Ornithomancy
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Ornithomancy(modern term from Greekornis"bird" andmanteia"divination"; inAncient Greek:οἰωνίζομαι "take omens from the flight and cries of birds" ) is the practice of readingomensfrom the actions of birds followed in many ancient cultures including theGreeks,and is equivalent to theauguryemployed by theancient Romans.
Ornithomancy in some form has been found globally among a wide variety of pre-industrial peoples.[1]
Mediterranean developments
[edit]Prophesying by birds appeared among theHittitesin Anatolia, with texts on bird oracles written in Hittite known from the 13th or 14th century BCE,[2]and from whom the Greek practice may derive.[3]It was also familiar to theEtruscans,who may have brought it to Rome.[4]
Greek evidence
[edit]Ornithomancy dates back to early Greek times, appearing on Archaic vases, as well as inHesiodandHomer:[5]one notable example from the latter occurs in theOdyssey,when an eagle appears three times, flying to the right, with a dead dove in its talons, an augury interpreted as the coming of Odysseus, and the death of his wife'ssuitors.AeschylushasPrometheusclaim to have introduced ornithomancy to mankind, by indicating among the birds “those by nature favourable, and those/Sinister”.[6]
Ornithomancy could be spontaneous, or it could be the result of a formal consultation:[7]the seer would face north, and birds on their right—the east, the direction of sunrise—were taken as favourable (the reverse being true of the Roman augur, who by contrast facedsouth).[8]Although it was mainly the flights and songs of birds that were studied, any action could have been interpreted to either foretell the future or relate a message from the gods.
Roman practice
[edit]Omens from observation of the flight of birds were considered with the utmost seriousness by Romans. The practice of ornithomancy by priests calledaugurswas a branch ofRoman national religionfrom before the founding of the city, which had its own priestly college to supervise its practice.[9]
The word "inauguration" is derived from the Latin nouninauguratioderived from the verbinaugurarewhich was to "take omens from birds in flight." Since Romanaugurspredominantly looked at birds for omens, they were also calledauspex( "bird watcher", pluralauspices), however they also interpreted thunder, lightning, the behavior of certain animals, and strange events. The phrase "under theauspices"is derived from this need for a favourable reading of the omens by the augurs.[10][11]
Cultural echoes
[edit]- Lewis Namierintroduced hisprosopographicalstudy of eighteenth century politics in England with a quotation from Aeschylus on ornithomancy: “I took pains to determine the flight of crook-taloned birds, marking which were of the right by nature, and which were of the left, and what were their ways of living, each after his kind”.[12]
- Themagpie counting songis a folklore remnant of ornithomancy.[13]
Other examples
[edit]
Taiwan
[edit]TheTaivoan peoplerefer to the 'oh-ah, oh-ah' call of crows aspháinn-kiat-tiāu,signifying an omen of bad luck and could also indicate an impending attack by other indigenous communities. Hunters are advised not to leave for hunting if they heard such a call. The black bird sculptures, commonly seen on the roofs of the Public HallKong-kàiin Taivoan communities likeRauron,are believed to represent crows.[14]
See also
[edit]Notes
[edit]- ^A. Mouton,Luwian Identities(2013) p. 329-30
- ^Sakuma, Yasuhiko (2013)."Terms of Ornithomancy in Hittite"(PDF).Tokyo University Linguistic Papers.33:219–238. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 2015-12-23.Retrieved2015-12-23.
- ^A. Mouton,Luwian Identities(2013) p. 335-40
- ^L. Cottrell,The Penguin Book of Lost Worlds 2(1966) p. 158
- ^D. Ogden,A Companion to Greek Religion(2010) p. 151
- ^Aeschylus,Prometheus Bound(1982) p. 35
- ^A. Mouton,Luwian Identities(2013) p. 336
- ^H. Nettleship ed.,A Dictionary of Classical Antiquities(1891) p. 86
- ^Ingersoll, Ernest (1923).Birds in legend fable and folklore.Longmans, Green and Co. pp. 212–225.
- ^Mitchell, James (1908).Significant etymology.William Blackwood and Sons. pp. 16–17.
- ^Weekley, Ernest (1921).Etymological dictionary of modern English.London: John Murray. p. 90.
- ^L. R. Namier,The Structure of Politics at the Accession of George III(London 1929) p. ii
- ^T. D'Elgin,The Everything Bird Book(1998) p. 225
- ^Mata Taiwan."Nam tử tiên khê đại võ lũng tộc đánh cá và săn bắt tương quan cấm kỵ: Quạ đen tiếng kêu “Xấu kết điều” "[Taboos Related to Fishing and Hunting of the Taivoan People in Namasia River: The Crow's Call "Pháinn-Kiat-Tiāu" ].Taiwan Cultural Memory Bank.Retrieved2023-03-31.
Sources
[edit]- Baumbach, Manuel & Trampedach, Kai (2004). "'Winged Words': Poetry and Divination inPosidippus' Oiônoskopika. ". In Acosta-Hughes, Benjamin; Kosmetatou, Elizabeth & Baumbach, Manuel (eds.).Labored in Papyrus Leaves: Perspectives on an Epigram Collection Attributed to Posidippus (P. Mil. Vogl. VIII 309).Hellenic Studies Series 2. Washington, DC: Center for Hellenic Studies.ISBN978-0-674-01105-2.
- Spence, Lewis,An Encyclopedia of Occultism,New York, Carl Publishing Group Edition, 1996.ISBN0-8065-1401-9
- Mandelbaum, Allen,The Odyssey of Homer,New York, Bantam Classic Edition, 1991.ISBN0-553-21399-7
