the meaning of omens

7/26/2019 The Meaning of Omens

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The Meaning of Omens: The Rationale of Astronomy

This essay presents an answer to the question “What does an omen mean?”, with particular reference to celestialomens. I argue that the answer that seems most straightforward to us, namely a prediction of the future, doesnot tally with ancient usage. A change of perspective is required. Such a methodology was aptly summed up by

B. Landsberger:What is required is a familiarity with the nature of language as language, of religion as religion, of law as law. Theindividual scholar, however, cannot possibly have such wide experience. He must get in touch with people who havestudied these disciplines as they relate to other peoples and, where possible, living ones: such viable exchange is vital for theapplication of this method.

(Landsberger, 1974, p. 7)

In order to proceed, one must therefore categorise omens as a whole. One option is to view the omens as ascience. S. Maul argues that “Omina only cease to be detected empirically when a firm conceptual link has beenestablished between the observed and the future which then allows omina to be construed by the application ofregularities” (2007, p. 361).

Attempts to view astrology as a science, and to cast it in terms of astronomy, are an important corrective to thedismissive or patronising approach of earlier scholarship. This essay will take the opportunity to put forward analternative, interpreting omens as religion. In using terms like “astrology”, I do not seek to undo this corrective.Rather, I wish by the term to emphasise a robust, subtle, and cohesive system of logic distinct from other modesof thinking.

That Mesopotamians were clever and rational does not mean they were scientists. Properly defined, rationalityis the logical movement from attitudes to actions (Kolodny & Brunero, 2013). As these are two intensionalconcepts (Fitting, 2014), rationality is internal to a system of thought. For example, science cannot be said to berational, but good science can.

Astrology may be defined in Wittgensteinian terms as a language game within the family group of religion. InWittgenstein’s view, the meaning a statement has should not be sought with reference to the referents of eachterm ‘out in the world’, but rather in the use to which the utterance is put. This is summed up in Wittgenstein’s

assertion that “the teaching of language is not explanation, but training” (1958, p. 4). The term “game” is usedto connote a mutual yet particular set of rules defining the meaning of certain ‘moves’, and not any aspersions oftriviality. All uses of language are Wittgensteinian games (1958, p. 3). Such language games are untranslatable(Wittgenstein, 1966, p. 71): we can only understand by playing their game (1966, p. 55).

For a grammar of the astrological language game, I was pre-empted by D. Brown, whose concepts of “Rules”and “Code” f it neatly into this interpretation, and to whom it is better to refer the reader than compete (Brown,2000, pp. 126-152). But, even assuming the grammar laid out by Brown, playing the game involves more thanany such translation. For example, the morning watch may mean Elam (Brown, 2000, p. 141), but we are nocloser to understanding what “bad for Elam” means.

Wittgenstein argued that the meaning of religious beliefs lies in the mode of thinking they represent. Forexample, recourse to a doctrine judgement in guiding behaviour is more meaningfully contrasted to an absence

of such a recourse than a belief that there will not be a judgement (Wittgenstein, 1966, p. 54f.). In fact, the lattershould in actuality be seen as a different manifestation of the same religious thinking. The mode of thoughtrepresented by the omens is recourse to divine will. On this view, to be cognisant of the divine will is to be pious, and omens are an attempt at piety. This is a game used not to predict the future, but to be pious. It is notthat such predictions have an air of piety. Rather, uttering an omen constitutes piety, being a moment ofreflection upon the divine will.

This reflection is equally valid for the many celestial omens that are scientifically impossible (Brown, 2000, p.106; Rochberg, 2010, p. 20). For example, one omen states:

1

MUL.APIN ana MUL.GÍR.[TAB TE] If the Plough star [comes close] to Scorp[ius],2

NUN ina zi-qit GÍR.TAB [BA.ÚŠ] the ruler [will die] by a sting of a scorpion;3

EGIR-šú DUMU-šú AŠ.TE │ NU│ [DIB-bat] after him his son will no[t take] the throne

(Hunger, 1992, pp. VIII 219, obverse)



Such omens forcibly remind one of Biblical apocalyptic literature, as defined by scholars such as C. Rowland.Rowland insists eschatology does not “deserve to become the focus of attention in the study of apocalyptic tothe exclusion of the other secrets which the apocalypses claim to reveal” (1982, p. 26). Rather, its main point isto demonstrate the pervasiveness of the majestic, indomitable divine in the world of the mundane (1982, p. 189).I shall refer to this as the ‘divine beneath all’. A passage from II Kings 6:15-18 demonstrates this well:

The attendant of the man of God got up early to go outside, andthere surrounding the city was the army, with horses andchariots. The young man said to Elisha, “Woe, my lord! Whatcan we do?”. He replied, “Do not fear: the multitude that iswith us exceeds all those with them”. So Elisha prayed toYahweh, saying, “Yahweh, open the eyes of this young man!”.Then he saw, there – the mountains were full of horses, andchariots of fire surrounded Elisha. And as they came downtoward him, Elisha prayed to Yahweh, saying, “Strike this people with blindness!”, and they became blind as Elisha spoke.

וה

ויצ

לקום

ה להים

משרת יש

סו תוישכם

חיל

נה

נעשה

נערו ליו הה דני יכה

וי מר

ורכ

וסוס

העיר

ויתפלל

מ שר ותם

ר ים שר תנו

כי

תיר

וי מר ל

יהוה

ויפקח

ויר ה

עיניו

נ ת

פקח

יהוה

וי מר

לישע

ורכ ש סוסים מל ההר והנה ויר הנער עיני ת

רוירדו ליו ויתפלל לישע ל יהוה וי ס י ת לישע

הך נ ת הגוי הזה סנורים ויכם סנורים כד ר לישע

The theology is parallel to, not the foundation of, the earthly events. Even in the obviously mythologisedBiblical account, the apocalypse is demonstrative of the victory, not is cause. It would have been easy to havethe chariots of fire burn up the army, but that does not occur within apocalypticism. Many have seen therudiments of apocalypticism in the mythological literature (Clifford, 2003). N. Veldhuis sees a kind of parallelism expressed in the cosmogony of the Enūma eli š (2010, p. 87). After Marduk’s defeat of Tiamat, weread:

IV.137

iḫ-pi-ši-ma ki-ma nu-un maš-te-e a-na ši-ni-šu

He [Marduk] split her [Tiamat] in two,like a fish for drying,

IV.138

mi-iš-lu-uš-ša iš-ku-nam-mašá-ma-mi uṣ-ṣal-lil

Half of her he set up and made as acover, heaven.

V.55 ip-te-e-ma i-na IGI+2-šá p[u-ra-at-ta] i-di-ig-lat

From her eyes he undammed theEuph[rates] and Tigris,

(Talon, 2005) (Foster, 1997)

But the cosmogony here supports ontological monism, not dualism. This is also the case for the injunction inthe Diviner’s Manual :

39 AN-e u KI-tim UR.BIGIŠ.GIM.MA ub-ba-lu-ni

Sky and earth both produce portents

40

a-he-en-na-a ul BAR.MEŠ ANU KI it-hu-zu

though appearing separately, they are not separate(because) sky and earth are related.

(Oppenheim, 1974)

Both and are the same thing across the varied genres. Rather, the religious concept of the ‘divine beneathall’ is to be seen in the omen literature in toto; as curiously absent from the Hebrew Bible as true apocalypticism

is from Mesopotamia. Yet omens of all types can remain affirmations of this idea of the ‘divine behind all’.Unobservable omens may even constitute the superlative examples: by saying something you do not see hasdivine portents, you are putting the gods before yourself, which in this game constitutes piety. The practicalapplications should be put behind a full exposition of the “ Heavenly Writing ” (Rochberg, 2004).

Another characteristic more easily accommodated by a religious rather than scientific reading is that, to quoteBrown, the ‘result’ “all depended on the prognostications the Scholars wished to send” (Brown, 2000, p. 157).The following case study provides a good illustration of this, as well as other features, discussed below:

1

[a-na LUGAL] │KUR │.KUR be-lí-ia ARAD-ka mdEN — ú-še-zib

[To the king of the la]nds, my lord: your servant Bel-ušezib.

2

[dEN d] AG u dUTU a-naLUGAL be-lí-ia lik-ru-bu

May [Bel, Na]bû and Šamaš bless the king, my lord!

3

us -ka-ru šá d30 a-ta-mar ùdUTU │it-tap│-ḫa I saw the crescent of the moon but the sun was rising;he may have cleansed it, but it was not to be seen.



4

│lu?│ ú-mar-ri-iq-ma ul in-nam-mar ki-i us-ka-ru

Whether it was a crescent,

5

šu -ú ki-i UD-15-KÁM in-na-mar ù ki-i UD-16-KÁM

or whether it appeared on the 15th, or whether it willappear on the 16th day,

6

in-nam-ma-ru lum-nu-um šu-ú inaUGU KUR.man-na-a-a

it is an evil portent, and it concerns the Manneans.

7

šu-ú a-šar LÚ.KÚR ina UGUKUR i-te-eb-bu-ú

Wherever an enemy attacks a country, the countrywill carry this evil portent.

8

KUR ḪUL-nu an-na-a i-zab-bil

en-na e-mu-qa

Now the army of the king, my lord, having attacked

the Manneans,9

šá LUGAL be-lí-ia ina UGUKUR.man-na-a-a ki-i it-bu-ú

has captured forts,

10

bi-ra-na-a-ti iṣ-ṣa-bat URU-ME il-ta-lal ḫu-bu-ut EDIN

plundered towns and pillaged the open country.

11

iḫ-ta-bat ú-ta-ru ú-kám-mar-mašit-ti KUR i-šal-lal

Should it return, it would heap it up and plunder therest of the country.

12

e-mu-qu šá LUGAL be-lí-ia a-naLÚ.KÚR la uṣ-ṣi na-kut-ma

But should the army of the king, my lord, not go outagainst the enemy, that would be dangerous.

13

šad-da-qàd šá 05 ITI-ME UD-15-KÁM 30 KI d20 in-na-mar

Last year, when the moon was seen with the sun onthe 15th day for 5 (consecutive) months,

14

URU.ṣi-da-nu ul iz-bi-lu URU ulna-pi-li

did Sidon not carry it? Did the city not fall,

15

UN-MEŠ-šú ul KUR -du-né- é*en-na KUR.man-na-a-a ki-i pi-i were its people not chased away? Now, inaccordance with this, the cities16

an-nim-ma URU-ME-šu iš-šal-la-lu UN-MEŠ-šú iḫ-ḫab-ba-tu

of the Mannean will be plundered, his people taken incaptivity,

17

ù šu-ú ina É.GAL-šú ú-ta-sar a-dia-na ŠU.2 LUGAL be-lí-ía

and he himself will be encircled in his palace until hewill be delivered into the hands of the king, my lord.

18

im-man-nu-ú ŠÀ šá LUGAL be-lí-ia dan-niš dan-niš lu-ú ḫa-di

The king my lord can be very glad indeed.

19

LÚ.KÚR-ka ta-kám-me a-a-bi-kata-kaš-šad ù MU.AN.NA-ME

You will defeat your enemy and vanquish

20

ma-aʾ-da-a-tu ŠU.2 dEN inaTIN.TIR.KI ta-ṣab-bat

your foes, and you will grasp the hand of Bel inBabylon for many years.

21

1 30 NU IGI.LAL-ma us-ka-ru

IGI-ir nu-kúr-ME ina KUR GÁL-MEŠ

“If the moon is not seen but the crescent is seen, there

will be hostilities in the land.”

22

UN-MEŠ-šú šá LUGALKUR.man-na-a-a i-nak-kir-ú-šú-ma a-na ARAD-ME

The people of the Mannean king will turn against himand become the king’s servants.

23

šá LUGAL i-tur-ru UD-15-KÁM30 u 20 KI a-ḫa-meš IGI-MEŠ

“(If) the moon and the sun are seen together on the15th day:

24

KÚR dan-nu GIŠ.TUKUL-ME-šúana KUR ÍL-a KÁ URU-ka KÚRina-qar

a strong enemy will raise his weapons against theland; the enemy will tear down the city gates.”

25

a-du-ú e-mu-qa šá LUGAL be-lí-ia GIŠ.TUKUL-ME-šú a-naKUR.man-na-a-a

Now then the army of the king, my lord, has raised itsweapons against the Mannean

26

it-ta-šú ù URU LUGAL-ú-ti-šúina-qar mim-ma ina ŠÀ-bi

and will tear down his royal city.

27

GISKIM-ME a-ga-a ina UGULUGAL be-lí-ía u KUR-šú ia-a-nu

There is nothing in these signs that would concern theking, my lord, and his country.

(Hunger, 1992, pp. X 112, obverse)

Bel-ušezib knows what needs to be done. The recourse to past occurrence (line 13f.) is not a scientific induction(as Maul). The “danger” (line 12) is not astrological but strategic. The theology must be made to fit. Thestrategic soundness of the move justifies the radical reinterpretation of the sign. This is the job of the diviner; tomarry the ‘divine beneath all’ with the mundane. For a person to whom the course of action is obvious, anydisjunction between the ‘divine beneath all’ and the mundane is an obstacle that must be overcome somehow orother. Either the ‘divine beneath all’ or the mundane must move however far is necessary to get them back into

alignment. Which moves it does not matter. The only immovable assertion of the ‘divine beneath all’ is “some p implies some q”; the direction of inference is not specified. Cases such as the above do require an expert, justas the most fantastic apocalypses are the works of geniuses. Rather than being the cheat it seems to us today,such turning of the tables constitutes a legitimate move in this Wittgensteinian game.



There is one important caveat to mention: the prestige of unprovoked omens (Freedman, 1998, p. 1) suggestsone is better for not seeking one’s own omens. It is not about justifying your own views as the gods’ views, it isabout a religious or ethical dialogue that brings one into accord with the world. Following Wittgenstein’stheories of religion, to be genuinely in the astrological mindset involved always considering the gods’ willdistinctly from one’s own. Failure to do this is, by the rules of astrology, impious. Non-astrological modes ofthought are therefore lacking in this regard, and must be supplemented by astrological (or other theological)

ones whenever their practitioners have a concern for piety. Even where no theological reference is explicitlymade, this void speaks when viewed theologically.

This is clearly shown with the pertinent modern analogy: non-scientific statements such as astrological ones areassessed scientifically, and are sometimes judged bad science when a scientific void is encountered. Thisscientific assessment is correct, but a corresponding astrological assessment of science is also valid. The desirewe experience to translate theological claims into scientific ones is the same kind as that which drove theancient translation into astrological terms. In both cases, a solid rationale gives rise to shaky conclusions.

In the case of astrology, such tempting dark alleys may be termed pseudoscience. Astrology is not a pseudoscience. Any pseudoscientific beliefs are incidental to the process; waste products of asserting the‘divine beneath all’. The word “pseudoscience” seems most appropriate, indicating scientific beliefs derivedfrom an unscientific source. Not only does pseudoscience so defined continue to the present day, but the

corollary phenomenon of pseudoreligion may also be detected. Perhaps the best example from modern times iseugenics, which creates (in Wittgensteinian terms) a religious recourse to the scientific belief of geneticselection. In general terms, it may be useful to consider Hume’s Law in this regard: “the distinction of vice andvirtue is not founded merely on the relations of objects” (Hume, 1739, p. 335). I cannot guess as to the extent of pseudoscience in Mesopotamian astrology, but can find no omen that necessitates a pseudoscientificexplanation. Bel-ušezib, the expert, appears to argue against it.

Line 27 introduces another facet, that of conflicting readings. The king has his interpretation, Bel-ušezib offersanother. From the religious perspective, these conflicts must conceptualised as a question of with whom thegods are in most accord, not what will or will not happen. Of course, in respect to the king the conflict is muted;the religious authority of the diviner is most seemly.

It is a moral reprimand to have an omen against your course of action, something one could either deny oraccept. All divination therefore had a moral element. Actively accepting a moral flaw through the rituals ofaversion is a morally affirming act of piety on a par with the moral affirmation of a good omen brings. Thus, both good and bad omens need not affect the final action, and may both be used positively. “Namburbi” ritualsencompass all omens for all people.

10

ana ḪUL ši-si-it GIDIM TAR-si ŠIKA DU6 ŠUB-i ina A ta!-sàk-ma É i-sal-laḫ 3U4-miki-is-pa ana GIDIM kim-ti-šú i-ka-sip

In order to avert the evil (portended by) a ghost’s cry, you crush a potsherd from an abandoned tell in water and hesprinkles the house (with it). For threedays, he makes funerary offerings tohis family ghost(s).

(Scurlock, 2006, pp. 178f., AfO 29/30.4)

Through them good comes of evil; the person undergoes an improvement. A brief survey of Neo-Assyrianastrological reports revealed few instances in which a negative action was recommended. Far more oftencaution or a ritual was the response to a bad omen. In short, omens first and foremost had a religious, notstrategic, function.

The potential positive application of all omens makes abundant generation important. Hence scientificallyinaccurate schema, such as ‘ideal’ month, year, or cycle lengths, are most fit for purpose (Brown, 2000, p.125f.). Plentiful anomalies mean plentiful opportunities for religious reflection. Accurate schema would notwork.

There is a parallel to the categorical medical prognoses:



2 [DIŠ S]AG │ŠÀ-šú│ GI[6-ma EME-šú ḫe-em-ret ana GIZKIMGIG GAM]

[If] │his epigastrium│ is│dark │ and his tongue isshriveled, he is at an acute stage ofthe illness; he will die].

(Scurlock, 2014, pp. 103, 109, DPS 13)

Rather than being probabilistic rules, the alternative is to see them as Brown’s ideal categories against whichdivine messages could be read. In this example, the fact that the average person dies gives significance to the person who lives.

My characterisation of all omens (including medical prognoses) as fundamentally religious is not a complete picture. I have intentionally overstated my case so as to provide a fair challenge to the contrary interpretation,which seems overstated itself. I only hope to have shifted the balance of evidence a little nearer to thecompromise that seems most fitting. Nevertheless, all omens (including medical prognoses) can be interpretedfrom a religious perspective; as moves within this language game to inspire, chastise, or improve its players.

***

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