ancient Near East (A n n e- C ar o line R e n du L o i s e l ) ............................................................................................................................... 573-576 Nicole L. Tilford, Sensing World, Sensing Wisdom. The Cognitive Foundation of Biblical Metaphors (= Ancient Israel and Its Literature 31) (M a r i a n n e G r o h m a n n ) ................................................ 601-602 Andreas Wagner (Hrsg.), Göttliche Körper – Göttliche Gefühle. Was leisten anthropomor- phe und anthropopathische Götterkonzepte im Alten Orient und im Alten Testament? (J u di t h E . F i l i t z ) .......................................................................................................................... 580-584 Joan Goodnick Westenholz, Yossi Maurey and Edwin Seroussi (eds.), Music in Antiquity. The Near East and the Mediterranean (= Yuval VIII) (M o n i k a S c h u o l ) .................................................................... 564-567 Ilona Zsolnay (ed.), Being a Man: Negotiating Ancient Constructs of Masculinity (= Studies in the History of the Ancient Near East) (G i oe l e Z i s a ) ....................................................................................... 576-580 IV Inhaltsverzeichnis Inhaltsanzeigen Abd el-Masih Hanna Baghdo, Lutz Martin, Mirko Novák und Winfried Orthmann (Hrsg.), Tell Halaf. Vor- bericht über die dritte bis fünfte syrisch-deutsche Grabungskampagne (= VFMFOS 3; Ausgrabun- gen auf dem Tell Halaf in Nordost-Syrien Teil II) (E l l e n R e h m ) .................................................. 609-610 Erlend Gehlken, Weather Omens of Enūma Anu Enlil. Thunderstorms, Wind and Rain (Tablets 44-49) (= Cuneiform Monographs 43) (H e r m a n n H u n g e r ) .................................................................... 609 Roger Matthews and John Curtis (eds.), Proceedings of the International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East (= ICAANE 7) (Ellen R eh m) .................................................................... 610-611 Daniel T. Potts (ed.), A Companion to the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East (= Blackwell Companions to the Ancient World), vol. I-II (Ellen R eh m) ............................................................................... 611-612 Nachrufe Dem Gedächtnis der Toten (Lamia Al-Gailani Werr, Onofrio Carruba, Muhammad Dandamayev, Horst Ehringhaus, Douglas Frayne, Volkert Haas, Rivka Harris, Karl Hecker, Hans Hirsch, Olivier Le- compte, Willem H.Ph. Römer, Geoffrey Turner, Helga Weippert) ................................................... 613-635 Bibliographien und Register Assyriologie, Register (M . Wes zeli unter Mitarbeit von H . H u n g er, M . S chmid l, M . J u r s a) ............ 637-753 Mesopotamien und Nachbargebiete (M . Wes zeli unter Mitarbeit von H . H u n g er, M . S ch mid l, M . J u r s a ) ............................................................................................................................................... 754-790 Old Assyrian Bibliography 4. July 2015 - December 2019 (C é c i l e M i c h e l ) ............................................... 791-819  Conceptions of Mesopotamian Divination 321 Conceptions of Mesopotamian Divination* By A. Winitzer (Notre Dame) I. Introduction The publication of a major work on ancient Mesopotamia aimed, at least in part, at an audience broader than that civiliza- tion’s modern students is already an unusual occasion deserving of recognition. That this effort seeks to shed light on an area as recondite and ultimately almost untranslatable as that civilization’s divinatory sciences is even more noteworthy. It is, perhaps, a statement on Assyriology’s current standing that this should be the case, especially given the foreignness of the topic, which this work lays out without apologetics and with few attempts to make it fit into our own premises. It certainly speaks to the abilities of its author, one of the foremost philologists of cuneiform of this generation, renowned, inter alia, for his masterful handling and scientific edition of some of the toughest genres of literature from this world. For the current work is not an edition of texts or even a study of its literature. Rather, its author, Stefan Maul, goes to the underlying subject itself, in its constituent parts as well as in its totality. The work is not the first in which Maul has taken on tite, Egyptian, Biblical, and Classical materials, and adds the matters under consideration here. Two, among others, an occasional reference from early Jewish and Christian include his monumental study of those rituals intended to sources – and not merely to celebrate the Nachleben of counteract ill-boding omens and his comprehensive over- Mesopotamian scholarship in these related or proximate view of Mesopotamian divination offered in the Reallex- worlds. More impressively, Maul’s use of non-Mesopo- ikon der Assyriologie.1 And yet those two efforts were tamian material at times sheds light on Mesopotamian necessarily limited either in terms of subject or scope, matters, for instance when filling out lacunae in the cu- while the former took on the topic of divination only in- neiform record concerning oil divination from Egyptian directly. The present work, by contrast, represents a full- sources that seem to have known Hittite and ultimately fledged and head-on effort at a systematic presentation of Mesopotamian ideas. a basic facet of Mesopotamian culture, one that draws on Yet even more impressive than this display of erudi- and interacts with many others, from different domains, tion is Maul’s ability to put all these matters together in including religion, politics, and scholastics. a coherent whole, and thus to offer a systematic expla- Lest there be any doubt, let it be stated clearly at the nation of Mesopotamian divination. The work, in other outset of this review that the achievement of this work words, is essentially a work of interpretation, not philolo- and the learning behind it are tremendous, and just for gy; and it is in this respect, when said interpretation rests this it is already deserving of high commendation. Maul on the author’s first-rate philology, that the work is most is thoroughly in command of subfields in Mesopotamian exceptional. For in so doing, Maul enables the possibility divination that are rarely visited together, even by spe- of a debate on the synthesis and meaning of a complex cialists in the field, who typically expend their efforts set of ideas and practices from ancient Mesopotamia and piecing together the learned literature of one of the div- provides a thesis of the sort normative in other academic inatory methods, or breaking down its logic. Yet Maul disciplines, whether in the humanities, history, or social also concerns himself with matters beyond Mesopotamia. sciences. This last point may well go unnoted by the bulk Although, notwithstanding the book’s title, there is not a of the book’s readership, which is accustomed to synthe- comprehensive discussion of divination (or prophecy) in ses of works of history on topics such as the Crusades or other ancient Near Eastern cultures, Maul employs Hit- French Revolution, which, if serious, offer a framework for understanding such events, not just an assembly of *) This is a review article of St. Maul, Die Wahrsagekunst im Alten Orient: Zeichen des Himmels und der Erde. 423 pp., 45 facts pertaining to them. But in Assyriology things are Figs., 1 map. Munich, Verlag C.H. Beck, 2013. € 29.95. ISBN different, with synthetic interpretation sometimes met 978-3-406-64514-3. with considerable suspicion that, on occasion, borders on Abbreviations follow those in AfO, CAD, and CDLI. Note, a sense of heresy. in addition, the following: The non-specialist reading this volume may thus take Bo = Boğazköy liver model no., see De Vos 2013; delight at seeing the tips of icebergs while cruising in dis- CUSAS 18 = George 2013; tant, captivating waters, but remain unaware of the mass- CUSAS 30 = van Soldt 2015; es that lie beneath. It is thus somewhat unfortunate that KAL 5 = Heeßel 2012. Thanks are offered to Yoram Cohen, Susanne Görke, and this book is not an easy read, laden with neologisms and David Vanderhooft for commenting on early drafts of this paper at times needlessly complex. But these are minor quib- or for sharing with me a relevant forthcoming study (see now bles and probably a case of sour grapes, too. Indeed, it Cohen and Anor 2018). is almost impossible to imagine the publication – and in 1 ) Respectively Maul 1994; 2003. a non-university press – of a book like this in a North Archiv für Orientforschung 54 (2021) 322 A. Winitzer American context. The author, recently dean of human- practitioners with their spheres of learning, while Chap- ities at one of Germany’s most venerated universities, is ter 10 focuses on these persons from the perspective of thus also to be praised for his commitment to the highest their relationship to the royal court, especially in the rich- ideals of that land’s classic intellectual tradition; and fit- ly documented later era of Sargonid Assyria. tingly his work has been noted in its public forum, in a Although, as noted, the book professes to cover Mes- manner almost inconceivable most elsewhere.2 opotamian divination in toto, a significant number of this But Maul’s work has even more to offer to its Assyri- civilization’s divinatory methods and their literatures are ological readership, for it is in that context that the frame- actually either absent from or mentioned only marginally work he posits and the basic assumptions he makes can in it by comparison to those methods covered in consid- receive their proper and deserving vetting. The latter is erable detail. The former include several types of divina- meant in the light with what has already been said: this tion known concerning the human person, such as illness rare work allows for a deliberation of larger questions of and health (Sakikkû), appearance (Alamdimmû), unusual meaning. Thus, the exception posed by it deserves con- births (Izbu [also of animals]), dreams (Zaqīqu), as well siderable attention, especially when the author’s assump- as those centered on human surroundings (Šumma ālu).3 tions can be challenged or where dissenting opinions to That these were not tangential areas of divinatory inter- his analysis can be presented. The following pages of- est in Mesopotamia is plain in the case of nearly every fer such alternatives concerning several aspects of the instance (the exception being necromancy), whether in author’s conception of Mesopotamian divination, chief terms of these methods’ practice or, especially, in their among them a more central place for the textual-interpre- literary reflection. To the contrary, the majority of these tative tradition of divination as an intrinsic and perhaps produced textual corpora and traditions that far outweigh even the defining part of the entire subject. It should be their counterparts from some of the methods of interest to clear that these alternatives reflect a different conception Maul, including bird-extispicy and divination by means of Mesopotamian divination and thus constitute an inter- of flour, incense, and oil. From this it follows that Maul’s pretation in and of itself – one enabled by Maul’s highly choice to include certain methods and exclude others stimulating work. cannot be ascribed to oversight or coincidence but rather to a conscious selection of what was deemed significant II. Synopsis for his overall portrayal. An analysis of this choice thus bears on Maul’s basic conception of Mesopotamian div- The book is comprised of eleven chapters that can ination, specifically within the context of the sacrificial be grouped in three broad sections. The first, including cult noted above. This is taken up below (§ VI). Chapters 1 and 2, offers introductory words about Mes- Even with these omissions, it is still impossible to opotamia’s account of the divine realm (Chapter 1) and give serious consideration to every part of this tome, even the place of divination within this picture more specifi- in this expanded forum. The following, therefore, consid- cally, within the context of the sacrificial cult (Chapter 2); ers three of the areas in which Maul’s effort is especial- to this may be added the brief conclusion in Chapter 11 ly significant, often groundbreaking. These are: (1) The that attempts to explain Mesopotamian divination from background to and preparations for standard extispicy the modern perspective of prognostication. The second, (Chapter 3, pp. 29-63); (2) divination by means of birds running from Chapters 3 through 6, centers on several of (Chapter 5), and other lesser-known divinatory methods the specific divinatory methods, from extispicy (Chap- (Chapter 6). Each of these is treated in turn (§§ III-V). ters 3-5) to lesser-understood options, employing flour, oil, and incense (Chapter 6), offering a rich account of III. Extispicy each. The third, from Chapters 7 to 10, approaches things from a primarily historical perspective. Chapter 7 de- Maul’s treatment of sheep-based extispicy constitutes scribes the origins of divination and its transformations, the largest single section in the book devoted to the de- especially in connection to the major social and political tailing of a specific divinatory method. This is certainly developments of the late-third and early-second millenni- justifiable. For the bulk of Mesopotamian civilization, um and the beginnings of this material’s textualization at before its final centuries in the first millennium, sheep- this time. Chapter 8 turns to astrology and especially its based extispicy was not only the best-known approach impressive developments in the first millennium, both in to divination but simply its metonym: bārûtu, lit., “seer- terms of method and use and the vast and varied literature ship”.4 And yet a preeminent place of extispicy in an it generated. Chapter 9 considers further the social-pro- overall study of Mesopotamian divination cannot be re- fessional context of divination and the intersection of its garded a foregone conclusion, since the overall picture of 2 ) See, e.g., B. Seewald, “Wie die Babylonier in die Zukunft 3 ) For an account of the first-millennium textual record of sehen konnten,” Die Welt, April 15, 2014 (https://www.welt.de/ Mesopotamian divination, see Koch 2015. geschichte/article126945737/Wie-die-Babylonier-in-die-Zuku- 4 ) Note that others are also referred to in this manner, as is nft-sehen-konnten.html). discussed below.  Conceptions of Mesopotamian Divination 323 the subject would appear otherwise if oriented different- place of law and justice in all forms of Mesopotamian so- ly. If one approaches Mesopotamian divination from the ciety (p. 38).10 But ultimately he recognizes the meeting perspective of the late period for example, then pride of place of mythology and law to be primarily the bailiwick place among the methods would surely go to astrology, of theology and opts to describe it as such (“Theologie which at that time eclipsed extispicy in seemingly every der Opferschau” [p. 48]). regard, and which played a highly productive role in the Accordingly, the occasion of extispicy is conceived as rise of new forms of divination and astronomy.5 Under- a legal appeal made in a cosmic court presided by Šamaš standably, therefore, the attention allotted to extispicy by and Adad, the gods of judgment and divination. As else- Maul also builds on this method’s considerable attesta- where in Mesopotamian thought, the role of Šamaš as su- tion in the earlier periods of Mesopotamian history, at preme judge is well-established;11 though here, too, Maul which time the details of this method’s practice, before it pushes things further, even in passing, such as when de- was scripted in the omen collections, finds nothing com- scribing the god’s appearance on the Eastern horizon as parable for other divinatory practices.6 an epiphany.12 More tantalizing to grasp in the overall A good deal of what is described in this chapter has re- picture has been the role of Adad, traditionally the storm ceived considerable attention elsewhere, especially with god, though when it comes to divination unexpectedly respect to the technical side and its many details of anat- nearly on equal footing with Šamaš.13 Maul tentatively omy and “pathology”, the understanding of which is now accepts the premise that this must have been owed to a mostly set.7 It is also hoped that my own recent study of belief of a metamorphosis of sorts, with that god’s winds extispicy literature will offer a new reference on matters blowing the spiritual verdicts of Šamaš into the exta of of organization and hermeneutics, especially of the omen the sacrificed animal. collections but inevitably also of the underlying act.8 The In addition to these two main actors and remaining analysis of bird-based extispicy in § IV below considers members of the divine council, a pivotal role was also many counterparts from the sheep-based method and thus played by the Gods of the Night, or stars, whose night- also partly makes up for its curtailed reference presently. ly presence lead to their understanding as intermediar- The following thus turns to what may be Maul’s most ies between earth and heaven, and who bore witness to significant contribution to the overall subject, viz. his the nightly exam and then followed the sun god into the reconstruction of the events leading up to the extispicy netherworld, where judgment was executed. The mention examination and their theological underpinning. These of these figures in the prayers and reports lead to their matters, too, have seen significant work recently, though modern interpretation as defenders or legal advocates of the manner by which Maul puts it all together represents the petitioner, with whom they had an intimate, almost a considerable advancement nonetheless. Particularly loving relationship.14 Maul, in some contrast to this view, noteworthy is his unwavering commitment to situate the stresses less the emotive and more the instrumental aspect entire event within a religious framework that is com- of these gods, whose movement and flickering15 in the prised by two integrated levels, one celestially centered, heavens and especially likening to a “heavenly writing” the other terrestrially. The following turns to these in due (šiṭir šamê/burūmê; šiṭirti šamāmī) were understandably course. connected to the written manifestation of the divine ver- dicts in the sacrificed animal.16 From this perspective it A. The Celestial Level 10 ) In so doing he relies on Wilcke 2007, who partially incor- With respect to the celestial matters, Maul builds on porates the legal metaphor in extispicy in a larger consideration important recent efforts to shed light on the “conceptual of the place of the law and religion in Mesopotamian political setup” and “discourse” of extispicy in the Mesopotami- and social thought; see further Glassner 2012. The most engag- an worldview, as is especially apparent in the numerous ing reflection on the place of the legal metaphor in Mesopota- mian divination in a broader philosophical discourse appears in prayers preceding extispicy examinations and those ex- Rochberg 2016, esp. 164-90. aminations’ subsequent report.9 Such considerations 11 ) For a recent word on this and the god’s embodiment of could again conceivably be couched in terms of philoso- justice, see Krebernik 2011: 605. phy and political or social theory, and in fact Maul hints 12 ) For a recent appreciation about the significance of the at this, for instance when describing the foundational sun’s rise in Mesopotamian theology, see Gabbay 2014: 30, 178- 9, who describes this event as a theophany. 5 ) For an appreciation of this point, which first sets astrolo- 13 ) An explanation for Adad’s role in the theology of Mes- gy in the context of Mesopotamian divination more broadly, see opotamian divination may actually involve his deep roots in Rochberg 2004. this respect in the North-Syrian world. See on which Schwemer 6 ) For another major factor motivating Maul’s choice, see 2001: 221-6; Haas 2008:10; George 2013: 109. § VI below. 14 ) Steinkeller 2005: 38-9. 7 ) In addition to the references in Maul’s treatment of these 15 ) Pace Steinkeller 2005: 39 n. 59; I follow Horowitz and matters, see Koch 2015: 77-83. Wasserman 1996: 58-59 for the interpretation of nakādum. 8 ) Winitzer 2017a. 16 ) On this metaphor and its significance in divination, see 9 ) Especially Steinkeller 2005; Wilcke 2007: 224-41. Rochberg 2004. 324 A. Winitzer seems fitting that the selection of a specific god for the have even been more impressive elsewhere, in more cen- purpose of a celestial advocate was done by the diviner, tral locations, such as Hammurabi’s Babylon. One cannot whose task, as the human agent for the petitioner, would but be impressed by Maul’s resolve in this exercise, even ultimately demand the decipherment of that heavenly if the limited nature of the data necessitates that his con- writing’s corporeal rendering. clusions remain provisional. Be that as it may, for Maul none of these matters de- B. The Terrestrial Level tracts from the religious nature of it all. For regardless of economics or other exigencies, the actual extispicy pro- Indeed, the diviner’s role as advocate for the peti- cedures are properly regarded as “ein heiliger, sakramen- tioner is ultimately most meaningful to Maul when con- taler Akt” (p. 32) from start to finish, no less than their sidering things on the ground. Before moving onto the heavenly counterparts. Accordingly, here too his reading scientific concerns of extispicy, however, Maul first turns weaves together and also affords a theological dimension to seemingly more mundane matters, including the di- to various earthly details that might otherwise easily be viner’s financial interests and interactions with private deemed trivial or legalistic. These include the diviner’s individuals as well as with the palace or temple. As he consideration of such matters as inclement weather, the explains, however, even the very purchase of the animal avoidance of the performance of extispicy on evil days, or intended for sacrifice was not divorced from its ultimate even the specifics of food prohibitions. Some such details purpose of revealing oracles of the gods. For insofar as could conceivably be dismissed as mere Versatzstücke an animal’s external features factored in the extispicy’s carried over from the world of menologies or the like, not result, the business of selecting it assumed considerable reflective of real practice, but Maul’s presentation dispels significance, with the diviner playing a key role in con- such doubt. With respect to matters of calendar, for in- necting clients with their fitting specimens. Much of what stance, Maul observes that the overwhelming number of this entailed, according to Maul, remains unclear. One datable reports from the NA period do not fall on one is left to wonder, for instance, whether a diviner might of the “bad days”, while 70 % occur on days deemed fa- have steered a would-be client in a particular direction vorable in the Diviner’s Manual.21 The foods prohibitions only following an initial consultation regarding a desired match those witnessed in preparations for rituals that, as extispicy’s purpose. Nonetheless, Maul speculates about Maul himself had shown earlier, speak explicitly of the other aspects of this interaction, for example when sug- need for cultic purity (quddušu).22 gesting that the choice of animal may have been secured And special additional provisions, seemingly unique without its touching, so as not to bias the sample from to this occasion, further testify that matters of diet or which it was selected. We may indeed never know how hygiene were not a light-hearted proposition in this spe- such objectives – a balancing act between the desires of cific setting. Instructions for the biting of cedar chips in the client on the one hand and the divine/natural laws and the course of the ritual shed light on the levels to which truths on the other17 – were reconciled. But whatever the purity was pushed. On one such occasion this practice case, it is clear that in these preliminary matters, too, a accompanied the query uttered by the diviner into the good diviner, who actively advocated for his client, was left ear of the animal just prior to its sacrifice.23 Indeed anything but a detached technician. this last action takes place as part of an all-encompassing One bit of evidence on which Maul builds in order to effort toward cultic purity intended to safeguard the in- appreciate the frequency of the diviner’s activity comes tegrity of the omen query. And, as Maul narrates, purity from a fragmentary text from Mari, listing numbers of in this process was matched by solemnity, with even the sheep intended for extispicy (nēpeštum) over a 9-month slightest auditory distraction – so much as a sneeze or period in a given year. The striking total, over 4,000,18 sniffle by the petitioner – endangering the transmission of finds nothing truly comparable from elsewhere;19 and in- the message from client to god. An especially telling in- deed Durand had already tried to explain it by pointing to dication of the uncompromising concentration demanded the many fateful events of that year (ZL 9).20 Still, Maul of a diviner is witnessed by the instruction to him to place proceeds to calculate monthly and daily averages from tamarisk and cedar wood in his ears in preparation for this, with the goal of ultimately reaching the number of the extispicy examination, in Maul’s words, in order to daily matters that would have been deemed worthy of break away from his worldly bonds to the extent possible appeal to extispicy, estimated between six and eight. He in order to grasp the divine response. One cannot help speculates, finally, that parallels to these numbers could but recall in this connection the theme of silence running through the most celebrated prayer to the Gods of the 17 ) On the relation between the natural and divine law with respect to divination, see § V below, relying on Rochberg 2016. 21 ) For a further illustration of these matters, see Livingstone 18 ) With a full year’s estimate at ca. 5,500; see Koch-West- 2013: 275-6. enholz 2002: 141. 22 ) Maul 1994: 39. 19 ) Pace Maul, p. 330, n. 17. 23 ) For more detail about this act and its broader significance 20 ) Durand 1988: 37 and n. 160; so Koch 2002: 141 n. 29. in Mesopotamian theology, see Gabbay 2015.  Conceptions of Mesopotamian Divination 325 Night,24 which indeed is portrayed as the sine qua non data, too, describing with the aid of reliefs aspects of the in the depiction of both the heavenly and earthly realms. procedure in vivid detail, including such matters as the But in addition to these rituals, the diviner’s appeal to exact positioning of the animal at the time of slaughter the gods took on another dimension as well. This involved and the manner of the collection of its blood. written communication, in the form of letter-prayers and It is readily apparent that Maul is sympathetic to these queries addressed to the gods of divination, which laid rituals and their place in an integrated structure of reli- out the parameters of the client’s query, including stipu- gious thought. But lest such detail still be dismissed as lations concerning the term of a given response and what excessively gruesome and immaterial to higher, spiritual should be disregarded by the cosmic court. In the NA pe- matters, Maul offers a most stimulating reminder of the riod, the preservation of such queries in the royal archives possibility of the offering’s ultimate significance: a sub- is especially impressive for Maul, a further indication of stitute for the petitioner himself. This he does carefully, their quasi-legal standing. And yet a considerable imprint making clear the limits of the evidence and thus the nec- of literary conventions is impossible to overlook in these essarily speculative nature of this possibility. And yet the documents, and as such one cannot assume that every bit very idea serves as an inevitable reminder of the basic in these litanies reflects actual affairs deliberated before significance of offerings in religious thought, and an invi- the performance of extispicy. On the other hand, recur- tation for further deliberation about the specific nature of ring topics appearing in these texts, such as the precise this manifestation of the animam pro anima principle.28 locales of impending military operations, are also known In all, the picture presented by Maul is impressive for from trustworthy historical sources,25 which makes it its comprehensiveness and especially the presentation of clear that the painstaking detail witnessed in some of the material in terms more faithful to Mesopotamian ap- these texts reflects actual concerns and the consequent ef- proaches to abstract thought than is often the case. Nat- forts to present them in the clearest possible terms. Along urally, the establishment of continuity remains a major with ritual purity and contemplative solemnity, then, it challenge in any such effort: as Maul himself admits, one is apparent that the demands on a diviner included the is left to wonder to what extent any of its constituents mastery of nuance in writing and the articulation of the reflect more than the specific instances from which it de- client’s inquiries via the preeminent medium of commu- rives, even given his claim about the conservative nature nication in Mesopotamia: the written word. of such rituals. Especially challenging in this respect are Perhaps the most innovative portion of Maul’s account the details comprising the theological framework. In the centers on the immediate preparations for the slaughter of absence of any formal treatise on these matters, some the animal set for sacrifice, including the extensive mon- fluidity or variation in the manner by which “theory” itoring of its behavior and the observation of its external was understood is all but certain. And yet, for many of irregularities, as witnessed in the omens from Šumma the critical parts the material seems sufficiently rich to immeru and Šumma isru. The former series, though not warrant Maul’s overall judgments, with the possibility formally a part of standardized Bārûtu, was conceived of geographical- or historical-based variation unlikely as a part of the underlying subject;26 the latter, Bārûtu’s to change things meaningfully. To the contrary, the mi- first “chapter”, includes omens about organs that did con- nor nature of the witnessed variations offers the sense of stitute a part of the extispicy examination, though it is reflecting exceptions to otherwise unstated traditions or primarily centered on parts such as the ribs and spine that rules. All this provides a telling comparison with what were removed and inspected initially and finally, most follows, for which scarcely anything parallel is known.29 probably before the diviner turned to extispicy proper.27 In appealing to these materials and including the divina- IV. Divination by Means of Birds tory investigation underlying them, Maul situates main- line extispicy within a considerably broader complex of The analysis of divination by means of birds – cen- examinations that comprised an integrated event; as such, tering on bird extispicy, or Ornithoskopie30 – contains he offers the abstruse minutiae of the liver’s study a more some of the book’s most innovative and thought-provok- general and intelligible scientific context, which includ- ing ideas. Maul begins his discussion by contending that, ed physiognomy, anatomy, and more. When it comes to 28 ) Unfortunately Maul cites no pertinent supporting liter- the actual slaughter, Maul makes ingenious use of visual ature of his point (neither of the specific sources noted speak about it). For a general word on the significance of substitution 24 ) See briefly Foster 2005: 207-8. rituals in antiquity, see Burkert 1996. 25 ) See, e.g., Heimpel 1996 for reports of the delineation by 29 ) Cf. the discussion below of Maul’s handbook of bird exti- diviners in Mari of specific geographical spaces in connection to picy, for some indication of the commonality between the liturgy reports of extispicy exams. and theology of sheep- and bird-based extispicy. 26 ) See on which Koch 2015: 145. A full edition and study of 30 ) Once also referred to by Maul as ‟Opfervogelinspektion”. this series is forthcoming by Yoram Cohen. The cognate English term for the former, ornithoscopy, is used 27 ) See ibid.: 96-8. A full edition of this subseries is forthcom- in Koch 2015: 141-2, though elsewhere the word seems to en- ing by Ulla Koch and Nils Heeßel. compass more than its German cognate and is thus avoided here. 326 A. Winitzer though texts attesting to divination by means of birds are and peculiar lexical terminology (e.g. taddû-headdress) not plentiful, it would be a mistake to assume that such Maul seems favorable to Durand’s position of an Amorite practices were unknown or even uncommon. Interest in Syrian origin of this practice.36 Yet wisely Maul moves birds for divinatory purposes appears in sources from beyond this question to conceive of the practice from a early in the second millennium, including those from the broader northern perspective,37 noting interests in and Mari archives. These sources shed light on the diverse na- practices of divination by means of birds from Hatti and ture of such activity via the mention of different types of now Hurrian Anatolia, with clear Mesopotamian influ- birds (e.g. summatum, iṣṣūr ḫurri 31) and their use, which ence in both cases, along with additional such evidence includes a check on a reported dream or a report and, in from Assyria, especially in the first millennium. proximity to a diviner’s request for an assistant (dumu Maul wonders whether the introduction of this lore to máš.šu.gíd.gíd), seemingly as the subjects for bird-ex- the Babylonian south should be related to the aftermath tispicy.32 Nor is the historical evidence limited to Mari. of Hammurabi’s conquest of the Mid-Euphrates and de- Maul points to a late, short OB administrative text that in- struction of Mari. Whatever the case, a telling statement cludes mention of multiple birds intended for the work of on the standing of Babylonian scholastics is apparent a diviner (ana nēpešti bār[îm]).33 Still, the suggestion that from the centuries that followed. Though the lack of tes- extispicy divination by means of birds was regarded an timony of the practice of bird-extispicy in the south sug- alternative to the sheep-based variety seems exaggerated. gests to Maul that this practice was eventually abandoned By comparison, letters from Mari or elsewhere in the OB in Babylonia, two mid- or late second-millennium tablets period mention these professionals far more frequently, of bird-extispicy omens in Babylonian script from Assur while a cursory search of Ur-III administrative sources and Susa attest to a continued interest by others in these finds well over 100 máš.šu.gíd.gíd references.34 matters.38 That these were doubtlessly taken as authenti- Yet Maul is justified in drawing further evidence in cally Babylonian learning represents thus both an ironic support of his claim from the OB bird-extispicy omen twist in the case of Assyria, whose northern reaches had collections, which undeniably reflect an earlier interest earlier been, as noted, likely a part of the original setting in actual practices, regardless of their scholarly con- of bird-based divination, and at the same time a telling text (more on which below). He is also right to attribute statement on the power of the Babylonian (re-)branding identical passages among the majority of these texts to of such materials. an established tradition, akin to those met in other OB Maul next turns his attention to questions of theoret- omen collections, such as those recording omens related ical framework and actual practice. For the purposes of to standard sheep-based extispicy or celestial divination. understanding the former, a text from Nineveh proves es- Whether the bird-extispicy omen collections stem from pecially telling. The text, described by Maul as an actual different locations reflective of broad learning of the divinatory handbook, contains on its obverse a bird-extis- same material is, however, uncertain: the five collections picy omen compendium and on its reverse a collection of published prior to 2013 are unprovenienced and may petitions to be made to Šamaš and Adad, respectively the originate in the same Babylonian site.35 supreme judge and lord of divination, as discussed above. However, irrespective of this last point, the transfor- From this the claim that bird-extispicy shared major ele- mation of bird extispicy into the standardized form of ments of the conceptual and liturgical setting known from the omen collections and the incorporation of this tra- the conventional variety seems reasonable,39 though one dition into a Babylonian scholastic setting is remarka- must still wonder to what extent the former spawned the ble, and even more so when one takes into account the type of literature known from the latter (more on which likely origin of this divinatory interest. On the basis of below). gods mentioned in these texts (e.g. Bēlet ekallim, Išḫara) The case for proximity between bird-based extispicy and the standard sheep-based variety is even more force- 31 ) Maul discusses the latter term and alternatives for its iden- fully made when it comes to actual practice. Repeatedly tification (pp. 133-4 and 349 n. 15), and ultimately renders this Maul stresses that, mutatis mutandis, these practices are as a ‟Höhlenvogel”. essentially identical. Thus, as with sheep-based divina- 32 ) So George 2013: 113, who cites another OB account text tion (see § III above), the full examination began with a (BM 22448) that seems to relate two diviners (máš.šu.gíd.gíd) to careful selection of the appropriate specimen and a thor- the purchase of doves and pigeons. ough observation of external markers on and signs from 33 ) Or diviners? George 2013: 112 reads BE 6/1 118: 2 as a-na ne-pé-eš-ti máš.šu.gíd.[gíd] (cf. Starr 1983: 61; CAD N/2, 195); but note the reference to plural bārûs in l. 8 of this text. 36 ) Durand 1997; on these gods and their requests including 34 ) See http://bdtns.filol.csic.es/index.php?p=formulario_ the taddû-headdress in the bird extispicy omen collections, see urIII, s.v. máš-šu-gíd-gíd. Winitzer 2018. 35 ) It seems reasonable to assume that the three at Yale, in- 37 ) Already noted in Oppenheim 1977: 209. cluding YOS 10 51//52 and also 53, come from the same place, 38 ) Y. Cohen prefers an earlier dating for both tablets, owing while nothing certain in this regard can be said concerning the to the appearance of OB signs in the one from Assyria and an collections MAH 15987 and BM 22740, from Geneva and Lon- affinity to the Sealand materials in the one from Susa. don respectively and published in Nougayrol 1967. 39 ) So already Starr 1983: 61.  Conceptions of Mesopotamian Divination 327 it, which progressed systematically, in this case according ety, to the extent, that is, that one can draw conclusions to a head-to-rump Untersuchungsschema. When it was from the more limited textual record. Still the mention time for actual extispicy, once again things followed a of a piqittum (written si.lá), or “control examination”, in course no less impressive than that of conventional sheep a bird-extispicy report appears to function in the same extispicy, with organs or zones divided into sub-zonal re- manner of those met in the reports from sheep-based ex- gions with certain interpretive valences and values. tispicy; and the differences between the first and second And once more Maul dazzles with his penchant for de- round suggest to Maul that, as with sheep-based extispicy tail and ability to put the individual pieces together into a so here, a second extispicy involved a second animal to coherent narrative. An example comes from his amazing cross-examine initial positive findings with negative ones calculation of the size of the bird’s exta and, consequent- (šalimtum / lā šalimtum). ly, the likely avian culprit for inspection. Since, Maul rea- In all, an appreciation for the picture of bird-based sons, here too the diviner used his (right) hand and more divination provided by Maul can be summed up best by specifically one of its fingertips (ca. 2 cm) to conduct the the simple fact that, prior to his reconstruction, virtually inspection of the 6 juxtaposed fields of the bird’s breast, nothing existed worthy of that characterization. For this a dove-sized bird with a breast size of approximately 12 it bears repeating that he is deserving of great credit. In- cm in length seems like the logical candidate. deed, it is specifically owing to his achievement that an A special indication of the near identity of these interpretive question concerning his central claim can methods, not merely in spirit (“demselben Geist”) but even be raised. To wit, is bird-based extispicy really to be also in terms of their complex hermeneutics (“sogar den held as the equal of its sheep-based counterpart, if not in gleichen hermeneutischen Regeln”), appears to Maul terms of textual remains then qualitatively, in the manner by way of the presence in both of the identical techni- Maul lays out? To answer this question, two interrelated cal terms nipḫum and pitruštum, the so-called special or challenges must be confronted, both borne out by the tex- joker signs that mark situations in extispicy collections tual sources. posing challenges for standard hermeneutic algebra, as The first involves the sources’ dearth and its impli- when identical findings occur on the right and left of a cations. Simply put, given Maul’s overall thesis one ex- given field (pitruštum). Indeed, the case could even have pects to find a greater textual footprint, especially in the been made a bit stronger, because a third-such term from form of reports or letters mentioning this activity, and extispicy, nanmurtum, the mirror image of pitruštum, with references to additional anatomical and “patholog- also appears in the bird-extispicy collections in a manner ical” details.42 That this is not the case means that the identical with that in the sheep variety.40 Small wonder, overall picture must be cobbled together from pieces of then, that apodoses in these collections share interests various puzzles. This Maul does by turning to the omen with their counterparts from sheep-based extispicy col- collections, which he contends reveal no less than three lections, such as the prediction of divine presence, the distinct bird extispicy types, though this typology rests specifics of which, as Maul demonstrates, appear calcula- on very limited and uneven data.43 Still, it is clear that ble in ways familiar to those of that method’s interpretive these provide significant sources for the understanding of framework. the details of extispicy. In this light we should not be surprised to find sim- The most substantial contribution comes from ilar technical terminology on the side of the protases, KAL 5 88 (= KAR 426; Maul’s second type), the col- such as the City Gate or a Path, which Maul relates to lection that mentions, among other details, the City Gate better-known equivalents on the sheep’s liver (but see and the Path. With respect to the former, Maul considers below).41 Other such correspondences prompt Maul to it plausible that it was located on the liver, as was the Pal- match ancient and modern nomenclature and to map out ace/City Gate (the modern umbilical fissure) in standard the entrails of the sacrificed bird, in a manner reminiscent extispicy, in which it was the fifth in the standardized se- to the well-known map of the sheep-liver, though without quence of zones examined. The Path, on the other hand, the benefit of explicit word to this effect, whether in the remains more difficult to identify, in part owing to the case of the many contemporary reports or, later, via the fact that this was a generic term for several furrows in ordering of the zones appearing in the Multābiltu (2-3: standard extispicy. Understandably, Maul does not con- 44), the commentary sub-series of the SB extispicy se- nect this to the most common among these, the second ries, Bārûtu. 42 ) In the period since the publication of Maul’s volume a And even in terms of corroboration of one’s findings new text, CUSAS 30 445, seemingly a MB bird-extispicy report the two techniques present parallels, with bird-extispicy but considerably damaged, has been published. showing important correspondence with the sheep vari- 43 ) The idea goes back to Nougayrol 1967: 31, who, on the basis of the texts known at that time, delineated two groups; 40 ) See Winitzer 2017a: 114-8. though he did this tentatively, owing to the fact that the first 41 ) In the case of the former (ká.gal/abullum) this is the Pal- group was comprised of only two OB texts (one known in four ace Gate (ká é.gal / bāb ekallim) in standard extispicy, which at versions), while the second limited to one MA text (also known times was also known as the City Gate; see Richter 1992: 253-4 in later copies). Maul’s third type is represented by the collection (with earlier literature). from Tigunānum (CUSAS 18 18). 328 A. Winitzer zone on the sheep’s liver, whose mention one would ex- the bird’s external appearance, for instance an unusual pect to precede that of the City Gate, or others (Zones VI coloration on various areas on the bird’s head. As such, and VIII) in the proximity to the Palace Gate. Instead, one would be correct to contend that any deliberations he suggests that this Path was not found on the liver at on matters of extispicy in these would be unexpected. all, but rather was probably the name of the elongated But one could also approach the issue differently, and ask duct reminiscent in form (or, perhaps better, concept) to whether it is only by chance that five texts concerning the Sheep’s padānum, connecting the liver to the other matters of physiognomy are extant in the OB period but features seemingly of concern, the duodenum (kippu) none of extispicy.48 Nor is this merely a quantitative con- and pancreas (pap.ḫal) – thus its full name, padān kippi cern. After all, the fact that four of these represent copies (= the bile duct?).44 Another collection, CUSAS 18 18 of the same textual tradition suggests a level of scholas- (third type), furnishes Maul with knowledge about anoth- tic commitment to a specific practice commensurate with er zone, the heart (?), whose properties were evidently of that known in the case of other divination methods from considerable interest – at least at Tigunānum, from where this period; such commitment is elsewhere taken as in- the text comes. Whether the practices it describes were dicative not only of that method’s scholastic-literary re- shared elsewhere is, however, uncertain.45 flex but, to an extent, also of its ‛actual’ practice.49 Regardless of how these matters are sorted out, it In the end Maul’s effort to expose the inner workings should be clear that what one finds in these sources does of bird extispicy sheds light on two areas in which such not approach the complexity evident in the literature re- examination evidently took place: a more comprehensive lated to the standard, sheep-based extispicy. The bit of one, involving three or four zones in the abdomen, and extant ‛empirical’ evidence upholds this claim: the lone perhaps another involving the examination of the heart(?) OB bird-extispicy report matches almost perfectly the in the typical case from Tigunānum. However, there is no concerns of KAL 5 88, describing in both the initial and evidence that the latter practice can be assumed to have control examinations only the City Gate (right down to been standard in what must have been a more typical pro- its ṣēru) and the Loop (kippu), while making mention of cedure, as that extracted from and reflected in the KAL 5 no other zones. CUSAS 18 18, whose real-life feeling 88 collection or the OB and MB reports. For the former, is justly impressive to Maul, notes no other zone either, more comprehensive case, if one follows Maul’s logic, even in the proximity of the heart.46 The newly published it would appear that the exam commenced with the City but broken, short MB text CUSAS 30 445, a part of which Gate on or in the vicinity of the liver, though from there appears to record a bird-extispicy report, may add data to turned its attention elsewhere, toward the duodenum and this picture, though the matter is unclear.47 pancreas. If so, then there is no basis to assume that in the Yet arguably the most conspicuous absence actually case of bird extispicy any systematic examination of the comes from Maul’s first type, the one including all of liver commensurate with that of the sheep variety took the five known OB omen collections. These center on place. In other words, bird extispicy was considerably more general in scope and did not center on the liver’s in- nermost parts and their many features. This makes sense 44 ) Cf. Heeßel 2012: 280, in which the matter is less certain (and see there, too, references to earlier opinions). Maul’s identi- fication of the kippu as the duodenum finds additional support in latter group matches in part what is described above, specifically its mention in the OB report, in which it occurs as a dual (kippīn the mention of a City Gate (ká.gal), which heads the list, just as šalmā [Tsukimoto 1982: 106, r. 14-15]), presumably owing to in the case of the OB report. But it also refers to other features this organ’s descending and ascending parts. The identification or organs, including an enigmatic Bolt (sag.kul) along with a of the Path connecting the liver to the duodenum remains nec- tùn and a karšu. The identity of the latter two terms cannot be essarily tentative, though I thank Professor Elizabeth Buckle established with certainty, either; but elsewhere the first word, (Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine) for aiding standing for Akk. tākaltu, primarily represents a pouch or a bag, me with matters of modern anatomy. On the reading by Maul while the second is the basic word for stomach (and translated as (also Heeßel 2012: 278; CAD P, 544-5) of pap.ḫal as “Enge”, such in the present instance in van Soldt 2015: 521). Given their see below. order and proximity, it is tempting to suppose that these refer to 45 ) The text is not unique at Tigunānum, however: at least one the bird’s crop and gizzard, though this possibility must remain other attesting to this method, which appears as Lambert XV in tentative for the time being. George 2013: 316, is known from that site. An intriguing sug- 48 ) The point can be underscored further: as reported in gestion made to me by Y. Cohen, however, is that libbum simply George 2013: 112, four additional unpublished Tigunānum means “insides”, and, thus, that by this designation these texts omen collections in Japan also concern birds; though these, too, refer in toto to the same exta known from standard bird extispicy. center not on extispicy but rather on the inspection of external If this suggestion proves correct, then these texts would still features, especially the bird’s crest (qarnum/qannum) and also shed further light on the extent of the practice of bird extispicy, the coloration on its head. though they would provide no evidence of a hitherto-unknown 49 ) On this point, with regard to celestial divination and as- examination practice. tronomical observation, see Rochberg 2006: 347; and see now 46 ) Cf., however, the caveat in the preceding note. George 2013: 70-84, for two additional copies (CUSAS 18 nos. 47 ) The text appears to combine details of the bird’s external 13-14) of the OB lunar-eclipse omen collections known previ- observation with others, seemingly deriving from extispicy. The ously, further supporting this contention.  Conceptions of Mesopotamian Divination 329 from a practical standpoint as well: the possibility of a sheds important light about Maul’s basic argument for an diminutive liver from a bird being the subject of study equivalence between bird and sheep extispicy. with the detail witnessed in the case of the considerably Put simply, if bird extispicy speaks in the language of larger counterpart from a sheep seems remote. Finally, the parallel sheep-based counterpart, can it really be said this contention seems in line with what is revealed by to be its equal? What are the implications of this prac- the names of the zones, which, unlike the complex signi- tice’s borrowing of the technical terminology from sheep fications of their counterparts in sheep extispicy (see on extispicy for its ability to flesh out interpretive possibil- which below), appear limited to a single theme, namely ities inherent to the very idea of divination? Two reflec- that of conveyance. Accordingly, we encounter here a tions on these questions follow. passage from a City Gate, via the Path, onto what may be The first and more obvious involves the relation be- the Narrowing (pušqum) – the latter, if read correctly, a tween the technical language of a given divinatory meth- fitting metonymic designation for the pancreas, apparent- od and the literary corpus relating to that method that ly the examination’s final consideration (cf. Greek pan- + eventually emerged. Given the picture from other divina- kréas, lit., “all flesh”). tory methods and their reflections in the respective divi- Two additional points follow, regarding the technical nation literature, the conclusion seems unavoidable that terminology met here vis-à-vis the parallel from sheep- the relative paucity of bird-based extispicy omen collec- based extispicy and the manner by which this reflects on tions relates to that method’s relatively underdeveloped the larger question posed above. It was already pointed technical framework – and all the more so when what out that in all likelihood, despite its equivalent in the no- is known from this framework was in all probability not menclature from sheep extispicy, the Path mentioned on homegrown. After all, it is clear that, even in its earliest this occasion was not located on the liver. The same may phase, the place of the literature of divination frequently be said with regard to the pušqum, which in sheep extis- went hand in hand with other studied aspects of this prac- picy also appeared on that organ (or, less frequently, on tice. The most notable testimony of this comes from the the lung). This same logic probably extends to the case liver models coming from sheep extispicy. As can be seen of the City Gate, too: it, too, is almost certainly not to be in the case of many such models, omen entries clearly identified in bird extispicy as the umbilical fissure, where reflecting the tradition behind the OB collections appear it would be isolated and far removed from the padānum alongside abnormal features highlighted on the models,51 and kippum, but rather to be found elsewhere, perhaps at with such couplings of text and image obviously intend- the union of the right and left hepatic ducts.50 In short, the ed for mutually illuminating pedagogy.52 Nor are such findings of technical terms from bird extispicy mirroring connections between a divinatory method’s technical and those known from the sheep variety should not be taken literary sides limited to the early periods. On the contrary, as further evidence of these systems’ equivalence. this relationship remains steadfast throughout the histo- How, then, should such terminological overlap be ry of Mesopotamian divination. In the case of first-mil- explained? The possibility seems farfetched that this lennium Bārûtu, individual ‛chapters’ of the series were represents a case of parallel evolution, in other words, organized precisely in accordance with the technical ter- that this nomenclature developed in bird extispicy inde- minology. By this period, as evinced from the exchanges pendently of the more common sheep-based practice. A from the Assyrian royal court, the standing of this corpus more likely explanation is essentially one of borrowing: was equal to that of Enūma Anu Enlil,53 with expertise owing to their formal similarities these terms came over in both serving as a basis for divination that was seen from sheep-based extispicy. It is impossible to speak with as no less significant than the data culled from empirical certainty about the specific circumstances behind this ap- observation in those areas. From this angle, the distance propriation. It seems equally reasonable that such an ex- between sheep- and bird-based extispicy seems obvious. change is to be attributed to early practitioners of ‛actual’ But it is not merely the difference between sheep- and extispicy or, alternatively, that it is to be situated within bird-based extispicy in terms of the size of the literature a common scholastic setting in which these terms were they engendered that is at issue – or even that literature’s learned more systematically. Regardless, the significance of this act must not be overlooked, for, as we shall see, it 51 ) One such example can be found on a model from Hazor in the case of a doubled View/Presence and a juxtaposed omen, 50 ) It should be noted that, though Maul’s point about the known from the omen collections, concerning this very “patho- logic of the mention of “Plain” (edin/ṣērum) at the foot of the logical” finding (see Horowitz, Oshima, and Winitzer 2010: 138- City Gate is certainly valid, no such parallel is to be found with 9); another, among many such cases in the models from Boğaz- respect to the Palace Gate in sheep extispicy. One does find köy, is the case of Bo 3, which relates a known literary trope standard references to right, middle and left ṣērus in the case of appearing in the collections and a swelled gallbladder (see De the Finger (the caudate lobe) – understandably given that zone’s Vos 2013: 116 and II; further Winitzer 2017a: 169-70). protruding pyramidal shape. Perhaps, by analogy, right and left 52 ) In this matter, as Maul recognizes (p. 212), things are no in this case referred to the lobes of the liver itself, which would different than the case of a liver model from Ešnunna bearing an have been appreciable from the perspective of the bile duct and extispicy report on its backside. the convergence of the right and left hepatic ducts. 53 ) See, e.g., SAA 10 160 r. 1-3, 31. 330 A. Winitzer eventual elevation to the level of authoritative oracular What can be said of bird extispicy by way of com- law. For it is clear that the act of writing played a semi- parison? When set against the complexity of technical nal role in the very basics of ‛actual’ divination, from the framework of sheep extispicy glimpsed above, the near earliest periods of its recording in texts. This is nowhere lack in ingenuity witnessed for this method is indeed more evident than with respect to the technical terminol- striking. Granted, the data pool is more limited, and in ogy, which demonstrates that the manner by which these any case exceptions are likely to be found. One may in- matters were conceived was no less significant than actu- volve a connection between the above-mentioned pap.ḫal al anatomical and physiological features. for the otherwise apparently nameless pancreas,57 since The most impressive example of this point also comes the writing also renders muttalliku, “movables”, and thus from a consideration of the liver, which, as many have is suggestive of some connection to the twice-mentioned described, exposes via its technical framework a virtual muttalliktu, “commerce?”, in KAL 5 88 obv. 9-10.58 But camera obscura of Mesopotamian daily life, especially by and large there is not the sense of a whole world ex- from the angle of the ruling classes. This is apparent in plored, and quasi-systematically at that, in the same man- the names of specific zones, such as the View/Station (na- ner as that evinced with the technical apparatus of sheep plaštum/manzāzum [zone I]), Path (padānum [zone II]), extispicy. In this light, Maul’s push for the understanding or Palace Gate (bāb ekallim [zone V]), which all relate of the two extispicy methods as equivalent to one anoth- to main interpretive themes of the omens in which they er cannot be sustained. And finally, it is noteworthy that occur. The best-known case of this is that of naplaštum/ this objection rests not on any difference in the methods’ manzāzum. As best and most recently illuminated by background – whether in terms of its costs or the occa- George, the original appellation of this first zone owes sion or clientele responsible for its employment. Rather, to its physical similarity to an “eye slit”, naplaštum;54 it is in their relation to the written world of Mesopotamia but, as Goetze and Nougayrol had realized long ago, over that one finds essential discrepancies between them – in time this zone became so intrinsically associated with the the role of the textualization of divination in a new genre sine quo non concern in divination of divine “presence” of scholastic literature, which arguably redefined divina- – i.e. a god’s acceptance of the offering and willingness to tion itself, but in the very least sharpened its basic tenets. dispense an oracular response – that in time its name ac- A more general consideration of the complexity of the tually gave way to manzāzum, a metonymy-based desig- relationship between Mesopotamian divination and Mes- nation of its central tenet, manzāz ilim / ilum ina niqi opotamian divination literature appears below (§ VI). awīlim izziz “(it represents) the god’s (sound) station” / “the god is present via (lit., was stationed in) the man’s V. Other Lesser-known Divinatory Methods sacrifice.”55 Importantly, the process did not end there. For as the omen collections make plain, this signification Two main criteria stand behind Maul’s consideration provided the conduit for further theological speculation in Chapter 6 of three divinatory methods in relation to of this important matter, for instance with respect to the one another, namely those involving flour, incense, and meaning of two such zones, or none at all, and so forth. oil. The first is already apparent in this chapter’s title In other words, it is through the written medium that the (Opferschau für Eilige und Arme). As he describes it, one zone’s nature was further explored, inevitably offering common denominator of these methods is their relative greater clarification to its very essence. A further explora- simplicity and availability, especially for those of lesser tion of the significance of this point appears below (§ VI). standing in Mesopotamian society. And indeed it would And there is unmistakable evidence that this devel- seem that, by and large, these methods simply did not opment was not unique, whether with respect to zonal bear the same gravitas of extispicy – though Maul brings names or the contemplation of their signification. In mul- occasional evidence to the contrary.59 tiple other cases one observes the creation or crystalliza- But something else justifies the grouping of these tion of this information by way of the commitment of the methods for Maul. For these all make use of materials de- ways of divination to the realm of literature. In keeping with this civilization’s thinking on the nature of names terpretive themes, the relationship of the Path with campaigns or the Palace Gate with matters of transmission, whether of goods more generally, therefore, here, too, it would appear as or news. if Mesopotamian thinking would come down differently 57 ) So Geller 2007: 190; Cf., however, Westenholz 2010, than Shakespeare’s Juliet and her anticipation of Saus- who has more recently argued that the terms bi.ri/ṭulīmum, un- sure’s famous insight.56 derstood elsewhere as the designation of the spleen (e.g. CAD Ṭ, 124-5; Stol 2006: 112-3), actually represent the pancreas. 54 ) George 2013: 28, with previous opinions and literature. 58 ) It is thus not inconceivable that the logographic rendering 55 ) For the references, see George 2013: 29. should be read not as pušqu but rather as muttalliku, though nat- 56 ) Consider, e.g., the substitution in some environments of urally additional evidence is needed for a conclusive judgment. martum, “gall bladder”, with rēˀûm, “shepherd,” and the rela- 59 ) It should be recalled that, on occasion a similar incon- tionship of this zone and its names with matters of the royal sistency appears with respect to extispicy, though in the reverse: household’s wellbeing; or, in the case of the articulation of in- this method is known to have been employed for more mundane  Conceptions of Mesopotamian Divination 331 riving from the Mesopotamian encounter with the natural this suggests that in some capacity flour-based divination world, and more specifically the cultivation of its flora. was practiced throughout much of Mesopotamian history As such, a parallel can be drawn between these methods (and later even influenced the classical world). But a more and extispicy, whether of the sheep or bird varieties, and significant indicator of flour-based divination’s standing that method’s connection to the domesticated constituent is appreciable when one considers its medium. Though of Mesopotamia’s fauna. In other words, what unites all its offering could not possibly have matched the drama these methods is their relation to and dependence on ag- inherent in ritual slaughter of sheep and, as noted above, riculture and, as shall be seen, the place of agriculture in the probable signification of the consequent bloodshed, the Mesopotamian cosmos. In support of this idea Maul still the elementary nature of flour in human and divine observes that one never finds in Mesopotamia a wild an- sustenance cannot be overestimated, and thus Maul is al- imal or an undomesticated species of vegetation as the most certainly right in asserting that the offering of this medium for divination.60 But this may be too rigid a state- product of human toil provided a most fitting medium for ment, if, for instance, one recalls the findings of two wa- divine-human communication. ter-turtle figurines with incised or painted marks on their And, true to form, Maul also manages to extract re- carapaces in and near Ebla, one of which was discovered markable detail from the scant resources. In a single late near numerous liver and malformed animal models, and OB collection he isolates two separate techniques,64 while thus almost certainly in connection to divination.61 To be a passage from the first-millennium Šumma ālu omens sure, the exceptional nature of these findings may support suggests to him yet another method, seemingly closer Maul’s setting of all these media within the context of to the one described in the Gudea passage cited above.65 sacrifices to the gods. Thus, notwithstanding the small- Significantly, as described in both sources, some overlap er-scale operation of their divinatory methods, the group- is notable with the better-known divination methods in ing of flour, incense, and oil rightly highlights the inter- terms of hermeneutics and interpretive assumptions. In connection of natural and supernatural worlds via their the case of the OB collection, this involves a twofold di- human mediation. vision of the field of inquiry, which shares the logic of the basic pars familiaris / pars hostilis signification met in A. Flour 62 extispicy and elsewhere; while in the omens from Šumma ālu the flour configurations recall the basic signification The case for divination by means of flour rests on such of a sound first zone in extispicy as a marker of the deity’s scant evidence that a thorough reconstruction of its exe- acceptance of the sacrifice and willingness to communi- cution is near impossible. Yet once more Maul contends cate. On the basis of these parallels, Maul furthers his that scarcity should not be confused for low standing. For claim that it would be wrong to view this method as either one thing, it is likely that, owing to the economical na- tangential or limited to the poor. Most tellingly for him, ture of its materials and its relative simplicity, flour-based the finding of hermeneutics and stereotypical themes in divination was the preferred avenue for those with less the entries preserved suggests that, no matter their limit- means – the vast silent majority in Mesopotamia from the ed number, these could have been taken allegorically and perspective of the textual record. But Maul argues that, in thus could have served as templates for additional omens fact, flour-based divination was not merely the cheaper – in principal just as in the case of extispicy (“ganz so wie option. One indication of this comes from a short passage die Eingeweideschau” [p. 160]). in Gudea Cylinder A (xx 5-6) that describes the taking of an oracle that employs (flour from?) grain (A.MIR-e še ba-sum),63 which appears alongside extispicy and is B. Incense ostensibly on equal footing with it; surprisingly for Maul On first impression, it would seem as if an account of this divination method should follow the rough contours of the flour-based variety. References and attestations to purposes than those typically attributed to it, including the fore- casting of the profitability of the sale of common wares or of a it, in terms of their scope and date, run roughly parallel to gemstone; see Wilcke 1990: 302-3; Veldhuis 2006: 488-9. those described above for the case of flour. Thus, though 60 ) The point is made elsewhere, e.g. p. 30. textual sources for it are once again not plentiful, one 61 ) Actually discussed by Maul on pp. 225-6; see originally finds important indications of this method’s significance, Marchetti 2009: 281-3, 293. The same point holds true in the practice, and learning. case of the sacrifice system more generally, in which the rare use of wild animals is known; see on which Mayer and Sallaberger 64 ) This seems dubious, however. It seems more likely that 2003: 95. the minor difference noted by Maul in the second grouping of 62 ) See an expanded version of this section’s concerns in entries in the collection simply reflects a variation of the tech- Maul 2010. nique described earlier; cf. Koch 2015: 140; also George and 63 ) More specifically, this seems to describe grain cast on what Al-Rawi 1996: 174. may be water, though the latter term is unclear; see PSD A/1, 65 ) Noted already in Nougayrol 1963: 381-2, though Maul 115; Edzard 1997: 81. For the reading of A.MIR as water, see points out (p. 353-4 n. 18) an unpublished parallel to the text, on Jacobsen 1987: 412; Suter 2000: 92. which, see Moren 1978: 234. 332 A. Winitzer As in the case of Gudea’s reference to a form of only a by-product of this activity; though, according to aleuromancy, in this instance, too, a first clue to the sig- Maul, even the incense employed as part of the sacrifice nificance of divination by incense appears early, in the operates in a supportive role and thus does not constitute rhetoric of another well-known third-millennium ruler. the central ingredient, which remains the flour intended This occurs in an early boast in Šulgi Hymn C 102 about for the feeding of the gods – hence the opening formula- that king’s knowledge of what seems to be libanomancy, tion of the OB protasis, “If you set up a censer and pour which in this instance appears alongside extispicy, le- flour on it ...”69 canomancy, and dream interpretation. Interestingly, the For this reason the very label of libanomancy for such phrase describing libanomancy on that occasion, nig2-na activity is for Maul ultimately a misnomer in the Meso- de5-ga kur7-re, recurs in a first-millennium lexical refer- potamian context. One can only conclude that his relative ence from Lu2, in which it is equated with bārû ša qutrin- silence about the smoke omens from Šumma ālu, seem- ni, “diviner of incense”.66 Yet, as noted by Klein, more ingly situated at a considerable remove from a sacrifi- impressive still is the fact that in both the Šulgi Hymn cial context, owes something to this line of thought.70 His and the list of professions, Lu2 = ša, the phrase occurs in subsequent insistence on a purely sacred context for this passages listing divination or diviner types according to a form of divination, too, and dismissal of any possibility strikingly similar order (Šulgi C 92, 102-3; Lu2 II iii 19'- of more secular scenarios in which it was practiced is no- 24').67 This raises suspicions that the tradition witnessed where more evident than in the following: in the late lexical series is older and more established than “Wenn man, wie mancher Gelehrter, annehmen one would otherwise think for a case of a hapax phrase. möchte, daß Wahrsager auf den Märkten allenthalben Nor is the mention of divination by way of smoke limit- ihre Dienste anboten und dort für die Menschen aus ed to this reference in the late period. A more substantial Öl und Rauch die Zukunft lasen, darf man dabei nicht reference to a form of libanomancy appears in SB Šumma vergessen, daß die Befragung der Götter immer als ālu, in which seemingly all of Tablet 52 concerns smoke heiliger, sakramentaler Akt verstanden wurde und in produced in a brazier.68 jedem Fall ein beachtliches Maß an Vorbereitung und Most significant are the findings of omen collections innerlicher Sammlung verlangte. Eine Jahrmarktat- describing incense dating from the OB period, which mosphäre mag hierzu nicht recht passen” (p. 164). again suggest that practical traditions employing this me- dium had been reformulated and generated in that form- C. Oil ative period according to literary-scholastic criteria. In the present instance this includes two collections – one A case based on several factors could be made for in four columns and the other known in no less than oil-based divination as the most significant of the less- three copies – that for Maul were undoubtedly compiled er-known methods treated in this chapter. The first stems for the purposes of education of future diviners. These from its more substantial extant textual record. There are describe a procedure concerning the observation of the now eight texts concerning omens from this method.71 shape and movement of smoke, though with an under- Seven of these date to the OB period, of which four rep- lying logic that once again rings familiar. Thus, for ex- resent exemplars of the same tradition that, impressively, ample, a straight line, in this case of the rising smoke, appears to have been at least 80 entries in length. Another is suggestive of direct communication with the divine, has no fewer than 67 entries, and still others, including while movement to the right or left (respectively south one from Ḫattuša, reflecting Mesopotamian traditions and north, from the perspective of the east-facing divin- and conventions from the MB/MA periods.72 Addition- er) is correlated with positive and negative outcomes on ally, one manuscript of a well-known first-millennium the basis of the pars familiaris / pars hostilis symbolism. Niṣirti bārûti text contains a delineated section of 18 That the apodoses based on this elementary grammar are ultimately reducible to favorable, unfavorable, or unde- 69 ) However, this formulation appears only in the first entry cided judgments suggests to Maul that here, too, one can of PBS 1/2 99, quoted here in full: [šu]mma qutrīnam taškunma see the makings of a system for a theoretically limitless qēmam ina ṣērīšu tattaqi maḫrīšu naši ilum izzaz (ll. 1-7). number of queries. In the following entries the phrasing details the movement Nevertheless, Maul contends that the case of divina- and shape of the smoke (alākšu, sapiḫ, etc.) with no mention of flour. This is also the case for the other text (see Finkel 1983-84) tion involving smoke cannot be considered on equal foot- in which flour is never mentioned. Of course one could suppose ing with the other methods comprising this focus. The that the idea of the sprinkling of flour in the opening entry is reason for this owes to the place of the specific medium implied for the rest as well. Still, it seems clear that it functions of each method – be it sheep or birds, flour, or oil – with- as the fuel for the burning, while it is the smoke that provides the in the sacrificial context. Smoke, by contrast, represents medium for the divine message, heralding divine presence (ilum izzaz) in the opening entry above. 66 ) Lu II ii 22'; written níg-na-de5-˹ga˺-igi-bar-ra (pace 70 ) This is mentioned in passing on p. 166. MSL 12, 120). 71 ) For the most recent tally and discussion of these texts, see 67 ) Klein 1980: XV. Cohen and Anor 2018. 68 ) See now Freedman 2017: 92-3. 72 ) Edited in Cohen and Anor 2018.  Conceptions of Mesopotamian Divination 333 omens concerning oil omens, whose terminology adheres other details in the letter appear less fictionalized than to the second-millennium tradition in part but also to ide- literary counterparts,78 and thus it seems reasonable to ex- as unknown earlier, and thus is seemingly indicative of pect that the divinatory act described should have been at ongoing interests in this oil-based divination.73 least partly recognizable to its target, the king. As such, A second indication of the place of this divinatory Maul may be justified in accepting Kudurru’s account of method concerns the tradition described above with re- lecanomancy as reflecting a legitimate practice and thus spect to omens concerning incense. It will be recalled that, of this letter as evidence of this method’s place in the first in Šulgi C 102, the king makes mention of oil-based divi- millennium.79 nation, too, alongside extispicy and dream interpretation. Whatever the case, Maul points to additional evidence Nor is this the sole place in which oil-based divination is of the place of oil divination from the first millennium mentioned alongside extispicy, in a manner stressing the that seems less equivocal. Some comes from the inscrip- equal antiquity and gravity of both, and in this case even tions of Sargon and Esarhaddon, who both claim that offering them a supreme etiology. One can scarcely for- their respective temple restoration projects were first af- get the legend of Enmeduranki’s reception of the knowl- firmed by way of lecanomancy. A broken historical-liter- edge of divination from its gods. Admittedly the version ary text from Esarhaddon’s day reminiscent of the Sin of of the legend known to us is late, though Lambert was Sargon mentions an oil expert (apkal šamni) along with almost certainly justified to suggest that the tradition be- extispicy diviners (māri [bârī]) in connection to the re- hind it goes back considerably.74 Such prestige of origins, turn of Marduk’s statue to Babylon, though no statement if correct, might explain its reference by Šulgi. describing oil divination is preserved. The case of Assur- A sense of the standing of oil divination alongside ex- banipal rightly recalls for Maul that of Šulgi from cen- tispicy seems not to have been forgotten in the first mil- turies earlier, with Assurbanipal boasting of his abilities lennium, even though such interest evidently never mate- in several divinatory fields. But it is important to recall rialized in a standardization of the tradition generated and that this occurs as part of that king’s projected image as transmitted over the centuries. The inclusion of a section a master of “the entire scribal art” (kullat ṭupšarrūti), in of oil omens in the aforementioned Niṣirti bārûti text is this case even deliberating with oil diviners on Tablet 16 one indication of this point, even if this reflects only the of Multābiltu, in the manner recalling the combination hybridization of literatures known in the later centuries.75 of extispicy and lecanomancy omens witnessed in the But Maul draws on an additional, unusual source for fur- Niṣirti bārûti text discussed above. Once more, then, it ther evidence. This is the letter SAA 10 179 from one Ku- remains unclear whether such impressive statements – durru, a Babylonian diviner who recounts a kafkaesque meant to convey a sense of traditional piety, sanctimony, “Prozess” about his seemingly unjust incarceration in As- or a Solomonic-like intellectual preeminence – can be syria and unlikely release by the king’s chief cupbearer, taken as indications of the place of actual lecanomancy who, having heard of Kudurru’s divinatory skills, fetched in the days of the Sargonids.80 the diviner to ascertain whether a main palace official is Regardless of these challenges, the real significance planning a coup. Kudurru, having washed and donned of this method for Maul ultimately stems from the basic new clothes, performs an oil-based divination of some place of oil in the Mesopotamian diet, especially the one sort and reports on its findings to the authorities; for all allotted to the gods. As such, it connects with flour-based this he is thanked and told that he be allowed to return to divination and most clearly extispicy with respect to the his father’s house and even be granted kingship over all sacrificial system. It is therefore unsurprising to find par- Babylonia. allels between this method and others, which Maul lays Now, pace Maul, the letter’s value in terms of histo- ricity must be met with caution.76 One notes unmistak- dechai, see Winitzer 2011: 179-81 (with previous literature). A able elements in it of the widespread literary tradition, more detailed consideration of this objection and its implications well known from the Biblical tale of Joseph’s doings in will be discussed by me elsewhere. Egypt (including the resort to lecanomancy!), of the rags- 78 ) On the identity of this Kudurru, see Pongratz-Leisten to-riches reversal of fortune of individuals in the service 1999: 181, who considers connecting the author of SAA 10 179 of a foreign monarch, whose wisdom and skills in ascer- to at least one person mentioned elsewhere by the same name; taining the divine realm rescue them from distress and but cf. Baker and Brinkman 2000: 633, who do not relate the occasion of this PN to any other. On the chief cupbearer, e.g., see earn them unprecedented prestige.77 Still, Kudurru and Mattila 2000: 45, 47; Baker 2017: 114. 79 ) But the possibility cannot be excluded that what Kudu- 73 ) See Koch 2005: 273-96 (no. 32, ms. A r. 31-46); ead. rru describes to the king as what Parpola 1993: 143 renders a 2015: 136. “colossal fraud” (šāru meḫû) refers not only to the results of the 74 ) See Lambert 1998: 147. examination but rather to the entire divinatory act, intended to 75 ) Ably described by Maul in chapter 9. impress his captors and, as he admits, thereby save his own life. 76 ) On the historical setting of this text, see Radner 2003; 80 ) For a possible additional reference to oil-based divination 2016: 52-3; Frahm 2010. in a historical-literary source, see Koch 2015: 137; but cf. Maul’s 77 ) For additional considerations of this theme, with respect objection to this, based on a collation and rereading of the text to other known examples, including Aḥiqar, Daniel, and Mor- (p. 355 n. 54). 334 A. Winitzer out lucidly, upon describing the actual practice and its actual practice and as met in the omen collections. Thus, basic interpretation, which again he reconstructs master- for instance, one finds no real discussion of teratology, fully from details in the omen collections. despite this method’s ‛real’ practice and the considerable Parallels between oil divination and the other meth- literature pertaining to it, from the OB period onward, as ods appear at the level of both practice and interpretation. well as the standardization of that literature in due course In the case of the former, such similarity is especially in the series Šumma izbu.81 The same holds true for the clear in the two directly successive and complementary case of terrestrial omens, which are also known from examinations that centered on positive and negative fac- early on and which coalesce in Šumma ālu, the greatest tors, respectively. In terms of interpretation, the appear- omen series in the first millennium, a series studied and ance in the oil omen collections of the technical terms applied to “actual” events deemed relevant to diviners.82 nipḫum and pitruštum, known from extispicy texts and It goes without saying that Maul is fully aware of these seemingly functioning in the same way in the oil omens, and other divinatory methods or their representation in offer a further indication for Maul of the commonality related omen collections (see § II above). Certainly his among the divination methods. And though he is careful own aforementioned study of the Namburbi rituals pro- in noting uncertainty about the historical path that led to vides a vital perspective on the practical and theoretical this commonality, most impressive to Maul is the parallel place of these traditions (especially Šumma ālu) within itself, which confirms that each method obeyed the very a more comprehensive Mesopotamian “systematics”. In same system of hermeneutics (“ein und demselben her- this light, the earlier contention that his ignoring of all meneutischen System gehorchen” [p. 177]). these materials in the present work must be understood as intentional is upheld. With the benefit of the discus- VI. Conclusion sions of individual methods above, we are now in a better position to consider the motivation behind this choice, It is hoped that the preceding discussion offers some though in fact the point is not hidden from plain view. To compass of the sheer range of topics undertaken by Maul the contrary, Maul makes it open early on and reiterates it and the depth that he plumbs in the analysis of each. It in much that follows, in particular in his discussion of the should now be clear that Maul’s accomplishment repre- divinatory methods described above. sents a considerable advancement in terms of our under- Most significant in this respect is the short second standing to each of the areas discussed, the likes of which chapter, whose title, “Opfer und Wahrsagekunst”, says it will be difficult to surpass in many cases for decades to all: the expectation of signs from the gods went hand in come. For this alone he is deserving of the highest acco- hand with their care and, more specifically, feeding. It is lades. And yet, as stated earlier, Maul’s greatest achieve- for Maul in the context of sacrifices that the Mesopota- ment lies in the presentation of this material not merely mians established a special relationship with their gods, together but systematically and synthetically, according with the expectation of celestial communication in ex- to an interpretive framework, one that allows for an al- change for terrestrial offering. The midpoint of it all was, most unprecedented reflection and analysis of the overall accordingly, the sacrificial cult and the offering tables on topic. For this our debt to him is even greater. which human intermediaries presented nature’s bounty Two of this framework’s chief characteristics, dis- to the supernatural realm. The observation noted earlier cussed with respect to particular issues at various points about the absence of wild animals or an undomesticated above, deserve a final, broader consideration. The first species of vegetation in divination conforms to this point involves one of the central tenets of Maul’s overall thesis, and underscores the degree of coincidence between the involving both the place of divination within Mesopota- parameters of both. mia’s sacrificial system more specifically and the com- In this light it becomes apparent that the divinatory munication envisioned in this world between the divine methods Maul discusses – especially those given unex- and human realms more generally. The second concerns pected attention – are those that fit within the framework Maul’s conception of Mesopotamian divination with re- proposed in Chapter 2, while those that do not figure far spect to omen collections relating to each of the divinato- less centrally. Such considerations also play a role in ry methods. These are visited in turn below. the presentation of specific parts of the overall areas of divination detailed in this work. One such instance was A. Die Mitte der Divination already discussed with respect to omens describing in- It was observed earlier on that, despite this volume’s cense, which for Maul are only supplementary to those implicit claims of presenting an overview of all of Mes- 81 ) For a brief word on which, see Koch 2015: 262-72; to opotamian divination (and more), in fact a significant which add the recent new edition of Šumma izbu in De Zorzi portion of what would otherwise be included under this 2014 and the important new omen collections from Tigunānum rubric does not figure into Maul’s discussion in any published in CUSAS 18 and their recent study in De Zorzi 2017. meaningful way. As noted, this holds for a number of this 82 ) For an overview of this divination method and its litera- civilization’s best-known methods of divination, both in ture, see Koch 2015: 233-62.  Conceptions of Mesopotamian Divination 335 concerning flour.83 An even more telling example is ob- nation than does Maul (at least in the first millennium), servable in the case of the chapter on divination by means even if at times the breakdown she proposed and the as- of birds. As described earlier, the suggestion of a paral- sumptions behind it remain debatable.88 And one could lel between bird-based extispicy and the more common point to yet other classic distinctions that have served as sheep-based variety arguably represents that chapter’s organizing principles in different conceptions of Meso- overriding concern. As such it is of no surprise that in potamian divination, including the one drawn between both name and content Maul actually limits his inquiry provoked and unprovoked omens or especially between to Ornithoscopy. Nothing, by contrast, is said of other inspired and deductive techniques and approaches.89 To methods of divination involving birds, most notably the be sure, each of these also proceeds from a given per- inspection of bird flight patterns, or augury – this despite spective that frames the subsequent presentation. Though abundant evidence of this practice in Mesopotamia by a why one (e.g. earlier, act-centered) should have prefer- dāgil iṣṣūri, or augur.84 A passing reference to a Vene- ence over another (later, text-centered) remains unclear. tian fresco of Noah offering a dove but not to his (or Ut- napištim’s) celebrated release of birds intended to assess In sum, the understanding of Mesopotamian divina- the extent of the Flood also becomes clearer in this light. tion as wholly or even fundamentally defined by its rela- Why, however, sacrifice should be understood as the tion to the sacrificial cult must be understood as reflect- fundamental and crucial factor in the understanding of ing the subjective views of Maul. Moreover, it should Mesopotamian divination is not fully clear. To be sure, be clear that the establishment of this Mitte, even if it there is no denying the significance of the sacrificial cult is accepted as a legitimate conception of its subject, in- in this civilization’s religious thought or the idea that, as evitably shapes the overall picture by subordinating or in other settings, offerings made in the context of divi- marginalizing those parts that do not fit the whole. This natory queries were considered instrumental to the gain- has been the lesson of similar such attempts to delineate a ing of divine favor, in this case in the form of oracular “center” of complex religious subjects or traditions, argu- communication.85 Nor can any issue be taken with the ably nowhere more so than in the ongoing scholarly/theo- idea from this world – celebrated from the Warka Vase logical debate concerning the possibility of a central idea onward – of humanity functioning as the intermediary in to Scripture, especially the Old Testament (“die Mitte des this respect between the natural and supernatural realms. Alten Testaments”).90 Still, the challenge to do this should And surely the boasts from Gudea and Šulgi cited above not be abandoned, even if its initial outcome is best ap- offer some indication of the prestige of those divination preciated, in James Barr’s words, “not [as] a matter of methods that relate to sacrifice.86 reaching a definitive answer, but rather of weighing pos- And yet, as also discussed, it is a fact that not only did sibilities for the expression of structure.”91 Maul’s great- methods of divination exist that do not fit within Maul’s est achievement in his work has been precisely this: an reconstruction, but that the standing of some, namely articulation of an overall framework for the understand- first-millennium mainstream astrology and its spinoffs, ing of Mesopotamian divination, which, to stress it once actually surpassed many of those showcased by the au- again, far surpasses all previous such efforts. That things thor owing to the latter’s connection to the cult. It should can be weighed differently is expected, indeed, a prereq- therefore not be surprising to realize that alternative uisite for progress in historical analysis. The following, conceptions of Mesopotamian divination are possible in accordingly, offers an alternative to Maul’s conception, which a relation to sacrifice does not figure as the basic proposing that a center better suited for the appreciation tenet. One such alternative was recently offered by Ulla of the overall subject is situated between the historical Koch, who, approaching divination from the perspective reconstruction of ‛actual’ Mesopotamian divination and of its considerable first-millennium textual record, ori- the writings pertaining to it. ented her reconstruction around basic academic faculties (“Arts”) of divination and related areas, including bārûtu, B. Mesopotamian Divination and ummânūtu, and ṭupšarrūtu.87 In so doing Koch accounted Its Literature for more of the overall methods of Mesopotamian divi- Indeed, it is this larger interpretive question concern- ing the place of the Mesopotamian divination literature 83 ) But cf. above and n. 69. within one’s conception of Mesopotamian divination 84 ) On which, see recently Koch 2015: 140-1, with refer- that offers the best opportunity for reflection on Maul’s ences. Maul does mention the dāgil iṣṣūri in passing elsewhere (p. 278), as part of a discussion of the various diviners and other 88 ) For a brief word on which, see Winitzer 2017b. experts. 89 ) See on which Oppenheim 1977: 206-27; Bottéro 1974: 85 ) For a word on which, see Mayer and Sallaberger 2003: 89-124. 95, 99. 90 ) For an overview of which, see, e.g., Barr 1999: 337-44; 86 ) Recall, however, the challenges to this point discussed Smend 2002: 30-74. above (§ V). 91 ) Barr 1999: 343; pace Levenson 1993: 54-61; Brettler 87 ) Koch 2015. 2012. 336 A. Winitzer perspective. Fortunately, what is a complex issue can be if approached in this manner, even the empirical under- boiled down to a simple question: what is Mesopotamian pinnings of certain omens and the practices they reflect divination? Should a conception of this subject center on would be deemed essentially immaterial, owing to their or essentially be limited to those acts that can safely be reconfiguration and setting in a literary-scholastic frame- assumed to be based on the empirical observation of di- work whose purpose is not dictated by the origins of its viners – those actors who measured holes in the exta by contents (more on which below).94 the width of their very fingers, examined the buoyancy Where, given these extremes, is Maul’s thinking to of an oil bubble or its splintering, or sought to record the be situated? An early clue already reveals itself in the moon’s appearance in its first crescent? Or should a cue volume’s very title, which hints at a reading of Meso- also be taken from omen collections, which, as has been potamian divination as an ancient form of prediction. repeatedly observed, include many unobservable occur- This reading is indeed borne out in the book’s conclusion rences, such as eclipses at the month’s end, or elsewhere (Chapter 11), in which, as noted above, this idea is fully feature interpretations that could not have seriously been articulated, including a comparison with the forecasting entertained as forecasts of future events, including those undertaken by today’s economists and the like. But this transparently the product of other factors, such as paro- comparison, even when well intended, cannot and does nomasia (e.g. five [ḫamiš] gallbladders, or intestinal coils not bode well for the Mesopotamian world. For even resembling Humbaba [written dḪUM.ḪUM], anticipat- given all the shortcomings of modern prognostication ing usurper kings [šar ḫammê/ḫammāˀi])?92 And if one – these duly noted by Maul – a fundamental distinction does opt to include the omen collections in the overall between the modern ‛scientific’ methods and those of the picture, in what manner should this be, given that these ancients is inevitable. This is apparent in the following texts never distinguish between those entries that reflect statement, which makes clear that, no matter its virtues, potentially empirical statements and those that patently one cannot but understand the enterprise of Mesopotami- do not? an divination as pre-logical, lacking the faculty of reason: These questions, it should be clear, have a consider- “Mit dem Beispiel der altorientalischen Wahrsage- able bearing on one’s overall picture of Mesopotamian kunst vor Augen müssen wir also – so schwer es auch divination. For if the collections are excluded entirely, fallen mag – anerkennen, daß eine sachlich ganz und or their input limited to material that can be said to re- gar unangemessene, offenkundig nicht von Vernunft flect potentially empirical statements, then the resulting geleitete Form der Entscheidungsfindung fortwährend picture will be principally empiricist, with Mesopota- Maßnahmen befördern kann, die sich als sachgerecht mian divination amounting to a series of ideas and acts und erfolgreich erweisen (p. 317).” anchored by matters of perception of what actually was and reflecting an effort for the actual prediction by the Nor is this statement unique: the place of reason, or ancients of what was believed will be. As such, this effort truth, figures prominently elsewhere in Maul’s overall as- would ultimately have to be weighed against our stand- sessment of his subject. It is thus not entirely surprising ards of scientific inquiry and reasoning, with the very that, from the modern perspective, as a form of prediction framework of such a comparison wielding considerable based on what was perceived in the actual practices of influence on its results. augury from this world, Maul ultimately finds this effort By contrast, if the collections are fully admitted into a disappointment: “Zwar sind aus dem Blickwinkel unse- the overall picture, with all in them that is either demon- res Weltbildes die Grundlagen der divinatorischen Evalu- strably impossible or at the very least based on a con- ationsverfahren vollkommen obsolet ...” (p. 316).” siderable undertaking of deductive reasoning, then the This is not to say that the effort is ultimately deemed resulting view of Mesopotamian divination will be fun- pointless. Maul is clear about the fact that the opposite is damentally rationalist, guided by matters of conception true. Accordingly, he describes ways in which divination – thus not about actual events but rather what is hypo- offered the Mesopotamians a significant sense of control thetically possible, what could be, even if at the extreme. in important domains of their lives. In so doing he stress- Accordingly, earlier uses of divination for purposes of es the significance of the social dimension of the institu- prediction will be recognized as subordinate to the ef- tion and the idea that its perceived plausibility by signifi- fort of formal organization and logic inherent in the texts cant decision-making bodies far outweighed expectations themselves, which is reflective of an attempt, in Roch- of reliability. It is in this regard that Maul introduces the berg’s words, “to identify and systematize what, evident- casuistic literature into consideration, whose variety he ly, to the ancients seemed to be the interdependence of likens to the endless patterns visible via kaleidoscopes. elements of their experience, that is, observable events in In the case of divination such variations offered a seem- the environment, with events in social life.”93 Moreover, 94 ) Nor, as observed Rochberg 2010: 378, is the reference to or citation of omens from collections in first-millennium delib- 92 ) Respectively YOS 10 31 ii 13-15; BRM 4 13:65. erations about ominous occurrences proof that these go back to 93 ) Rochberg 2010: 376. real predictions.  Conceptions of Mesopotamian Divination 337 ingly infinite range of interpretive possibilities, and these this effort, especially at its origins.96 To the contrary, not served to promote evermore nuanced statements about infrequently those practices of Mesopotamian divination what was to come. Maul so ably describes appear in contrast to the copious Significantly, therefore, while Maul does factor the extispicy collections, which inevitably seem to be less- omen collections into his cumulative picture, this occurs than authentic representatives of the overall subject. This in the context of thinking about divination and its pros- is the sense one gets from the following statement, which pects for actual prognostication. In this respect things highlights a veritable chasm between the act of divination are no different from what is met throughout the book, and divinatory texts: in which, as discussed, Maul makes repeated use of the “[W]ir sollten uns nicht – so wie Babylonier und As- omen collections. But overwhelmingly this involves ac- syrer – täuschen lassen von der Flut an Schriftquel- counts of the physical practices of divination, not the lit- len zur Eingeweideschau, die die Gelehrtenkultur erary tradition these convey and its significance. des zweiten und ersten vorchristlichen Jahrtausends In his presentation of bird extispicy, for example, hervorgebracht hat, und unseren Eindruck von der Maul turns to the collections on numerous occasions, for Frühzeit der Opferschau hiervon bestimmen lassen” instance in the mapping of the exta’s basic anatomical (p. 184). details. Likewise, the unique, newly published bird-extis- picy omen collection from Tigunānum (CUSAS 18 18), In this light, Maul’s comment about whether the omen which appears to list omens stemming from the dropping entries can be taken seriously seems to mean whether one of a bird’s heart in water,95 augments his portrayal of the can assume that on occasion these can still provide a re- manner by which the bārûs approached the preparations flection of actual divination practices that, as he impress- of the exta, including the careful removal and washing of es upon his readers, stem from hundreds and even thou- individual organs and their subsequent study. The same sands of years prior. That these texts should be under- holds for other methods of divination, for instance those stood as a refraction of this activity in a new form does employing flour and oil. In these cases Maul turns to not seem to be of real consequence; and the possibility the respective collections in order to draw out a given that the creativity manifest in them represents a mode of method’s basic practices, such as the sunrise-sunset con- divinatory inquiry in and of itself, one no less significant figuration of the bowl in which flour is cast in the case than the applied effort, is not entertained. Rather, as the of aleuromancy, or those involving the manner of an oil following suggests, such activity is envisioned in terms droplet’s submersion and reemergence in water in that of of variations stemming from different school traditions, lecanomancy. It must be affirmed that in most cases Maul far removed from the divinatory acts Maul describes: is unquestionably right to appeal to the collections for his “Kompendien dieser Art, die zwar das gleiche The- needs, skillfully extracting from them details of aspects ma behandeln, aber aus unterschiedlichen Städten of the practices described. Babyloniens stammen, weisen trotz zahlreicher Par- Nor can it be said that Maul is indifferent to the prob- allelen beachtliche inhaltliche Abweichungen auf und lem of the gap between context and text. This much is künden so von dem Nebeneinander unterschiedlicher clear in the case of his discussion of bird-extispicy, for Opferschauerschulen in der altbabylonischen Zeit” instance, in the manner of his appeal to a patently un- (p. 216). problematic source, namely the unique OB bird-extispicy report discussed above, which he champions as: “Der ein- Of course Maul is correct in this claim. But questions zige erhalten gebliebene Text, der nicht die Theorie, son- remain about how acts of divination became the concern dern die Praxis der Opfervogelinspektion dokumentiert of scholastic academies and, more importantly, what this ...” (p. 144). Things become slightly more complicated literary creativity meant or means. To what extent and when one turns to the collections and their viability to aid when were the scholastic approaches accepted as a legit- in efforts of the sorts of reconstruction just described. But imate source of ‛real’ divinatory reasoning? Maul offers on occasion here, too, Maul’s awareness of the problem some thoughts about these questions and the early inter- comes through, for instance when wondering whether a play of empiricism and hermeneutics in the case of the scheme of divine-“presence” statements appearing in a liver models, though this line of thinking is not followed series of omen apodoses can actually be used to map out up for the bulk of the literature with respect to ‛actual’ elements of the exta (“nimmt man die Omeneinträge aus practices. altbabylonischer Zeit ernst” [p. 140]). Two important questions arise from Maul’s approach. And yet, as noted, when it comes to the texts them- The first involves assumptions made concerning the ev- selves, one finds little in terms of an explanation of their idence culled from the collections in his reconstructions acknowledged sophistication (“kunstvoll komponierte of the respective divinatory methods. To wit, how can we didaktische Meisterstücke” [p. 216]) or the meaning of know that such material reflects actual practices and not 95 ) Cf. again, however, n. 45 above. 96 ) The following repeats Winitzer 2017a: 5-6. 338 A. Winitzer the creativity of a scholastic setting in which organiza- reflection on possibilities that were not rooted in the nat- tional schema, interpretive principles, even technical ter- ural order. Of course this development in scribalism from minology developed and were borrowed from one meth- the representation of the actual toward the more contem- od to another? Given the evidence, there is no way to tell, plative finds important parallels in Mesopotamia. The for instance, whether a technical term such as nipḫum most significant example comes from the lexical lists, truly existed in oil-based divination, or, alternatively, to which demonstrate from nearly their onset a penchant what extent it was employed in extispicy. It may be that for the inclusion of lexemes that do not reflect realia and its finding in the omen collections owes not to applied that must therefore reflect hypothetical statements, not divination, or at least not exclusively or originally so, facts.100 That this change and the literature it generated but rather to the school setting in which these texts were have been characterized as revolutionary does not seem composed. inappropriate.101 But a second, more basic question becomes apparent Mesopotamian divination was, in the end, no less when one steps back and considers the issue with respect a product of what it conceived by means of the recon- to Mesopotamian civilization more broadly. This civili- figuration and rechanneling of its knowhow through a zation, it bears recalling, demonstrates time and again not scholastic tradition. This process not only produced a only to have subordinated reality to the textual realm; it literary corpus that far outweighed anything known in also gives every indication that this was appreciated as a terms of records from the original practices of any par- basic ideal early on. This is not the place to consider the ticular method, even extispicy or astrology. In due course plentiful evidence behind this claim, though the follow- this literature pushed the original premises of particular ing example from Hammurabi’s celebrated laws, a casu- methods further, at times virtually exponentially, fleshing istic literature contemporary with the genesis of the omen out fundamental assumptions in the process and shifting collections, offers one tantalizing reminder: interests to domains that may well have struck the origi- nal diviners as unintelligible. Ultimately this activity de- šumma awīlum aššatam īḫuz-ma riksātīša lā iškun veloped into an interpretive system that could be used to sinništum šī ul aššat “If a man married a woman but did deduce logical statements in the form of omens for pre- not draw up a contract for her, that woman is not a wife.” viously unimaginable circumstances. These statements (CH § 128).97 would thereby gain authoritative standing, even one that Indeed, given the place of writing in this world, it is not redefined the very idea of divination. For so long as it was surprising that scholarly debate over its very definition kept, explored, and pushed, this intellectual exercise re- should involve the degree to which its constituent ele- lated the language of the early act with new possibilities, ments are to be assessed not only directly but also through as these presented themselves. their representation in a standardized, written form.98 The And when it is (also) conceived in this way, many im- present topic fits squarely within this conversation. That portant parallels between Mesopotamian divination and divination was practiced in Mesopotamia in various and our own day become apparent, though these center not on complex forms and across a wide range of geography the drive toward prediction but rather on the place of text and time is undeniably significant for an appreciation of and textuality as the basic organizing principle by which this civilization. Yet it is equally clear that ultimately all logical reasoning proceeds. Naturally each of these paral- this activity intersected with this civilization’s greatest lels must be carefully considered in its own right if it is to achievement, writing, with immediate and far-reaching yield results for an instructive comparison. The following effects in terms of definition. presents one case intended for such reflection. The more immediate include those developments As I pen these final words a political debate is begin- in hermeneutics and technical terminology discussed ning to stir in the U.S. about the possibility of an Ameri- above, for which the new medium provided unprecedent- can president’s ability to pardon himself, were he indict- ed possibilities in terms of semiotics and, in turn, sharp- ed or convicted of a crime (July, 2017). As is often the ened the very articulation of methods of divination.99 But case with such intriguing legal challenges, nothing ex- this commitment to writing also defined Mesopotamian plicit appears on the topic in the American Constitution, divination in another, more far-reaching way, one charac- the supreme law of the nation. Naturally this does not terized by a new hypothetical perspective that promoted deter divergent opinions by interested parties and leading experts, each claiming a position upheld by the correct 97 ) See, too, CH § 7. reading of that authoritative text. Settlement of this ques- 98 ) Referring to recent critiques of the established concept of tion, should it become necessary, would demand a per- a “stream of tradition” to define Mesopotamian civilization, as seen in Robson 2011. suasive argument that would be buttressed by a specific 99 ) The same point has been made repeatedly with respect to interpretation of this foundational text along with other the effects of the origins of writing in the late fourth millennium on the development of the underlying administrative practices; 100 ) See most recently Veldhuis 2014: 56. see, most recently, Steinkeller 2017: 55. 101 ) See, e.g., Veldhuis 2014: 223-5.  Conceptions of Mesopotamian Divination 339 sources of American law. Undoubtedly such an argument ment on the manner by which its subsequent discovery would be challenged by alternative, even diametrically proceeds. And yet no serious person would deny its foun- opposed readings of the same texts. dational place in society. Its interpretation on the basis of Things are no different in cases about which the Con- a set of ideas that can never be corroborated proves vital stitution speaks explicitly. Statements on the freedom of in the sorting out of a particular society’s ideals. In the speech described in the First Amendment (“Congress modern world these include liberty and equality, ideas al- shall make no law ... abridging the freedom of speech”) ready recognized in classical antiquity and reinforced as and the right to bear arms (“a well regulated militia, be- ideals in the Enlightenment, but whose very meaning and ing necessary ... the right of the people to keep and bear interrelations remain the subject of vigorous debate. This arms shall not be infringed”), for instance, have hardly debate may seem burdensome at times, and its results oc- resolved disagreements on the specifics or limits of these casionally downright grotesque. And yet its significance matters. Exactly the opposite is true: these have been at cannot be overestimated, nor its record be dismissed as the core of many American legal, political, and social de- detritus accumulating on a pristine foundation. Rather, it bates. represents the articulation of abstract principles and, by All these debates hinge on efforts to determine the way of the commitment to the permanence of this effort, correct interpretation of the law. But what that law is or, a statement of intent of their ultimate fulfillment. in the words of Ronald Dworkin, what is law remains un- The proceeding, it is submitted, offers a parallel to clear.102 Indeed, the latter question constitutes the funda- the challenges of defining Mesopotamian divination in mental challenge for legal theorists, who do not agree to a relation to the tension described above between its foun- basic notion of a natural law or to a defined set of inalien- dations and subsequent textual development. In the case able rights, let alone on the specifics by which these ideas of divination, of course, things rest not on a bedrock of serve as the basis for actual legal systems.103 And even for natural law but rather on the place of the gods in the nat- those realists who claim such a basis for their conception, ural world and the belief that this self-evident truth can there is no illusion of law as equal to its counterpart in the be examined and probed for guidance in terms of basic natural sciences.104 questions, whether hypothetical or real. But this differ- Rather, following Dworkin, for these realists law lies ence proves less meaningful upon reconsideration. That in, or better, is best discovered by, its own interpretation, we might question or deny the presence of this divine in the activity that seeks to make sense of it through its realm is no more relevant to our task than is the neces- application in new challenges whose results do not offer sity for a conclusive word on the origins of law for an verification for it so much as a fleshing out of its meaning overall appreciation of jurisprudence. In both cases the- – or occasionally even its wholesale revision with what ological or philosophical underpinnings give way to the is understood to have been its real intent. It goes with- place of textual-based reasoning in the generation of new out saying that this activity is endlessly complicated by omens or statutes. And, most significantly, in both cases questions concerning the manner by which interpretation this activity is understood as the further discovery of law proceeds, especially concerning fidelity to statutes and – divine in the case of Mesopotamia, natural in our day – their original intent versus more dynamic readings that that promises to deliver the necessary illumination of the admit other factors into consideration more readily. And original phenomena. For, even if, to extend the metaphor as can be seen by those cases decided by the barest ma- slightly, divine or natural laws are imagined as measures jority vote,105 settlement is often reached essentially on a of grace in the natural world,106 still these remain difficult technicality. to grasp, and ultimately in need of interpretation. Jurisprudence proceeds, therefore, without real ex- Certainly this parallel has its limitations, most obvi- pectation of a decisive word on the law’s basis or agree- ously with respect to the vast hypothetical dimension of the divination literature, which knows no equal in West- 102 ) Dworkin 1986; 2011. The following relies considerably ern jurisprudence. But this is perhaps where the analogy on these works. is most illuminating. For in the development away from 103 ) For an introductory word on legal positivism and its basic the practical and toward the hypothetical, a new con- stance about law as a social construction, see Green 2009; id. ception of Mesopotamian divination came to exist. And apud Hart 2012: xv-lv. this one, as the diviners began to realize, transcended the 104 ) See, however, the insightful recent discussion in Roch- temporal needs to know what tomorrow brings, toward berg 2016: 176-7 on these categories, along with divine law, as more metaphysical truths, an appreciation of which was different conceptions drawing on one more general law meta- inchoate perhaps, but steadily more “divinable” by way phor. 105 ) E.g. five to four decisions in the U.S. Supreme Court con- of human reasoning and its engagement with the world cerning the limits of free speech, such as Citizens United (2010), of texts. permitting unlimited political expenditures before elections, or the right to bear arms, such as Heller (2008), allowing individu- als to possess (loaded) firearms in public. 106 ) Cf. Maul, p. 155. 340 A. Winitzer Bibliography terial from the Papers of W. G. Lambert (CUSAS 18; Bethesda: CDL). Baker, H. 2017: Neo-Assyrian Specialists: Crafts, Offic- – and F.N.H. Al-Rawi 1996: “Tablets from the Sippar Li- es, and other Professional Designations (PNAE 4/1; brary VI: Atra-Ḫasīs,” Iraq 58: 147-90. Helsinki: The Neo Assyrian Text Corpus Project). Glassner, J.-J. 2012: “Droit et divination: Deux manières – and J.A. Brinkman. 2000: “Kudurru,” PNA 2/1: 632-5. de rendre la justice: À propos de dīnum, uṣurtum, et Barr, J. 1999: The Concept of Biblical Theology: An Old awatum,” JCS 64: 39-56. Testament Perspective (Minneapolis: Fortress). Green, L. 2009: “Legal Positivism,” Stanford Encyclope- Bottéro, J. 1974: “Symptômes, signes, écritures en Méso- dia of Philosophy, ed. E.N. Zalta, URL = <https://pla- potamie ancienne,” in Divination et Rationalité, ed. J. to.stanford.edu/archives/fall2009/entries/legal-posi- P. Vernant (Paris: Éditions du Seuil), 70-197. tivism/>. Brettler, M. 2012: “Psalms and Jewish Biblical Theol- Haas, V. 2008: Hethitische Orakel, Vorzeichen und ogy,” in Jewish Biblical Theology: Perspectives and Abwehrstrategien: Ein Beitrag zur hethitischen Kul- Case Studies, ed. I. Kalimi (Winona Lake: Eisen- turgeschichte (Berlin: de Gruyter). brauns), 187-97. Hart, H.L.A. 2012: The Concept of Law, 3rd ed. (Clar- Burkert, W. 1996: Creation of the Sacred: Tracks of Biol- endon Law Series; Oxford: Oxford University Press). ogy in Early Religions (Cambridge: Harvard Univer- Heeßel, N. 2012: Divinatorische Texte II: Opfer- sity Press). schau-Omina (KAL 5; WVDOG 139; Wiesbaden: Cohen, Y., and N. Anor 2018: “The Oil Omen Compendi- Harrassowitz). um from Hattuša,” JNES 77: 195-206. Heimpel, W. 1996: “Spatial Validity of Extispicies of Durand, J.-M. 1988: Archives épistolaires de Mari I/1 District Diviners,” NABU 1996/14, 9-10. (ARM 26; Paris: Éditions Recherche sur les Civili- Horowitz, W. and N. Wasserman 1996: “Another Old sations). Babylonian Prayer to the Gods of the Night,” JCS 48: – 1997: “La divination par les oiseaux.” MARI 8: 273-82. 57-60. Dworkin, R. 1986: Law’s Empire (Cambridge: Belknap/ –, T. Oshima, and A. Winitzer 2010: “Hazor 17: Another Harvard University Press). Clay Liver Model,” IEJ 60: 133-45. – 2011: Justice for Hedgehogs (Cambridge: Belknap/ Jacobsen, T. 1987: The Harps that Once ...: Sumerian Harvard University Press). Poetry in Translation (New Haven: Yale University Edzard, D.O. 1997: Gudea and His Dynasty (RIME 3/1; Press). Toronto: University of Toronto Press). Jeyes, U. 1989: Old Babylonian Extispicy: Omen Texts in Finkel, I.L. 1983-84: “A New Piece of Libanomancy,” the British Museum (PIHANS 64; Istanbul: NINO). AfO 29/30: 50-5. Klein, J. 1980: “Some Rare Sumerian Words Gleaned Foster, B.R. 2005: Before the Muses: An Anthology of Ak- from the Royal Hymns of Šulgi,” in Studies in He- kadian Literature, 3rd ed. (Bethesda: CDL). brew and Semitic Languages Dedicated to the Mem- Frahm, E. 2010: “Hochverrat in Assur,” in Assur-For­ ory of Prof. Eduard Yechezekel Kutscher, ed. G.B. schungen: Arbeiten aus der Forschungs­stelle “Edition Sarfatti et al. (Ramat Gan: Bar Ilan University Press). literarischer Keilschrifttexte aus Assur” der Heidel- Koch-Westenholz, U. 2002: “Old Babylonian Extis- berger Akademie der Wissenschaften, ed. St.M. Maul picy Reports,” in Mining the Archives: Festschrift and N.P. Heeßel (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz), 89-137. for Christopher Walker on the Occasion of His 60th Freedman, S.M. 2017: If a City is Set on a Height: The Birthday, 4 October 2002, ed. C. Wunsch (Dresden: Akkadian Omen Series Šumma alu ina mēlê šakin, ISLET), 131-45. vol. 3 (OPSNKF 20; Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns). Koch, U.S. 2005: Secrets of Extispicy: The Chapter Gabbay, U. 2014: Pacifying the Hearts of the Gods: Multābiltu of the Babylonian Extispicy Series and Sumerian Emesal Prayers of the First Millennium BC Niṣirti bārûti Texts Mainly from Assurbanipal’s Li- (Heidelberger Emesal-Studien 1; Wiesbaden: Harras- brary (AOAT 326; Münster: Ugarit Verlag). sowitz). – 2015: Mesopotamian Divination Texts: Conversing – 2015: “Ancient Mesopotamian Cultic Whispering into with the Gods: Sources from the First Millennium the Ears,” in Marbeh Ḥokmah: Studies in the Bible BCE (GMTR 7; Münster: Ugarit Verlag). and the Ancient Near East in Loving Memory of Vic- Lambert, W.G. 1998: “The Qualifications of Babylonian tor Avigdor Hurowitz, ed. S. Yona et al. (Winona Diviners,” in Festschrift für Rykle Borger zu seinem Lake: Eisenbrauns), 1: 185-220. 65. Geburtstag am 24. Mai 1994: Tikip santakki mala Geller, M.J. 2007: “Phlegm and Breath – Babylonian bašmu, ed. St.M. Maul (CM 10; Groningen: Styx), Contributions to Hippocratic Medicine,” in Disease 141-58. in Babylonia, ed. I.L. Finkel and M.J. Geller (CM 36; Krebernik, M. 2011: “Sonnengott. A. I: In Mesopota- Brill: Leiden). mien,” RlA 12: 599-611. George, A.R. 2013: Babylonian Divinatory Texts Chiefly Levenson, J.D. 1993: The Hebrew Bible, The Old Testa- in the Schøyen Collection: With an Appendix of Ma- ment, and Historical Criticism: Jews and Christians  Conceptions of Mesopotamian Divination 341 in Biblical Studies (Louisville: Westminster/John of Cuneiform Culture, ed. K. Radner and E. Robson Knox). (Oxford: Oxford University Press), 557-76. Livingstone, A. 2013: Hemerologies of Assyrian and Rochberg, F. 2004: The Heavenly Writing: Divination, Babylonian Scholars (CUSAS 25; Bethesda: CDL). Horoscopy, and Astronomy in Mesopotamian Culture Marchetti, N. 2009: “Divination at Ebla during the Old (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press). Syrian Period: The Archaeological Evidence,” in – 2006: “Old Babylonian Celestial Divination,” in If a Exploring the Longue Durée: Essays in Honor of Man Builds a Joyful House: Assyriological Studies in Lawrence E. Stager, ed. J.D. Schloen (Winona Lake: Honor of Erle Verdun Leichty, ed. A. Guinan et al. Eisenbrauns), 279-95. (CM 31; Leiden: Brill), 337-48. Mattila, R. 2000: The King’s Magnates: A Study of the – 2010: In the Path of the Moon: Babylonian Celestial Highest Officials of the Neo-Assyrian Empire (SAAS Divination and Its Legacy (AMD 6; Leiden: Brill). 11; Helsinki: The Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project). – 2016: Before Nature: Cuneiform Knowledge and the Maul, St.M. 1994: Zukunftsbewältigung: Eine Untersu- History of Science (Chicago: University of Chicago chung altorientalischen Denkens anhand der babyl- Press). onisch-assyrischen Löserituale (Namburbi) (BaF 18; Schwemer, D. 2001: Die Wettergottgestalten Mesopota­ Mainz: von Zabern). miens und Nordsyriens im Zeitalter der Keilschrift- – 2003: “Omina und Orakel. A: In Mesopotamien,” kulturen: Materialien und Studien nach den schrift­ RlA 10: 45-88. lichen Quellen (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz). – 2010: “Aleuromantie: Von der altorientalischen Kunst, Smend, R. 2002: Die Mitte des Alten Testaments: exe- mit Hilfe von Opfermehl das Maß göttlichen Wohl- getische Aufsätze (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck). wollens zu ermitteln,” in Von Göttern und Menschen: Starr, I. 1983: The Rituals of the Diviner (BM 12; Mali- Beiträge zu Literatur und Geschichte des Alten Ori- bu: Undena). ents: Festschrift für Brigitte Groneberg, ed. D. She- Steinkeller, P. 2005: “Of Stars and Men: The Conceptual hata, F. Weiershäuser and K.V. Zand (CM 41; Leiden: and Mythological Setup of Babylonian Extispicy,” in Brill), 115-30. Biblical and Oriental Essays in Memory of William L. Mayer, W.R. and W. Sallaberger 2003: “Opfer. A. I: Nach Moran, ed. A. Gianto (BiOr 48; Rome: PBI), 11-47. schriftlichen Quellen,” RlA 10: 93-102. – 2017: History, Texts and Art in Early Babylonia: Three Moren, S. 1978: The Omen Series “Šumma Alu”: A Pre- Essays (SANER 15; Boston: de Gruyter). liminary Investigation (Ph.D. diss., University of Stol, M. 2006: “The Digestion of Food according to the Pennsylvania). Babylonian Sources,” in Médicine et médicins au Nougayrol, J. 1963: “Aleuromancie babylonienne,” Proche-Orient ancien: Actes du Colloque Internation- Or 32: 381-6. al organisé à Lyon les 8 et 9 novembre 2002, Maison – 1967: “‛Oiseau’ ou Oiseau?” RA 61: 23-38. de l’Orient et de la Méditerranée, eds. L. Battini and Oppenheim, A.L. 1977: Ancient Mesopotamia: Portrait P. Villard (BAR International Series 1528; Oxford: of a Dead Civilization, rev. ed. (Chicago: University British Archaeological Reports), 103-19. of Chicago Press). Suter, C. 2000: Gudea’s Temple Building: The Represen- Parpola, S. 1993: Letters from Assyrian and Babylo- tation of an Early Mesopotamian Ruler in Text and nian Scholars (SAA 10; Helsinki: Helsinki Unversity Image (CM 17; Groningen: Styx). Press). Tsukimoto, A. 1982: “A Report on Divination by Means Pongratz-Leisten, B. 1999: Herrschaftswissen in Meso- of a Sacrificial Bird,” Orient 18: 106-10. potamien: Formen der Kommunikation zwischen Gott van Soldt, W. 2015: Middle Babylonian Texts in the und König im 2. und 1. Jahrtausend v. Chr. (SAAS Cornell University Collections, I: The Later Kings X; Helsinki: The Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project). (CUSAS 30; Bethesda: CDL). Radner, K. 2003: “The Trials of Esarhaddon: The Con- Veldhuis, N. 2006: “Divination: Theory and Use,” in If spiracy of 670 BC,” Isimu 6: 165-83. a Man Builds a Joyful House: Assyriological Studies – 2016: “Revolts in the Assyrian Empire: Succession in Honor of Erle Verdun Leichty, ed. A. Guinan et al. Wars, Rebellions against a False King and Indepen- (CM 31; Leiden: Brill), 487-97. dence Movements,” in Revolt and Resistance in the – 2014: History of the Cuneiform Lexical Tradition Ancient Classical World and the Near East: In the (GMTR 6; Münster: Ugarit-Verlag). Crucible of Empire, ed. J.J. Collins and J.G. Manning De Vos, A. 2013: Die Lebermodelle aus Boğazköy (Leiden: Brill), 41-54. (StBoT 5; Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz). Richter, T. 1992: Review of Anatomie der Schafsleber Westenholz, J.G. 2010: “The Tale of Two Little Organs: im babylonischen Leberorakel: Eine makroskopi­sche- The Spleen and the Pancreas,” JMC 15: 2-24. analytische Studie, by R. Leiderer, OLZ 87, 248-54. Wilcke, C. 1990: Review of Vorderasiatische Schrift­ Robson, E. 2011: “The Production and Dissemination denkmäler der Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin, he­ of Scholarly Knowledge,” in The Oxford Handbook rausgegeben vom Vorderasiatischen Muesum: Neue 342 A. Winitzer Folge, Heft VI (Heft XXII), by H. Klengel, ZA 80: – 2017b. Review of Mesopotamian Divination Texts: 297-306. Conversing with the Gods: Sources from the First – 2007: “Das Recht: Grundlage des sozialen und Millennium BCE, by U. Koch, BSOAS 80: 369-70. politischen Diskurses im Alten Orient,” in Das gei­ – 2018: “Old Signs in New Dress? On the Meaning of stige Erfassen der Welt im Alten Orient: Sprache, Re- Inanna’s Symbol as Sign and ‛Presence’ in Early ligion, Kultur und Gesellschaft, ed. C. Wilcke (Wies- Babylonian Divination,” in The Scaffolding of Our baden: Harrassowitz), 209-44. Thoughts: Essays on Assyriology and the History of Winitzer, A. 2011: “The Reversal of Fortune Theme in Science in Honor of Francesca Rochberg, ed. C.J. Esther: Israelite Historiography in Its Ancient Near Crisostomo et al. (AMD 13; Leiden: Brill), 26-57. Eastern Context,” JANER 11: 170-218. De Zorzi, N. 2014: La serie teratomantica Šumma izbu: – 2017a. Early Babylonian Divination Literature: Its Or- Testo, tradizione, orizzonti culturali (HANEM 15; ganizational Framework and Generative and Para- Padua: SARGON). digmatic Characteristics (AMD 12; Leiden: Brill). – 2017: “Teratomancy at Tigunānum: Structure, Herme- neutics, and Weltanschauung of a Northern Mesopo- tamian Omen Corpus,” JCS 69: 125-50.