Changes

==Origin==

==Origin==

[[Latin]] ''auspicium'', from ''auspic''-, ''auspex'' diviner by birds, from ''avis'' bird + ''specere'' to look, look at  

[[Latin]] ''auspicium'', from ''auspic''-, ''auspex'' diviner by birds, from ''avis'' bird + ''specere'' to look, look at  

*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/16th_century 1533]

*[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/16th_century 1533]

==Definitions==

==Definitions==

*1: [[observation]] by an [[augur]] especially of the flight and feeding of birds to [[discover]] [[omens]]

*1: [[observation]] by an [[augur]] especially of the flight and feeding of birds to [[discover]] [[omens]]

*3: a [[prophetic]] [[sign]]; especially : a favorable sign  

*3: a [[prophetic]] [[sign]]; especially : a favorable sign  

==Description==

==Description==

An '''auspice''' (Latin: ''auspicium'' from ''auspex'') is [[literally]] "one who looks at birds", a diviner who [[reads]] [[omens]] from the observed flight of birds. This type of omen [[reading]] was already a millennium old in the time of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_Greece Classical Greece]: in the fourteenth-century BCE diplomatic correspondence preserved in Egypt called the "[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amarna_correspondence Amarna correspondence]", the practice was familiar to the king of Alasia in Cyprus who has need of an 'eagle diviner' to be sent from Egypt. This earlier, indigenous [[practice]] of divining by bird signs, familiar in the figure of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calchas Calchas], the bird-diviner to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agamemnon Agamemnon], who has led the army ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iliad Iliad] I.69), was largely replaced by [[sacrifice]]-[[divination]] through inspection of the [[sacrificial]] victim's liver— [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haruspices haruspices]— during the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orientalizing_Period Orientalizing period] of archaic Greek culture. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plato Plato] notes that [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hepatoscopy hepatoscopy] held greater [[prestige]] than augury by means of birds.

An '''auspice''' (Latin: ''auspicium'' from ''auspex'') is [[literally]] "one who looks at birds", a diviner who [[reads]] [[omens]] from the observed flight of birds. This type of omen [[reading]] was already a millennium old in the time of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_Greece Classical Greece]: in the fourteenth-century BCE diplomatic correspondence preserved in Egypt called the "[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amarna_correspondence Amarna correspondence]", the practice was familiar to the king of Alasia in Cyprus who has need of an 'eagle diviner' to be sent from Egypt. This earlier, indigenous [[practice]] of divining by bird signs, familiar in the figure of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calchas Calchas], the bird-diviner to [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agamemnon Agamemnon], who has led the army ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iliad Iliad] I.69), was largely replaced by [[sacrifice]]-[[divination]] through inspection of the [[sacrificial]] victim's liver— [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haruspices haruspices]— during the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orientalizing_Period Orientalizing period] of archaic Greek culture. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plato Plato] notes that [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hepatoscopy hepatoscopy] held greater [[prestige]] than augury by means of birds.

In [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_ancient_Rome ancient Roman religion], the auspices provided divine [[signs]] to be [[interpreted]] by an [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augur augur]. An augur would perform a [[ceremony]] (known as "taking the auspices") and would read flight [[patterns]] of birds in the sky. Depending upon the birds, the ''auspices'' from the gods could be favorable or unfavorable (auspicious or inauspicious). Sometimes bribed or politically [[motivated]] augurs would fabricate unfavorable ''auspices'' in order to delay certain [[state]] functions, such as [[elections]]. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pliny_the_Younger Pliny the Younger] attributes the [[invention]] of auspicy to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiresias Tiresias] the seer of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thebes_(Greece) Thebes], the generic model of a seer in the Greco-Roman literary culture.

In [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_ancient_Rome ancient Roman religion], the auspices provided divine [[signs]] to be [[interpreted]] by an [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augur augur]. An augur would perform a [[ceremony]] (known as "taking the auspices") and would read flight [[patterns]] of birds in the sky. Depending upon the birds, the ''auspices'' from the gods could be favorable or unfavorable (auspicious or inauspicious). Sometimes bribed or politically [[motivated]] augurs would fabricate unfavorable ''auspices'' in order to delay certain [[state]] functions, such as [[elections]]. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pliny_the_Younger Pliny the Younger] attributes the [[invention]] of auspicy to [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiresias Tiresias] the seer of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thebes_(Greece) Thebes], the generic model of a seer in the Greco-Roman literary culture.

One of the most [[famous]] ''auspices'' is the one which is connected with the founding of [[Rome]]. Once the founders of Rome, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romulus Romulus] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remus Remus], arrived at the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palatine_Hill Palatine Hill], the two argued over where the exact [[position]] of the [[city]] should be. Romulus was set on building the city upon the Palatine, but Remus wanted to build the city on the strategic and easily [[fortified]] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aventine_Hill Aventine Hill]. The two [[agreed]] to settle their [[argument]] by testing their abilities as augurs and by the will of the gods. Each took a seat on the ground apart from one another, and, according to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plutarch Plutarch], Remus saw six vultures, while Romulus saw twelve.

One of the most [[famous]] ''auspices'' is the one which is connected with the founding of [[Rome]]. Once the founders of Rome, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romulus Romulus] and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remus Remus], arrived at the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palatine_Hill Palatine Hill], the two argued over where the exact [[position]] of the [[city]] should be. Romulus was set on building the city upon the Palatine, but Remus wanted to build the city on the strategic and easily [[fortified]] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aventine_Hill Aventine Hill]. The two [[agreed]] to settle their [[argument]] by testing their abilities as augurs and by the will of the gods. Each took a seat on the ground apart from one another, and, according to [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plutarch Plutarch], Remus saw six vultures, while Romulus saw twelve.

According to [[unanimous]] [[testimony]] from [[ancient]] sources the use of ''auspices'' as a means to [[decipher]] the will of the Gods was more ancient than [[Rome]] itself. The use of the word is usually associated with Latins as well as the earliest Roman citizens. Though some modern historians link the [[act]] of observing Auspices to the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etruscans Etruscans], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cicero Cicero] accounts in his text De Divinatione several differences between the auspicial of the Romans and the Etruscan system of interpreting the will of the Gods. Cicero also mentions several other [[nations]] which, like the Romans, paid [[attention]] to the patterns of flying birds as [[signs]] of God’s will but never once mentions this [[practice]] while discussing the Etruscans. Though auspices were prevalent before the Romans, Romans are often linked with ''auspices'' because of both their [[connection]] to Rome’s [[foundation]] and because Romans were the first to take the system and lay out such fixed and fundamental [[rules]] for the [[reading]] of ''auspices'' that it remained an [[essential]] part of Roman [[culture]]. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stoicism Stoics], for instance, maintained that if there are gods, they care for men, and that if they care for men they must send them [[signs]] of their will.

According to [[unanimous]] [[testimony]] from [[ancient]] sources the use of ''auspices'' as a means to [[decipher]] the will of the Gods was more ancient than [[Rome]] itself. The use of the word is usually associated with Latins as well as the earliest Roman citizens. Though some modern historians link the [[act]] of observing Auspices to the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etruscans Etruscans], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cicero Cicero] accounts in his text De Divinatione several differences between the auspicial of the Romans and the Etruscan system of interpreting the will of the Gods. Cicero also mentions several other [[nations]] which, like the Romans, paid [[attention]] to the patterns of flying birds as [[signs]] of God’s will but never once mentions this [[practice]] while discussing the Etruscans. Though auspices were prevalent before the Romans, Romans are often linked with ''auspices'' because of both their [[connection]] to Rome’s [[foundation]] and because Romans were the first to take the system and lay out such fixed and fundamental [[rules]] for the [[reading]] of ''auspices'' that it remained an [[essential]] part of Roman [[culture]]. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stoicism Stoics], for instance, maintained that if there are gods, they care for men, and that if they care for men they must send them [[signs]] of their will.

There were two [[classifications]] of ''auspice'' [[signs]], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossary_of_ancient_Roman_religion#auspicia_impetrativa impetrative] (impetrativa, sought or requested) and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossary_of_ancient_Roman_religion#auspicia_oblativa oblative] (oblativa, unsought or offered). Signs that fall under the category of ''impetrativa'' were signs that resulted due to the [[actions]] performed by the augur during the [[reading]] of the auspice. The other category of signs, ''oblativa'', were momentous [[events]] which occurred unexpectedly, while the [[magistrate]] was either taking auspices or [[participating]] in public debate. ''Ex Caelo'' ("from the [[sky]]") signs of [[thunder]] and [[lightning]] or other [[natural]] [[phenomena]], would be considered an “offered” sign. Unless the magistrate was accompanied by an augur it was up to them to [[decide]] whether or not the “offered” sign was significant.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auspice]

There were two [[classifications]] of ''auspice'' [[signs]], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossary_of_ancient_Roman_religion#auspicia_impetrativa impetrative] (impetrativa, sought or requested) and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossary_of_ancient_Roman_religion#auspicia_oblativa oblative] (oblativa, unsought or offered). Signs that fall under the category of ''impetrativa'' were signs that resulted due to the [[actions]] performed by the augur during the [[reading]] of the auspice. The other category of signs, ''oblativa'', were momentous [[events]] which occurred unexpectedly, while the [[magistrate]] was either taking auspices or [[participating]] in public debate. ''Ex Caelo'' ("from the [[sky]]") signs of [[thunder]] and [[lightning]] or other [[natural]] [[phenomena]], would be considered an “offered” sign. Unless the magistrate was accompanied by an augur it was up to them to [[decide]] whether or not the “offered” sign was significant.[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auspice]

[[Category: Religion]]

[[Category: Religion]]

[[Category: Anthropology]]

[[Category: Anthropology]]