THE PSYCHOLOGICAL SUPPORT OF DIVINATION
The reliability of divination is based on a technical lore,5 which achieves recognition from a tradition written down by scholars throughout the centuries and passed down from the ancient times.
Observations and omens were organized in series (labeled as ES.QAR). These series could be considered as canonical or non-canonical (ahi’u).6 The compiling habits of scholars made compendiums and anthologies available for themselves, their colleagues, and their successors. For example, the corpus of the tamitu has mostly a Babylonian origin, but these texts could be consulted in Neo-Assyrian libraries, where collections of tamitu were at hand.7 8The conclusions of famous scholars of the past were also considered as significant (sa pi ummani).s For example, the scribe Akkullanu writes to Assurbanipal that scanty rains are a good omen.9 At first, this may sound weird and Akkullanu feels that the king will ask where
he read it. This is why the scholar quotes his source in the following lines: this omen comes from a report of Ea-musallim, the ummanu of the Babylonian king Marduk-nadin-ahhe, written more than 400 years ago.
Some tricky issues required the use of every kind of text. In an astrological report about retrograding planets, the scribe Issar-sumu-eres quotes three planetary omens due to the retrogradation of Mars and Jupiter with many explanations, the king being doubtful about the accuracy of the scribe’s interpretation. This letter does not refer to genuine observations10 but to similar situations:
SAA 10, 8 — Date: late Tebet (X) 672
To the king, my lord: your servant Issar-sumu-eres. Good health to the king, my lord! May Nabu and Marduk bless the king, my lord!
Concerning what the king, my lord, wrote to me: “Why have you never told me the truth? When will you (actually) tell me all that there is to it?” — Assur, Sin, Samas, Bel, Nabu, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn, Mercury, Mars, Sirius, and...
be my witnesses that I have never untruly. (.)If Mars, retrograding, enters Scorpius, do not neglect your guard; the king should not go outdoors on an evil day.
This omen is not from the Series (ES.QAR); it is from the oral tradition of the masters (sapi ummani).
When Mars, furthermore, retrogrades from the Head of Leo and touches Cancer and Gemini, its interpretation (pisru) is this:
End of the reign of the king of the Westland.
This is not from the series; it is non-canonical (ahi’u). This aforesaid is the only area which is taken as bad if Mars retrogrades there. Wherever else it might retrograde, it may freely do so, there is not a word about it.
And the matter of the planet Jupiter is as follows: If it turns back out of the Breast of Leo, this is ominous. It is written in the series as follows:
If Jupiter passes Regulus and gets ahead of it, and afterwards Regulus, which it passed and got ahead of, stays with it in its setting, someone will rise, kill the king, and seize the throne.
This aforesaid area is the only area which is taken as bad if Jupiter retrogrades there. Wherever else it might turn, it may freely do so, there is not a word about it. (.)
The scholar uses three kinds of source for his interpretation: the omens linked with the retrogradation of Mars are not omens from the series (ES.QAR, i.e., the series Enuma Anu Enlil) but from oral tradition of scholars (sa pi ummani) and non canonical (ahi’u) sources, but the omen concerning the retrogradation of Jupiter passing Regulus is quoted from “the series.” [129] [130] Concerning oracles and dreams, these signs won recognition from their divine origin. The signs sent in oracles were often predicted by officials involved in the cult of Istar11 or by individuals possessed by a god, while prophetic dreams were sent by gods, on request or not.12 This psychological validation is particularly made obvious in the anxious reaction of Neo-Assyrian kings — especially Esarhaddon’s — to the interpretations of omens. In a letter about the significance of a recent earthquake,13 the scribe Balasi agrees that it is indeed a bad omen but fortunately, the gods also created the required rituals to dissipate the evil of an earthquake.14 The scholar then emphasizes on the moral message of this event, which is sent by the gods: the king should watch out, even if all apotropaic rituals are performed.