Other cultures

The Etruscans

The Etruscans lived between 1000 and 30 BC in the area of modern day Tuscany. They had their own language and their culture was rich in religion and ritual practices, among which was the study of the liver. Derek Collins, “Mapping the Entrails: The practice of Greek Hepatoscopy,” American Journal of Philology 129, no. 3 (Fall, 2008): 319.

This rare bronze liver model was found near Piacenza (Italy) in 1877 and dates to the end of the second or beginning of the first century BC (Fig. 1 and 2). Just like the Old-Babylonian clay model, this bronze liver was meant for educational purposes. The liver was analyzed by specialized priests, called haruspices. They tried to interpret the will of the gods through the sheep’s liver. The anatomy of the bronze model corresponds to that of the Babylonian clay model. The same recognizable parts are visible, namely the left and right lobe, the gallbladder, the papillary process and pyramidal process. In addition, this bronze model contains several inscriptions, divided into 16 regions. Each contains the name of a god, which corresponds to the regions of the universe. In other words, the bronze liver model represented not just a miniature liver, but also a miniature version of the cosmos. Derek Collins, “Mapping the Entrails: The practice of Greek Hepatoscopy,” American Journal of Philology 129, no. 3 (Fall, 2008): 326; Municipal Museum of Piacenza The god Neptunus, for example, is associated with the gallbladder. T. M. van Gulik, B. V. van Rosmalen, M. M. van Gulik, J. M. van Rosmalen, and L. B. van der Meer, “Een hands-on les in hepatoscopie: Koffiedik kijken in schapenlevers.” Lever 44, nr. 3 (2020): 11./

The Etruscans were well-known for their knowledge and expertise on the practice of extispicy by the Romans; the latter “preferred to recruit their haruspices from Etruria” . Derek Collins, “Mapping the Entrails: The practice of Greek Hepatoscopy,” American Journal of Philology 129, no. 3 (Fall, 2008): 320-321. As with the Babylonians, a sheep was sacrificed and the texture and color of its liver examined. By inspecting several parts of the liver, the priests tried to predict future events. T. M. van Gulik, B. V. van Rosmalen, M. M. van Gulik, J. M. van Rosmalen, and L. B. van der Meer, “Een hands-on les in hepatoscopie: Koffiedik kijken in schapenlevers.” Lever 44, nr. 3 (2020): 11. Different interpretations were attached to variations in the liver. For example, the absence of the papillary process was a bad sign, but the occurrence of two papillary processes indicated prosperity. T. M. van Gulik, B. V. van Rosmalen, M. M. van Gulik, J. M. van Rosmalen, and L. B. van der Meer, “Een hands-on les in hepatoscopie: Koffiedik kijken in schapenlevers.” Lever 44, nr. 3 (2020): 11-12. Likewise, the Greeks practiced hepatoscopy. Find out in the next section!

The Greeks

Besides the Etruscans and Babylonians, the ancient Greeks also practiced hepatoscopy. Next to oracles, like the ones in Delphi and Dodona, or bird augury, reading entrails of animals was a very popular divinatory practice among the Greeks. Derek Collins, “Mapping the Entrails: The practice of Greek Hepatoscopy,” American Journal of Philology 129, no. 3 (Fall, 2008): 320. The most common animals used for this purpose were sheep, goats, oxen and sometimes chickens. Derek Collins, “Mapping the Entrails: The practice of Greek Hepatoscopy,” American Journal of Philology 129, no. 3 (Fall, 2008): 321.

Unfortunately, no liver models have been found in ancient Greece, but the practice of hepatoscopy is depicted on Greek pottery, like the amphora pictured above (Fig. 3). Here we see an old man and a warrior; in between them stands a boy holding a liver for the warrior to inspect before he departs (Fig. 4). E. M. W. Tillyard, The Hope Vases. A Catalogue and a Discussion of the Hope Collection of Greek Vases with an Introduction on the History of the Collection and on Late Attic and South Italian Vases (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1923), 34-35, No. 26 B. As well as amphorae, hepatoscopy is also described by ancient authors. The Greek tragedian Euripides (c. 480-406 BC) wrote the following in his play Elektra:

“Aigisthos took the entrails in his hands and inspected them. Now the liver had no head, while the portal vein and nearby gall bladder revealed threatening events to the one who was observing it” E. Kuntz, and H.-D. Kuntz, Hepatology: Principles and Practice. 2nd Edition (Heidelberg: Springer Medizin Verlag, 2006), 3.

Also in Prometheus Bound, written by the Greek tragedian Aeschylus (c. 525-455 BC), Prometheus mentions the skills he had given mankind, among which includes extispicy:

“The smoothness of animal entrails, what color the gallbladder must have to please the gods, and the dappled symmetry of the liver lobe” Lines 493-495 in Prometheus Bound. In Derek Collins, “Mapping the Entrails: The practice of Greek Hepatoscopy,” American Journal of Philology 129, no. 3 (Fall, 2008): 321-322.

Hepatoscopy was used to receive an answer from the gods. It could be an answer as to whether one should proceed or cease an intended action, for example a military campaign. It could also mean an answer to an ongoing condition, for example a disease or a period of drought or fertility. Derek Collins, “Mapping the Entrails: The practice of Greek Hepatoscopy,” American Journal of Philology 129, no. 3 (Fall, 2008): 340. The people who performed hepatoscopy were called manteis (μάντεις). These seers looked first at the liver for signs representing the will of the gods and then moved to the other entrails, which could bear similar signs. It remains unclear what precisely the seers looked for when examining the liver. Tomáš Vítek, “Greek hepatoscopy and its criteria”, Quaderni Urbinati di Cultura Classica 112, no. 1 (2016): 140. There is no evidence that the ancient Greeks designated the areas of the liver with terminology and attached firm meaning to certain regions. Some parts of the liver are mentioned frequently, like the gallbladder, the lobes and the caudate lobe, but also the texture and color of the liver. Tomáš Vítek, “Greek hepatoscopy and its criteria” Quaderni Urbinati di Cultura Classica 112, no. 1 (2016): 159. The caudate lobe was mentioned frequently regarding its absence or presence of which the former was regarded as a bad omen (see Aigisthos). The presence of two heads, which was regarded as abnormal, indicating rivals fighting for power Derek Collins, “Mapping the Entrails: The practice of Greek Hepatoscopy,” American Journal of Philology 129, no. 3 (Fall, 2008): 337-338. In other words, “Greek extispicy depended on the skillful integration of meaning from a set of more or less fixed, “objective” points of reference (head or lobe of liver) and those that were more fluid and contingent (coloration, texture)”. Derek Collins, “Mapping the Entrails: The practice of Greek Hepatoscopy,” American Journal of Philology 129, no. 3 (Fall, 2008): 341. After inspecting the entrails, the resulting answer was given by the seer in a binary fashion, meaning a yes- or no-answer. The seer could tell whether the answer of the gods was favorable or unfavorable. Derek Collins, “Mapping the Entrails: The practice of Greek Hepatoscopy,” American Journal of Philology 129, no. 3 (Fall, 2008): 319.