Augury

Whenever it was necessary to consult the gods on some important state matter, the priests were entrusted with the task – augurs. They foretold on the basis of a bird’s eye view, observations of chickens, which were considered sacred in Rome, animal behaviour, random signs, i.e. a creaking chair, a gust of wind that puts out the lamp, and, finally, randomly spoken words.

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The Augury was a Roman ritual of Proto-Indo-European roots, aimed at inferring the will of the gods from the flight of great birds of prey, especially the eagle, the vulture and several other species whose identification is disputed. The term comes from auspicium (from avis meaning bird and specere meaning to look).
The term auspicium was also used to describe the observations of the behaviour of poultry (e.g. chickens) specially kept in cages for the same purpose. In order to obtain a sign, hens were fed grain and watched to see what happened: the more greedily they ate, the more successful the outcome. As a result of the confusion of concepts dating back to antiquity, the term auspicium was also used to describe other types of supernatural signs and all kinds of omens, such as signs resulting from the observation of lightning (fulgurationes), animal guts (haruspicina), prophetic dreams (somnia), and trances (vaticinationes).

Simple bird watching was termed auspicia ex avibus and was the primary form of auspices. The flight of crows and ravens was the most frequently paid attention to. Sometimes attention was also paid to the bird’s scream itself (oscina), and in this case, the most common were woodpeckers and eagles. For the Romans, the high flight of birds (praepes) was an auspicious omen, the low flight was less happy (infera).

There were also other kinds of omens related to birds. One of them was auspicia ex tripudiis, which consisted of observing the holy hens eating behaviour. As sacred hens were bred specially for this purpose, this type of divination was easier to carry out – there was no need to expect “free” birds to appear in the sky. When the sacred chickens rushed greedily on the grains that they fell out of their beaks while eating, it was read as the most favourable prophecy (tripudium solistimum). So the birds were often starved so that later the divination would be in accordance with the wishes of those interested.

The auspices, as ancient writers say, are older than Rome itself. These rites are associated with the Latines, the city’s earliest inhabitants, and are unlikely to have been taken over from the Etruscans. Cicero, being an augur himself, in his work “De divinatione” points to the differences between auspices and the Etruscan system and does not mention the practice of preaching from the preservation of birds by the Etruscans. Auspices were also practised outside Rome (e.g. in ancient Greece), but it was the Romans who developed and passed on from generation to generation the regulations concerning this rite. It was believed that the revealed knowledge came from Jupiter, and birds were considered his messengers.

Auspices were also known in Gaul, Umbria, Greece (previously mentioned) and Asia Minor, but we have the most information about them from the Romans. It is also almost certain that only the Romans developed all the rituals for the auspices with meticulous accuracy and established strict rules for their application. This was necessary because the auspices held by a special caste of priests known as augurs were a combination of the Roman republic’s regime with its state religion. Almost all decisions that were made in the republic, all elected officials, almost everything required an inauguration before the inauguration took effect, that is, confirmation by the augurs and with the help of auspices that the facts were in accordance with the will of the gods (or at least did not face their opposition). On the basis of fortune-telling, it was judged whether a day was fit for office (dies fasti) or not. This system even allowed meetings of people’s committees to be blocked. Ancient Rome developed a natural distinction between auspicia publica and private auspicia (auspicia privata).

Public statements regarding state affairs were usually called simply auspicia. Only representatives of the state, who mediated between the gods and the state, could preside over them. While all patricians could exercise auspices, only patrician officials actually did. Upon assuming office, patricians received auspices, while in office they held it, and when they resigned from office, they handed it over.

When there was no patrician official, the auspices passed into the hands of all patricians (auspicia ad patres redeunt). This was the case during the monarchy, when, after the king’s death, the patricians elected an interim ruler (interrex) and granted him the right to exercise auspices. In this way, he could mediate between the gods and the state in choosing a new king. Likewise, during the republic, when the auspices surrounding the election of consuls were cancelled and as a result, they were dismissed from their offices, patricians used the interregnum to renew their auspices and hand them over to new officials.

There were also rituals and omens (private auspices) in the family life of the Romans. Before making any important decisions, the gods were asked for advice and destiny. In family life, efforts were made to complete certain rituals and ceremonies. They were carefully cared for and passed down from generation to generation. Their execution had to be very precise and careful. A simple cough meant the ceremony to be repeated. One of the most common auspicia privata circumstances was a wedding. The presence of private auspices when marrying was an important argument for the patricians against joining the commoners. They argued that this would disrupt public and private auspices. It seems that any patrician who could put templa and knew the art of augurium could lead private auspices and was called auspex or augur. Most likely, it was not necessary in such cases to use the services of public augures, members of the college, called for distinction augures publici.

Birds dedicated to Roman deities: Minerva (owl), Jupiter (eagle), Juno (peacock) on a gold medallion Antoninus Pius.

Strict adherence to this requirement lasted at least until the Second Punic War. Over time, however, the position of the augurs increased significantly. This was due to th