This article is about the Roman religious practice. For parallel practices in other cultures, see Ornithomancy. For the band, see Augury (band).
An augur with sacred chicken; he holds a lituus, the curved wand often used as a symbol of augury on Roman coins
Augury was a Greco-Roman religion practice of observing the behavior of birds, to receive omens. When the individual, known as the augur, read these signs, it was referred to as "taking the auspices". "Auspices" (Latin auspicium) means "looking at birds". Auspex, another word for augur, can be translated to "one who looks at birds".[1] Depending upon the birds, the auspices from the gods could be favorable or unfavorable (auspicious or inauspicious). Sometimes politically motivated augurs would fabricate unfavorable auspices in order to delay certain state functions, such as elections.[2] Pliny the Elder attributes the invention of auspicy to Tiresias the seer of Thebes.[3]
This type of omen reading was already a millennium old in the time of Classical Greece: in the fourteenth-century BC diplomatic correspondence preserved in Egypt called the Amarna correspondence, the practice was familiar to the king of Alasia in Cyprus who needed an "eagle diviner" to be sent from Egypt.[4] This earlier, indigenous practice of divining by bird signs, familiar in the figure of Calchas, the bird-diviner to Agamemnon, who led the army (Iliad I.69), was largely replaced by sacrifice-divination through inspection of the sacrificial victim's liver—haruspices—during the Orientalizing period of archaic Greek culture. Plato notes that hepatoscopy held greater prestige than augury by means of birds.[5]
One of the most famous auspices is the one which is connected with the founding of Rome. Once the founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus, arrived at the Palatine Hill, the two argued over where the exact position of the city should be. Romulus was set on building the city upon the Palatine, but Remus wanted to build the city on the strategic and easily fortified Aventine Hill. The two agreed to settle their argument by testing their abilities as augurs and by the will of the gods. Each took a seat on the ground apart from one another, and, according to Plutarch, Remus saw six vultures, after which Romulus saw twelve. The two clashed over whether the preference of the gods was indicated by Remus seeing vultures before Romulus did, or by Romulus seeing twelve vultures while Remus saw six. Vultures were pre-eminent in Roman augury, furnishing the strongest signs an augur could receive from a wild bird. They were subject to protective taboos and also called sacred birds.[6]
^auspic-, auspec- + (Latin: to look, to observe in order to make a prediction; to see omens; from auspex [genitive form auspicis] avi-, stem of avis, "bird" plus -spex, "observer", from specere)
^Troxler, Howard, "Electoral Abuse in the Late Roman Republic" (2008). Graduate Theses and Dissertations. https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/537
^Gaius Plinius Secundus, Naturalis Historia 7.203.3
^J.A. Knudtzon, Die El-Amarna Tafeln (1915:no. 35.26) noted in Walter Burkert, The Orientalizing Revolution: Near Eastern Influences on Greek Culture in the Early Archaic Age (1992), p 42.
^classicsvic (2022-08-19). "The Most Sacred Birds: Explaining the Vulture's Significance in Roman Augury". Classical Association of Victoria. Retrieved 2023-01-17.
Augury was a Greco-Roman religion practice of observing the behavior of birds, to receive omens. When the individual, known as the augur, read these signs...
"Auguries of Innocence" is a poem by William Blake, from a notebook of his now known as the Pickering Manuscript. It is assumed to have been written in...
official in the classical Roman world. His main role was the practice of augury, the interpretation of the will of the gods by studying events he observed...
USS Augury (AM-149) was an Admirable-class minesweeper built for the United States Navy during World War II and in commission from 1943 to 1945. In 1945...
Asahi Linux project for Linux on Apple Silicon. In May 2022 a flaw termed "Augury" was announced involving the Data-Memory Dependent Prefetcher (DMP) in M1...
The Golden Urn is a method for selecting Tibetan reincarnations by drawing lots or tally sticks from a Golden Urn introduced by the Qing dynasty of China...
keys, say researchers". AppleInsider. 2024-03-21. Retrieved 2024-03-22. "Augury: Using Data Memory-Dependent Prefetchers to Leak Data at Rest". www.prefetchers...
Etruscan religion was also a major influence, particularly on the practice of augury, used by the state to seek the will of the gods. According to legends, most...
the dispute, they agreed to seek the gods' approval through a contest of augury. Remus saw 6 auspicious birds, but Romulus saw 12 and claimed to have won...
illuminate Roman religious practices, they are more concerned with ritual, augury, and institutions than with theology or cosmogony. Roman mythology also...
refer to the wren, possibly connected with an association of that bird with augury in Irish and Welsh tradition (see also Wren Day). Sources by ancient and...
" The hare's release is described as a technique of divination, with an augury drawn from the direction in which it runs. This appears to be similar to...
types of divination known to have been practiced by the ancient Greeks. Augury, or divination by omens, is a practice which still survives to the modern...
pax deorum (lit. peace of the gods) and re-founded Rome through "August augury". In 27 BC he was voted – and accepted – the elevated title of Augustus...
Iban Augury Derek Freeman: The Report on the Iban Benedict Sandin: The Iban Augury Benedict Sandin: The Iban Augury Benedict Sandin: The Iban Augury "Origin...
The Iguvine Tablets, also known as the Eugubian Tablets or Eugubine Tables, are a series of seven bronze tablets from ancient Iguvium (modern Gubbio),...
eight priestesses in a temple of prophecy Basic concepts Afterlife Animism Augury Communitas Comparative religion Divination Divine language Evolutionary...
ancient anthropomorphic figures from Peru Basic concepts Afterlife Animism Augury Communitas Comparative religion Divination Divine language Evolutionary...
Christian songs. The lyrics of "Every Grain of Sand" recall William Blake's "Auguries of Innocence." Elvis Costello wrote that "Shot of Love may not be your...
ancient anthropomorphic figures from Peru Basic concepts Afterlife Animism Augury Communitas Comparative religion Divination Divine language Evolutionary...
years. In Italy, "A hundred of these days!" (cento di questi giorni) is an augury for birthdays, to live to celebrate 100 more birthdays. Some Italians say...
Innocence and of Experience Prophetic books The Pickering Manuscript "Auguries of Innocence" "The Mental Traveller" The Rossetti Manuscript "Never pain...
Global Information