Various
interpretations were gathered by the scribes in the reference note-books
which serve as guides for the interpretation of the omens and for
text-books of instructions in the temple schools (Jastrow).
The art of divination spread widely among the neighboring nations. There
are many references in the Bible to the practice. The elders of Moab
and Midian came to Balaam "with the rewards of divination in their hand"
(Numbers xxii, 7). Joseph's cup of divination was found in Benjamin's
sack (Genesis xliv, 5, 12); and in Ezekiel (xxi, 21) the King of Babylon
stood at the parting of the way and looked in the liver. Hepatoscopy was
also practiced by the Etruscans, and from them it passed to the
Greeks and the Romans, among whom it degenerated into a more or less
meaningless form. But Jastrow states that in Babylonia and Assyria,
where for several thousand years the liver was consistently employed
as the sole organ of divination, there are no traces of the rite having
fallen into decay, or having been abused by the priests.
In Roman times, Philostratus gives an account of the trial of Apollonius
of Tyana,(16) accused of human hepatoscopy by sacrificing a boy in
the practice of magic arts against the Emperor.
Pages:
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49