- Nancy T. de Grummond –
depicted in his tomb performing an act of augury as his small assistant Arnza prepares
to release a bird. Gazing upward and wearing a wreath of vegetation, Vel is dressed in an
honorifi c robe decorated with a scene of nude male warriors, the whole suggesting that
he had a dual role as priest and magistrate or general.^14
As for realia, without doubt the single most important piece of evidence on Etruscan
divination is the Piacenza Liver (Fig. 26.4),^15 a truly astonishing object that has
created a focal point for understanding disparate bits of evidence from literary sources,
archaeological sites and other artifacts. Discovered casually in 1877 by a farmer, the
bronze model of a sheep’s liver (maximum length 12.6 cm) was probably created in the
second or fi rst century bce and is inscribed in a script used locally around Cortona. The
upper surface features incisions that create 40 cells of varying shapes and sizes, each with
one or more names of gods. Another model liver, made of terracotta, comes from Falerii
Veteres (circa 300 bce; Fig. 26.5),^16 a city in which Faliscan and Etruscan culture were
blended.
The Romans were acquainted with various sacred books written in Etruscan, which
gave instructions for communicating with the gods. Collectively referred to as the Etrusca
disciplina,^17 these books pertained not only to entrails and the fl ight of birds, but also to
divination through thunder and lightning and through prodigies.^18 Of the references to
books that have come down to us, it is not always easy to tell what the contents were or
whether different names may have been used for one particular book. There are general
references to the Etrusci libri,^19 Etruscorum libri,^20 Etrusca scripta,^21 chartae etruscae,^22 Tuscorum
litterae,^23 Etruscae disciplinae volumina,^24 Tusci libelli,^25 Tyrrhena carmina,^26 as well as to the
libri Vegoici, “books of Vegoia,” and the libri Tagetici,^27 “books of Tages,” attributed to the
two best known prophets of the Etruscans.
Figure 26.4 Diagram of the Piacenza Liver. Second–fi rst century bce (after Torelli 1986, 211).