The Augur (pl: augures) was a priest and official in ancient Rome. His main role was to take auspices: interpreting the will of the gods by studying the flight of the birds, known as "taking the auspices." The ceremony and function of the augur was central to any major undertaking in Roman society--public or private--including matters of war, commerce, and religion. The Roman Forum was the central area around which ancient Rome developed. ... An auspice is an omen. ... Michelangelos depiction of God in the painting Creation of the Sun and Moon in the Sistine Chapel) This article discusses the term God in the context of monotheism and derived henotheistic forms. ... Orders Many - see section below. ... Categories: Ancient Rome | Classical oracles | Historical stubs ...

Consider the words of the Roman historian Livy, who writes (VI.41): auspiciis hanc urbem conditam esse, auspiciis bello ac pace domi militiaeque omnia geri, quis est qui ignoret? ("Who can ignore that this city was founded only after taking the auspices? That everything in war and in peace, at home and abroad, was done only after taking the auspices?") Bust of Livy Titus Livius (around 59 BC - 17 AD), known as Livy in English, wrote a monumental history of Rome, Ab urbe condita, from its founding (traditionally dated to 753 BC). ...

Etymology and Derivatives

An augur with a lituus

The derivation of the word augur is uncertain; ancient authors believed that it contained the words avi and gero --Latin for "directing the birds"--but historical-linguistic evidence points instead to the root aug-, "to increase, to prosper." A lituus (Latin for crozier) is a spiral in which (in polar coordinates) the angle is inversely proportional to the square of the radius. ... Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium. ...

The term survives in modern English, as inauguration, the ceremony marking the beginning of an elected official's term of office.

Origins

The office of augur dates traditionally to the Regal Period. According to Livy, the Roman King Lucius (or Lucumo) Tarquinius Priscus was waging war upon the Sabines, ca. 600 B.C. Desiring to enroll more senators, he was informed by a certain Attius Navius, whom Livy describes as inclitus ea tempestate augur, "the most famous augur of the time" that he required the approval of the auspices to do so. Infuriated, Tarquin demanded proof of the augur's ability: King of Rome redirects here. ... Lucius Tarquinius Priscus was the legendary fifth King of Rome, said to have reigned from 616 BC to 579 BC. Tarquinius Priscus came from the Etruscan city of Tarquinii and was actually named Lucumo. ... Lucius Tarquinius Priscus (also called Tarquin I) was the legendary fifth King of Rome, said to have reigned from 616 BC to 579 BC. Tarquinius Priscus came from the Etruscan city of Tarquinii and was actually named Lucumo (it is now known that lucumo is the common name of an... Sabine (in Latin and in Italian, Sabina) is a sub-region of Latium, Italy, on the North-East of Rome toward Rieti. ...

'"Come then," Tarquin said angrily, "Deduce, if your augury can, whether what I have in my mind right now is possible." And when Navius, expert in augury that he was, immediately said that it would happen, Tarquin replied: "Well, I thought that you would cut a whetstone with a sharp knife. Here, take this and do what your birds have predicted would be possible." And Navius, hardly delaying at all, took the whetstone and cut it.'

--Livy, 1.35.2

The story is illustrative of the role of the augur: he does not predict what course of action should be taken, but through his augury he finds signs on whether or not a course already decided upon meets with divine sanction and should proceed.

Augurs in the Republic

Roman augurs are elected to office and are part of a college of priests who share the duties and responsibilities of the position. At the foundation of the Republic in 510 B.C., the patricians held sole claim to this office; by 300 B.C., the office was open to plebeian occupation as well. A college (Latin collegium) can be the name of any group of colleagues; originally it meant a group of people living together under a common set of rules (con-, together + leg-, law). As a consequence members of colleges were originally styled fellow and still are in some places. ... See also Roman Republic (18th century) and Roman Republic (19th century). ... This is an article about the privileged class in ancient Rome. ... Centuries: 4th century BC - 3rd century BC - 2nd century BC Decades: 350s BC 340s BC 330s BC 320s BC 310s BC - 300s BC - 290s BC 280s BC 270s BC 260s BC 250s BC Years: 305 BC 304 BC 303 BC 302 BC 301 BC - 300 BC - 299 BC 298 BC... In Ancient Rome, the plebs was the general body of Roman citizens, distinct from the privileged class of the patricians. ...

In the Regal period tradition holds that there were three augurs at a time; by the time of Sulla, they had reached fifteen in number. This page is about the Roman dictator Sulla, for the Brythonic goddess sometimes called Sulla, see Sul. ...

See also

• haruspex
• omens
• De Divinatione

The bronze sheeps liver of Piacenza, with Etruscan inscriptions A haruspex was a sort of augur in the Roman religion who practiced divination, by inspecting the entrails of sacrificed animals, especially the livers of sacrificed sheep. ... Omens or portents are signs encountered fortuitously that are believed to foretell the future. ... Ciceros De Divinatione (Latin, Concerning Divination) is a philosophical treatise in two books written in 45 BC . ...

External links

• article Augurium in Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities
• Livy 1.36 at The Latin Library.

Sources

• Beard, Mary, John North, Simon Price, Religions of Rome: A History (Cambridge University Press, 1998)
• Hornblower, Simon and Anthony Spawforth, The Oxford Classical Dictionary (Third Edition) (Oxford: OUP, 1996), s.v. augures