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{{short description|Ancient Roman priest tasked with divination by the observation of birds}}
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{{Distinguish|Auger (disambiguation){{!}}Auger|Agar (disambiguation){{!}}Agar}}
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{{redirect|Auguries|the 2022 Westworld TV episode|The Auguries (Westworld)}}
[[File:Augur, Nordisk familjebok.png|thumb|200px|Modern depiction of an augur with sacred chicken; he holds a [[lituus]], the curved wand often used as a symbol of augury on Roman coins]]
{{Anthropology of religion}}
An '''augur''' was a priest and official in the [[ancient Rome|classical Roman]] world. His main role was the practice of [[augury]], the interpretation of the will of the [[List of Roman deities|gods]] by studying events he observed within a predetermined sacred space (''templum''). The ''templum'' corresponded to the heavenly space above. The augur's decisions were based on what he personally saw or heard from within the ''templum''; they included thunder, lightning and any accidental signs such as falling objects, but in particular, birdsigns; whether the birds he saw flew in groups or alone, what noises they made as they flew, the direction of flight, what kind of birds they were, how many there were, or how they fed. This practice was known as "''taking the auspices''". As circumstance did not always favour the convenient appearance of wild birds or weather phenomena, domesticated chickens kept for the purpose were sometimes released into the templum, where their behaviour, particularly how they fed, could be studied by the augur.<ref>Beard, ''et al'', volume 1, pp.22-24, 27-28</ref>

The augural ceremony and function of the augur was central to any major undertaking in Roman society &ndash; public or private &ndash; including matters of war, commerce, and [[Religion in ancient Rome|religion]]. Augurs sought the divine will regarding any proposed course of action which might affect Rome's ''pax'', ''fortuna'', and ''salus'' (peace, good fortune, and well-being).<ref>Brent (1999), p.&nbsp;20.</ref>

==Etymology==
Although ancient authors believed that the term "augur" contained the words ''avis'' and ''gerō'' &ndash; [[Latin]] for "directing the birds", historical-linguistic evidence points instead to the root ''augeō'': "to increase, to prosper".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Augur - Etymology, Origin & Meaning |url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/augur |access-date=2025-07-22 |website=etymonline |language=en-US}}</ref>

==History and public role==
{{Priesthoods of ancient Rome|275px}}
Political, military and civil actions were sanctioned by augury and by [[haruspices]].

Historically, augury was performed by priests of the college of augurs on behalf of senior magistrates. The practice itself likely comes from the neighboring region of Etruria, where augurs were highly respected as officials. Magistrates were empowered to conduct augury as required for the performance of their official duties. Magistracies included senior military and civil ranks, which were therefore religious offices in their own right, and magistrates were directly responsible for the ''pax'', ''fortuna'', and ''salus'' of Rome and everything that was Roman.

The presiding magistrate at an augural rite held the "right of augury" (''ius augurii'').<ref>Brent (1999), pp.&nbsp;17, 20: Brent describes augury as the "spiritual equivalent of consulting the polls".</ref> The right of ''nuntiatio'' &ndash; announcing the appearance of ''auspicia oblativa'' (unexpected sign) &ndash; was reserved for the officiating augur, which would require the interruption of the proceedings then underway.<ref name=Catalano1965 />

===Kingdom of Rome===
The Roman historian [[Livy]] stressed the importance of the augurs: "Who does not know that this city was founded only after taking the auspices, that everything in war and in peace, at home and abroad, was done only after taking the auspices?"<ref>Livy, VI. 41: ''auspiciis hanc urbem conditam esse, auspiciis bello ac pace domi militiaeque omnia geri, quis est qui ignoret?''</ref>

In the [[Kingdom of Rome|Regal period]], which ended 509 BC, tradition holds that there were three augurs at a time; they numbered nine by the third century BC; [[Sulla]] increased their number to fifteen. By the [[Principate]], their numbers swelled even further to an estimated 25&nbsp;members.<ref name=HoffmanLewis1955>{{cite book |author=Martha W. Hoffman Lewis |title=The Official Priests of Rome under the Julio-Claudians |place=Rome |publisher=American Academy |year=1955 |pages=9–12}}</ref>

===Roman Republic===
During the Republic, priesthoods were prized as greatly as the [[Roman consul|consulship]], the [[Roman censor|censorship]], and the [[Roman triumph|triumph]]. Membership gave the lifelong right to participate prominently in processions at ''[[ludi]]'' and in public banquets; augurs proudly displayed the symbol of the office, the ''[[lituus]]''.<ref name=HoffmanLewis1955 />

Roman augurs were part of a college (Latin ''[[collegium (ancient Rome)|collegium]]'') of priests who shared the duties and responsibilities of the position. At the foundation of the [[Roman Republic|Republic]] in 510&nbsp;[[Before Christ|BC]], the [[Patrician (ancient Rome)|patricians]] held sole claim to this office; by 300&nbsp;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-option|co-opt]].

According to Cicero, the ''auctoritas'' of ''ius augurum'' included the right to adjourn and overturn the process of law: Consular election could be &ndash; and was &ndash; rendered invalid by inaugural error. For Cicero, this made the augur the most powerful authority in the Republic. Cicero himself was co-opted into the college only late in his career.<ref>Cicero replaced [[Publius Licinius Crassus (son of triumvir)|Publius Crassus]] after the latter's death at [[Battle of Carrhae|Carrhae]].</ref>

In the later Republic, augury was supervised by the college of ''[[pontifices]]'', a priestly-magistral office whose powers were increasingly woven into the ''[[cursus honorum]]''. The office of ''[[pontifex maximus]]'' eventually became a ''de facto'' consular prerogative.<ref>Brent (1999), pp.&nbsp;19–25: citing Cicero, ''De Natura Deorum'', 2.4.</ref>

===Roman Empire===
The effectiveness of augury could only be judged retrospectively; the divinely ordained condition of peace (''pax deorum'') was an outcome of successful augury. Those whose actions had led to divine wrath (''ira deorum'') could not have possessed a true right of augury (''ius augurum'').<ref>Rosenstein (1990), pp.&nbsp;57–58: the ''post hoc'' search for ''[[Glossary of ancient Roman religion#vitium|vitium]]'' in Republican ritual seems motivated by a need to limit aristocratic responsibility for military disaster, and offer some protection against accusations of incompetence by rivals.</ref> Of all the protagonists in the Civil War, only [[Octavian]] could have possessed it, because he alone had restored the ''pax deorum'' to the Roman people. Lucan, writing during the [[Principate]], described the recent Civil War as "unnatural" &ndash; a mirror to supernatural disturbances in the greater cosmos. His imagery is apt to the traditional principles of augury and its broader interpretation by Stoic apologists of the Imperial cult.<ref>Brent (1999), p.&nbsp;48, citing Lucan, ''[[Pharsalia]],'' 1.522–605: "as if the stars themselves had strayed from their courses".</ref> In the Stoic cosmology the ''pax deorum'' is the expression of natural order in human affairs.<ref>Brent (1999), pp.&nbsp;17–18.</ref>

When his colleague [[Marcus Aemilius Lepidus (triumvir)|Lepidus]] died, Augustus assumed his office as ''pontifex maximus'', took priestly control over the State oracles (including the [[Sibylline books]]), and used his powers as [[Roman censor|censor]] to suppress the circulation of "unapproved" oracles.<ref>Brent (1999), p.&nbsp;59: citing Suetonius, ''Augustus'' 31.1–2. cf. official reactions to "foreign cult" during the Punic crises, above.</ref>

Despite their lack of political influence under the [[Roman Empire]], the augurate, as with its fellow ''quattuor amplissima collegia'', continued to confer prestige on its members.

==Augurs, ''auguria'', and ''auspices''==
In ancient Rome the ''auguria'' (augural rites) were considered to be in equilibrium with the ''[[Sacra (ancient Rome)|sacra]]'' ("sacred things" or "rites") and were not the only way by which the gods made their will known.

The ''augures publici'' (public augurs) concerned themselves only with matters  related to the state. The role of the augur was that of consulting and interpreting the will of gods about some course of action such as accession of kings to the throne, of magistrates and major ''sacerdotes'' to their functions ([[inauguration]]) and all public enterprises. It sufficed to say that the augur or magistrate had heard a clap of thunder to suspend the convocation of the [[comitia]].<ref>Cicero, ''De Divinatione'', 2.72–73</ref>

===Ancient tradition===
According to Varro,<ref>Varro, ''Lingua Latina'', 5.53</ref> before his time augures had distinguished five kinds of territory: ager Romanus, ager Gabinus, ager peregrinus, ager hosticus, ager incertus. These distinctions clearly point to the times of the prehistory of Latium and testify the archaic quality of the art of augury.<ref name=Catalano1965 >{{cite book |author=P. Catalano |year=1965 |title=Linee del sistema sovrannazionale romano |url=https://archive.org/details/lineedelsistemas00cata |url-access=limited |pages=[https://archive.org/details/lineedelsistemas00cata/page/n51 40] note&nbsp;20, p.&nbsp;60 note&nbsp;86, 273–280, 346–351 |location=Turin, IT |publisher=Giappichelli|isbn=9788834816608 }}</ref>

The ''jus augurale'' (augural law) was rigorously secret, therefore very little about the technical aspects of ceremonies and rituals has been recorded. We have only the names of some ''auguria'':
*The ''augurium salutis'' took place once a year, before the magistrates and the people, in which the gods were asked whether it was auspicious to ask to for the welfare of the Romans,
*The ''augurium canarium'' required the sacrifice of red dogs and took place after wheat grains had formed and before they were shelled.<ref>Pliny ''Nat. Hist.'' 18.14</ref><ref>Festus, p.&nbsp;386 L2</ref><ref name=Catalano1965 />
*The ''vernisera auguria'' &ndash; we know only the name that implies a ritual related to the harvest.<ref>Paulus ex Festus s.v. p.&nbsp;467 L2: "''auguria messalia''".</ref>

The terms ''augurium'' and ''auspicium'' are used indifferently by ancient authors.<ref>e.g. in  Cicero, ''De Legibus'', ''De Divinatione''.</ref> Modern scholars have debated the issue at length but have failed to find a distinctive definition that may hold for all the known cases. By such considerations Dumezil<ref>{{cite book |author=G. Dumezil |year=1974 |title=La religion Romaine archaique |location=Paris}}</ref> thinks that the two terms refer in fact to two aspects of the same religious act:
*''auspicium'' would design the technical process of the operation, i.e. ''aves spicere'', looking at the birds; 
*''augurium'' would be the resulting interpretation i.e. the determination, acknowledgement of the presence of the ''*auges'', the action favoured by the god(s), the intention and the final product of the whole operation.
In Varro's words "''Agere augurium, aves specit''",<ref>Varro, ''Lingua Latina'', 5.83</ref> "to conduct the ''augurium'', he observed the birds".

===Categories===
The auspicia were divided into two categories: requested by man (''impetrativa'') and offered spontaneously by the gods (''oblativa''). Both ''impetrativa'' and ''oblativa'' auspices could be further divided into five subclasses:
*ex caelo ([[thunder]], [[lightning]])
*ex avibus (birds)
*ex tripudiis (attitude to food, and feeding manner of Mars' sacred chickens)
*ex quadrupedibus ([[dog]], [[horse]], [[wolf]], and [[fox]])
*ex diris (ominous events).

Only some species of birds (''aves augurales'') could yield valid signs<ref>Cicero, ''De Divinatione'', 2.76</ref> whose meaning would vary according to the species. Among them were [[raven]]s, [[woodpecker]]s, [[owl]]s, [[Bearded Vulture|ossifragae]], and [[eagle]]s.

Signs from birds were divided into ''alites'', from the flight, and ''oscines'', from the voice: The ''alites'' included region of the sky, height and type of flight, behaviour of the bird and place where it would come to rest. The ''oscines'' included the pitch and direction of the sound.<ref>Festus, p. 348 L2; Varro, ''Lingua Latina'', 6.76</ref>

===Ritual===
Magistrates endowed by the law with the right of ''spectio'' (observation of auspices) would establish the requested ''auspicium'' (observation platform) before taking the ''[[Glossary of ancient Roman religion#auspicia impetrativa|auspicia impetrativa]]'' ("requested" or "sought" auspices; see above). The ''templum'', or sacred space within which the operation would take place had to be established and delimited (it should be square and have only one entrance)<ref>Maurus Servius Honoratus, ''In Vergilii Aeneidem commentarii'', 3.89</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=U. Norden |title=Aus Altroemischer Priestenbuchen |chapter=Die Spruchformel des Augur auf dem Burg |year=1939 |pages=3–106}}</ref> and purified ([[Glossary of ancient Roman religion#effatio|''effari'']], [[Glossary of ancient Roman religion#liberatio|''liberare'']]).<ref>Varro, ''Lingua Latina'', 7.8–10</ref>

The enunciation of the requested auspicia that began the observation portion of the ceremony was called ''legum dictio''.<ref>Maurus Servius Honoratus, ''In Vergilii Aeneidem commentarii'', 3.89</ref> Observation conditions were rigorous and required absolute silence for validity of the operation. Technically the sky was divided into four sections or regions: ''dextera'', ''sinistra'', ''antica'', and ''postica'' (right, left, anterior and posterior).<ref>Varro, ''Lingua Latina'', 7.7</ref>

The prototype of the ritual of inauguration of people is described in Livy's<ref>Livy, ''[[Ab Urbe Condita Libri (Livy)|Ab Urbe Condita]]'', 1.18, 5.10</ref> description of the inauguration of king [[Numa Pompilius]]:<blockquote>The augur asks Jupiter:<ref>[[Glossary of ancient Roman religion#signum|''signa'']] belong to Jupiter</ref> "''Si fas est''" (i.e. if it is divine justice to do this) "... send me a certain ''signum'' (sign)" then the augur listed the ''auspicia'' he wanted to see. When they appeared Numa was declared king.</blockquote>

===Precedence===
Since the observation was complex, conflict among signs was common.<ref>Maurus Servius Honoratus, ''In Vergilii Aeneidem commentarii'', 4.462</ref> A hierarchy among signs was devised: e.g. a sign from the eagle would prevail on that from the woodpecker and the ossifragae (parra).<ref>Maurus Servius Honoratus, ''In Vergilii Aeneidem commentarii'', 2.374</ref>

During the last centuries of the republic the auspices ''ex caelo'' and ''ex tripudiis'' supplanted other types, as the other forms could be easily used in a fraudulent way, i.e. bent to suit the desire of the asking person.<ref>Cicero, ''De Divinatione'', 2.72–73</ref>
Cicero condemned the fraudulent use and denounced the decline in the level of knowledge of the doctrine by the augurs of his time,<ref>Cicero, ''De Divinatione'', 1.25; ''Leg. Agr.'', 2.32 and 2.34</ref> but in fact the abuse developed from the evasion of negative signs, described in the next subsection.{{citation needed|date=February 2018}}

===Evasion===
The interpretation of signs was vast and complex, and magistrates devised protective tricks to avoid being paralysed by negative signs.<ref>See Ovid, ''Fasti'' 3.339–344, for an instance in the conversation between king Numa and Jupiter.</ref> Against the negative ''auspicia oblativa'' the admitted procedures included:
* actively avoiding seeing them
* ''repudiare'' &ndash; refuse them through an interpretative sleight of hand
* ''non observare'' &ndash; by assuming one had not paid attention to them
* declaring something that in fact had not appeared
* ''tempestas'' &ndash; choosing the time of the observation at one's will
* ''renuntiatio'' &ndash; making a distinction between observation and formulation
* ''vitia'' &ndash; resorting to acknowledging the presence of mistakes
* repeating the whole procedure.

==Attus Navius==
Contrary to other divinatory practices present in Rome (e.g. [[haruspex|haruspicina]], consultation of the [[libri Sibyllini]]) Roman augury  appears to be [[wikt:autochthonous|autochthonous]] and pre-historical, originally Latin or Italic, and attested in the [[Iguvine Tables]] (''avif aseria'') and among other Latin tribes.

The very story or legend of the foundation of Rome is based on augury. the ascertaining of the will of gods through observation of the sky and of birds. Romulus and Remus indeed acted as augurs and Romulus was considered a great augur throughout the course of his life.

The character that best represented and portrayed the art however was Attus Navius. His story is related by Cicero:<blockquote>
He was born into a very poor family. One day he lost one of his pigs. He then promised the gods that if he found it, he would offer them the biggest grapes growing in his vineyard. After recovering his pig he stood right at the middle of his grape yard facing South. He divided the sky into four sections and observed birds: when they appeared he walked in that direction and found an extraordinary large grape that he offered to the gods.

His story was immediately famous and he became the augur of the king (see above the episode with king Tarquinius narrated by Livy). Henceforth he was considered the patron of the augurs.<ref>Cicero, ''De Divinatione'', 1.17</ref></blockquote>

== See also ==
*[[Augury]]
*[[Auguraculum]]
*[[De Divinatione]]
*[[Inauguration]]
*[[Omen]]
*[[Ornithomancy]], the practice of reading omens from the actions of birds followed in many ancient cultures including the Greeks, equivalent to the augury employed by the ancient Romans

==References==
===Citations===
{{Reflist|30em}}

===Sources===
* [[Mary Beard (classicist)|Beard, M.]], [[John North (classicist)|North, J.]], Price, S., ''Religions of Rome'', Volume I, illustrated, reprint, Cambridge University Press, 1998. {{ISBN|0-521-31682-0}}
*{{cite book |author=Brent, A. |year=1999 |title=The imperial cult and the development of church order: Concepts and images of authority in paganism and early Christianity before the Age of Cyprian |publisher=Brill |isbn=90-04-11420-3 }}
*{{cite book |last1=Hornblower |first1=Simon |first2=Anthony |last2=Spawforth |year=1996 |title=The Oxford Classical Dictionary |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780198661726 |url-access=registration |edition=3 |location=Oxford, UK. |publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-866172-6 }} s.v. ''augures''.
*Rosenstein, Nathan S. ''Imperatores Victi: Military Defeat and Aristocractic Competition in the Middle and Late Republic''. Berkeley:  University of California Press,  c1990 1990. [http://ark.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/ft967nb61p/] (e-book, open access)

==External links==

*[https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/SMIGRA*/Augurium.html article ''Augurium'' in Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities]
*{{Cite EB1911 |wstitle=Augurs |volume=2 |pages=903–904}}
*[https://sites.google.com/view/pwretranslations/all-articles/2-apollon-barbaroi/augures Wissowa, ''Augures'' in Paulys Realencyclopaedie der Classischen Altertumswissenschaften vol. II (trans. into English)]

{{Ancient Roman religion horizontal}}

[[Category:Roman augurs| ]]