Extispicy (from Latin extispicium) is the practice of using anomalies in animals' entrails to divine future events. Organs inspected can include the liver, intestines, lungs, or other major organs. The animal used for extispicy must often be ritually pure and slaughtered in a special ceremony. Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium. ... An anomaly is a deviation from the common rule. ... Phyla Porifera (sponges) Ctenophora (comb jellies) Cnidaria (coral, jellyfish, anenomes) Placozoa (trichoplax) Subregnum Bilateria (bilateral symmetry) Acoelomorpha (basal) Orthonectida (flatworms, echinoderms, etc. ... Disembowelment is evisceration, or the removing of vital organs, usually from the abdomen. ... In biology, an organ (Latin: organum, instrument, tool) is a group of tissues, which perform a specific function or group of functions. ... The liver is an organ in vertebrates, including humans. ... The intestine is the portion of the alimentary canal extending from the stomach to the anus and, in humans and mammals, consists of two segments, the small intestine and the large intestine. ... The lungs flank the heart and great vessels in the chest cavity. ... A ritual is a formalised, predetermined set of symbolic actions generally performed in a particular environment at a regular, recurring interval. ... Slaughter may refer to: result of slaughtering, see slaughterhouse a music group Slaughter Jimmy Ray Slaughter awaiting execution in Oklahoma amidst brain fingerprinting controversy This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... A ceremony is an activity, infused with ritual significance, performed on a certain occasion. ...

Soothsayers from Ancient Roman times used the entrails of a bull to determine the advisability of a particular endeavour. The process was also a common practice in ancient Mesopotamia and Canaan temples. The process was believed to be inspired by the Etruscan idea of haruspicy, but involving ungulate animals rather than avian ones. History - Ancient history - Ancient Rome This is a List of Ancient Rome-related topics, that aims to include aspects of both the Ancient Roman Republic and Roman Empire. ... Disembowelment is evisceration, or the removing of vital organs, usually from the abdomen. ... Sumerian list of gods in cuneiform script, ca. ... Canaan or Knáan (Arabic کنعان, Kanʻān, Hebrew כְּנַעַן / כְּנָעַן, Kənáʻan / Kənāʻan; Septuagint Greek Χανααν, Khanaan) is an ancient term for a region roughly corresponding to present-day Palestine,western Jordan, southern and coastal Syria and Lebanon continuing up until the border of modern Turkey. ... The word temple has different meanings in the fields of architecture, religion, geography, anatomy, and education. ... See: Etruscan civilization Etruscan language Etruscan alphabet Etruscan mythology See also: Tyrrhenian, Lemnian, Pelasgian. ... 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. ... Llamas such as this, which have two toes, are artiodactylas -- even toed ungulates Ungulates (meaning roughly hoofed or hoofed animal) make up several orders of mammals, of which six to eight survive. ...

Organ models and extispicy manuals in cuneiform script are widely found in archaeological excavations in the regions, showing the prevalance and significance of extispicy. The Cuneiform script is one of the earliest known forms of written expression. ... Archaeology or sometimes in American English archeology (from the Greek words αρχαίος = ancient and λόγος = word/speech) is the study of human cultures through the recovery, documentation and analysis of material remains, including architecture, artefacts, biofacts, human remains, and landscapes. ... For excavation in civil engineering see earthworks (engineering). ...

See also

• Divination
• Babylonian literature
• Sumer
• Akkad
• Babylonia