Augur

An augur was a member of the Roman priestly college responsible for the rules of taking and interpreting auspices before public actions. Auspices sought divine approval, especially that of Jupiter. They mattered for elections, assemblies, a magistrate's entry into office and some military decisions. An augur was not simply a predictor of private fortunes.

The best-known signs involved the flight or calls of birds. Thunder and lightning, as well as the behaviour of sacred chickens, could also matter. An augur might mark out a ritual field of observation with a curved staff called a lituus. This expertise differed from that of a haruspex, who interpreted sacrificial entrails and prodigies in a tradition associated with Etruria.

History

Roman tradition traced auspices to the city's kings. The college's history is more securely followed in the Republic. According to Livy, the Lex Ogulnia of 300 BCE added five plebeian augurs to four patrician members. Sulla later increased the number of places, and Caesar added another member. Numbers and methods of filling vacancies changed, so no single arrangement applies throughout Roman history.

Originally the college itself admitted new members. The Lex Domitia of 104 BCE introduced a popular vote; Sulla restored co-option, and legislation in 63 BCE reinstated elections. These changes show the political importance of priesthoods in the late Republic. The college continued under the emperors, but its composition increasingly depended on imperial power.

For an observation the augur defined a templum, a ritually bounded space rather than necessarily a stone building. “Inauguration” is historically related to augury, but a modern ceremony of taking office is not simply the ancient rite. Auspices had political weight because a procedural fault could call the validity of a public decision into question.

Principal evidence: Livy, History of Rome 10.6–9; Cicero, On the Laws 2.20–21; Cicero, On Divination 1–2.

Augur and haruspex: the difference

An augur interpreted auspices within Roman public ritual, especially signs involving birds, thunder and lightning. A haruspex belonged to a different expertise associated with Etruscan tradition: inspecting sacrificial entrails and interpreting prodigies. The two specialists could address the same public crisis, but they did not hold the same priestly role.

Related topics

Roman religion · Pontifex · Haruspex · Vestal Virgin · Roman Republic

Literature

Ancient sources

• Cicero. On Divination.
• Cicero. On the Laws.
• Livy. History of Rome.

Modern studies

• Mary Beard, John North and Simon Price. Religions of Rome. Cambridge University Press, 1998.
• Jorg Rupke. Religion of the Romans. Polity, 2007.