ReligionsgeschichtlicheVersuche und Vorarbeiten
begründet von
Albrecht Dieterich und Richard Wünsch
herausgegeben
von
Richard Wünsch und Ludwig Deubnerin Münster i. W.in Königsberg i. Pr.
Vierzehnter Band
1913/1914
Verlag von Alfred Töpelmann (vorm. J. Ricker) in Gießen
Inhaltsverzeichnis des vierzehnten Bandes
Linck, Kurt:De antiquissimis veterum quae ad Iesum Nazarenum spectant testimoniis(1. Heft).Köchling, Josef:De coronarum apud antiquos vi atque usu(2. Heft).Scheftelowitz, Isidor:Das stellvertretende Huhnopfer(3. Heft).Dirichlet, Gustav Lejeune:De veterum macarismis(4. Heft).Jastrow, jr., Morris:Babylonian-Assyrian Birth Omens(5. Heft).
Linck, Kurt:De antiquissimis veterum quae ad Iesum Nazarenum spectant testimoniis(1. Heft).
Köchling, Josef:De coronarum apud antiquos vi atque usu(2. Heft).
Scheftelowitz, Isidor:Das stellvertretende Huhnopfer(3. Heft).
Dirichlet, Gustav Lejeune:De veterum macarismis(4. Heft).
Jastrow, jr., Morris:Babylonian-Assyrian Birth Omens(5. Heft).
Footnotes:
[1]Embodied in detail in the author’sReligion Babyloniens und AssyriensII 203-969 to be referred to hereafter as JastrowReligion. See also various special articles by the writer such as “Signs and Names for the Liver in Babylonian” (Zeitschr. f. Assyr. XX 105-129). “The Liver in Antiquity and the Beginnings of Anatomy” (Trans. of the College of Physicians of Phila. XXIX 117-138). “The Liver in Babylonian Divination” (Proc. of the Numismatic and Antiquarian Soc. of Phila. XXV 23-30). “The Liver as the Seat of the Soul” (Studies in the History of Religions presented to C. H. Toy 143-169). “Sign and Name for Planet in Babylonian” (Proc. Amer. Philos. Society XLVII 141-156). “Hepatoscopy and Astrology in Babylonia and Assyria” (ib. XLVII 646-676). “Sun and Saturn” (Revue d’Assyriologie VII No. 2), and the general survey in the author’sAspects of Religious Belief and Practice in Babylonia and Assyria(N. Y. 1911), Chapter III and IV.
[2]The field of divination was gradually extended so that practically every unusual occurrence or every occurrence that even aroused attention was regarded as an omen. Among these miscellaneous classes of omens we may distinguish as distinct subdivisions (a) dreams, (b) phenomena connected with rivers and canals, (c) movements of animals—chiefly serpents, dogs, sheep and certain birds like ravens and falcons; also mice and rats, and various insects as roaches and locusts, (d) phenomena in houses and temples, including probably (as in Leviticus, Chap. 14) suspicious looking marks or spots, (e) peculiarities and diseases of any portion of the human frame. No doubt the list can be still further extended.
[3]See Hepatoscopy and Astrology in Babylonia and Assyria (Proc. Amer. Philos. Society XLVII 646 sq.)
[4]The Greek and Roman method of sending out birds and noting their flight is another example of voluntary divination, and so is the ancient Arabic method of selecting arrows, writing certain words on them, throwing them before the image or symbol of a deity and as they fell, reading the oracle sent by the deity.
[5]See the details in the writer’s ‘The Liver as the Seat of the Soul’. (Toy Anniversary volume 143-168.)
[6]See Jastrow,ReligionII 120 sq. and “The Liver as the Seat of the Soul” (Toy Anniversary volume) 158-165.
[7]See Cumont,Fatalisme Astrale et Religions Antiques(Revue d’Histoire et de Littérature Religieuse 1912); also the same author’sAstrology and Religion among the Greeks and Romans(N. Y. 1912).
[8]Bezold and Boll,Reflexe astrologischer Keilinschriften bei griechischen Schriftstellern(Heidelberg Akad. d. Wiss. 1911); see also Cumont,Babylon und die griechische Astronomie(Neue Jahrbücher f. das klass. Altertum XXVIII Abt. I. 1-10).
[9]See Jastrow,ReligionII 745 sq. and Boll,Der ostasiatische Tierzyklus im Hellenismus(Leiden 1912). I hope to treat this phase of the subject more fully in a special article. See for the present the summary of my paper on this subject in the Actes du IVèreCongrès International d’Histoire des Religions (Leiden 1913) 106-111 and Records of the Past (Washington) Vol. XII (1913) 12-16.
[10]See Hartland,Primitive Paternity—especially the summary in Chap. VII, and also Frazer,Totemism and ExogamyI 93 seq.; 191 seq. etc.
[11]See Ploß-Bartels,Das Weib(2ded.) Chap. XXXII;Das KindChap. III, VIII, IX and Van Gennep,Rites de PassageChap. V.
[12]Part XXVII and Part XXVIII Pl. 1-42 ofCuneiform Texts from Babylonian Tablets etc. in the British Museum, are taken up with texts of this character.
[13]Parts XX, XXX and XXXI and Pl. 1-42 of Part XXVIII represent the bulk of this section of the Library so far as recovered by Layard, Rassam and George Smith. Previous to the British Museum publication, Alfred Boissier had published three volumes of divination texts of all kinds under the title ofDocuments Assyriens relatifs aux Présages(Paris 1894-99) and in hisChoix de Textes relatifs a la Divination Assyro-Babylonienne(Paris 1905-06).
[14]The chief publications of astrological texts is by Ch. Virolleaud under the titleL’Astrologie Chaldéenne(Paris 1903-13), consisting up to the present of four parts and two supplements containing texts, and four parts with two supplements containing the transliteration of these texts. Besides this publication, M. Virolleaud has published numerous fragments of texts in the periodicalBabyloniaca, founded and edited by him. Cun. Texts, Part XXX Pl. 43-50 also contains astrological texts; Part XXXIII Pl. 1-12 are aids to astrology.
[15]Chiefly by Boissier in the two works mentioned in note 2 on p. 6.
[16]Copious specimens of liver divinations texts in German translation with comments will be found in the author’sReligion Babyloniens und AssyriensII 227-412; of Astrological TextsibII 458-740; Oil and Water, DivinationibII 749-775; of Animal omensibII 775-826; of Birth omensibII 837-941 and a summary view of the miscellaneous omensibII 946-969.
[17]The same is the case with the collections of liver signs and to a large extent also in the case of the astrological collections.
[18]Cun. Texts XXVII Pl. 24 Cases of more than three births at one time are extremely rare. A case of quintuplets in Groningen in the year 1897 is vouched for by Prof. Döderlein of Munich and one was reported in the newspapers recently as occurring in the United States. A case of sextuplets is noted by Vasalli in the Boll. Med. della Svizzera Italiana, 1894, Nos. 3 and 4. This seems to be the highest mark, though Pliny, Hist. Nat. VII 3, on the authority of Trogus records that a woman in Egypt gave birth to seven infants at one time; Lycosthenes, Prodigiorum ac. Ostentorum Chronicon (Basel 1557) p. 284 reports the same number born in the days of Algemundus, King of the Lombards.
[19]Cun. Texts XXVII Pl. 3.
[20]E. g. Cun. Texts XXVII Pl. 45 (K. 12050); XXVIII Pl. 42, 20.
[21]In the same way we have hundreds ofofficialreports of occurences and observed phenomena in the heavens with the interpretations taken from the astrological texts; and we also have a large number of official reports of the same character dealing with the results of the inspection of the liver of a sacrificial animal, killed and inspected at a given time for the purpose of obtaining an answer to a question put. These reports are made in all cases to the rulers, which thus stamps them as official. See copious examples in Jastrow,Religion, II 227-271; 275-319 (Liver texts); 458-542; 578-584; 613-616; 639-652; 656-673; 688-692 (Astrological Texts).
[22]Cun. Texts XXVII Pl. 28.
[23]The first omen is taken from Cun. Texts XXVII Pl. 26, 11; the second from ib. line 10.
[24]The omens were always supposed to bear on events of a public import; hence the reports may always be assumed to be addressed to the reigning king, even when this is not expressly stated.
[25]Cun. Texts XXVII Pl. 45.
[26]From other sources (cf. Jastrow,ReligionII 467, 3) we know that Nergal-eṭir flourished during the reign of Esarhaddon, King of Assyria (705-668 B. C.).
[27]Cun. Texts XXXVII Pl. 30.
[28]The text from which this omen is quoted is found. Cun. Texts XXVII Pl. 48, 2-4.
[29]See examples in Jastrow,ReligionII 227-244 (Sargon and Naram-Sin omens); 333 and 392 (murder of a ruler Urumu); 555, (invasion of Babylonia by Hittites); see also 226, 3; 843, 7 and articles by the writer in Zeitschr. f. Assyr. XXI 277-282 and Revue Sémitique XVII 87-96.
[30]Cun. Texts XXVII Pl. 6; also Boissier,Documents Assyriens185 (the first publication of this text, the importance of which was recognized by Boissier) and Thompson,Reports of the Magicians and Astrologers of Nineveh and Babylon(London 1900) Nr. 276.
[31]I. e. A child of the harem—not the legitimate heir.
[32]Les plus anciennes Dynasties connues de Sumer-Accad. Comptes Rendus de l’Acad. des Inscript. et Belles-Lettres 1911, 606-621.
[33]The position occupied by the sheep in divination leads in astrology to the use of the Sumerian term Lu-Bat, i. e., ‘dead sheep’ as the designation of the planets, the association of ideas being ‘dead sheep’ ==têrtu‘omen’ and then == planet, because the planets were regarded as omens. In the larger sense, the moon and sun were included among the planets. See Jastrow,ReligionII p. 448 sq. and the article “Sign and Name for Planets in Babylonian” quoted in note 1 on p. 1.
[34]See JastrowReligionII 845, 1 and 847, 68.
[35]Cun. Texts XXVII Pl. 25-26 completed by the duplicate Pl. 27-28.
[36]Shown by the continuation of the text. Cun. Texts XXVII Pl. 26.
[37]I. e. twisted up in a heap.
[38]An interpretation evidently based on the fact of a destructive storm that swept over the land after the birth of a monstrosity as described in the omen.
[39]Three interpretations, gathered from various documents and here united.
[40]Not infrequently a birth-omen is interpreted as applying to the owner of the mother lamb or to the household in which the lamb was born,—but generally as an alternative to anofficialinterpretation bearing on public affairs. See e. g. below pp. 15 and 16.
[41]See below p. 16.
[42]I. e., lying at the mouth.
[43]I. e., presumably the plantation and house of the owner of the mother lamb.
[44]The opposite to this is ‘throne will support throne’, i. e., there will be mutual support.
[45]I. e., the stall of the owner of the mother lamb.
[46]I. e., the property of the owner of the mother lamb will be confiscated.
[47]I. e., the second issues from the belly of the other, or appears to do so.
[48]Whatever occurred to the king or to a member of his household was an omen for thegeneralwelfare under the ancient view of the king as the representative of the deity on earth.
[49]A partial exception, however occurs in the case of three and of ten lambs being produced at one birth. See below p. 18.
[50]I. e., of course, the head resembles that of a bull. See below p. 23 sq. and 27 sq.
[51]I. e., with a normal head.
[52]A variant reads, “the city will acquire sovereignty”.
[53]Cun. Texts XXVII Pl. 37-38 of which again Pl. 36 is an extract.
[54]The term used throughout isisbufor which see above p. 13.
[55]The unusual number of alternative interpretations—though all unfavorable—points to the compilation of the text from various sources in which the sign was again entered with a different interpretation in each. These varying interpretations are here united; and no doubt the priests felt that there was safety in numbers. One of the seven prognosticated events was quite certain to happen—at some time. The chief point was that the sign was unfavorable.
[56]I. e., the stall of the owner of the mother lamb.
[57]As above, an unofficial and an official interpretation.
[58]I. e., displaced.
[59]I. e., of Babylonia or Assyria.
[60]I. e., a demoniac being or a monstrosity of some kind.
[61]I. e., of the owner of the mother lamb.
[62]I. e., the rudiments of what seems to be a second ear.
[63]Similarly, a second ear appearing below or above (?) the other one, is a favorable sign; on the right side, therefore, favorable to you, on the left favorable to the enemy, and, therefore, unfavorable to your side.
[64]There is inserted at this point an omen for the case that “a foetus has eight (?) feet and two tails with unfavorable interpretations, approach of an usurper, no unity in the land, the land will destroy its inhabitants.”
[65]I. e., not one within the other—in all, therefore, three ears.
[66]Literally “full”.
[67]The ‘wide-eared man’ (rapaš uzni) is the wise man. Ashurbanapal in the subscript to the tablets of his library thanks the gods for having ‘opened his ears wide’, i. e. given him understanding etc.
[68]See the partial list of such texts, Jastrow,ReligionII 851 note 1.
[69]Cun. Texts XXVII Pl. 21-22, with a duplicate Pl. 19 (K. 4132).
[70]Formarratum“the rain-bow” see Jastrow,ReligionII 739 note 7 and 875, note 3. The “rain-bow” bird must have been one distinguished by its manifold coloring. A lion-lamb with the head of a ‘rainbow bird’ was, therefore, a young lamb with a large lion-like head, but showing various hues and shades.
[71]The god of pestilence.
[72]An animal not yet identified.
[73]Low prices indicate hard times and are an unfavorable sign; high prices are favorable. The gods in ancient Babylonia and Assyria appear to have been on the side of the “Trusts”.
[74]It is assumed that the abnormal birth is still-born, but in this particular case the eyes are open.
[75]Such a monstrosity is known as Acephaly in modern nomenclature. See Kitt,Lehrbuch der pathologischen Anatomie der Haustiere(4 ed.) I, 72, for illustrations of anAcephalus bipes.
[76]Known in modern nomenclature as Brachyprosopy. See Kitt, ib. I 87 sq.
[77]Presumably the mistress of the household in which the monstrosity was born.
[78]Perokormy—See the illustration in Kitt, ib. I 75 sq.
[79]Cross-breeding, in fact, is a comparatively rare phenomenon in the animal world, limited to the horse and ass, horse and zebra, dog and wolf, dog and fox, or jackal, lion and tiger, ox and buffalo or yak, hare and rabbit, camel and dromedary, goat and mountain stag, and possibly lambs and goats. See Ellenberger-Scheunert,Lehrbuch der vergleichenden Physiologie der Haussäugetiere(Berlin 1910) 703.
[80]See the enumeration in Jastrow,ReligionII 873 note 2, e. g., ‘eyes like those of a dog’ in the case of a newly-born lamb (Cun. Texts XVII Pl. 23, 14), ‘foot like that of a lion’ (Cun. Texts XXVII Pl. 45, 34), ‘head like that of a dog’ (Cun. Texts, XXVIII Pl. 36, 15); in the case of a double foetus ‘both like a lion’ or ‘like a dog’ (Cun. Texts XXVII Pl. 48, 11-12) etc.
[81]Cun. Texts XXVII Pl. 22, obv. 13-25.
[82]Ideographic designation ‘water dog’.
[83]The chief god of Nippur and the older head of the pantheon.
[84]I. e., an alternative interpretation.
[85]An unidentified animal.
[86]I. e., an alternative interpretation of a less official character.
[87]See Jastrow,ReligionII 879 note 9.
[88]Founder of the Isin dynasty (c. 2175 B. C.)—another illustration of an historical omen.
[89]Cun. Texts XXVII Pl. 4, 15-39, completed by the duplicates Pl. 3, 22-27 and Pl. 1, 1-2 and Pl. 6. The complete translation of the tablet with its various duplicates will be found in Jastrow,ReligionII 900-916.
[90]An alternative ‘unofficial’ interpretation as in the instances noted above pp. 15-16, 20 etc.
[91]Two interpretations, both unofficial—a rather unusual case.
[92]The rest of the line is broken off.
[93]The line is defective, but the omen was without doubt unfavorable.
[94]As in the case of the famous Siamese twins.
[95]Interpretation broken off, but it was no doubt the reverse of what was entered in the preceding omen, i. e., unfavorable for the enemy and therefore, favorable to your side.
[96]The end of the line can be restored by comparison with the preceding omen.
[97]Restoration certain.
[98]I. e., the capital.
[99]Interpretation no doubt unfavorable.
[100]Restored by comparison with the second omen—above p. 29.
[101]Rest of the line broken off, but the interpretation was no doubt unfavorable.
[102]The end of the line supplied by Cun. Texts XXVII Pl. 24, 16.
[103]Cun. Texts XXVII Pl. 241, 16 (K. 3881) to the close of the tablet.
[104]Above p. 19 seq.
[105]Cun. Texts XXVII Pl. 16, together with Pl. 17, 18—an extract from the fuller tablet.
[106]I. e., of the child; and so of course in every case.
[107]Compare the omen in the case of the young of an animal, above p. 19.
[108]I. e., the father of the child.
[109]The ‘left’ side being unfavorable to the enemy is favorable to you. We may, however, expect to find in a variant text ‘A weakling will be born in the enemy’s house’.
[110]See preceding note.
[111]I. e., misplaced.
[112]I. e., protect it.
[113]Agnathyin modern nomenclature. See Birnbaum,Klinik der Mißbildungen73.
[114]I. e., the upper lip falls over the lower one.
[115]I. e., the father of the child.
[116]I. e., the city in which the child was born.
[117]Of the same house.
[118]Presumably to the household in which the child was born.
[119]I. e., the mother.
[120]Variant ‘the offspring’, i. e., the newly born infant.
[121]I. e., there will be a political upheaval.
[122]This malformation of a child with a closed anus is frequently referred to in Roman omens, e. g., Julius Obsequens, de prodigiis (ed. Roßbach), §§ 26 and 40. See below p. 52.
[123]I. e., only the rudiments of a foot are to be seen.
[124]I. e., they are directly attached to the body without thighs.
[125]I. e., bent and deformed so that one cannot stand on it.
[126]Twisted legs as in the illustration in Jastrow’sBildermappe zur Rel. Babyl. und Assyr.No. 35.
[127]As, e. g., Guinard,Précis de Teratologieor Birnbaum,Klinik der Mißbildungen.
[128]Cun. Texts XXVIII Pl. 34, with duplicate K 630 (Virolleaud,Fragments des Textes Divinatoires9).
[129]I. e., a shapeless abortion suggestingpudenda.
[130]I. e., a miscarriage, shaped like a head.
[131]I. e., a shapeless mass.
[132]I. e., an embryo.
[133]I. e., a shapeless mass.
[134]I. e., the father. Note the five alternative interpretations pointing again to the union of various collections of omens.
[135]The god of pestilence.
[136]I. e., the father of the child.
[137]In which the birth took place.
[138]Aprosopy.See above p. 25.
[139]In which the birth took place.
[140]The expression used istigri ili‘a divinetigru’—which I take to be the Babylonian term for dwarf. See Jastrow,ReligionII 913 note 7.
[141]Elsewhere we find the anomaly of a child born with a beard or with hair on the chin referred to. See Jastrow,ReligionII 929.
[142]The talking infant (see also Jastrow,ReligionII 929 note 6) occurs frequently as a prodigy in Roman literature. See Lycosthenes, Prodigiorum ac Ostentorum Chronicon 113. 228 etc.
[143]See further Jastrow,ReligionII 928—infants born with one tooth, with two teeth or a number of teeth. The omen is also found in Roman literature, Livy, Historia XLI, 21; Pliny, Hist. Nat. VII, 15. King Richard the Third is among the historical personages said to have been born with teeth and which was regarded as an evil omen. (See Henry V, 3d Part. Act V, 6. 53 and 75.)
[144]Nergal, the god of pestilence, is meant. The text adds as a note ‘Such a being is called a divinetigru’. See note 1 above.
[145]Cun. Texts XXVI Pl. 4 with various duplicates and ‘extract’ tablets. See Jastrow,ReligionII 907, note 1.
[146]An unidentified animal.
[147]In another list of birth-omens a woman giving birth to a serpent is interpreted that ‘the king will increase in power’ (Cun. Texts XXVIII Pl. 43, 9).
[148]Alluttu—described elsewhere (Cun. Texts XXVIII Pl. 46, 9), as a fish with a thick head—probably, therefore, a dolphin.
[149]Such a malformation with the feet united and ending in the rudiments of toes that resemble fish’s tail is still called a ‘Sirenformation’ in modern nomenclature. See Guinard,Précis de Teratologie366 with illustrations fig. 178 and 179. See also Lycosthenes l. c. 142 and 316, also Hirst and Piersol, Human Monstrosities 88 and Pl. VII (sireno-melus).
[150]The interpretation is broken off.
[151]Cun. Texts XXVIII Pl. 3, 10; where this comparison is introduced with the interpretation that ‘the king will be without a rival’.
[152]L’astrologie GrecqueIX.
[153]See numerous examples in Cun. Texts XXIII.
[154]See the writer’s paper on ‘The Liver and the Beginnings of Anatomy’ quoted on p. 1 note 1.
[155]On the basis of such passages as Phaedo, § 31. See, however, the postcript on p. 80.
[156]See Scriptores Physiognomici Graeci et Latini (ed. Richard Foerster, Leipzig 1903, 2 vols.) containing the treatises of Pseudo-Aristotle, Polemon, Adamantius and others. See Chapter I of Polemon (ed. Foerster I 108) and Chapter II (170-198); Chapter II, 2 of Adamantius (349 sq.) for a long enumeration of the resemblances between man and animals and the conclusions to be drawn therefrom.
[157]‘Physiognomika’ included in Foerster’s edition I 5-91. See Foerster’s Prolegomena to his edition XIX, 2.
[158]I quote from the Latin ed. of 1593 (Hanovia).
[159]He also has a series of chapters on the voice, which are much more reasonable in character because of the omission of any comparisons with animals; and passes on to the hands, the breast, the belly and the thighs and feet, and the general shape of the body.
[160]Physiognomische Fragmente(Leipzig 1775-1778).
[161]Von der Physiognomik(Leipzig 1772), 2. Stück p. 45.
[162]Fritz Neubert,Die volkstümlichen Anschauungen über Physiognomik in Frankreich bis zum Ausgang des Mittelalters(Munich Dissertation 1910) 118.
[163]See JastrowReligion, II 704 sq.
[164]I quote Rossbach’s edition in the Teubner Series.
[165]In the Babylonian-Assyrian birth-omens, such cases, expressed by the phrase ‘middle portion open’, are very frequent, e. g., Cun. Text XXVII Pl. 44 (K 3166); 47, 14-15; 44 etc.
[166]See above p. 39 and below p. 57.
[167]Above p. 40.
[168]In the same paragraph he records the birth of a serpent by a woman as in Julius Obsequens § 57.
[169]Book I, 6.
[170]E. g.,cave tibi, Roma(I, 6, 5) at the time of the Second Punic War.
[171]I, 6, 5. Further examples of all kinds of omens are found in Chap. 8 of the first book of the Memorabilia.
[172]Life of Julius Caesar § 61.
[173]De Divinatione I 41-42.
[174]Arnobius, Adversum Nationes VII 26 calls Etruria thegenetrix et mater superstitionis.
[175]See above p. 4.
[176]De Divinatione I 53.
[177]Cun. Texts XXIII Pl. 14, 4.
[178]De Divinatione I 53. Cicero does not specifically state that the interpretation is due to Etruscan haruspices, but Thulin,Etruskische DisziplinIII 116, properly concludes that Cicero who is discussing Etruscan augury in the paragraph has Etruscan augurs in mind.
[179]See above p. 14 note 2. Among the Romans these two classes were known asostenta publicaandostenta privata(Thulin,Etruskische DisziplinIII 86 and 116, 1).
[180]The phrasebartuorbartu ina mâti‘revolt’ or ‘revolt in the country’ occurs hundreds of times in the divination texts.
[181]See p. 29 and 31.
[182]See p. 31.
[183]See above p. 29 sq. Cicero also furnishes us (de Divinatione I 36) with a most striking parallel between a Babylonian-Assyrian animal omen and an Etruscan interpretation of the same omen. He tells us that the nurse of the young Roscius observed how a serpent came and wound itself around the sleeping child. On inquiry, the Haruspices declared that the occurrence was an omen indicating that the child would become famous and distinguished above his fellows. In the same way we find in the Babylonian-Assyrian texts that ‘if a serpent is found lying on a little child, the child whether male or female, will acquire renown and riches’. See Jastrow,ReligionII 782 and 942, 3.
[184]SaturnaliaIII 7, 2 also quoted by Servius, though in a slightly modified form. See Thulin,Etruskische DisziplinIII 76 and 102.
[185]The chief colors in Babylonia-Assyrian omen texts are white, black, yellow and dark red. See e. g., Cun. Texts XXVIII Pl. 32 (K. 3838 etc.), 4-9.
[186]Cun. Texts XXVIII Pl. 19 (K. 13443), 5.
[187]ḫud libbi, literally ‘joy of heart’.
[188]Cicero, De Divinatione I 41, who correctly explains the application ofmonstrumto a malformation. For the etymology ofprodigium, see Walde,Lateinisch-Etymologisches Wörterbuchs. v.
[189]De Generatione Animalium IV, 54. See above p. 44.
[190]He gives as illustrations a child born with the head of a ram or of an ox; a calf born with a child’s head, or a lamb with the head of an ox. See further ib IV, 65 seq.
[191]De Generatione IV, 63. See above p. 44. He argues against the possibility of such hybrid creatures (IV, 55), on the ground of the varying length of pregnancy in the case of women, ewes, bitches, and cows.
[192]I, 6, de Prodigiis quae evenere Externis § 1. See also Herodotus, VII 57 who represents the source of Valerius Maximus.
[193]Book I, 8 de Miraculis quae contigere Externis § 12.
[194]VII, 57.
[195]Varia Historia I 29. Aelian says that the story was told by ‘the children in Cos’—evidently a rationalistic supplement to the tale, dating from a time when it was no longer considered possible to take such stories seriously. The story had become, as we would say, ‘an old wives’ tale’.
[196]See above p. 24 sq. and Jastrow,ReligionII 875 sq.
[197]Herodotus I § 84.
[198]Herodotus I § 85; Cicero, De Divinatione I 53. The latter preserves the tradition in its correct formCroesi filium cum infans esset locutum. The omen consists in the fact that theinfantspeaks as in the cases reported by Julius Obsequens (see above 52). In Herodotus the story is perverted through the rationalistic touch that the son of Croesus was dumb for many years (cf. also §§ 34 and 39) but suddenly acquired the power of speech. The story loses its point by this modification. The correct form of the story is also given by Lycosthenes,Prodigiorum ac Ostentorum Chronicon65. The ‘speaking’ infant of which Wuelker,Prodigienwesen bei den Römern20 gives six instances, was always regarded as an ill omen, prognosticating some national misfortune.
[199]See above p. 39.
[200]See the writer’s article ‘The Liver as the Seat of the Soul’ in ‘Studies in the History of Religions in honor of C. H. Toy’ 164 and Jastrow,ReligionII 742. Several of the models are now in the Berlin Museum, and will, it is hoped, soon be published.
[201]See Herbig’s article on the ‘Etruscan Religion’ in Hastings’ Dictionary of Religion and Ethics. The possibility, indeed, that the Etruscans belong to one of the Hittite groups is to be seriously considered, though naturally the problem cannot be approached until further advances in the decipherment of the Hittite inscriptions shall have been made, following along the line of R. C. Thompson’s recent attempt “A New Development of the Hittite Hieroglyphics” (Oxford 1913), which unquestionably marks considerable progress.
[202]See further Jastrow,ReligionII 320, 3.
[203]See above 26.
[204]Aristotle, de Generatione IV, 54 refers to a physiognomist who traced back all such ‘malformations’ (as Aristotle calls them) to two or three animals, and whose views he says met with much favor, the assumption being that such hybrid beings were produced by the union between a woman and an animal, or by crossing of animals. As a matter of fact intercourse between a human being and an animal never produces results, and the crossing of animals only in restricted cases, which do not enter into consideration in the birth-omens. See above p. 26 note 1.
[205]Cun. Texts XXVII Pl. 29.
[206]Cun. Texts XXVII Pl. 48.
[207]The name given to these demons. See Jastrow,Bildermappe zur Religion Babyloniens und AssyriensNr. 62.
[208]See above p. 29 seq.
[209]In the Chronicle of Eusebius (ed. Schoene I 14, 18). See also Zimmern,Keilinschriften und das Alte TestamentII 488 seq.
[210]See Ungnad’s translation in Gressmann’sAltorientalische Texte und BilderI 8.
[211]E. g., horses with the heads of dogs (Cun. Texts XXVI Pl. 48, 9); anisbu(young of animal) with human head (Cun. Texts XXVII Pl. 29, 26 and 31, 8); infants with two faces, four hands and four feet (Cun. Texts XXVII Pl. 8, 10, 21-22 (K. 7093)); human face and body of ašedu, i. e., a body of a lion or bull with wings (Cun. Texts XXVII Pl. 10, 23 == Pl. 8, 6 == Pl. 15,17); infant with male and female organs (Cun. Texts XXVIII Pl. 5, 11); with the face of an ass (Cun. Texts XXVII Pl. 15, 12);isbu—probably lamb—with feet of a lion (Cun. Texts XXVII Pl. 45, 34); horse with two tails and mane of lion (Cun. Texts XXVII Pl. 49, 3 (K. 4031)); horse with human head (Cun. Texts XXVIII Pl. 31, 7); animals with two to seven heads (Cun. Texts XXVIII Pl. 33 (K. 6288 rev.));isbu(here probably a lamb) with the feet of a lion, head of dog in front, six feet and bristles of a swine (Cun. Texts XXVIII Pl. 38, 13); with the feet of a lion, head of a dog and tail of a swine (ib. 1. 15); with two heads, two tails and feet like those of a dog (ib. 1. 17); two heads, two feet, hair of a dog (ib. 1. 19), etc.
[212]Tablet IX.
[213]See Jastrow,Bildermappe zur Geschichte Babyloniens und AssyriensNos. 149, 150, 184 usw.
[214]See Zimmern,Keilinschriften und das A. T.II 503 sq.
[215]Jastrow ib. No. 120; other fanciful forms, Nos. 193-199.
[216]See Jastrow,Bildermappe(Gießen 1912), Nos. 36-47 (on Boundary Stones), 52-53 (dragons), 55-60 (winged human figures and winged human figure with eagle face), 61 (bull with human head), 62 (winged bull with human face), 63-64 (winged horses, winged bulls, winged sphinxes, winged human figures).
[217]See Luschan,Ausgrabungen in SendschirliIV 330 sq. and 338 sq. and Pl. LV-LVI.
[218]Jastrow,BildermappeNo. 32 winged hippocentaur with two heads (man and lion) with scorpion tail and horse’s tail and scorpions attached to the forelegs; No. 33, upright hippocentaur, head, arms and upper part of the body that of a man, lower part of the body that of a horse with two feet. Similar figures appear on seal cylinders, e. g. Ward, Seal Cylinders of Western Asia, 382, and Clay, Dated Cassite Archives, 15 and Pl. XV, No. 6. See Baur, Centaurs in Ancient Art pp. 1-4. A vast amount of material bearing on the representation of all kinds of monstrous beings in Babylonian, Assyrian and Hittite art will be found in Ward’s valuable work just quoted, particularly in chapters LI to LV and LXVII to LXIX, but also chapters VII-XI; XV (Bird-man!) XVIII, XXXVI and XXXVIII.
[219]See e. g. Hirst and Piersol,Human Monstrosities116 Pl. XXII.
[220]See above p. 40 note 4.
[221]This birth-omen ‘if a woman gives birth to a head’ actually occurs in the Babylonian-Assyrian collections, e. g., Cun. Texts XXVIII Pl. 34, 24 (K. 8274). See above p. 37.
[222]See Jastrow,ReligionII 943, 1. The vulture eats the liver because it is the seat of life. The renewal of the liver is the renewal of life. Prometheus thus suffers perpetual death and is yet condemned to eternal renewal of life. This view of the liver is incidentally a proof of the high antiquity of the myth.
[223]See Jastrow,ReligionII 320 seq.
[224]Vol. 38 (190), 209-311.
[225]Schwalbe,Mißgeburten und Mißbildungen bei Menschen und TierenI 39 also favors this view.
[226]See p. 4 and Jastrow,ReligionII 740 seq.
[227]See Jastrow,ReligionII 937, 2. In Se-ma Tsien’sMemoires Historiquestr. by Chavannes I 13, there is a reference to a monster which had the body of a man and the head of an ox, and which was born to a woman through a dragon.
[228]See Spiegelberg,Geschichte der ägyptischen Kunst17; MasperoArt in Egypt40.
[229]The Evolution of the Aryan101.
[230]Pointed out by Hommel,Grundriß der Geographie und Geschichte des alten OrientsI 113-129 who, however, includes much in his discussion that is doubtful, and draws conclusions that are entirely too far reaching.
[231]See Maspero,Art in Egypt80.
[232]Geschichte der ägyptischen Kunst35—perhaps to Amenemhat III of the 12th dynasty.
[233]Hist. Nat. VII 3.
[234]See also Phlegon, Mirabilia (ed. Keller) IV-X including (VI) the case of a woman turning into a man in the days of Emperor Claudius at Antiochia.
[235]See Joseph Jacobs, Introduction to his edition of theFables of Bidpai(London 1888) XXXIX-LI.
[236]See the references in Ernest Martin,Histoire des Monstres depuis l’antiquité jusqu’à nos jours(Paris 1880) 7 seq. Martin’s book is a mine of valuable information on this subject.
[237]Banquet of the Seven Sages § 3. The story is placed in the days of Periander and Thales, and relates the remarkable birth of a centaur in the herd of Periander. Thales is asked to examine the strange creature, and after doing so asks the diviner Diocles, whether he does not intend to make some expiation in order to avert the anger of the gods. The diviner answers ‘Why not?’, and assures Thales that the birth of the monster is an omen of discord and sedition. Thales smiled and looking at the young shepherd of Periander in charge of the herd advised Periander to keep a look-out on his young men, or to provide wives for them. The intimation reflects little credit on Thales’ knowledge of the processes of nature.
[238]See for actually occurring human monstrosities, Hirst and Peirsol,Human Monstrosities; Kitt,Pathologische Anatomie der Haustiere(4th ed.) I Chap. III and Guinard’sPrécis de Teratologie(Paris 1893), e. g. in the last named work, a lamb without ears (168), an infant with a caudal appendix (82), club-foot (131—still called pied d’equin), six toes (128), a pig with five divisions of the hoof, a lamb with four divisions, a dog with six etc. (129).
[239]Hist. Nat. VII § 3.
[240]Also such omens as the speaking infant (113. 118), while still in the womb (175), the talking ox (65. 113. 118. 125. 129. 140. 146. 153. 159. 166. etc.), by the side of the two-headed swine (129), three-footed mule or horse (150. 157. 166), a five-footed horse or mule (131. 136. 171. 176), two-headed calf (180. 181. 308), lamb with swine’s head (135. 136), swine with human head (124. 136. 138), with human hands and feet (165), two-headed lamb (138. 139. 197. 198), boy with elephant’s head (125), infant without eyes or nose (141), without arms or feet (142), two-headed boy (155. 177. 315. 317), with four hands and four legs (163. 165. 172. 317), with three legs (168 and 169), with three legs and three hands (199), with four legs (175), androgynous infants (125. 135. 170. 175. 181. 187. 196. 198), twins united at the back etc., (198. 284), a child with beard and four eyes (272), a woman giving birth to an elephant (201), to a serpent (209-210), a woman giving birth to seven children in days of Algemundus, first king of Lombards (284), a boy without eyes, no arms and a fish tail instead of feet (316) etc.
[241]Conrad Gessner,Allgemeines Thierbuch(Deutsch von Conrad Foerer, Frankfurt 1669) 19.
[242]p. 582. The chronicle is brought down in fact to the year 1557.
[243]p. 32-68.
[244]Christliche MystikIII 440 seq.