Divination in Religion

The importance of divination in Mesopotamian civilization is emphasized by the large number of omen collections of related cuneiform texts that have been preserved. These texts range in time from the late (post Hammurabi) Old Babylonian period up to the time of the Seleucid kings, offering an abundance of material concerning various techniques of divination. Allusions to divination practices also abound in historical and religious literature. All extant texts are written in Akkadian and there can be little doubt that Akkadian divination was considered a major intellectual achievement in Mesopotamia and surrounding countries. These texts were copied in Susa, the capital of Elam; in Nuzi; in Hattusa, the capital of the Hittites; and in such far off places as Qatna and Hazor in Syria and Palestine. They were copied by local scribes trained in the writing and the languages of Mesopotamia and then translated into their native language. The disappearance of Mesopotamian civilization and its languages did not impede the spread of certain methods of divination toward Palestine and Egypt and from there to Europe.

Divination was the most important of the disciplines that the Mesopotamians would have classified as 'scientific' and should not be considered as some sort of primitive or occult activity but rather as one of the most basic features of every day life. The most senior practioneers were men of influence who were held in high esteem and were consulted both by private individuals and heads of state. The army was always accompanied by a diviner who in the Old Babylonian period also seemed to act as a general. A diviner of the small state of Karana, Aqba-hammu, not only married the king's daughter but later seized the throne from his brother in law.

Beginning in the Old Babylonian period, a variety of omens were written down and collected together in 'books' that now constitute the largest category of Akkadian literature. Each entry in the long omen series reads, whether intentionally or not, as did the contemporary law codes; if such and such happens or is observed, then a certain consequence must follow. So, as we can see, Babylonian divination represented, in it's simplist form, a technique of communication with the gods, who, according to Babylonian religious thought, shaped the lives of all mankind, individually and collectively.

The techniques and methods underwent changes over time as Mesopotamian divination underwent a complex historical development. There is a diversity of methods based on social status. There were practices for the king, others to which the poor resorted. In operational divination, the diviner offers the deity the opportunity to directly affect an object activated by the diviner, such as the casting of lots, in the pouring of oil into water, or in producing smoke from a censer. The deity then manipulates the lots and affects the spreading of the oil and the shape of the smoke in order to communicate. Or, the deity produces changes in natural phenomena - wind, thunder, and the movement of the stars - or affects the behavior of the external or internal features of animals and even of human beings. To provoke the reply of the deity, an act of the diviner may single out certain areas in which he expects the deity to react in answer to his question. This is characteristic of Mesopotamian extispicy. The deity is provided with a certain setting and given time in which to communicate.

We know that in the Old Babylonian period and in Susa lots were used to assign the shares of an estate to the sons. We learn from later documents that shares of temple income were originally distributed by lots to certain officials of the sanctuary.

Ancient Mesopotamia, Portrait of a Dead Civilization, A. Leo Oppenheim, University of Chicago Press, 1977

Early Mesopotamia, Society and Economy at the Dawn of History, J.N. Postgate, Routeledge, 1996

The Treasures of Darkness, A History of Mesopotamian Religion, Thorkild Jacobsen, Yale University Press, 1976

Babylon, Joan Oates, Thames and Hudson, 1996