Observing the animals (1)

Text
A Babylonian text from Sultantepe (STT 73) on the fortune-telling lists a method for ascertaining the favourable or unfavourable outcome of some enterpraise. It consists of pouring water over the head of a recumbent bull and observing its reactions: whether it gets up or not, lifts its tail or not, and the like. This particular technique is not attested in the cuneiform divinatory corpus, but a similar procedure is known from Delphi in Greece. At Delphi the goats to be sacrificed were tested by sprinkling a few drops of water into their ear or on their coat to see whether the animal will remain unmoved or react to this instigation. Among the Babylonian divinatory texts was included a group, attested in several exemplars, in which the movements and behaviour of the lamb led to slaughter before extispicy are observed so as to foretell what the findings of the exta will be. The answers are couched in similar terms, that is, success or failure, literally: kašād ṣibûti ‘attaining (one’s) desire’ and la kašād ṣibûti ‘not attaining (one’s) desire.

Source (list of abbreviations)
Sultantepe Tablet 73.122-138

Bibliography

Amar Annus

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