- chapter 26: Haruspicy and augury –
orientation. The Etruscan curved ritual wand known in Latin as the lituus was used by the
priest to mark out a templum.^83 The templum was further articulated into categories of “in
front” (pars antica), “behind” (pars posterior), “on the left,” (in sinistrum) and “on the right”
(in dextrum). Obviously ritual stance was important, as may be seen not only in the scene of
Pava Tarchies (Fig. 26.1), but also in a much earlier depiction of hepatoscopy, the mirror
in the Vatican showing Chalchas as a winged diviner (Fig. 26.7). Like Pava Tarchies, he
stands with his left leg raised and braced on a rock, his left hand outstretched to hold the
liver so that he may observe it closely. On the table/altar next to him are placed other parts
of the victim (windpipe? lungs?), indicating that at this time, the liver was not the only
item for extispicium. It is not incidental that the left side is so emphasized in such a scene.
Etruscan doctrine taught that the left side was normally the auspicious side, because it
indicated the east: Tinia, the chief Etruscan god, took up his post in the north, looking
south; his left side and hand thus were turned toward the east, the happy, light-fi lled zone
where the day originates. In contrast, the Greek Zeus was thought to be facing north and
for the Greeks the right side then became the auspicious one.
There are, of course, many and valuable comparisons for the procedures of divination
from Greece and Italy, the latter continuing down into the period of the later Roman
Empire. The stream of tradition becomes murky, however, especially in relation to the
haruspices at Rome. They are popularly referred to as Etruscan, but most of the ones who
were truly ethnic Etruscans belong to the period of the fi rst century bce or early fi rst
century ce; the list of names of haruspices from the early Empire on suggests that, in
general, the priests were not Etruscan by birth, language or training.^84 Some haruspices
of Rome were named as members of the prestigious Ordo LX haruspicum, supposed to be
recruited from Etruria; others served an emperor or governor and thus also clearly had
Roman-style state jobs. Still others will have served individuals in a public or private
capacity. In these circumstances the Etrusca disciplina may have undergone important
changes; to be cautious it is perhaps best to refer to the situation as the Roman phase of
the Etruscan discipline and the haruspices.
Figure 26.7 Mirror with Chalchas as haruspex. Circa 400 bce. Vatican Museums. (After ES 2.223).