The transmission of liver divination from East to West

• Mary R. Bachvarova ^[1]
  1. [1] Willamette University

     Willamette University

     Estados Unidos

     
• Localización: Studi micenei ed egeo-anatolici, ISSN 1126-6651, Vol. 54, Nº. 1, 2012, págs. 143-164
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • The connections between techniques ofliver divination in Mesopotamia, Italy and Greece have long been recognized, but attention has not been paid to the significance of its regional differences. I argue that the Etruscans brought the technique with them when they migrated from Anatolia at the end of the Bronze Age, incorporating from Chaldean seers connections with astrology in the Hellenistic period, while the Greeks borrowed a much changed practice of hepatoscopy via east Anatolia or Cyprus after the Archaic period. The Hittite material allows us to see changes in progress, and to contrast the written evidence with actual practice.