144 JASTROW— THE SIGN AND NAME FApril 25, 



Ionian- Assyrian methods of divining the future two classes : ( i ) 

 what we may call voluntary divination, and (2) involuntary divina- 

 tion. The characteristic feature of voluntary divination lies in delib- 

 erately seeking out some object by means of which an answer to a 

 specific question regarding the future or the outcome of an under- 

 taking, a sickness or what-not is furnished. The signs furnished by 

 the liver of an animal selected as a sacrifice belong to this category; 

 likewise the observation of the flight of birds sent out for the pur- 

 pose of securing omens, the throwing of arrows before the image 

 of a deity and the like. Involuntary divination, on the other hand, 

 is concerned with the attempt to interpret signs that force themselves 

 on our notice, such as phenomena connected with the sun, moon, 

 planets and stars, the movements of clouds, earthquakes and storms ; 

 the actions of animals — dogs, snakes, locusts, birds, etc., that one 

 happens to encounter and all the unusual or significant happenings 

 and accidents in human life, while dreams form a special subdivision 

 in this class of involuntary divination. We might for the sake of 

 convenience distinguish the signs furnished by voluntary divination 

 as " omens " and those of involuntary divination as " portents," but 

 however we may distinguish them, the recognition of these two dis- 

 tinct classes is fundamental to an understanding of the general sub- 

 ject of divination. 



Confining ourselves to Babylonia and Assyria, the chief method 

 of voluntary divination was the inspection of the liver of the sac- 

 rificial animal and the chief method of involuntary divination, the 

 observation of phenomena of the heavens. The correctness of this 

 thesis is shown by the wide scope of these methods as revealed in 

 the texts themselves.^" Both methods rest on a well-defined theory, 

 the inspection of the liver on the basis of the primitive view 

 that the liver was the seat of vitality, of the intellect, of both the 

 higher and lower emotions— in short, the seat of the soul, as that 

 term was popularly understood." The deity in accepting the sacri- 

 ficial animal identifies himself, as it were, with the animal, becomes 



^'' See Jastrow, /. c, II., p. 209 f. — especially note i on p. 210. See parts 

 I1-12 of this work for " liver " omens and the forthcoming parts 13 and 14 for 

 " astrological " omens. 



" Jastrow, /. c, pp. 213 f. 



