igoS.] IN BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 651 



one as the processus papillaris^ the gah-bladder, the cystic duct, 

 the hepatic duct, the common bile-duct, the hepatic vein and the 

 " Hver gate" (porta hepatis). A swollen gall-bladder was inter- 

 preted as pointing to an enlargement or increase of power, a long 

 cystic duct to a long reign, a depression in the liver gate to a de- 

 crease in power and so forth. Through the further distinction be- 

 tween right and left, the former representing the favorable side, the 

 latter the unfavorable side, the signs in question referred to the 

 king's side or to the enemy's side, as the case might be. Besides the 

 parts of the liver, markings on the liver — holes, lines, and depres- 

 sions — due largely to the traces on the liver surface of the subsidiary 

 ducts and veins, were accorded a special significance. According to 

 the shape of these markings, frequently fantastically pictured as 

 weapons of the gods, an interpretation, likewise based on association 

 of ideas, was offered and in this way the field of hepatoscopy w'as 

 further extended. Xo two livers were ever exactly alike, and it will 

 readily be seen how in the course of time the collections of signs 

 with their interpretation would grow to huge proportions, and the 

 opportunity thus given for the imagination and fancy of the divining 

 priest — the harn or " inspector "^^ as he was called, to roam over a 

 boundless territory. To the credit of the Babylonian and Assyrian 

 priests be it said that so far as the evidence goes, they applied the 

 elaborate and complicated system devised by them logically and 

 consistently. They did not hesitate to announce to the kings an 

 unfavorable result of the examination of the signs. Grouping all 

 the signs noted together, if the unfavorable signs predominated, a 

 second sheep was offered and the liver examined, and if the result of 

 this diagnosis was also unfavorable, the omens were taken for a 

 third time. The frequency with which in official reports to the 

 kings unfavorable prognostications are set forth^- warrants the con- 



" The underlying stem is the common term for '" to see.'' The hCiyu 

 as " the seer " was the one who by means of an " inspection " foretold the 

 future. The term was extended also to the " inspector " of the heavens or 

 the astrologer. In Hebrew we have as an equivalent ro'eh and in an article 

 " Ro'eh and Hozeh" {Journal of Biblical Literature, Vol. XXVIIL, part I) 

 I have tried to show that the ro'eh like the bdru was originally an " inspector " 

 of some object through which the future was divined. 



^Jastrow, 0. c., II., p. 287 seq. for examples. 



