Extispicy

Extispicy is the practice of divination by inspecting the entrails of sacrificed animals, especially the liver, to read omens from the gods. The term covers several traditions and became most prototypical in ancient Mesopotamia, though it also appeared in classical antiquity in the Etruscan and Roman worlds, where the practice is often called haruspicy.

In Mesopotamia, extispicy involved priests or ritual specialists who examined the liver's external surface, internal lobes, and markings after a sacrifice. The examination was guided by standardized omen lists—city or royal omens—designed to determine whether a given event or decision would be favorable or unfavorable. Other organs such as the lungs, stomach, or gall could also be considered, depending on the ritual.

In the Latin and Italic traditions, haruspices performed extispicy at public ceremonies to inform political and military decisions. The most famous evidence comes from Etruscan and Roman texts and artifacts; the bronze Liver of Piacenza is a well-known illustrative tool showing how liver sections were mapped to omens. In general, the practice depended on a trained interpreter who correlated observed signs with a corpus of precepts.

Scholars view extispicy as a central method of divination in several ancient cultures, reflecting the belief that the divine will could be observed in natural phenomena and animal bodies. The practice waned with changing religious beliefs and political structures but is studied today through cuneiform tablets, inscriptions, and archaeological finds, contributing to our understanding of ancient ritual life.