Divination always played an important role in Ancient Near Eastern
politics, daily life, and even economy. Far beyond being a mere mean to
foretell the future, divination sets the standards for the
interpretation of the known world. The interpretation of the omina,
including every sort of natural or man-provoked phenomena, constitutes
one of the main channels of communication between man and the
supernatural forces which shaped the world, i.e. the gods. Hepatoscopy
(liver inspection of offered animals), libanomancy (observation of
incense smoke), lecanomancy (observation of the ripples of the water),
physiognomics (interpretation of the outer appearance of a human body),
celestial omina, and dream interpretation are only a few of the
multifarious branches of divination thoroughly explored in the Ancient
Near Eastern traditions.
Recent years have witnessed a renewed
interest in ancient divinatory practices, which led to the development
of several research projects in universities and research centers in
Switzerland, Spain, Italy, Austria, Germany, France, and other
countries. The aim of this international conference is to bring together
a representative group of specialists in the field of Ancient Near
Eastern divination and to start a constructive multi-disciplinary
dialogue. The conference covers a large geographic area including
Mesopotamia, Syria, South Arabia, Anatolia and Egypt from the third
millennium BCE to the Late Antiquity.
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