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The augur was a priest and official in the classical world, especially ancient Rome
Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC....
 and Etruria. His main role was to interpret the will of the god
God

God is a deity in theism and deism religions and other belief systems, representing either the sole deity in monotheism, or a principal deity in polytheism....
s by studying the flight of the bird
Bird

Birds are wing, Bipedalismal, endothermic , vertebrate animals that lay egg . There are around 10,000 living species, making them the most numerous tetrapod vertebrates....
s (whether they are flying in groups/alone, what noises they make as they fly, direction of flight and what kind of birds they are), 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.

Consider the words of the Roman historian Livy
Livy

Titus Livius , known as Livy in English language, was a Ancient Rome historian who wrote a monumental history of Rome, Ab Urbe Condita, from its founding through the reign of Augustus in Livy's own time....
, who writes (VI.41): auspiciis hanc urbem conditam esse, auspiciis bello ac pace domi militiaeque omnia geri, quis est qui ignoret? ("Who does not know that this city was founded only after taking the divinations, that everything in war and in peace, at home and abroad, was done only after taking the divinations?")

derivation of the word augur is uncertain; ancient authors believed that it contained the words avi and gero --Latin
Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
 for "directing the birds"--but historical-linguistic evidence points instead to the root aug-, "to increase, to prosper."

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 Rome
Roman augurs were part of a collegium
Collegium (ancient Rome)

In Ancient Rome, a collegium was a term applied to any association with a legal personality. Such associations might have had various functions....
 of priests who shared the duties and responsibilities of the position.






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Encyclopedia


The augur was a priest and official in the classical world, especially ancient Rome
Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC....
 and Etruria. His main role was to interpret the will of the god
God

God is a deity in theism and deism religions and other belief systems, representing either the sole deity in monotheism, or a principal deity in polytheism....
s by studying the flight of the bird
Bird

Birds are wing, Bipedalismal, endothermic , vertebrate animals that lay egg . There are around 10,000 living species, making them the most numerous tetrapod vertebrates....
s (whether they are flying in groups/alone, what noises they make as they fly, direction of flight and what kind of birds they are), 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.

Consider the words of the Roman historian Livy
Livy

Titus Livius , known as Livy in English language, was a Ancient Rome historian who wrote a monumental history of Rome, Ab Urbe Condita, from its founding through the reign of Augustus in Livy's own time....
, who writes (VI.41): auspiciis hanc urbem conditam esse, auspiciis bello ac pace domi militiaeque omnia geri, quis est qui ignoret? ("Who does not know that this city was founded only after taking the divinations, that everything in war and in peace, at home and abroad, was done only after taking the divinations?")

Etymology and derivatives


The derivation of the word augur is uncertain; ancient authors believed that it contained the words avi and gero --Latin
Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
 for "directing the birds"--but historical-linguistic evidence points instead to the root aug-, "to increase, to prosper."

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 Rome


Roman augurs were part of a collegium
Collegium (ancient Rome)

In Ancient Rome, a collegium was a term applied to any association with a legal personality. Such associations might have had various functions....
 of priests who shared the duties and responsibilities of the position. At the foundation of the Republic
Roman Republic

The Roman Republic was the phase of the Ancient Rome characterized by a republican form of government; a period which began with the overthrow of the Roman Roman Kingdom, c....
 in 510 BC, the patricians held sole claim to this office; by 300 BC, the office was open to plebeian occupation as well. Senior members of the collegium put forth nominations for any vacancies, and members voted on whom to co-opt.

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.

Augurs in Han China


Historian Hans Bielenstein translates the title of one of the subordinate officers of the Ministry of Ceremonies
Nine Ministers

The Nine Ministers was the collective name for nine important officials in the imperial government in Han Dynasty . The nine ranking ministers were the Minister of Ceremonies , the Supervisor of Attendants , the Commandant of Guards , the Grand Servant , the Commandant of Justice , the Grand Herald , Director of the Imperial Clan , t...
 as "Prefect Grand Augur," a post established in 104 BC during the Han Dynasty
Han Dynasty

The Han Dynasty followed the Qin Dynasty and preceded the Three Kingdoms in China. The Han Dynasty was ruled by the family known as the Liu clan who had peasant origins....
 of China
China

China is a Culture of China, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
. This officer was in charge of rituals of divination
Divination

Divination is the attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way of a standardized process or ritual. Diviners ascertain their interpretations of how a querent should proceed by reading signs, events, or omens, or through alleged contact with a supernatural agency....
 that were used to influence state policy. For example, the Prefect Grand Augur performed a ceremony in 90 BC on whether or not Han forces should assault the northern nomadic Xiongnu Empire
Xiongnu

The Xiongnu were a confederation of nomadic tribes from Central Asia with a ruling class of unknown origin and other subjugated tribes. They lived on the steppes north of China, and appear in Chinese sources from the 3rd century BC as controlling an empire stretching beyond the borders of modern day Mongolia....
. Another example was the ceremony in 3 AD, when the Prefect Grand Augur performed a ritual to determine whether or not it was auspicious for Wang Mang
Wang Mang

Wang Mang , courtesy name Jujun , was a Han Dynasty official who seized the throne from the Liu family and founded the Xin Dynasty Dynasty , ruling AD 9?23....
's daughter to become the empress.

See also

  • Haruspex
    Haruspex

    File:Haruspex.pngIn Ancient Rome practice inherited from the Etruscan civilization, a haruspex was a man trained to practice a form of divination called haruspicy, hepatoscopy or hepatomancy....
  • Omen
    Omen

    An omen is a phenomenon that is believed to foretell the future, often signifying the advent of change. Omens may be considered "good" or "bad", but the term is more often used in a foreboding sense, as with the word "ominous"....
  • De Divinatione
    De Divinatione

    Marcus Tullius Cicero's De Divinatione is a philosophical treatise in two books written in 44 BC. It takes the form of a dialogue whose interlocutors are Cicero and his brother Quintus Tullius Cicero....
  • Ornithomancy
    Ornithomancy

    Ornithomancy is an Ancient Greek practice of reading omen from the actions of birds, equivalent to the Augury employed by the ancient Romans. Although it was mainly the flights and songs of birds that were studied, any action could have been interpreted to either foretell the future or relate a message from the gods....


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