Dear Meka:

You might try this link for information on divinatory meanings. It even has a drawing of the liver on this site.


www.cs.utk.edu/~mclennan/BA/Har.html


Haruspicy divination where the liver of sacrificed animals is examined. In Babylon this practice was very popular, so much so, that they had a specialized priest called a 'bara' to perform the service. The Babylonians thought the liver was a "vehicle" by which the gods revealed their intentions.The haruspex (diviner) interpreted the divine will by inspecting the entrails of a sacrificial animal. First the animal was ritually slaughtered. Next it was butchered, with the haruspex examining the size, shape, color, markings etc. of certain internal organs, usually the liver (hepatoscopy), as well as other organs.

A specific form of haruspicy divination where the liver of sacrificed animals is examined was practiced by many cultures. In Babylon this practice was very popular, so much so, that they had a specialized priest called a 'bara' to perform the service. The Babylonians thought the liver was a "vehicle" by which the gods revealed their intentions.

Njoy,

Domina Roma

"a map of a liver sectioned into divinatory meanings would be awesome"

You do know that there is a marvelous bronze sheep's liver that's extant. Problem is it's in Etruscan. There are plenty of pictures and drawings of it online. Google Piacenza Etruscan bronze liver.

www.utexas.edu/courses/my.../liver.html

I've managed to answer this question - almost - have yet to find the pictures of the actual models though but at least I have the relevent references.

Dumezil says "C.O. Thulin compared it with the terra-cotta models which were used for the same purposes in Mesopotamia, especially with two examples covered with inscriptions in the British Museum."
(My favorite museum - time for a quick trip to the uk methinks!!)

he goes onto say
"the conseption of assyro-babylonian haruspicy which had been formed at the beginning of the century was corrected and sharpened by tthe work of R Labat and J Nougayrol"

Dumezil goes on to compare the mesopotamian and etruscan livers...

from "Archaic Roman Religion" Georges Dumezil
which is an awesome book....- it has a small appendix on etruscan religion but it is so worthwhile to buy the book just for that.

Meka